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Board

Standing Board Committees | Board Officers | Board Bios

The NCIV Board of Directors is responsible for the governance of NCIV and provides policy direction to the staff and organization. It is comprised of 16 individuals nominated by NCIV member organizations. Nominations are reviewed by the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee that makes recommendations to the Board. The Board elects new members and a slate of officers on an annual basis.

Board members are elected for three-year terms. After serving for two consecutive terms, a Board member rotates off the Board and is ineligible for reelection for one year. The only exception to this rule involves the Chair. If a Board member is serving as Chair, the may serve one additional year concurrent with the term of election to office.

The Board meets three times a year; immediately following the NCIV National Meeting in February or March, in mid-July, and in early November. There are five standing committees in addition to the Executive Committee, which also serves as the Personnel Committee.

Standing Board Committees

Nominating and Leadership Development Committee
Finance and Audit Committee
Program and Services Committee
NCIV National Meeting Planning Committee
Development Committee

In addition to these standing committees, often a Task Force is formed to deal with a specific situation or project and then dissolved after the situation is resolved or project is completed.

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Board Officers

Chair
1st Vice Chair (Chair-elect)
2nd Vice Chair
Treasurer
Secretary

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Board Bios

Lawrence J. Chastang, CPA, Chair

Lawrence J. Chastang, CPA, is the Principal in Charge of International Services for LarsonAllen LLP and is based in Orlando, Florida. He specializes in international taxation, assisting a variety of clients ranging from small entrepreneurs to major multi-national subsidiaries with their individual and corporate work. Mr. Chastang has been serving international clients for more than 25 years and has developed strong business ties in the international community. For many years, he worked as a tax manager with Price Waterhouse in Orlando, and thereafter became a founding partner and the managing partner of the accounting firm Chastang, Ferrell, Sims & Eiserman LLC, which merged with LarsonAllen in 2006.  Mr. Chastang advises clients on a wide range of domestic and international tax issues with clients that include multinational corporations, partnerships and entrepreneurs as well as foreign persons investing in the United States. He is acknowledged as one of Florida's leading experts in international business and taxation and is fluent in Spanish and French. Mr. Chastang graduated (summa cum laude) from the University of Central Florida in 1980.

Mr. Chastang is widely involved in the community's international business organizations. He serves on the board of directors of the Metro Orlando International Affairs Commission and Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, and the International Council of Central Florida. Mr. Chastang currently serves as Chairman on the Executive Board of the National Council for International Visitors in Washington D.C., is a past board member of the British American and French American Chambers of Commerce. Mr. Chastang was recently nominated and admitted into the Society of International Business Fellows. He is a member of the Central Florida International Tax Roundtable, as well as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Chastang also serves on the accounting advisory boards for the University of Central Florida (UCF) and Valencia Community College. In addition, Mr. Chastang is also the recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award for UCF's School of Accounting and the UCF College of Business Administration Hall of Fame Award.

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Al Durtka, Jr., 1st  Vice Chair

Al Durtka, Jr., is the President and CEO of the International Institute of Wisconsin, the Executive Vice President of the Friends of the International Institute of Wisconsin, and the Editor of Viltis Magazine.  He is the State Coordinator for Wisconsin Sister Cities International and Secretary of the Consular Corps of Wisconsin.  He has also been a member of the NCIV Board of Directors since 2005.

His current involvement in the community includes serving as President of the Japan-America Society of Wisconsin, as Vice Chair of the International Council of Wisconsin, and as a Board Member of the Wisconsin Chiba, Inc.  He is also a member of the Regional Fulbright Committee, serves on the Steering Committee of the Milwaukee Ethnic Council, and as an Advisory Committee Member of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee.

Mr. Durtka received a B.A. from Kilroe College (Honesdale, PA), an STB from Catholic University (Washington, DC), an M.Div. from Sacred Heart School of Theology (Hales Corners, WI), and an MSW from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  He has been accredited by the State of Wisconsin with an Independent Social Work License, by Purdue University as a Certified Festival Executive (CFE), and by the National Association of Social Work as a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW).

He has traveled extensively from Taiwan to Estonia giving presentations and lectures on a variety of topics including diversity and transmission of cultural heritage to children.  A recipient of numerous awards and commendations, he was recently awarded Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Commendation for significant contribution to the promotion of the Japan-United States relationship.

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Carol Engebretson Byrne, 2nd  Vice Chair

Carol Engebretson Byrne has been the president of the nonprofit Minnesota International Center (MIC) since 1996.  MIC is committed to education about international issues, and since its establishment in 1953, has evolved to become the 6th largest World Affairs Council in the country.  In her twelve years as president Ms. Byrne has doubled the budget and overseen membership growth from 850 to more than 2,000.  In the 21st century, Ms. Byrne is guiding MIC to open global doors for Minnesotans and be the state’s premier provider of international exchange, education, and information programs. 

In addition to her duties at MIC, Ms. Byrne is on the Nobel Peace Prize Executive Steering Committee, the Center for Hmong Studies Advisory Board at Concordia University, the National Committee for United States-China Relations and the National Council for International Visitors Board of Directors.  She was on the national board of directors of the World Affairs Councils of America from 1998-2004, and served on fact-finding delegations to Brazil, NATO, Northern Ireland, and Morocco.  In 2003 Ms. Byrne traveled to Oslo, Norway to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremonies and in 2007, led a Minnesota International Center trip to Morocco.  She is also a former Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. 

Ms. Byrne returned to Minnesota to lead MIC following a successful career nine year stint in nonprofit administration in New York City.  She served as director of Educational Travel Programs at the YMCA International Branch from 1992-93 and from 1985-91 Byrne was employed with AFS Intercultural Programs.  Some of the highlights of her tenure at AFS included successfully designing and negotiating new programs in China, Russia, and Kazakhstan.  

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Laura Dupuy, Treasurer

Laura Dupuy has been the executive director of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy since 1998. She graduated from Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, Korea, and from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a B.A. in Liberal Arts. She later attended Idaho State University, where she completed the requirements for a degree in accounting and passed the CPA exam. She received an M.B.A. from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah in 1998. In addition to her work with the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, she is a musician and violin teacher.

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Carina Black, Ph.D., Secretary

Carina Black, Ph.D., has been the Executive Director of the Northern Nevada International Center (NNIC) in Reno, NV since 1998. Dr. Black is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada in the Political Science and International Affairs Departments.

Before becoming the first Executive Director of NNIC, Dr. Black was the Executive Coordinator at the International Resource Center of Northern Nevada and a teaching assistant in the International Affairs Program at the University of Nevada. A native of Argentina and a citizen of Switzerland and the United States, Dr. Black received a Master's degree and a Ph.D., both in Political Science, from the University of Nevada. She joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2006. She resides in Reno, NV.

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Chris Ajemian is a foreign policy analyst and lawyer. He specializes in Asia political-military affairs, nonproliferation, and energy security. He has assisted the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in various strategic analysis and planning matters involving Asia and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. He directed the Asia foreign policy task force in the John Kerry for President Campaign. Mr. Ajemian practiced corporate and securities law after clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. While living in Washington, D.C., he was a congressional fellow on the House International Relations Committee and covered the White House and Capitol Hill for the Kyodo News Service. Mr. Ajemian visited Japan for the first time in 1982 as an AFS exchange student. He joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2007 and also serves on the board of NCIV’s member in Washington, the World Affairs Council of Seattle.

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Quincy Carter is a sergeant with the Freeport, Illinois, Police Department, where he has worked as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer for six years and is a SWAT team Commander.  Sgt. Carter was stationed in Japan for three of his four years in the U.S. Navy.  With a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, he has served as a personal escort for Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, III. and Senator Barack Obama while he was in Freeport.  Sgt. Carter graduated from Highland Community College Leadership Institute and from Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command. 

In his efforts to establish various programs for area youth, Sgt. Carter co-created Kids and Police Serving (K.A.P.S.), a community organization of police officers and youth who work together on community service projects.  He also co-created Wheels for Winners, a seven-week program that teaches bicycle safety, effective cycling, and bicycle care and maintenance to community youth, and Rebels of the Revolution, a theater group in which kids perform skits that confront issues such as drug and substance abuse, sex, date rape, and bullying.  Sgt. Carter is a past board member of the local chapter of the United Way, a trustee of his local Baptist church, and a youth mentor.  He served on the 2006 NCIV National Meeting Planning Committee and was a panelist and presenter at numerous National Meetings.  Sgt. Carter is chair of the Freeport Area International Visitors Council and joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2003.  He is married to Carmen Carter and has two sons, Quincy, Jr., and Andre.

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Tarik Daoud is a Detroit business leader and an active philanthropist.   He left his native Iraq in 1956 to attend the former Detroit Institute of Technology and is currently the chairman and owner of Al Long Ford, Inc. in Warren, MI and the owner of Shamrock Ford-Lincoln Mercury in Clinton, MI. 

Mr. Daoud is Chair Emeritus of the International Visitors Council of Detroit, has long been a professional resource for business-related International Visitor Leadership Program groups, welcomed International Visitors to his workplace and home, and represented IVC Detroit in Russia and Ukraine in the follow-up program for alumni of the Community Connections program.

Mr. Daoud has long been active in community service efforts in the Detroit area, especially in the area of education.  He has initiated scholarship and endowment funds at many schools.  His numerous honors include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Israel Bonds Israel Peace Medal, Crain’s American Dreamer Award, the 1999 Michiganian of the Year Award, and the 2000 Time magazine Quality Dealer Finalist Award.

Mr. Daoud joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2006.  In 2008 he was given an U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy Award for Citizen Diplomacy recipient.  He is a current or past member of various other boards, including the International Institute, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, American Arab-Jewish Friends, the Henry Ford Hospital, and the Detroit Chamber of Commerce.  He and his wife reside in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

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Karen de Bartolomé is the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Denver, CO, where she has served since 1999. Prior to joining IIE, she had a consulting business in leadership development and marketing. Ms. de Bartolome also directed the International Center for Administration and Policy at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, Denver. Before moving to Colorado, Ms. de Bartolome worked in the areas of planning, finance, and executive management at the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey. In her final position as the Director of the Office of International Business, she managed a global marketing network for seaports, airports, and the World Trade Center and directed an export trading company and the World Trade Institute. Ms. de Bartolome was elected to the NCIV Board of Directors in 2006. She is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the School of International Service at American University. She resides in Boulder, CO.

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Nancy Gilboy is President & CEO of the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia, which was created in 1954 for the International Visitor leadership Program.

In her 18 years as head, Nancy has added programs that provide professional programs and friendly, American experiences.  Ten years ago she created the popular monthly First Wednesday receptions where Philadelphians and guests of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program meet in a friendly, informal setting.  Through Philadelphia’s Sister Cities Program Nancy and her staff receive business and cultural delegations from the ten sister cities with which Philadelphia is partnered.  She created Discover Philadelphia, a City of Philadelphia program providing positive American experiences for international lawyers and graduate students through professional appointments, internships and monthly networking.  IVC has partnered with Mosul, Iraq on the State Department/Sister City Partners for Peace Program.  Her latest mission is to make Philadelphia the “easiest city in the U.S. for non-English speakers to visit, work and live.”  Through a grant from a local foundation, research is being conducted on best practices around the world.

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Eurica Huggins-Axum is presently the Director of the International Visitor Leadership Program in the Professional and Global Exchanges Division (PGE) at the Institute of International Education (IIE). She is responsible for the management and administration of program teams who design and implement short-term international exchange programs for the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). Prior to that, she was an Assistant Director and Team Leader in the PGE Division, where she was responsible for program development and oversight in individual and group projects for the IVLP. Before joining IIE in 1998, Ms. Huggins-Axum worked at Partners for International Education and Training (PIET) as a Program Officer in the Africa branch. Ms. Huggins-Axum also worked for several years at Meridian International Center in the Programming Division.

She is a Co-founder of the African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute (ADACI), a cultural and educational nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, and the Public Relations Director for the internationally renowned, KanKouran West African Dance Company. She is also very active in the Washington, DC community through her involvement with various organizations such as the African American Unity Caucus, and the DC Caribbean Carnival Committee. Several years ago, Ms. Huggins-Axum was invited by the Embassy of Brazil to participate in an international exchange program which was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and focused on Afro-Brazilian culture. She was the only American invited to participate in the program.

Ms. Huggins-Axum has an M.A. in International Management from the University of Maryland, University College, and an undergraduate degree in International Marketing from the City University of New York. In 2003 NCIV awarded her the Excellence in Programming award for consistently high standards in planning creative and relevant programs for international visitors. She currently serves on the NCIV Board of Directors.

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Jerrold Keilson is vice president for business development at the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland. He hasextensive experiencedoing international business development workwith organizations includingAmerica’s Development Foundation,Development Alternatives, Inc., andCreative Associates International, Inc. Mr. Keilson was director for Program Development and Director of Education and Training atWorld Learning, Inc., from 1994-2003. His experience withinternational exchanges beganin 1986 withDelphi International, where he worked for seven years.Prior to working in the nonprofit sector, he served as a Foreign Service officer for the U.S. Department of State, which took him to Mexico, Australia, and Mauritania. Mr. Keilson earned a B.A. from Clark University and an M.A. in U.S. History from the University of Massachusetts.In 1999, Mr. Keilson served as chair of the NCIV History Project Committee and wrote the introductory essay of NCIV's publication, A Salute to Citizen Diplomacy. Mr. Keilson joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2003. He lives in Rockville, Maryland.

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Kyle Moyer served in a variety of high-level public policy positions throughout Arizona and directed many high profile political and corporate campaigns prior to entering the private sector in 2000 and founding Kyle Moyer & Company. Kyle Moyer & Company is a full-service politicalconsulting and public affairs firm located in Scottsdale,Arizona specializing in media relations, media production,campaign strategy, government affairs,lobbying, land entitlement and zoning, grassrootsmanagement, crisis communication and issue management. Prior to founding the firm, Mr. Moyer managed the highly targeted re-election efforts of Congressman Rick Renzi in northern Arizona’s Congressional District 1. Mr. Moyer also served as the Deputy Director of the George W. Bush for President Campaign in 2000 where he managed the operations and strategic planning in Arizona. Prior to the 2000 election cycle, Mr. Moyer held the position of Public Affairs Specialist for the Clean Elections Institute, a political think tank and advocacy group developed after the passage of the Clean Elections Act. Mr. Moyer’s statewide political campaign experience began as Senior Aide to then-Governor Jane D. Hull during her re-election effort in 1998. Mr. Moyer is a graduate of Arizona State University and life-long Arizona resident.

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Peter C. Simpson, Ph.D., is Director of the World Learning Visitor Exchange Program.  He heads a staff of 28 engaged in implementing professional and student exchange programs for about 750 participants each year sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Visitors and Citizen Exchanges Division.   Dr.  Simpson began his career in Public Diplomacy in 1986 at Delphi International, Inc. as a Program Officer designing exchanges for visitors from over 110 countries funded through the International Visitor Program and the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.  Later on at Delphi, he also managed grants for multi-year USAID development projects in Poland and the Balkans and the State Department’s EFL Fellow Program in Eastern/Central Europe, Russia, and the NIS. 

Prior to joining Delphi, Dr. Simpson pursued an academic career teaching language and cross-cultural courses at the primary, secondary, and university levels.  At Cornell University and at the Westphalian University in Bielefeld, Germany, he was an instructor, primarily in German literature.  In Munich, Germany, he taught English as a foreign language in public and private schools.  He also has been active as a translator.  He has lived in Europe a total of five years and is fluent in German.  He holds a PhD from Cornell, an MA from Princeton, and a BA from Wesleyan University in Germanic Studies.  He traces his commitment to a career in cross-cultural education and exchanges to the year he spent in Erlangen, Germany, as an AFS exchange student.

Dr. Simpson lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Penny Mills, a health care policy executive, and their son Jacob, a senior in high school.  He has been a member of NCIV since 1986, served as chair of its National Meeting in 2005, and will join its Board of Directors in July 2008.

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Sandy Sterrett is a partner at the law firm of Foley & Lardner in Washington, DC. He specializes in corporate, tax, and technology law. Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Mr. Sterrett acted as a clerk for Judge James S. Halpern at the United States Tax Court, worked for Allens Arthur Robinson (an Australian law firm) in Melbourne and Sydney, worked as a legal intern for the PGA Tour, and served as an assistant in the Fulbright Program for the U.S. Information Agency.

He received a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School. Mr. Sterrett has also studied at the London School of Economics. He is a member of the American Bar Association, DC Bar, Licensing Executives Society, and New York State Bar Association. Involved in many community organizations, Mr. Sterrett has been both director and president of the Australia America Association. He joined the NCIV Board of Directors in 2003. Mr. Sterrett enjoys traveling, photography, ice hockey, and golf. He is married to Mary Clare Sterrett and has two sons, James and Henry.

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