<%Session("SectionID") = 5%> IAVE.org Board of Directors

 Board of Directors

President
Kang Hyun Lee, Korea, email

Former President
Liz Burns, Scotland, email

Vice-President
Rose Ekeleme, Nigeria, email

Founding President
Mary Ripley, United States, email

Honorary Board Members
Galina Bodrenkova, Russia, email
Leo Wong, Canada, email

Africa
Honore Sietso, Togo, email
Vitalis Anopue, Nigeria, email

Arab Nations
Milo Ghossein, Lebanon, email

Asia/Pacific
Kylee Bates, Australia, email
Amelita Dayrit-Go, Philippines, email

Europe
Colette Robert, France, email

North America
Kathi Dennis, USA, email

Latin America
Maria Teresa Gnecco de Ruiz, Colombia, email

Corporate Volunteering
Claudia McNamee, USA, email

International NGOs
Amanda Bowman, England, email

National Volunteer Centres
Tan Chee Koon, Singapore, email

Youth
Mark Molloy, Scotland, email
Yumiko Mase, Japan, email

IAVE National Representatives
Debbie Huang, Taiwan, email



Profiles
Kang Hyun Lee, President
Dr. KangHyun Lee is the Secretary General (CEO) of the Korea Council of Volunteering, an umbrella organization recognized by the Volunteering Act of 2005 providing leadership in the field of volunteering in Korea.  He has taught on volunteerism and volunteer management at several Universities.  Presently, he serves as a co-chair of the Civil Society Organization Solidarity (The largest umbrella civic organization) and Volunteer21 which he founded and served as the president. He also served as the Secretary General of the IYV2001 Korea Commission, and the regional director of Asia-Pacific and a board member of IAVE.  He hosted The 17th IAVE World Volunteer Conference held in Seoul, Korea from Nov. 11th to 15th, 2002. He served many other advisory positions or board memberships including World Cup 2002 Volunteer Committee, the National Commission for Rebuilding Korea, Korean Association of Volunteer Centers, Korea Volunteer Forum, and Korean Association of Nonprofit Organization Research.

Dr Lee introduced the modern concept of volunteer management in Korea and founded the first regional volunteer center, Federation of Volunteer Efforts in Busan, Korea. He has also been instrumental in passing the Volunteering Act of 2005 and guided Joongangilbo, one of the most influential and the largest newspaper, holding an Annual Volunteer Festivity similar to MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY in the U.S.A.


Liz Burns, Former President
After a long career in volunteering, both as a volunteer and as a professional, Liz Burns was elected President of IAVE in 2001. Her experience as a volunteer includes work abroad in international student work camps, long involvement with parent-run pre-school education, and work as a marriage guidance counsellor.

Liz began her professional life as a teacher of modern languages. After a career break when her children were young, Liz started a new career in the NGO sector. In 1983 she was appointed to develop a new organisation, Volunteer Development Scotland, which is the national centre for volunteering in Scotland.

Liz has served on a wide range of boards and committees in the NGO and government sectors, including the Joint Working Groups, which produced the first National Strategies for Volunteering in the UK, and the Compact between Government and the Voluntary Sector. Liz is a past President of the European Volunteer Centre. She has also published articles on volunteering in a wide range of journals and conference reports, and has spoken at conferences around the world.

Liz retired from her post in VDS in 2001, and in addition to her work as President of IAVE, she is Chair of the Scottish Child Psychotherapy Trust, and has just been appointed as first Chair of a new government advisory body, the Heritage Environment Advisory Council for Scotland.

Liz lives in Scotland. She has three grown children, three grandchildren and two step-
grandchildren.


Rose Ekeleme, Vice-President
Dr. Rose Ekeleme became a member of IAVE in 1988 when she was introduced to the organization by Mark Eke, a fellow Nigerian who had attended the World Conference in Washington DC. At a meeting summonded by Mark, she was elected Chairman and given responsibliity of building up the organization in Nigeria. Due to her effort and enthusiasm, today Nigeria has one of the largest numbers of internatinally registered IAVE members. Similarly, the number of associate memberships has grown tremendously.

Dr. Ekeleme has been an avid and dedicated volunteer from her youth, when she volunteered as a girl guide and member of the Red Cross to assist the disabled and the less prvileged. It is this same interest that prompted her to major in special education for her doctorate degree. She belongs to several philanthropic organizations in Nigeria, especially those catering to the interests of women.


