Ruth Hinerfeld is both a civic leader and an internationalist. She has served on the Boards of both the Los Angeles and the California State League of Women Voters, and for four years was President of the League of Women Voters of the United States. Throughout her career, Ms. Hinerfeld has had leadership roles in more than thirty national and international organizations and committees, such as the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations, the Overseas Development Council, the Overseas Education Fund, Common Cause and the U.S. Committee for UNICEF. Ms. Hinerfeld was also a member of the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Business School. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Hinerfeld is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College and of the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration. She joined the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education in January 1998 and currently serves on the Executive Committee and as the chair of the Committee on Fulbright Educational Exchange.