As previously announced, Kristen Bates will be leaving AFS-USA at the end of this month. Among her various areas of responsibility as a Senior Director has been the management of the Participant Support Department.

The oversight for the department is being transferred to Melvin Harmon, effective Monday, 17 December. This responsibility will be an addition to Melvin’s current responsibilities over our Sending, AFSNext, and Program Innovation units.

Melvin is no stranger to participant support, having previously managed support teams at both AFS-USA and at CIEE. He is also an AFS Returnee (Malaysia, 1980-81) and has been a Host Parent eight times.

Barbara Telser continues to lead the Support Team as the Director of Support and will report to Melvin.

We feel confident that this transition will be seamless. Likewise, Melvin is looking forward to working with all AFS Staff and Volunteers on this aspect of our program service delivery.