April 19, 2002 - Peace Corps Press Release: Ten New Country Directors Complete Training

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2002: 04 April 2002 Peace Corps Headlines: April 19, 2002 - Peace Corps Press Release: Ten New Country Directors Complete Training

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 2:58 pm: Edit Post

Ten New Country Directors Complete Training





Read and comment on this official Peace Corps Press Release on ten new Country Directors who will be heading overseas. As C. Payne Lucas and Kevin Lowther stated in their Peace Corps Classic "Keeping Kennedy's Promise": The success of the volunteers and therefor of the Peace Corps depends on the field staff. There is no greater honor than to serve as a country "rep." Our congratulations to the new Directors and best wishes for their success in their challenging new posts. Read the story at:

Ten New Country Directors Complete Training, Peace Corps Graduates New Personnel*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Ten New Country Directors Complete Training, Peace Corps Graduates New Personnel

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 19, 2002—Four women and six men were sworn in as Peace Corps Country Directors and recently graduated from training at the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters. The new country directors completed four weeks of intensive operational training and instruction which was capped off with a visit with Director Gaddi H. Vasquez who delivered brief remarks during graduation ceremonies.

Quoting former Texas Congresswoman and educator, Barbara Jordan, Vasquez inspired the new country directors insisting, “The imperative is to find what is right and to do it.” With their diverse experiences, the new country directors will make a valuable contribution to the future of the Peace Corps.

Africa Region

Tanzania

Ron Campbell brings 25 years of experience in managing, designing and implementing a variety of community development projects, including infrastructure projects, affordable housing projects, equity investment funds, and loan programs. He has worked on assignments in 16 countries, including the USA, and has gained knowledge in the corporate world, the non-profit world, as an independent consultant and in international consulting firms. In addition, he has served for 10 years as resident advisor in Southern Africa and Poland on USAID and World Bank projects. Ron comes to us from Edison Capital where he was the Director of Operation and Special Programs. Ron’s wife and son will accompany Jim from Irvine, California to Tanzania.

Gabon

With a focus on education, Marily Knieriemen was drawn to Africa by her desire to help others while learning about different cultures. She taught English to Hmong and Vietnamese refugees in her hometown of Minnesota. Her work managing development programs for Lutheran World Relief and CARE in Niger, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Zambia has given her experience in a variety of areas, such as project design and proposal-writing, staff development, donor relations, field visits, etc. This work involved sectors of agriculture, education, water, health, and micro finance. Marily has interacted with Peace Corps and Crisis Corps Volunteers in various contexts while teaching English as a Second Language to students in Cameroon.

Togo

A native to Washington, DC, Louise Krumm comes to the Peace Corps from Georgetown University where over a period of 27 years, she held a variety of positions involving language instruction. As professor, overseas project manager and, most recently, as Director of the Center for Language Education and Development, she has gained expertise in English as a Foreign Language, teacher training, pre-academic preparation, and cross-cultural orientation. She has lived and worked in China and Poland and has visited over 20 countries in work-related travel. We welcome her as a complete newcomer to the Peace Corps.

Cameroon

Robert Strauss has been a management consultant and facilitator for numerous private, public, domestic and international organizations. He is a three-time winner of the Lowell Thomas Award for excellence in travel writing and author of 65 documentary television programs for Discovery and its affiliated networks. In addition, he was Producer/Director of “Fortune Tell,” a short, romantic comedy aired on television and featured in film festivals. Robert’s experience with the Peace Corps is as a Volunteer in Liberia from 1978 – 1980, a regional recruiter in Denver and a consultant to Peace Corps programs in Belize, Nepal and Fiji. Prior to his appointment, Robert resided in San Francisco, California, with his wife and their five year old daughter.

Ghana

After serving as senior technical advisor with the Academy for Educational Development and senior research associate with the Institute for Instructional Research and Practice at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Howard Williams brings twenty years of international educational development experience to the Peace Corps. This includes design and capacity building for institutional and system-wide monitoring and evaluation systems. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1979 to 1981 and a Volunteer Leader from 1981 to 1982. Prior to his appointment, Howard resided in Lutz, Florida with his wife, Pamela, and their dog. All will join him in Ghana.

Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia Region

Kazakhstan

Kris Besch includes the Peace Corps on her diverse career path where she has worked as a manager of a young e-commerce division of Worldspan, a travel technology provider, as an organizing member of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and, most recently, as manager of strategy and operations of the travel division of an Internet consulting firm. Kris began this rich career as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching math to high school students in Swaziland from 1982 to 1984. Kris received a B.A. in International Relations from Bucknell University and a Master’s degree in International Management from Thunderbird in Arizona. Her husband, Dave, and three children will accompany her to Kazakhstan from Atlanta, Georgia.

Romania

Candy Mirrer contributes an impressive 25 years of international experience in economic development project management and management consulting to the Peace Corps. Working in 19 countries she has tackled issues in organizational effectiveness and change management associated with global expansion, privatization and technology to facilitate growth in domestic and international markets. Candy is featured in “Power Tools for Women in Business” (2001) and listed in Who’s Who of American Women. She is a member of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, and Women in Technology International. In addition, Candy served as a UN Volunteer in Iran. Prior to her appointment, Candy resided in San Francisco, California.

Inter-America and the Pacific Region

Guyana

Earl Brown has extensive experience with the Peace Corps as a Volunteer in Tanzania from 1964 – 1966, trainer in Tanzania, Country Director in Papua New Guinea (1992 –1994), in addition to various positions held at headquarters in Washington, DC. Earl was a management advisor for a USAID sponsored project in support of primary education reform. Prior to this, he spent four years as Lecturer/Director of International Programs in Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, NC. His experience also includes work as the Director of Field Operations and Overseas Programs for the African Development Foundation and as Chief of Party for the Tamale Land Use Project in Ghana. Earl is from Greenville, North Carolina. He and his wife for 35 years have a daughter, son and three grandchildren.

Paraguay

Jim Geenan has over 20 years of experience in international development. He established two integrated training centers in the Philippines and in Ecuador as well as a foundation on behalf of the corporate sector in the Amazon Rainforest, uniting conflicting factions of the community to focus on their respective development challenges. Jim has also worked on projects to resolve problems of high-risk youth through the development of community programs. He served with his wife as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Micronesia, worked a training and two stagings, and directed community development programs in Honduras and Ecuador. Jim is from Appleton, Wisconsin and is married with three adult children who reside in the U.S.

Honduras

Ron Ruybal’s career has enabled him to work in a variety of countries around the world as manger of environmental programs and to collaborate with such notable conservationists as Jane Goodall and others. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire from 1977 – 1979 and worked with Volunteers in various countries during his career in USAID. With a B.A. in Zoology, an M.S. in Natural Resources, and a Certificate of Tropical Agriculture, Ron has been committed to projects designed to improve management of natural resources in an effort to conserve biological diversity for the future. Ron and his wife, Maria Elena Pesantez, have two young daughters.



Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Peace Corps - Country Programs

PCOL418

.

By Gary Geoghegan (garygeo) on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 9:22 am: Edit Post

Congratulations to the new directors. You all sound qualified and interesting to me. All the best!

By Carol McCormac Wild on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 11:56 am: Edit Post

On a whim I decided to read the article on new directors. What luck! Hope you all enjoy your tours, but in particular I send good wishes to Marily. Carol Wild (and Paul, and Patrick now 6!! and Alan age 3) Good luck Marily and write if you get the chance. (We're still in Portland)

By Kathy Curran on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 12:27 pm: Edit Post

Congratulations to all the new Directors. Special note to Louise Krumm- You lucky gal! As you may have already heard, Togo is a terrific place. Please call on the Friends of Togo to help in any way.

By Jensy Patterson Richards (jensy) on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 4:49 pm: Edit Post

Hi Bob!

Congratulations - some pretty great stuff you've done - enjoy your assignment!!

Jensy Patterson Richards

By M Bunny Dalebout RPCV/Niger 83-85 Niger on Wednesday, May 08, 2002 - 2:53 pm: Edit Post

These are outstanding international workers, and I wish them success in their new posts. I'm especially pleased to note that many are RPCVs.

By Kirk West on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 11:21 pm: Edit Post

I am trying to contact Ron Ruybal. I am a friend from high school and desperately need to find an e-mail address for him.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: