AFS-USA welcomes five new board members elected at its annual Board meeting, as well as a new chair and vice-chair!
 
“At the center of our strategic imperatives are the tenets of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, from the US students we send abroad and the international students we welcome to the U.S., to the families and schools who host our students, and especially the thousands of AFS-USA Volunteers who move our mission forward in all that they do.” – Tara Hofmann, President and CEO of AFS-USA
 
Joining the AFS-USA Board of Directors are:
 
Connie Askin, (AFS Alumna U.S. to Portugal) Chief Executive Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Mass and Metro West, part of an international mentoring non-profit. She is also an AFS Host Family, Sending Family, and Volunteer.
 
Kelly McFarland Stratman, CAE, (Alumna U.S. to Denmark) Chief of Staff to the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS), a non-profit, nonpartisan political organization empowering voters.
 
Dr. Gregory Sabin, Preceptor at Harvard Extension School, Harvard University, where he has taught finance and accounting since 2018.
 
Karen Treber, General Counsel of Salisbury University, Maryland. She is also an AFS Host Family and Volunteer.
 
Dr. Ken Wallace, High School District Superintendent, Park Ridge, IL. He is the longest serving Superintendent at Maine Township High School District 207 that serves 6,200 students in three high schools, including two schools with majority BIPOC populations.

The newly elected Chair of the Board of Directors is Barbara Olson (Alumna U.S. to Turkey), who served for nearly 25 years as a communications director for K-12 public school districts in suburban Minneapolis. The newly elected Vice Chair is Jane Ransom (Alumna U.S. to Italy), Executive Director of the American Brain Foundation.
 
Collectively, the Board will work with the organizational leadership on its strategic imperatives that focus in the areas of: engaging and supporting the organization’s volunteers based throughout the U.S.; expanding scholarships and fundraising to remove financial barriers for students who want to study abroad; furthering the organization’s focus on inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility; and continuing to provide support and resources for U.S. educators for use in their classrooms.
 
As we focus on our strategic imperatives, and with our new Board members, AFS-USA will continue to be well-positioned to create the kind of global citizens that the world needs. For more information visit: www.afsusa.org/about-afs/leadership.