AFS-USA, the largest partner in a worldwide network of non-profit, volunteer-based international education organizations, announces five new board members elected at its June 24th annual Board meeting. Tara Hofmann, President and CEO for AFS-USA, stated: “Our international volunteer-based organization is poised for the future having come out of the challenges with COVID-19. We are fortunate to have a roster of impressive professionals, including five new Directors, to assist us in implementing our strategic plan that will enable us to further our mission of creating more global citizens.”
Joining the AFS-USA Board of Directors: Mari Treviño Glass, Vice President of Treviño Consulting Group (TCG), a non-profit consulting firm working nationally to provide professional consulting services to non-profits; Zenith Houston, CEO of GaillardHouston Enterprise, Inc. a management consulting firm providing professional counsel to diverse nonprofit and high net-worth clients; Gisele Marcus, Professor of Practice – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis; Ann Sweet National Council Vice Chair, AFS-USA’s volunteer representative body; and Christina V. Wood, National Development Director for Stand for Children, an education equity and racial justice advocacy nonprofit.
Newly elected officers include: Chair, Wendy Kuran (Alumna U.S. to Finland), Associate VP, Development and Alumni Engagement, Duke Kunshan University and Duke in China; Vice Chair, Barbara Olson (Alumna U.S. to Turkey), who served as a communications director for suburban Minneapolis K-12 public school districts; Secretary, Ambassador (ret.) Patrick Moon (Alumnus U.S. to Brazil), retired Senior Foreign Service Officer for the State Department; and Treasurer, Alan Williams (Alumnus South Africa to U.S.) who served as the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Executive Director at NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
The Board will work with organizational leadership on strategic goals and prioritize: providing more schools with educator resources to facilitate global learning; increasing scholarship support enabling more high school students to study abroad; enabling more families and diverse communities to benefit by hosting international exchange students; increasing support for the 2,600+ volunteers nationally; and furthering the mission of creating a more just and peaceful world.