Mary Ripley, Founding President
Mary Ripley is over 90 year old, and has been a volunteer for more than 70 of those years. Her main activities have always involved children and women. In 1970, a small group of friends gathered to plan an international conference for volunteers. This was the beginning of IAVE. Mary served as its first President, and is still volunteering, working with seniors. Click here to read a biography on Mary's remarkable life.


Vitalis Anopue, Africa
Vitalis Anopue is a Lawyer and a Volunteer. He is currently completing his Master of Laws (LL.M) at Abia State University in Nigeria.

In 1994, he became involved in youth volunteer movement as the pioneer President of Association for Youth Volunteers (AYV) at National High School in Nigeria. As an undergraduate, he founded Orange Humanitarian Club and in 2005, he became the Executive Director of Africa Arise Volunteer Association (AFAVA), a youth organization that advocates for youth volunteering through active engagement.Driven by his passion for volunteering, Vitalis became active in IAVE after attending the 18th IAVE World Conference in Barcelona, Spain n 2004. He was the IAVE Research Assistant in the survey on "Scope, Pattern and Extent of volunteering in Nigeria and Botswana".

At the 19th IAVE World Conference in New Delhi in 2006, Vitalis joined the IAVE Board as one of the two representatives fro Africa, as well as participated as a youth workshop speaker and facilitator. He is also the Youth Coordinator of IAVE Nigeria, the Legal Officer of World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) Nigeria, Abia State Correspondent for NGO Network Magazine and Coordinator of Abia State Mandate Protection Network (ASMAPNET), a coalition of civil society organizations that monitors electoral process to ensure a free, fair and credible election in Nigeria in 2007.


Milo Ghossein, Arab Nations
Milo Ghossein serves as an original member of the Arbitral Labour Council (conseiller Juridique), the Municipal Council of Duris-Bekaa, and the Anta Akhi (association for people with disablities). He is also an active member of Amnesty International, a coordinator of JMJ Group (Journees Mondiales de la Jeunesse), a Diocese Maronite du Bekaa. Milo lives in Beirut, Lebanon.


Kathi Dennis, North America
Kathleen Dennis currently serves as the IAVE Board Member representing North America. Originally from Detroit, Kathi came to Washington DC in 1994 to work at the Corporation for National and Community Service to help launch the National Civilian Community Corps. Over the past 13 years, Kathi has worked with a number of national and international programs developing training initiatives, recruiting members, and raising money. Kathi served as the first Executive Director for the International Association for Volunteer Effort, coordinating efforts in celebrating the International Year of Volunteers, 2001. Kathi joined Habitat for Humanity International early in 2005 to work with the HFHI National Service Programs and eventually helped in developing the national service response to dealing with the destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina.


Maria Teresa Gnecco de Ruiz, Latin America
Maria Teresa Gnecco is a Colombian social worker who graduated from Fordham University in New York where she received her masters degree in social work. She has been a volunteer since she was eighteen years of age, founding a community center in a poor neighborhood in Bogota, teaching and offering consultation to different organizations. From her early experience as volunteer she decided to study social work. She has been a university professor, dean of the school of social work of Javeriana University, the Jesuit university of Bogota. She was Director of the City Social Welfare Department, Director of a home for abandoned children. She was vice president for Latin America of the International Federation of Social Workers., she has published several professional articles and in 2005 she published a book on social group work. At present she works in Corporacion Minuto de Dios, a Colombian non governmental organization, as social director.

She attended the IAVE World Conference in Seoul, Korea where she presented a paper. In Bogota she belongs to different boards of directors of social welfare and social development organizations, she continues her work as a volunteer in private organizations.
Claudia McNamee, Corporate Volunteering

As Director of Citi’s Office of Global Volunteer Initiatives since July 2006, Claudia has been responsible for enhancing the organization’s employee volunteer efforts around the globe both in scope and volume.  By developing an infrastructure to support global volunteer opportunities and expand community service programs, Citi has assumed a leadership role in corporate volunteerism and community service around the world; making a difference because our 325,000 employees are there.  Claudia oversees the continued development of Citi’s global volunteer program and its five primary components: Volunteer Day, Volunteer Incentive Program, Volunteer Management System, Global Community Day, and Global Community All Year.

In addition to her official job responsibilities, Claudia is an active member of Citigroup’s Corporate Center Women's Organization (CCWO) Steering Committee, and in 2006 spearhead the first CCWO Leadership Development Program offered to senior women across all of Citi’s Corporate Center businesses.

