Board of Directors

Board-elected (current term ends 2021)

Costa Rica 2006-2008

Maricarmen Smith-Martinez is a program manager at Bixal, a digital communications, design, and technology, company co-owned by an RPCV. As a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), she oversees a multi-year contract for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)national housing counselor certification program. Part of the Bixal leadership team, she also leads business development efforts for Bixal’s international development portfolio.

Prior to Bixal, Maricarmen served the Atlanta area as a certified Financial Education Specialist for CredAbility, providing instruction in financial literacy topics such as budget, credit, and housing. Previously, she worked in Family Services for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, managing the homebuyer application process and supporting families on the journey to homeownership. Committed to community engagement, Maricarmen has volunteered in various capacities: Atlanta Habitat Family Selection Committee, United Way Community Investment Volunteer, Finance Chair—New Leaders Council of Atlanta, and Atlanta Young Alumni. She earned her bachelor’s in Spanish and religion from Emory University in Atlanta and currently resides in Washington DC.

Maricarmen was elected to serve as Chair of the NPCA Board of Directors in 2018. She joined the Board in 2014, initially elected by NPCA affiliate groups to a term as Group Leaders Forum Coordinator and subsequently to a term as Affiliate Group Network Coordinator. She had previously served on the Board of Atlanta Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for three years, including two terms as president, and is currently active with the leadership of Friends of Costa Rica and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington DC. She was a Rural Community Development volunteer in Costa Rica from 2006-2008, working to strengthen community capacity in organizational leadership, financial management, and youth development projects.

Member-elected: Asia and the Pacific Division (current term ends 2020)

Micronesia 1990-92

Jed served as a teacher/health volunteer in Chuuk, Micronesia, 1990-92.  Like so many
others, it was a life changing experience that shaped his career.  Since completing Peace
Corps, service, Jed has worked in the U.S. and abroad on international
development/humanitarian assistance practice and policy and is currently at The Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria as the Senior Advisor to the Board Vice Chair.  

Prior to joining the Global Fund, Mr. Meline was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S.
Agency for International Development for almost 20 years in numerous positions overseas
and in Washington including as Staff Director for the House Democracy Partnership, a
bipartisan Commission of the US House of Representatives and as professional staff
member/Brookings Fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. At USAID
headquarters, he was Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Democracy, Conflict
and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau among other roles. Previously, he served for two
years on the National Security Council Staff as the Director for Health and Humanitarian
Assistance and as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. 

Overseas, his previous positions include Senior Development Advisor responsible for all
USAID programs in Libya, Deputy USAID Mission Director in Nepal and Health Officer in the Philippines and Tanzania. 

He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife Megan and two children.

Member-elected: West, Central, and Southern Africa Division (current term ends 2019)

Swaziland 1980-1984

Patrick Fine brings over 35 years of international development experience to his role as the Chief Executive Officer of FHI 360. Over more than 20 years living in Africa, and through assignments in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, Mr. Fine gained a deep appreciation of development challenges and the resilience and resourcefulness of communities confronting them. Mr. Fine’s areas of expertise include integrated development, education, private sector and livelihoods, donor coordination, community development, public–private partnerships and working in conflict and post-conflict settings.

Before joining FHI 360, Mr. Fine served as the Vice President for Compact Operations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), where he helped to shape nontraditional approaches to U.S. bilateral assistance through his oversight of large-scale investment partnerships with 24 countries. From 2006 to 2010, he was Senior Vice President of the Global Learning Group at the Academy for Educational Development (AED).

As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Fine served as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Africa Bureau and Mission Director in Afghanistan, where he led the rapid expansion of U.S. assistance for reconstruction and development.

Fine has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Career Service Award from the U.S. Government in 2006. In 2004, the Government of Senegal awarded Fine the Ordre du Mérite for outstanding contributions to education, and in 2011 he received the rank of Commander in the Order of Benin.

Board-elected (current term ends 2021)

Uzbekistan 2000-2001

Rhett Power co-founded Wild Creations in 2007 and quickly built the startup toy company into the 2010 Fastest Growing Business in South Carolina. Wild Creations was awarded a Blue Ribbon Top 75 US Company by the US Chamber of Commerce and named as one of Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing US Companies two years in a row. He and his team have won over 40 national awards for their innovative toys. He was a finalist for Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011 and was nominated again in 2012. He was recently named as one of the world’s top 100 business bloggers.

A member of the United States Department of State’s International Speakers Program, he travels the globe speaking about entrepreneurship, leadership, and management alongside the likes of Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann, AOL Founder Steve Case, and President Barack Obama. He has been featured in the Huffington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, The Hill, Time, and The Wall Street Journal.

Prior to founding Wild Creations, Rhett worked as an economic and small business development consultant for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), serving 7 years in the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia. Prior to that, he was Director of National Service Programs for Habitat for Humanity, which included being Habitat’s chief liaison with The White House, Congress, and the Corporation for National Service. He now has a rapidly growing coaching and consulting practice based in Washington DC.  

He served in the US Peace Corps and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. In addition to being the co-author of the best-selling book One Million Frogs, Rhett is a regular contributor to Inc.com, CNBC, Forbes, and Success Magazine. 

His best-selling book THE ENTREPRENEUR’S BOOK OF ACTIONS: Essential Daily Exercises and Habits for Becoming Wealthier, Smarter, and More Successful published by McGraw Hill is in stores now.

Affiliate Group Network Coordinator (current term ends 2020)

Vanuatu 2002-2004

Mariko Schmitz is Affiliate Group Network Coordinator and Executive Committee member with the NPCA. Prior to her volunteer position, Mariko has served as NPCA liaison and Emerging Leaders Group program manager with Peace Corps, where she, among other activities, assisted with bimonthly Career Fairs, career panels and the Fallen Peace Corps Volunteer memorial. She also served on the board of RPCV/W for three years including two as President. She has worked with JICA and consulted with NPCA, CorpsAfrica, Millennium Challenge Corporation among others.  

Outside of international development work, Mariko’s curiosity for technical things has led her to other areas of public service. She currently works as a contractor/Policy Analyst at the Performance Accountability Council Program Management Office (PAC PMO) Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Line of Business (SSCLoB), which is an interagency group dedicated to reforming the policies that dictate how the government selects trustworthy employees. In her role, she supports stakeholder management and operations within the PAC, as well as the PAC’s legislative affairs. She also worked as Editor-in-Chief for the Forum on Nuclear energy, a bilingual US and Japanese website that hosted research and news on development in nuclear energy and trade.

Mariko has a BA in Asian Studies/Anthropology from Vassar College and an MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Ex Officio - President, National Peace Corps Association

Guatemala 1988-1991

Glenn Blumhorst leads the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), a national membership organization for individuals influenced by the Peace Corps experience, whose mission is “to connect and champion Peace Corps community members in ‘bringing the world home.’”

Glenn is a senior corporate executive and international development professional with 25 years of worldwide experience including headquarters and overseas management roles. His credentials include non-profit organization leadership and the management of complex programs and initiatives that have built stable and prosperous communities through strengthening human and institutional capital, enhancing local governance and services delivery, increasing access to licit economic opportunities and conserving landscapes in conflictive and disrupted environments.

Glenn launched his career with the Peace Corps, serving as an agriculture extension Volunteer in Guatemala from 1988-91. Working with 18 rural Mayan Indian communities in the central highlands, he helped increase the economic capacity of 650 smallholder families through alternative technologies, production diversification, and resource conservation practices.

Prior to joining the NPCA, Glenn was the Chief of Party and Country Representative for ACDI/VOCA in Colombia, where he provided startup and early implementation leadership for a major USAID-funded program that enhanced the social, economic and political inclusion of ethnic minorities in Colombia. All told, Glenn worked with ACDI/VOCA for 18 years in a variety of leadership and technical roles. In carrying out short-term assignments, he has worked in 28 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Glenn holds both graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia: a Master of Public Administration, with an emphasis on International Development Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with an emphasis in Agricultural Economics.

When not working, Glenn enjoys photography and flying – his photos have been published in multiple media and he is a licensed private pilot.

