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National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > Cameroon, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Philippines, Samoa, Togo
Cameroon, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Philippines, Samoa, Togo
By JoAnna Haugen on Friday, March 26th, 2010
CAMEROON
Thomas S. Lewis (87-89) was recently appointed as Johns Hopkins University’s vice president for government and community affairs. He will also be the vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Prior to this appointment, Lewis served as director of state affairs of the university and was a part of Maryland’s state government for more than 17 years. Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park; his law degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and his master’s degree from the American Graduate School of International Management.
MALI
The town of Lenox, Massachusetts, has hired Natalie Grillon as the sustainability coordinator, which will run through September 2010. In this position, Grillon will coordinate many community projects including “lenox unplugged,” a community-wide initiative to save money and curb energy consumption.
MONGOLIA
Matthew Davis (00-02) recently published When Things Get Dark: A Mongolian Winter’s Tale, which is a collection of travel essays about his Peace Corps experience intermingled with information about Mongolia’s history and culture. Davis earned his MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa.
NIGER
William V. Timmons’ (65-67) book Becker’s Farm has been picked up for a movie and is currently in pre-production. The book is about a German POW on a Nebraska farm. After his Peace Corps service, Timmons became a special adviser to the president of Niger and then spent 10 years as an educational missionary in the Philippines. He most recently worked as an adjunct art professor at California Baptist University.
PHILIPPINES
Ten years ago, Joe Zenisek (84-87) started Share the Love as a way to raise money for people who need it most. A science teacher and yearbook adviser at Molalla High School in Oregon, Zenisek has since given the school’s leadership class responsibility for running the organization. The class is in charge of determining who gets the money raised by Share the Love, but the fundraiser has turned into a community-wide affair. This year, the class hopes to earn $13,000 for a local child who suffers from lymphoma.
SAMOA
John C. Dean (69-71) is Central Pacific Bank’s newly appointed executive chairman of the board. He has spent 29 years as a financial services industry executive and is currently managing partner of Startup Capital Ventures. Forbes called Dean one of the 50 most powerful dealmakers and Business Week called him one of Silicon Valley’s top 25 movers and shakers. He is co-founder and chair emeritus of the Entrepreneur’s Foundation of Hawaii, and he endows a faculty position at the University of Hawaii’s Shidler College of Business.
TOGO
The National Association of Women Business Owners of Cleveland recently selected Victoria Tifft (08-10) as a Top Ten Woman Business Owner of Northeast Ohio for 2010. Tifft is president and CEO of Clinical Research Management, which is a full-service contract research organization that supports the development of FDA-regulated vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medical devices for both government and commercial customers.



