Senior Advisors

Ron West, Senior Advisor, Community-Based Policing, has extensive experience in police training and security reform in countries in transition. He has worked as a crime and violence prevention expert in Jamaica, the Philippines, and East Timor, and most recently served as the Chief of Party for the duration of USAID/Guatemala’s Community-Based Policing Program. He designs methodologies, technical activities, and monitoring and evaluation plans for crime and violence reduction projects, with a focus on civic and community participation. Mr. West has trained members of the Guatemalan and Philippine national police, elected officials, and community members in the democratic development of police and community-based policing, and has interacted extensively with at-risk youth and youth gang members in programs that train police, provide school mentoring, and develop community infrastructure. A former police officer, Mr. West has researched and published works on police accountability and national justice system institutions versus traditional practices in dispute resolution and conflict mitigation.  He is fluent in French and Spanish, and conversant in Portuguese. 

César Augusto Solanilla Chavarro, Senior Consultant, Legal Reform, has a Master’s degree in Public Law and is fluent in Spanish and English.  Mr. Solanilla served as Chief of PArty of the USAID-funded program “Momentum toward Fairer and Faster Justice,” which sought to increase the effectiveness of the Criminal Court System.   Prior to the MSD-Panama project, Mr. Solanilla served as the Justice Project Coordinator for the MSD-USAID Administration of Justice project in Colombia.   Before joining MSD, Mr. Solanilla served in several high-ranking positions with the Higher Judicial Council, and the Prosecutor’s Office in Colombia.  Mr. Solanilla also was the Director of the Judicial Department, Tolima Jurisdiction.

Xuan Nguyen Sutter, MBA, Senior Consultant - Gender Advocacy, has  more than 25 years of experience leading domestic and international humanitarian assistance programs for refugee, displaced, and immigrant women and children throughout Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.  In 1996, her vision and leadership led her to the founding of the Refugee Women’s Network, Inc., an advocacy organization, which brings together women representing 32 countries to strengthen their ability to participate effectively in American society.  For her tireless efforts on behalf of women and children, she was named Refugee Woman of the Year in 1993 and given the Human Rights Award by Amnesty International in 1994. In 1997, she received the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family and Children’s Fellowship.   In recognition for her commitment to the community of Atlanta, she was named as a "Woman Making a Mark 2000" by the Atlanta Magazine and her  portrait is displayed in the permanent exhibition at the United Way of Atlanta.