Member-elected: Northeast Division (current term ends 2021)

Ethiopia 2009-2013

Nikole Allen is a lecturer of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health and a program director at the Yale School of Medicine currently overseeing health and hospital management and preclinical education projects under the Yale-Liberia Health Workforce Program. In this role, Ms. Allen oversees the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects. Ms. Allen previously managed the Health and Social Care Strategic Leadership Program with the National Health Service in England, the Hospital Management and Leadership Program for public hospitals in China and oversaw implementation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Leadership, Management and Governance Project’s Senior Leadership Programs in Africa and Southeast Asia. Ms. Allen has worked with teams and individuals from numerous countries and backgrounds addressing complex problems using strategic problem-solving methods. Before joining Yale University, Ms. Allen worked with the Ethiopian Hospital Management Initiative at the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Her work focused on improving key performance indicator reporting among hospitals, including measuring patient and staff satisfaction, the uptake of patient satisfaction best practices and the implementation of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist.
Ms. Allen holds a B.A. and Leadership Certificate from Western Oregon University
and an M.P.H. from the University of Washington Department of Global Health. Ms.
Allen served in the Peace Corps as a Health and HIV/AIDS Community Advisor in
Northern Ethiopia with her husband from 2009-2013. She is delighted to serve on
the NPCA Board of Director representing the Northeast Region.

Board-elected (current term ends 2019) 

Kenya 1971-1973

John Henry Ambrose was born in Memphis, Tennessee.  He attended Hyde Park Elementary and Douglass High Schools.  Hank began his undergraduate education at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  He holds a B.S. degree in mathematics from the State University of New York, College at Brockport, where he completed the Peace Corps/College Degree Program; an M.S. in mathematical sciences (statistics) from the University of Cincinnati, where he was a teaching assistant; and an M.B.A. from The George Washington University School of Business where he completed the inaugural Executive MBA Program.

Hank is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer after serving 2 ½ years as a lecturer in mathematics at Kenyatta College, Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa.

He began his professional career with AT&T in New York as a staff specialist in the Business Research Division.  Hank has over 36 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry with AT&T, Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, Bell Atlantic, Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, Verizon Washington, DC and Verizon Maryland, having held various assignments of increasing responsibility in business research and state and federal regulatory matters.  He retired as Vice President, State Public Policy, Verizon Maryland and Washington, DC.

Hank is a former lecturer at Temple University and former adjunct professor at Strayer University.

He is a member of the Dean’s Encore Circle Board of Advisors for The George Washington University School of Business and former member of the Advisory Board for the District of Columbia Building Industry Association, the Advisory Board for the D.C. Children’s Trust Fund and the Emory University Alumni Board.

He is an active member of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Sterling, VA where he currently serves as Assistant Treasurer, Secretary-Treasurer of the Deacon Ministry, Sunday School Teacher, Chair of the Constitution Ministry, and member of the Budget Ministry.

Hank is married to Emma Ambrose, and has three sons — John Henry Ambrose Jr., James Hampton Ambrose, and Jared Hawkins Ambrose.

Member-elected: West Division (current term ends 2020)

Federated States of Micronesia 1969-70

Keith served in the Peace Corps upon graduating from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor of Art in Literature. He became involved in management with two national retail chains. His last corporate assignment was as a Director of Human Resources where he was charged with personnel responsibilities for over 300 stores. In 1987 became the proud owner of a Proforma and for the next two decades provided marketing solutions to local businesses, which included promotional, print and multimedia products.  In the summer of 2004 Keith’s Mother had fallen and broken her hip. Faced with the challenge of managing his aging parents, Keith made a decision to change career directions one more time and serve the senior community. He established Visiting Angels in June of 2005. Keith has completed a comprehensive course on priority senior issues conducted by the Society of Certified Senior Advisors. He holds the certification as a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA).  In March of 2016 Keith was elected to the Personnel Commission with The Livermore Area Recreation  and Park District and in June of 2017, he was elected to the Board of Directors for the National Peace Corps Association.  

Board-elected (current term ends 2019) 

Mali 1991-1993

Sandra Bunch is senior director of Learning & Innovation at ACDI/VOCA, a nonprofit international development group that focuses on agricultural development and food security, where she currently leads development of the company’s project learning, communications and information systems.

