Most recently Steve Rhee worked from the Ford Foundation’s Jakarta office for 12 years, where he focused on securing access for rural communities to land, forest and other natural resources. His work supported efforts to increase the well-being of poor Indonesians in fragile rural areas and promoted policies that give poor and marginalized groups more control over natural resources. During this time he was a core team member of the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA).

Before joining the Ford Foundation and CLUA in 2009, in his development work Steve focused on international natural resource management. He has held research and policy posts at several institutions, including the Center for International Forestry Research and the US Department of State. In these roles, he collaborated with a range of stakeholders, from villagers in Indonesian Borneo to senior government officials in Washington, DC. He has lived in Indonesia since 1996, working on community-based natural resource management issues. He has also worked in mainland Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste, and Nepal.

Steve has had several transformational learning opportunities, including service in the Peace Corps, the Fulbright Research program for his doctoral fieldwork, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. He received his PhD and three Master’s degrees from Yale University, where his training focused on governance, institutions, and trade related to sustainable development.