Vienna, Austria
Founding Partner
ConnexxionS Ltd.
Leadership
AFS International provides worldwide leadership, coordination, support, quality control and development of the more than 50 AFS Partners across the globe.
Board of Trustees
The AFS International Board of Trustees, a diverse group representing over a dozen countries, works in conjunction with our Partners and volunteers worldwide to realize our goal of providing the world’s youth with secure avenues of intercultural exchange.
Christian Werle
Dr. Vishaka N. Desai
J. Brian Atwood
Don Mohanlal
Dr. Vincenzo Morlini
Life Trustees
Ward Chamberlin, Jr.
Dr. Richard M. Hunt
Sachiye Kuwamoto
AFS Partner Director Representatives
The AFS Partner Director Representatives, works in conjunction with our Board of Trustees and AFS Volunteers worldwide to realize our goal of providing the world’s youth with secure avenues of intercultural exchange.
AFS Educational Advisory Council
Melissa Liles (Chair), New York, USA Chief Education Officer, AFS Intercultural Programs
Milton J. Bennett, Ph.D. Oregon, USA and Milan, Italy Executive Director, The Intercultural Development Research Institute
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bolten, Jena, Germany Professor of Intercultural Business Communication, Universität Jena
Dr. Darla Deardorff, North Carolina, USA Executive Director Association of International Education Administrators and Research Scholar Program in Education, Duke University
Dr. Gunther Dietz, Veracruz, Mexico Secretary General, International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE) and Director & Research Professor in Intercultural Education Universidad Veracruzana, Instituto de Investigaciones en Educación
Bruce La Brack, Ph.D., California, USA Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and International Studies, School of International Studies, University of the Pacific
Dr. Roberto Ruffino, Colle di val d’Elsa, Italy Secretary General, Fondazione Intercultura
Kumiko Torikai, Ph.D., Tokyo, Japan Professor, Graduate School of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University
Michael (Mick) Vande Berg, Ph.D., Maine, USA Principal, MVB Associates
Professor Nagesh Rao, Ahmedabad, India President & Director, MICA Institute of Strategic Marketing and Communication
Mitchell R. Hammer (Special Advisor), Ph.D. Maryland, USA President, IDI, LLC and Hammer Consulting, LLC
Staff
AFS Staff supports our volunteers, and enable exchanges to succeed by working together to ensure that the highest quality experiences are afforded to all participants and host families. The staff at AFS International provide worldwide support, quality control and development of the more than 50 AFS Partners across the globe.
Executive Team
AFS International Team
Andrea Kammerer ??
Senior Analyst, Management Information
Anna Treyer-Simakova ??
International Events and Project Manager
Bert Vercamer ??
Sentio General Manager
Bryan Valerio-Perdomo ??
Accounting Clerk
Christine Leimgruber ??
Consultant, Programs
Cristina Mateo ??
Coordinator, Accounting and Budget
David Blythe ??
Manager, Program Policy and Support
Ebbe Skovdal ??
Corporate Secretary
Eduardo Assed ??
Senior Consultant, Associate Development and Partner Recovery
Efrem Fisher ??
Interim Director, Program Services and Development
Elis Motta ??
Consultant, Organization Development
Esteban Araya-Santiago ??
Multimedia Communication and Design Specialist
Eva Vitkova ??
Consultant, Intercultural Learning and Educator Relations
Fabricia Manoel ??
Consultant, Organization Development and AFS World Café
Genesis Tavarez ??
Receptionist
Hazar Yildirim ??
Manager, Education Content and Communications
Hristo Banov ??
Manager, Management Information
Indre Salciute ??
Senior Analyst, Management Information
Katharine Sanders ??
Manager, Membership and Programs
Larry Barnett ??
Director, Risk and Crisis Management
Lingram Zhou ??
Alumni, Support and Administrator
Magnus-Andreas Aase ??
Consultant, AFS World Café
Maria Grazia Brizi ??
Manager, Network Administration and Assistant General Counsel
Marika Strauss ??
Organization Development Coordinator
Marcela Lapertosa ??
Interim Director of Education and Intercultural Learning
Milena Miladinovic ??
Consultant, Senior Writer & Social Marketing Specialist
Monica Our ??