Prior to joining ACDI/VOCA, Ms. Bunch oversaw public relations and communications at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) (2004-2009), an advocacy and research organization that applies a gender lens to international development. While there, she worked on several global campaigns, including the Nike Foundation’s Girl Effect, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative and a National Geographic special on child marriage. She also supported several development programs, including The Agriculture-Nutrition Advantage and Parliamentarians for Women’s Health. Prior to that, she worked at Bread for the World Institute (2001-2004), where she managed the research, writing and policy analysis for the organization’s annual publication on global food security and hunger, including the 2003 report, Agriculture in the Global Economy.

Ms. Bunch spent 10 years as a print journalist for several Gannett Co. daily U.S. newspapers and as managing editor at Thompson Publishing Group, where she managed several print and online publications related to U.S. public health and food policy and law.

Ms. Bunch has a master’s degree in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University, and earned a B.S. in journalism and certificate in African Studies from Northwestern University. She served as an agricultural extension Peace Corp volunteer in a village outside of Segou, Mali.

Board-elected (current term ends 2020)

Thailand 1991-1993

Bridget Davis graduated from Loyola University and was a magazine writer and editor for four years before she joined the Peace Corps and served in Thailand from 1991-1993 as a TEFL volunteer.  Upon her return to her hometown of Chicago, Bridget became part of the Urban Teacher Corps and taught writing in Chicago’s inner city public school system. Thanks in part to a Peace Corps Fellowship, she also earned her Masters Degree in Education with a focus on curriculum development from DePaul University.  She then worked as an Associate Director for Wharton Executive Education in Philadelphia.  She also worked for a distance learning company in Baltimore with Columbia’s Teachers College and the University of Pennsylvania.  

Bridget currently lives in Northern California, has two daughters and is married to Cully Davis (Peace Corps Thailand 1991-1993) who she met during her Peace Corps service.  Bridget served on her daughters’ school Foundation Board for six years.  She also supports various conservation efforts in Northern California and several educational causes focused on providing opportunities for underserved youth.

She loves hiking through the Redwoods of California and traveling the world with her family.

Board-elected (current term ends 2021) 

Headquarters Staff 2012-2015

Griffin is the president and chief executive officer of Global Government and Industry Partners, LLC (2GIP), an advisory services firm specializing in facilitating public, private partnerships, ICT for Development and a range of international development services. Griffin recently held the position of Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Peace Corps, appointed by President Obama as a Senior Foreign Service Officer. In this capacity, Griffin was responsible for developing and executing the agency’s strategy to engage partners to support the thousands of Volunteers in their efforts to bring grassroots development solutions to more than 60 countries around the world. With partnerships with over 200 non-governmental organizations, universities, private sector firms, and other federal agencies, Griffin led a team of practitioners responsible for the development and management of Peace Corps’ partnerships with USAID, Rotary International, National Peace Corps Association, KOICA, Coca Cola, Google, Arizona State University, amongst many others.

Prior to his tenure at the Peace Corps, Mr. Griffin spent 14 plus years at Microsoft Corporation working in various roles and leadership positions, including roles in consulting, operations, and sales. As Director of International Development, Mr. Griffin had responsibility for Microsoft’s strategy for aid, trade and finance agencies, including United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), etc. In this role, Mr. Griffin developed innovative public, private partnership models to drive Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) solutions to developing countries. Mr. Griffin is noted for brokering a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Microsoft, USAID, PEPFAR and the MCC in 2007 that facilitated broader, cross-agency ICT partnerships around the world.

As a passionate development professional, he has served on the board of directors for many international affairs organizations, including the United States Global Leadership Campaign (USGLC), the Society for International Development (SID), Washington DC chapter and ATHGO. He served as a corporate representative to the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) and in 2008, Mr. Griffin was appointed by the former USAID Administrator, Henrietta H. Fore, to serve on the Advisory Committee on Foreign Voluntary Aid.

Mr. Griffin is a native of Washington DC, and was named by the Washington Business Journal as one of the region’s top minority business leaders of the year for 2008 and named one of the top 40 international development professionals under 40 by the Devex Group in 2010.

Board-elected (current term ends 2020)

Costa Rica 1964-1966

Chip Levengood, a retired international investment banker, served as a Rural Community Development Volunteer in Costa Rica from 1964 to 1966. His experience in the Peace Corps led him to an international career which has included living and working throughout Latin America and Europe.
 

