Peace Corps names Nine New Country Directors
Nine New Country Directors Assume Responsibility
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 6, 2004 – Nine new country directors will be taking the helm this month following a swearing-in ceremony today at the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters. Seven of the country directors are new or returning to the Peace Corps, and two are being promoted from within the agency. The new country directors will be going to countries in the Peace Corps’ three regions across the globe – the Africa region, the Europe, Mediterranean, and Asia region, and the Inter-America and the Pacific region.
Peace Corps country directors are responsible for management and direction of all aspects of the Peace Corps program in their country of assignment. The country directors support volunteers in the field. They lend their skills and energy to meet development needs and promote a better understanding between the host country people and Americans.
The new country director assignments are as follows:
Africa Region
Mauritania - Obie Shaw
Prior to Obie Shaw’s appointment to country director for Mauritania, he worked for the Peace Corps post in Mauritania as the associate director for small enterprise development and information and communication technology programs. In addition, Shaw served five years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic and in Tunisia. Shaw has also served on several election monitoring missions with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shaw is an alumnus of the University of Utah - Salt Lake City, with degrees in economics, political science, and French. During his college years, Shaw served with the U.S. Air Force Reserves at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Cape Verde - Mathew Breman
Mathew Breman comes to his post in Cape Verde after serving in many different capacities in Africa. Breman worked in Guinea-Bissau as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1992-1994, and as a State Department intern at the U.S. embassy in 1996. His vast experience with the Catholic Relief Services includes team leader in Angola from 1999-2000, management quality technical advisor from 2001-2003, and most recently as the acting/deputy team leader of the Emergency Response Team. Breman has a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He is fluent in French, Portuguese and Guinean Creole.
Togo - George Monagan
George Monagan is returning to Peace Corps service after spending the last eight years living and working for the Boeing Company in Seattle. Monagan was responsible for developing and supporting programs focused on workforce diversity, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. Previously, Monagan served as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching high school science teachers in Benin. Monagan also worked for the Peace Corps as a training director in Ethiopia in 1996, a regional training officer in the Pacific/Asia region from 1994-1996, and a training officer in Nepal between 1991 and 1993. Monagan has a master’s degree in international administration and attended the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt. He also has a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y. and speaks fluent French.
Ghana - Madeline Mader
Prior to her post in Ghana, Madeline Mader was employed as program director for Citizens of Oregon’s Future from 2002-2004. From 1999 to 2003, Mader was program director, managing all operations of the innovative Kelly Community House in the Southeast Portland area. She was a Peace Corps pre-service training consultant in Mauritania (1990), Chad (1991) and Togo (1992). Mader served as associate Peace Corps director for education and health/water and sanitation in Ghana from 1993 to 1995, and as associate Peace Corps director for small enterprise development, micro-finance and primary education in Uganda from 1995 to 1998. She served as an education Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 1984 to 1986. Mader holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Political Science from Denison University and a master’s degree in international affairs/African studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. Mader is fluent in French.
Malawi - Pamela Martin
Pamela Martin’s previous experience with the Peace Corps includes two years as program training officer in western Russia and one year in Armenia. She has also supervised pre-service trainings in western Russia (1995, 2000), Russia Far East (1996), and Georgia (2001). Martin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 1978 to 1980. She has worked in academia for many years at the Teachers College, Columbia University, where she taught applied linguistics and coordinated the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. She also coordinated English teacher trainers in Russia and Ukraine. Martin has a bachelor’s degree in English from Vassar College, N.Y. She also holds a master’s degree in applied linguistics and a master’s and doctorate degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia Region
Moldova - David Reside
David Reside has over 20 years of experience in international development work, including that of program and training officer for the Peace Corps in Moldova since April of 2000. Reside has extensive experience in project management, project formulation, budget development, and implementation and evaluation of development projects. Prior to his position in Moldova, he managed and coordinated programs for refugees in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 1998-1999. Reside's educational background includes a master’s degree in business administration from the American School of International Management, Glendale, Ariz., a master’s of science in aquaculture from Auburn University, and a bachelor’s of science from the University of Illinois.
Macedonia - Diane Schmidt
In 2000, Diane Schmidt and her husband became Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine. After completing her service, Schmidt became the deputy director/program and training officer in Ukraine. Prior to the Peace Corps, Schmidt co-founded an ophthalmic pharmaceutical company, Ista Pharmaceuticals, in 1991. As vice president of development, she traveled the world setting up clinical trials and managing subsidiaries. Schmidt worked in various senior management positions with Allergan Pharmaceuticals for 10 years before Ista. Earlier in her career, Schmidt was a professor and department head at Pepperdine University, Calif., and taught at various University of California campuses. Schmidt holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California - Berkeley, a master’s degree in psychology from California State University in San Francisco, a doctorate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.
Inter-America and Pacific Region
Costa Rica - Terry Grumley
Terry Grumley comes to the Peace Corps as the former executive director for Solar Cookers International (SCI), which networks with solar cooking groups worldwide establishing projects in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Before SCI, Grumley worked over four years as Plan International Zambia country director, opening the first program there. He also worked as field director and country representative for Plan International in Haiti for five years, and for two years in the Dominican Republic. Grumley also served over two years as assistant director for the program in Honduras. Grumley and his wife served together as Peace Corps volunteers in Guatemala from 1979-1981. Before his Peace Corps service, Grumley served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and Puerto Rico. Grumley holds a master’s degree in management from Sonoma State, Calif., a bachelor’s degree in management, with a special minor in Latin American studies also from Sonoma State, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. Recently, Grumley earned his single subject teaching credential for Spanish from Sonoma State.
Guyana – Silas Kenala
Silas Kenala brings his talents from more than 21 years of experience at World Vision to the Peace Corps. Most recently at World Vision, Kenala held the positions of director of programs and country director for Malawi. Prior to that position, Kenala worked as executive assistant to the regional director for Southern Africa, sponsorship quality team leader, Southern Africa regional programs team leader, director of sponsorship field relations, and director of sponsorship ministry and funding. After earning his undergraduate degree, he worked for the Reserve Bank of Malawi, rising to the position of deputy manager for foreign exchange. Kenala received his high school diploma from Cambridge University, his bachelor’s degree in social science, with majors in economics and mathematics at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix, Ariz.
Since 1961, more than 171,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.
