Alison Gardy has served as the Director of International Relations at 92nd Street Y since 2001. Her responsibilities include the Ford Motor Company International Fellowship of 92nd Street Y, which brings proven international community leaders from all over the world to 92Y for intensive management and leadership training; 92Y’s International Way, a block-long display of international cultural booths that makes 92Y's annual StreetFest unique among street festivals in New York City; and the 92Y Diplomatic Outreach Program, which has engaged diplomats from over 70 countries through educational forums, creative program collaborations, off-the-record dialogues and other international initiatives. Throughout her work, Alison creates and cultivates esteemed relationships with individuals and organizations on behalf of the entire institution. International Relations also informs the world of 92Y programs by conducting regular outreach to more than 800 members of the diplomatic communities in New York City and Washington, D.C., including ambassadors, consuls general and their staff, and to thousands of global contacts, such as grassroots non-profits, foundations and organizations.

Alison served on the Fulbright Association Board of Directors (2000-2006, Membership Chair, 2003-2006), was President of the Greater New York Chapter of the Fulbright Association (2000-2002) and founded the Fulbright Youth Conference in 2001, which brought together hundreds of New York City high school students for training in peaceful solutions to conflict. As a board member of the New Jersey Scholars Program, of which she is also a graduate, Alison built up and engaged the alumni community (1996-2000). Alison taught writing at New York University and English at The Bilingual Company, a Japanese language school in New York. In her 15 years as a journalist, she has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NACLA Report on the Americas, National Geographic Traveler, Associated Press and Texas Observer, among other US and international print and Internet publications. Alison's penchant for start-up experiments led her to help found a web content provider, a Brazilian culture magazine and several multicultural newsletters.

Alison received a BA in Comparative Literature in Spanish and Russian from Yale University and a MFA in Literary Nonfiction from Columbia University School of the Arts. She lived in Mexico for several years on a Fulbright Fellowship to research social change in Mexico and has traveled extensively in Latin America. Alison speaks Spanish fluently, is conversant in Portuguese, French, and Russian, and knows some Hebrew. She would love to bicycle around the world with her family one day.