In addition to his service on the NPCA Board, Levengood is the Chairman of Relief International (RI) a medium size international ngo which works in about 20 of the most fragile countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. RI focuses on enterprise development, WASH, education, and health, principally for women and girls. This Spring Chip stepped down as the Chairman of US Vote Foundation after 10 years of service; he remains a Board member. Originally formed as Overseas Vote Foundation to assist US citizens abroad and the military to vote, US Vote provides voting services for all US citizens, leases data to civic society organizations and advocates for increased participation by voters. Chip also is the Co-President of the Yale Club of Spain and coordinates interviews of all Spanish and Portuguese applicants for undergraduate admission.     
 

Chip has one wife, Katharine, two sons and three grandchildren. He and Katharine split their time between Philadelphia and Madrid.

Member-elected: The Americas Division (current term ends 2019)

Honduras 2005-2007, Peace Corps Response Panama 2015-2016

Katie served with the US Peace Corps in Honduras from 2005-2007 working with environmental health and municipal development. After returning to the US, she was awarded a Shriver Peaceworker Fellowship, which allowed her to obtain a Masters degree in Intercultural Communication and Hispanic Studies from University of Maryland Baltimore County. She recently served with Peace Corps Response in Panama from 2015-2016 working to deliver remote medical care and developing a community health worker training program for indigenous communities in the Bocas del Toro region.

For over 10 years, Katie has worked with Baltimore’s Latino community in the fields of health, recreation, education, and community development. She is currently the Program Director and Hispanic Liaison for the Friends of Patterson Park, which protects and advocates for a public urban park by providing free programing and supporting open space initiatives. For the past four years, Katie has served as a commissioner on the Mayor of Baltimore’s Hispanic Commission, where she sits on the health sub-committee.

For many years, Katie has volunteered with Global Citizen Year, interviewing and selecting fellows to participate in a gap year abroad, as well as helping to develop a cross-cultural and re-entry training program. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Improv Group (BIG), where she is also a performer, and has sat on the Latino Advisory Board of the Walters Art Museum.

Along with an M.A. in Intercultural Communication, Katie holds a B.S. in Psychology and Spanish from Towson University, where she was a scholar-athlete playing tennis. She is passionate about her work facilitating cross-cultural understanding, volunteerism and the positive role that public parks play in community health and wellness.

Board-elected (current term ends 2020)

Zimbabwe 1997-1999

Robert Nolan is executive director of communications and content strategy at Carnegie Corporation of New York, where he oversees external relations, social media, and content. 

Previously he was editor-in-chief of new media at the Foreign Policy Association, and producer of the PBS television series Great Decisions in Foreign Policy. In this role, he interviewed heads of state, Nobel laureates, foreign ministers, and other key players on the global stage. He also produced the 2009 documentary "From Pharaohs to Facebook: Egypt Today," and has been a frequent contributor of opinion and analysis for U.S. News & World Report and The Huffington Post.

A former Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe, Robert is the author of "The Quest for African Unity: 50 Years of Independence and Interdependence," a monograph about the African Union, and he’s written extensively on African politics, transatlantic relations, the United Nations, and public engagement on U.S. foreign policy.

Robert successfully completed a term membership at the Council on Foreign Relations , and is an active member of the National Peace Corps Association and Network 20/20. He is an alumnus of the European Union Visitors Program, served as a U.S. delegate to the Atlantic Council’s “Young Atlanticist” convening at the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, and was awarded a Democracy Fellowship by the Polish Foreign Ministry.

Robert holds an MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College.

Member-elected: Upper Midwest Division (current term ends 2019)

Phillipines 2005-2006

Mary Owen is a writer, editor and photographer who has worked in journalism for 15 years. Currently, she is a digital content producer for ABC7 in Chicago. Mary ​​also is a copy editor for the Global Press Journal, which features news stories by women around the world.

Previously, she worked as a metro reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Detroit Free Press, covering primarily crime, courts and politics. Mary left journalism for three years to work in education. She was the Chicago program manager for the national non-profit, the News Literacy Project, which teaches youth about how to be smarter news consumers in the Digital Age.

