Stephanie Rust joined ISC in February 2004 as country director of ISC's Macedonia office in Skopje and is currently the regional director for Europe and Eurasia. Prior to this, she was country director for the Macedonian Activity for Civil Society Strengthening program in Skopje. She has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1990 managing programs in the areas of civil society, democracy, education, and environment in the United States, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and in countries of the former Soviet Union.

Rust has considerable experience in training and consulting for nonprofit organizations in organizational development and advocacy issues. Prior to her current position with ISC, Rust was the director of the Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia (ISAR) program in Azerbaijan, an NGO support center that provided training, information, and financial support to more than 250 NGOs throughout the country.

From 1999 to 2001, Rust served as the director of institutional development at the Nature Conservancy's Latin American and Caribbean division providing management consulting and program development support to NGOs, parastatal institutions, and National Park Services in Mexico and other Latin American countries. She worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina for two years after the war. Earlier in her career, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia for three years.

Rust has a master's degree in International Training and Education from American University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Northwestern University. She is fluent in English and Spanish, with a working knowledge of Portuguese, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian.