Board of Directors

Profiles

Kang Hyun Lee
President

Dr. KangHyun Lee is the Co-Chair of the Board 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 USA.

Kylee Bates
Vice-President

Kylee joined the board of IAVE in March 2008. She has been active in IAVE since 2001 when she was seconded by the Australian Government to work for Volunteering Australia during the International Year of Volunteers. As Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Volunteering Australia from 2003, Kylee also served as Australia’s national representative to IAVE and had the opportunity to represent her country at three world volunteer conferences.

At the 2008 World Volunteer Conference in Panama Kylee was appointed by the board to Chair its Membership Committee. Kylee jointly organised the successful Volunteer Research Forums held as part of both the Panama and New Delhi conferences.

During her time at Volunteering Australia Kylee helped to drive a number of key national projects on volunteering, including the development of ‘A National Agenda on Volunteering: Beyond the International Year of Volunteers’, the development of a Volunteering Research Framework, and the Costs of Volunteering Taskforce which successfully argued for government recognition of the increasing costs incurred by volunteers in volunteering.

Kylee has worked for the Australian Government in a variety of policy, program and service delivery roles, most recently as a Senior Adviser on Indigenous Policy in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She currently works as National Program Manager Employment Services with Mission Australia, one of Australia’s largest and most well-known community services organisations.

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.

Honore Sietso
Africa

One of the two representatives on the IAVE board for the Africa region, Honore Sietso was born on 13rd February 1972 in Togo.

In 1987, at the age of 16 years old, he started working with the only volunteering organization allowed in Togo before the year 1990, founded by German missionaries.

He studied economics at the University of Lome Togo, and was one of the founding members of VAD-Togo in 1995. In 1998, he became Secretary General of VAD-Togo.

Honore has been a member of IAVE since 1999 and a board member since 2008.

Marcel Umesi
Africa

Marcel Chukwunyere Umesi, a BSc. degree holder in Education-Social Studies, started volunteering very early in his youth as he helped the 'elderly' in his local community by bringing together youths to fetch firewood and water for them.

As local youth leader, he mobilized and influenced his fellow youths to adopt a regular clean up exercise within the community which has remained even till date.

He is the current IAVE Youth President who was elected into office in 2006.

He has been involved in many volunteer activities which include leading the IAVE youths to visit many destitute homes within Umuahia, Abia State and its environs. During such visits the youth usually take to those homes some food items, toiletries and used clothing. He also leads the youths periodically to clean up the premises of the Federal Medical Center (hospital), here in Umuahia Abia State.

Other such places that he organizes the youths to go for clean up exercise includes The School for the Blind in Umuahia, Abia State, because this is a school where even some of their teachers themselves are blind too, so any form of assistance given to them at any time goes a long way in helping them have a better study environment. At such visits the IAVE youths also donates items for their basic necessity.

As a team player he has also led the IAVE youths to community outreach where issues like HIV/AIDS were discussed and its hazards and prevention shared to the community dwellers, which has gone a long way in promoting IAVE within the rural communities.

He has been part of activities marking World Volunteer Day. He has represented IAVE in some summits and has been part of IAVE fund raising committees.

He is a vibrant young man whose attitude to work will help promote the growth of IAVE worldwide, especially within the African region.

Patricia Nabti
Arab Nations

Dr. Nabti is the Founder and Director of the Association for Volunteer Services, established “to promote, facilitate, and improve volunteering and community service throughout Lebanon and beyond” (www.avs.org.lb). Its programs have included a volunteer directory (6 editions), volunteer opportunities fairs, consulting and training on volunteer management, and Global Youth Service Days, for which AVS has been the National Lead Agency since 2001.

Dr. Nabti wrote the book, Learning to CARE: Education, Volunteering, and Community Service in 2006 (the Arabic edition was published in January, 2009). Learning to CARE is a 400-page manual for schools to develop effective service programs. She has provided training on school service programs in Lebanon, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates and has served as a consultant and trainer on broader issues of volunteerism in Lebanon, Egypt, and Kuwait. Dr. Nabti attended four IAVE world conferences (Amsterdam, Seoul, Barcelona, and New Delhi) and one Asia-Pacific regional conference (Hong Kong). She is a cultural anthropologist with a focus on the Arab World, and has traveled extensively in the region.

C. Indira Dasgupta
Asia-Pacific

Photo and Bio coming...

Amelia Dayrit-Go
Asia-Pacific

Dr. Amelita Dayrit-Go is an educator, businesswoman, volunteer leader, and a mother. Dr. Go holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, a master’s degree and a doctorate in Education. She completed an executive course on Governance for Non-Profit Excellence in Harvard Business School in Boston Massachusetts, USA.

As a volunteer leader, she was elected President then Chairman of the Philippine Association for Volunteer Effort, and co-chaired the IAVE Regional Conference held in Manila in 2003. A girl scout through and through, she was the National President of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Region and later Vice Chairman of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. For 15 years Dr. Go served the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations as a board member then Vice-President General. At present, she is the President of the Catholic Women’s League of the Philippines, Vice-President of the National Council of Women of the Philippines and a board member of the University of the Philippines’ Center for Women’s Studies.

As an educator, she served as a school administrator and supervisor of the Department of Education. Dr. Go was also a director of the Philippine Postal Bank. Her awards and citations include the Papal Award ”Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice”; 1999 Achiever Awardee from Who’s Who in Nation Building in the Philippines; Silver Elephant Award from the President of India and the Bharat Girl Scouts and Guides (1997), and Outstanding Volunteer and Woman Leader Awards from government and non government organizations.

Eugen Baldas
Europe

Eugen was elected to the IAVE board as regional representative from Europe in September 2010. With IAVE, Eugen tries to connect global and European challenges in voluntarism.

As the head of the German Caritas Association’s Volunteer Sector, Eugen set up 16 volunteer centers in 1996; growing to the present 60. The centers have specialized initiatives to involve more people in volunteering and generational interaction, by engaging the disabled, the unemployed, and senior citizens in meaningful work. Meanwhile, the Virtual Consulting for Volunteering initiative is linked to face-to-face consulting across volunteer centers. In 2010/11, Eugen also represented German Caritas at the national coordination office to put the “European Year of Volunteering 2011” into practice.

Eugen’s published books include: The Shape of Voluntary Service in Europe: Cooperation in Theory and Practice (2001); Studies in Voluntary Services (2003), Volunteer Centers (2007); Caritas Volunteer Survey (2008); Volunteers Worldwide (2008), Utilizing Talent – Triggering Solidarity (2009); Community Organizing (2010).

As an individual volunteer, Eugen is a board member and incumbent president of the international “BeSo” association (Begegnung und Solidarität e.V./ Encounters with Solidarity), organizing full-time voluntary service overseas.

David Styers
North America

David Styers serves as Treasurer of IAVE and is a Senior Governance Consultant for BoardSource, the national center for nonprofit boards in the United States, where he provides project management, consulting, and training services to major clients on governance and emerging trends and developments in the nonprofit sector.

Prior to joining BoardSource in 2007, David served as Senior Director at the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, the National Volunteer Center in the U.S., where he led the work to build capacity and national partnerships for more than 360 affiliate Volunteer Centers across the country.  During his nearly eight years at Points of Light, David delivered workshops at the IAVE World Conferences in 2004 and 2006 and provided extensive, on-site consulting in the starting of the National Volunteer Centers in Romania and the United Arab Emirates.

David is an active volunteer and serves on the boards of other volunteering organizations, including as President of Volunteer Alexandria, his local Volunteer Center in Alexandria, Virginia, and as Vice Chair of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA).  He is a summa cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Religion from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and is a Certified Pew Partnership for Civic Change Leadership Trainer and Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute Trainer.

Dacil Acevedo
Latin America

Dacil Acevedo, is PHD © in International Relations. Currently she is partner/director of STRATEGO, a consultancy firm specialized in sustainability and social responsibility in Latin America based in Panama City.

With 23 years of experience as a volunteer, in year 2001 she received the “Young Civil Leader Award” from the Asia Pacific Public Affairs Forum (APPAF) and the Taiwanese American Foundation (TAF) for her contributions to the global civil society. She has extended experience in the volunteerism field as a researcher -Washington University in St. Louis, Global Service Institute, Innovations in Civic Participation-, as a consultant for international organizations -Inter American Development Bank –IADB- and UNICEF Latin America-, for companies -for its corporate volunteer programs-and for governments. Her work has been published in specialized journals -Service Enquiry-. In occasion of the International Year of Volunteerism (IYV 2001) she was key in promoting the celebration of the Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) in the Latin American region. Later on, she prepared the first ever Latin American and Caribbean Directory of Volunteer Organizations as per request of the IADB.

She has been engaged in IAVE since year 2004, when she was jury at the Youth Conference at the XIX IAVE World Conference held in Barcelona. From 2005-2010 she has been the IAVE National Representative in Panama, participating in all the IAVE World Conferences since then. From this position, she was the lead at the local organizing committee for the XXI IAVE World Volunteer Conference that took place in Panama in year 2008. She is currently the Latin America Representative at the Board of Director of IAVE for the period 2011-2013.

Sam Santiago
Corporate Volunteering

Sam Santiago serves as the Director of American Giving and Vice President of the American Giving Charitable Fund, Inc. for AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, American Eagle Airlines and the American Airlines Credit Union. Originally from Puerto Rico, Sam obtained his early education at the Alliance Française and his undergraduate studies in Finance and Human Resources at the University of Puerto Rico.
A 21-year veteran in the airline and hospitality industries, he brings to the table experience in the fields of airline operations, corporate volunteering, human resources, workplace giving, diversity and corporate social responsibility, among others. His current role at AMR makes him responsible for the strategic development and implementation of support programs for global employee giving and volunteering efforts.

Sam started performing community service in the early '90s through a faith-based organization with focus on the deaf and hearing-impaired population in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. After years of personal and corporate engagement as a volunteer, he joined AMR's corporate responsibility practice in 2006. In 2007, he launched American Airlines' first global volunteering program - "American Volunteers". Now under the new "American Giving" umbrella, this employee volunteer program provides community service support to more than 80,000 employees, family and friends in over 250 cities in 40 countries around the globe.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of IAVE, Sam serves in leadership roles and/or on the Board of Directors of organizations such as the Out & Equal, the Global Corporate Volunteer Council, OUT For Work, the American Cancer Society, the Center for Non Profit Management and the Volunteer Center of North Texas. Sam has also volunteered for the National Latino Elected Officers Association, Junior Achievement of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Puerto Rican Association of Dallas, the Latino Cultural Center and the Inaugural SMU LGBT Student Mentoring Program. Earlier this year, he led the launch of the first ever mentoring program for the Hispanic/Latin Employee Resource Group at AMR and was recently selected to join the new AA/SMU Leadership Program for mentorship of Latino students.

Sam has spoken extensively on the subjects of diversity, workplace equality, corporate social responsibility, employee volunteering and workplace giving at Texas Christian University, the Business Council for the Arts, Rice University, Disney Resorts, University of North Texas, the European Volunteer Centre, Southern Methodist University and other national and international institutions.

Sam is a resident of Dallas, Texas, USA with his long-time partner, Alvian, and the proud step-father of three adult children and the step grandfather of one-year old August Rose.

Wendy Osborne
National Volunteer Centres

Wendy Osborne OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Volunteer Now Wendy is a graduate of the University of Ulster and her early career was spent in the Museum service. In 1988 she moved to work in the voluntary & community sector and in 1990 she took up a post with a project based in the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action. This project developed into a new national volunteer center, the Volunteer Development Agency. Since its launch on 1 April 1993 the Agency developed into a key leadership organisation for the promotion and development of volunteering in Northern Ireland. In April 2010 Wendy was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Volunteer Now, a new organisation formed as a result of the merger of nine local Volunteer Centers and the Volunteer Development Agency. The new organisation seeks to provide a cohesive and creative regional to local service to recognize, encourage and support the contribution of individuals giving time to enhance the well being of their communities. 

Wendy has been actively involved at a Northern Ireland and UK policy level in relation to the promotion and development of volunteering. Wendy has also given leadership to developing and delivering volunteer management best practice and quality standards. She remains an enthusiastic volunteer and over the past 35 years has been involved in a range of volunteer activities, from youth work to adult literacy tutoring; from establishing a local history society to school governor. This voluntary involvement has made a vital contribution to her personal and professional development. In 2000 Wendy was awarded the OBE for services to volunteering.

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.

Daniel Buritica
Youth

Daniel Buriticá is Founder and President of the Colombian Network of Youth ‘RECOJO’, the first network of young social entrepreneurs in Colombia. He has taken the message of committed youths to more than nine countries. Along with his corporation, he created the BAKONGO camp, which empowers social leaders, and CIELOaTIERRA the first programme of social entrepreneurship for schools.

Daniel was chosen to represent the young volunteers of the world as board member of IAVE, and is the ambassador of Colombia in One Young World summit of young leaders promoted by Kofi Annan and many other well-known personalities. He graduated in industrial engineering at the Javeriana University, and is currently pursuing advanced social, economic, and political studies at the University of Notre Dame (USA) under a Phoenix Institute scholarship.

Silvia Meruvia Landers
IAVE National Representatives

Silvia was born in La Paz, Bolivia and immigrated to the United States as a young girl where she continued her education and life as a Bolivian-American. Serving as a volunteer translator and interpreter for Cuban immigrants as a teenager was an early introduction to the values of solidarity and volunteerism. Professional work in socio-economic development, women's issues, promotion of democracy, civil and human rights and national civic and social responsibility programs through volunteerism. Silvia worked at the Points of Light Foundation (National Volunteer Center in the US) for the promotion and development of its international program and outreach to several governments, corporations and non-profits.

Silvia's current involvement and practices have been to continue building infrastructure and methodologies throughout the world to strengthen civil society and help people help themselves. Also serves as Consultant Expert for the development of nonprofits and strengthening NGOs for the US Department of Sate in several regions in the world. In Bolivia, she founded and developed the National Volunteer Center, Centro Boliviano de Filantropia, (CEBOFIL), www.cebofil-rs.org and has developed a partnership with Networking Professionals, www.networkingprofessionals.org.  Networking Professionals was created from the Center of Bolivian Philanthropy (CEBOFIL) as an organization that promotes all cultures, assists foreign born in emergency situation and teaches foreign groups to adapt to living in the United States.

Silvia has been an IAVE member since 1982 and has served as a National Representative, a Member-At-Large for the Executive Board, and Assistant to the IAVE Secretariat. She facilitated the development of the first Volunteer Centers Directory, the growth of IAVE Youth, organized and coordinated Regional IAVE Conferences and continues to serve in the promotion of volunteerism and growth of IAVE.