In Peace Corps, she was an education resource volunteer in the Philippines, working at a rural high school in Lobo, Batangas in Luzon, and also developed professional development trainings for journalism teachers across the island nation. She has been active with the Chicago Area Peace Corps Association for more than 7 years and currently serves as co-vice president. During her tenure with CAPCA, she has spearheaded dozens of fundraisers, social events and community service projects, as well as oversee the organization's social media presence.

Mary was a founding board member of the Stewart House Urban Farm in Gary, Ind., and briefly owned 7 backyard chickens and a pound of vermicomposting worms. She is a Detroit native who graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in political science and earned an M.P.A. from Indiana University-Northwest in Gary, Ind.

Member-elected: Southern Tier Division (current term ends 2020)

Philippines 1975-77

Tom was elected to the NPCA board in June 2017. He represents NPCA’s southern region and is proud to acknowledge support by the First Coast Returned Peace Volunteers (FCRPCV) affiliate group, the 2017Loret Miller Ruppe Award winners.

Tom is the Principal Scientist for Innovative Systems for Education and Environmental Technology (ISET), a consulting group focusing on environmental chemistry, risk assessment, and online education.  He and his wife Beatriz founded ISET in 2017 after he retired from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). He led a multidisciplinary team for 19 years at the agency’s Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory evaluating how conservation practices and agronomic management control the fate and transport of pesticides and other agrochemicals at field, farm, and watershed scales. Tom has published and lectured widely on the topic and continues to be a leader in the field. He is also a member on the Board of Directors of the Suwannee Riverkeeper®an affiliate of the Waterkeeper® Alliance. His passions include cooking, music, travel, and enjoying the outdoors by kayak, bicycle, and foot. 

Prior to joining USDA-ARS, Tom was a graduate faculty member/research scientist at the University of Massachusetts, a consultant with a practice in environmental chemistry, and a senior chemist at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Throughout this period he focused on quantifying and evaluating the risks of environmental petroleum contamination traveling throughout the USA, Canada, the Middle East, and Latin America lecturing on the topic. 

Tom received a BS in Chemistry (University of Maine), MS in Soil Chemistry (Cornell University), and PhD in Environmental Chemistry (University of Massachusetts in Amherst). He and Beatriz divide their time between homes in Valdosta, Georgia and Tunja, Colombia.

Like many RPCVs Tom attributes his PCV Service to providing insights and opportunities that led to a rewarding professional career that has spanned 37 years.

Member-elected: MidAtlantic and Nationwide Division (current term ends 2021)

Guinea 1987-1989

Based in Los Angeles, California, Edward van Luinen, Ed.D is Founder and Accelerator of Global Talent Builders LLC, a worldwide consulting firm offering clients talent and transformation strategies, plans, toolkits and leadership experiences that accelerate organizations, leaders and teams. Offering our services in English, French and Spanish, Global Talent Builders is a team of seasoned, global business leaders with strategic leadership and change know-how, modern content and tools, and access to networks and resources across multiple industries and geographies.

Edward has twenty years of successful leadership experience in global human resources specializing in talent management and organizational transformation. His experience includes global Fortune 100 and 500 companies (Disney, Sony, Avon Products) and smaller, entrepreneurial companies (Heineken USA, IAC, DoubleClick).

Edward received a Bachelor of Arts in French from Calvin College. Post college, he was a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa, serving as a high school English teacher. It is during his Peace Corps experience where Edward discovered his enduring passion and life focus: helping organizations and leaders be and do more. After his service, Edward received a Peace Corps Fellowship at Columbia University Teachers College, graduating with a Master of Arts in International Education Development. In 2016, he obtained his doctorate in organizational leadership from Pepperdine University.

An engaging public speaker, Edward presented at Human Capital Institute conferences on a new and innovative model for employee development and engagement. He speaks Dutch, French, German and Spanish and had a successful expatriate assignment in Italy. As for his publications, Edward co-authored a white paper “Is This a Good Fit?: The Connection Between Organizational Culture and Communication Styles.” He also published a scholarly journal article entitled “Strategies for Cross-Cultural Virtual Team Leadership.” 

Edward is delighted to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Peace Corps Association to advance Peace Corps’ third goal of bringing the world back home to the United States.