Claudia holds a BA in Geology from Franklin and Marshall College, 1981 and an MBA from New York University, Stern School of Business in 2000. Claudia enjoys partnering with her husband of 18 years, to raise and train bird-hunting dogs and competes in regional walking field trials as well as horseback trials. She is an avid cyclist and cross-country skier.


Amanda Bowman, International NGOs
Amanda spent thirteen years in advertising and marketing in the UK at McCann-Erickson, Lintas, Sainsbury’s and Young & Rubicam before moving to the non-profit sector with Business in the Community (BITC), the leading UK corporate responsibility charity.  As a Campaign Director at BITC, Amanda spearheaded the development in the UK of employee community involvement and led campaigns in education and corporate community investment before moving to Diageo as Head of Community Involvement, UK and Europe.  At Diageo Amanda was responsible for helping the Diageo businesses across Europe develop strategies for community involvement and to develop partnerships with NGOs and the public sector – all designed to meet both business and community need.
 
In 2002, Amanda joined the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) to head up ENGAGE, the Forum’s joint international initiative with Business in the Community to promote employee engagement in communities. She is now Director of Corporate Partner Engagement as well as leading the Alcan Prize for Sustainability and overseeing IBLF’s programmes on employee engagement, experiential learning and Crossing Borders.  Amanda holds a postgraduate certificate in cross sector partnership.
 
Amanda practices what she preaches – as well as trying to keep a healthy work/life balance with two young daughters, she is a director of a small fundraising charity and adviser to the Women of the Year Foundation.  She is a member of the England Volunteering Development Council, on the IMPACT Corporate Social and Environmental Advisory Board and a mentor for the Partnership Brokers Accreditation Scheme.


Mark Molloy, Youth
Mark Molloy is one of  the youth representatives on the IAVE Board. Mark is a graduate of the University of Glasgow in Scotland where he graduated in Community Learning & Development.

Mark has been involved in youth volunteer for over 8 years both as a volunteer and as a worker in the field. Mark previously worked for Volunteer Centre Inverclyde for 3 years as their Youth Development Worker and was instrumental in establishing a number of youth led volunteering initiative locally and nationally. Mark was a lead member of the national Millennium Volunteers Advisory committee in Scotland. Mark is currently working for Inverclyde Council as part of their Community Learning & Development Youth Work Team.

Mark is the founder of Inverclyde Volunteering For Youths (IVY), a youth led voluntary organisation that provides opportunities for young people to participate in international volunteering opportunities.

At the IAVE World Volunteer Summit in Tokyo, Japan in 2001 Mark was part of the IAVE Youth Activity Monitoring Team. Mark has delivered workshops and been a speaker at the youth forums at the last 3 IAVE World Conferences and has led delegations of youth from Scotland to the last 2 World Conferences.


Leo Wong, Honorary Member
Leo Wong is one of two youth representatives on the IAVE Board. He is currently completing his PhD in Social Marketing at the University of Alberta in Canada, and is an active volunteer in his community. Leo was the founder of Youth One, a youth organisation that connected young people with their community through means such as the Internet and was involved as the Board Advisor to a provincial youth initiative called Alberta's YouthVOLUNTEER! His passion for youth is what has lead him to his involvement in organisations such as IAVE.


Debbie Huang, IAVE National Representatives
Debbie Huang currently serves as Secretary General to IAVE Taiwan, IAVE's national association and national representative organization in Taiwan. Debbie's first contact with IAVE was in 2000, when she attended the "16th IAVE World Volunteer Conference". Inspired by that event, she set out to cement the link between IAVE and Taiwan, helping establish IAVE Taiwan on December 31, 2001.

Committed to its mission of 'Volunteering Taiwan on a Global Track', IAVE Taiwan has organized delegations of Taiwanese volunteers to, and actively participated in IAVE's major international events. Over the past five years, IAVE Taiwan has helped IAVE international re-launch its website and establish the IAVE International Resource Center. In 2006, Debbie was invited by Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior to join a 'Needs Assessment for the Development of a National Volunteer Center in Taiwan'.

Debbie lectures in NGO Management and International Meeting Management at Diwan University, National First University of Science and Technology, and Nan Hwa University. She also has a long term commitment with the Volunteer Academy in Kaohsiung, giving speeches at various volunteer training programs.