Manager, Budget and Network Finances
Nick Cooper ??
Manager, Network ICT
Nicole Milano ??
Head Archivist and Historical Publications Editor
Paul Gamner ??
Assistant to the President
Raquel Martinez ??
Creative Director
Sarah Collins ??
Manager, Learning Program
Sheryl Tucker ??
Director, Marketing and Communications
Shiree Pointer ??
Manager, Program Growth and Quality Support
Stijn Van den Bergh ??
Coordinator, ICT Support and Training
Tim Murray ??
Director, Finance and Administration
Meet our fab interns & fellows
Elena Abou Mrad ??
“My fellowship in the AFS Archives means being constantly in touch with the documents, artifacts, and photographs from the history of AFS, and especially with the great people that shaped this organization and made it grow. This is why I feel honored to focus on the processing and preservation of Arthur Howe Jr.’s collection during my fellowship. Art was a World War II volunteer, former president, and Life Trustee of AFS. In addition to that, working at AFS International gives me the opportunity to experience the contact with other cultures and languages, starting from the office! As a comparative literature graduate, I find it really inspiring.”
Jacob Zaborowski ??
“I am currently interning in the AFS Archives in conjunction with the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation master’s program at New York University. I am surveying the sizable moving image collection (including film reels, audio cassettes, and VHS tapes, among other forms of media) dating back to World War I. In my short time here, I have been gaining insight and experience as to how to support a non-profit institution by helping to preserve its historic media holdings for posterity, as well as to the benefit of AFSers around the world.”
Mardon Akhmedov ??
“I am about halfway through my internship at AFS Intercultural Programs. I am improving my technical skills and learning new things about programming while developing a new customer-facing website platform that helps connect members to an online archive of information. I’m also having unforgettable experiences, like our wonderful staff retreat. We spent a day together playing interesting team games like “Escape the Room.” We also made pizza. I never thought making pizza was such fun. At the end of the day we practiced Tai Chi. I have never done these kinds of activities before, and now they are interests of mine.
“I support the AFS Intercultural Link Learning Program—an AFS network-wide intercultural training and assessment program designed to improve the collective intercultural competence of volunteers and staff. My tasks involve coordinating assessment and evaluation activities for all Learning Program participants and qualified trainer candidates, assisting in content development and in the planning of in-person workshops across the AFS network. By collaborating with AFS staff and volunteers from around the world, I also get the chance to learn about different cultural settings and enhance my own intercultural competencies.”
Ana Carolina Cassiano ??
2016 fellow
Maria Maione ??
“I have been an intern on the Organization and Volunteer Development team for almost five months now, and I am amazed at how much I have grown in such little time! Working in OD at AFS is allowing me to develop a variety of skills including design thinking and customer journey design. Currently, my favorite project is the implementation of the Volunteer Survey & Evaluation, a global survey about the volunteer experience that combines different research methodologies and allows flexibility to suit different cultural needs. Most importantly, AFS is teaching me what it really means to work in a multicultural environment. To be able to exchange ideas with people from different countries and backgrounds on a daily basis is thrilling and mind-opening beyond words.”
Shirra Rockwood
“My internship in the AFS Archives is part of my Masters of Information and Library Science Degree and Advanced Certificate in Archives from the Pratt School of Information. I came to AFS this past January to help preserve important World War II files, and am now excited to work on a series of World War I diaries, which have been recently digitized. The centenary of World War I provides a great opportunity to put these artifacts online, making them accessible to people around the world. The unique insight the diaries give as to the personalities of the volunteers who served with AFS and the experiences they had during the war make them a valuable resource. Personally, it has given me a much greater understanding of the kind of people who volunteered to help others before our country entered the war, what the war was like for those who lived through it, and has inspired me to learn more about the history of a war that I previously didn’t know that much about.”
Doing a fellowship at AFS International has taught me a lot. I am developing new skills like designing projects and creating online learning tools, and improving skills I already have such as event planning and data analysis. Organizing network-wide events helped me learn more about working in different cultural settings and with volunteers and staff members from around the world. Working in such a multicultural environment gives you a lot of learning opportunities.
Sercan Selvi ??
2016 fellow