Staff

Glenn Blumhorst is President and CEO of National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), a private, non-profit organization at the center of a community of more than 225,000 individuals who have experienced the Peace Corps in 141 countries since 1961. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Washington, DC, NPCA’s mission is “to champion lifelong commitment to Peace Corps ideals.” During his tenure, Blumhorst has led NPCA’s historic transformation from a dues-based alumni association to a community-driven social impact organization.

Prior to joining the NPCA, Blumhorst enjoyed an illustrious 18-year career with ACDI/VOCA, more recently leading the establishment and successful growth of ACDI/VOCA’s worldwide Community Development practice area as Managing Director. He also served as Country Representative and Chief of Party on several major USAID-funded projects and programs throughout Central and South America. His work has taken him to over 65 countries and enabled his near-native Spanish language fluency.

Blumhorst launched his career by serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 1988 to 1991. He holds a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is a licensed private pilot.

As Vice President, Anne Baker manages a broad range of both office operations and programs, from awards to global education to Next Step Travel. She is the primary staff point of contact for NPCA's more than 150 affiliate groups. She is the staff liaison to the NPCA Board of Directors committees for finance, governance and awards.

Anne has been at the NPCA since 1996, when she was hired to develop and establish the Global TeachNet program, a national network of educators promoting a more global perspective across the K-12 curriculum. In 1998, Anne’s role expanded as the Director of Global Education. In 2001, she became Director of Global Education and Programs, shifting to Director of Global Education and Technology in 2002. She became the Vice President in August 2004.

Anne brings to her position experience in classroom teaching, cross-cultural awareness and counseling, and non-profit management. She has 10 years of teaching experience at the high school level: two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer teacher of physics, mathematics and physical science in the Fiji Islands and eight years as a mathematics teacher at St. George’s School in Newport, RI, where she was also the Director of Cultural Affairs and an International Student Advisor. At St. George’s, she founded, developed and facilitated a student-led organization for global education and community outreach. 

She is currently a member of the advisory groups for Kids Can Make a Difference (empowering youth to end hunger) and the Center for Global Citizenship at Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland, Ohio. She is on the board of the Friends of Fiji, a affiliate group of the NPCA, and is a past president of the New Dominion Chorale.

Anne has a B.A. in Physics from Amherst College and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she concentrated in international education.

Jonathan Pearson works with NPCA members and other supporters to advance policies to expand, improve and embolden the Peace Corps, and promote opportunities for international service (including the Service World initiative). He also engages with advocates on other key global issues that impact the lives of people and communities in countries where Peace Corps volunteers served.

Jonathan coordinates the annual National Day of Action in Support of the Peace Corps each March, when RPCVs go to Capitol Hill to speak directly with policy-makers as others who can’t come to Washington phone and email their lawmakers. He regularly writes blogs and updates throughout the year to keep the Peace Corps Community informed about advocacy opportunities.

Prior to NPCA, Jonathan worked voluntarily and contractually to assist with the formation of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Following his Peace Corps service, he worked 5 years as Program Coordinator for Maryland Save Our Streams in Glen Burnie, MD, leading a number of watershed-based community organizing projects. A long-time member of Amnesty International, he joined the staff of AIUSA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in 1997. He served in several positions, including Regional Deputy Director and Director.

Jonathan served in the Peace Corps on Lamotrek Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia as a teacher and community development worker. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he worked for seven years as a reporter, newscaster, News Director and talk show host for WINY Radio in Putnam.

A native of Connecticut, Jonathan graduated cum laude from Boston College, majoring in communications and political science.

J.M. Ascienzo joined our staff in January 2016 after serving as our first National Peace Corps Association Fellow. 

As NPCA's Government Relations Officer, J.M. works with the Peace Corps community to advocate for issues it cares deeply about.

J.M. served for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. He has taught ESL in Asia, and served with AmeriCorps VISTA in Seattle. He has a bachelors degree in history from Auburn University.

David Fields (RPCV Ghana 11-13) is an analyst and special project coordinator with NPCA. David works to identify early stage opportunities for the NPCA that have a high potential for building and supporting a more robust Peace Corps community and works on facilitating the connection of supportive resources and technologies to the various NPCA departments.  David is a strong advocate of Human Centered Design and is constantly working to foster creativity and innovation among staff and mission partners. David has founded, co-founded, and is adviser to a number of non-profits and social enterprises. As a Peace Corps Volunteer David worked as a WATSAN volunteer in Ghana and gained notoriety with his work around emerging technologies. Prior to the Peace Corps David worked with Mylan Pharmaceutical, Huntington wastewater treatment plant, and conducted cancer research @ the Marshall University School of Medicine.

Elizabeth Dowell, better known as Ella, is NPCA’s Community Technology Systems Coordinator.  As the Community Technology Systems Coordinator, Ella’s primary duty is to enhance NPCA’s effectiveness and efficiency in implementing the Community Building Platform (an all-inclusive, online, group management system) as a means of strengthening the broad network of individual and group members of the Peace Corps community, as well as meeting NPCA’s financial, membership, development, and administrative needs. Ella works remotely from her home in Sacramento, California.

Since 2016, Ella has served as a Board Director, Webmaster, and Communications Chair for the Northern California Peace Corps Association. From 2011 to 2015, Ella lived and worked in Jordan as a Volunteer Leader, Youth Development Facilitator, and Teacher of English as a Foreign Language with the Peace Corps. Ella graduated with Honors from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography in 2010. She’s also an experienced filmmaker, having made the official film about Peace Corps’ program in Jordan and a personal documentary film.

Kevin joined NPCA as the Finance and Operations Assistant working in Washington D.C.  He served in Peace Corps Ukraine (2015-2017) as part of the first group of volunteers back after the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014. As a Community Economic Development volunteer Kevin consulted with NGO’s, local governments, and businesses. He sought to engage local institutions in collaboration to advance municipal development initiatives in Rivne, Ukraine. His projects included the construction of multiple co-working centers, e-governance initiatives, hosting business and NGO accelerators. Additionally, Kevin facilitated trainings on empowering civil society leaders with growth mindsets, design thinking tools and innovation management techniques.

Before Peace Corps, Kevin worked with and founded multiple non-profits and social impact start-ups often scoping the financially activities of these ventures. He is passionate about Ukraine and regularly attends events concerning Ukrainian affairs, engaging with the local community in the D.C. area. He is currently serving as President of the affiliate group RPCV Alliance for Ukraine. In 2014, Kevin received a B.A. in Finance with minors in Economics and in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. His hobby for the last several years has been dialogue facilitation, regularly conducting global, and regional events focused on topics ranging from conflict resolution to innovation management.

Meisha Robinson is a brand strategist committed to generating innovative and impactful changes in organizations and communities.  As NPCA’s Communications Director, she supervises the publishing of NPCA’s quarterly print magazine WorldView, a biweekly enewsletter and manages NPCA’s online presence through the website and social media channels.

Before joining NPCA, Ms. Robinson oversaw marketing operations for the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.  Prior to her work at the George Washington University, she managed multi-million dollar brands for Campbell Soup Company and Reckitt Benckiser.  Ms. Robinson served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa and a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in South Africa, serving as a Marketing Manager for Special Olympics South Africa.

Ms. Robinson is also the Founder and Executive Director of I Am, We Are a youth development organization, piloting in South Africa.  She received a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Maryland Eastern Shore.