Marceline White - President Marceline White is the President of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID). She brings more than seventeen years of experience in management, fundraising, advocacy, and organizing. She is an expert in the fields of international trade, gender and development, labor rights, environmental justice, non-profit management, and youth engagement.
Prior to joining AID, she served as the Deputy Director of the Greater Access to Trade Expansion (GATE) Project funded by USAID’s Office of Women and Development, where she was responsible for all aspects of budget, staff, and project management. During her time with GATE, she developed and led training to integrate gender into the USAID/Bangladesh and USAID/Peru Economic Growth programs. She was the lead author of “Pro-Poor Growth, Gender, and Markets,” a report which was disseminated to incoming Peruvian government officials. And she provided comments on USAID’s Economic Strategy, which led to incorporation of gender considerations in the final government strategy.
Marceline came to the GATE project from the Women’s EDGE, where she served as Director of the Global Trade Program. She developed Women’s EDGE programs and positions on global trade issues and represented the organization to policymakers, funders, and the media. She developed the Look FIRST Campaign and a research agenda for the Trade Impact Review, which led to media coverage in Dow Jones, the Washington Post, CNN, and other media. She was behind the first amendment on gender and trade introduced in the Senate as part of the Fast-Track debate in 2002. She also designed the President’s InterAgency Council strategy and advocacy on gender and trade, which led to the first U.S. guidance to federal departments on integrating gender considerations into all economic policies in 2001.
Marceline’s other leadership experiences include serving as Board President for the Fair Trade Federation; as Director of the International Population Campaign at the Sierra Club; as a Development Associate at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; as the Vice-President for Development for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; and as Environmental Organizer with MASSPIRG.
Marceline has presented on her work to Congress, at foreign embassies, and before conferences from Mexico to Bangladesh . She has also contributed to numerous books and journals. She received her Masters from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and her Bachelors of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is also a published poet and visual artist.
Autumn Barr-Engstrom - Director of Campus Programming and Communictions Autumn Barr-Engstrom is the Director of Campus Programming and Communications at Americans for Informed Democracy. Autumn directs AID's environmental programming in addition to managing the youth video conferences and media related endeavors. She previously worked at the International Labour Office, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and America Abroad Media in the research and production of NPR special features and a televised video conference. Autumn graduated cum laude from Smith College with degrees in Sociology and International Relations. She lived in France for a year as a Rotary Youth Exchange student and studied in Geneva, Switzerland during her year abroad in college. Autumn is also a recipient of the Blumberg Fellowship with which she studied civic responsibility in France, Switzerland, and Germany. In addition to English she speaks French as well as some Spanish and German. In her spare time, Autumn enjoys hiking, video-editing, and teaching figure skating.
Courtney Matson - Director of Outreach and Partnerships Courtney Matson is the Director of Outreach and Partnerships at Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) and directs AID's global health programming. Courtney graduated from Middlebury College in February 2007, where she was an international studies and Chinese major. She has been active in the HIV/AIDS arena since her freshman year in high school, starting clubs, organizing volunteer activities, fundraising, and teaching, all focused on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and education. Courtney founded and was president of the Middlebury College chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), and has worked at numerous AIDS organizations and NGOs in New York, Los Angeles and China. Courtney lived and studied for two semesters in Beijing and Hangzhou, China, and was a recipient of the 2006 RCFIA International Travel Research grant, awarded to her by Middlebury College, which took her back to China, conducting research on her honors senior thesis, “The Politics of Epidemic: How Government and Civil Society Address HIV/AIDS Crisis in the People's Republic of China.” At Middlebury, she created, directed and organized a symposium at Middlebury College called MIDD8, which focused on student activism and involvement in the Millennium Development Goals. Courtney speaks Manderin Chinese and French. When not in the office or traveling for work, Courtney can be found biking, skiing, swimming, running or generally training for a triathalon.
Sam Schabacker - I am Powerful Fellow Sam Schabacker is the "I am Powerful Fellow" at Americans for Informed Democracy and directs AID's global development programming in coordination with CARE. Sam graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Economics with high honors and the distinction as a University Scholar. During the summer of 2005, he studied abroad in Chile. The following summer, he returned to South America in order to work for a Bolivian microcredit organization, and was responsible for writing a grant and coordinating a project to repair the system of potable water for the small community of Pisorga (600 individuals) that had been damaged for five years. At the University of Montana, he was intimately involved with activism and advocacy: He is a founding member of Students for Economic and Social Justice, interned with a community organization called Community Action for Justice in the Americas, MontPIRG, and Montana Democrats—focused around issues of economic, social, and environmental justice. During the times he is not involved in activism, he is an avid rock and ice climber, having climbed in Peru, Argentina, Canada, and Alaska.
Vicente Garcia - Peace and Security Fellow Vicente Garcia is the Peace and Security Fellow at Americans for Informed Democracy and directs AID's "Hope Not Hate" programming. Vicente received his BA degree in Government and Philosophy from Georgetown University and a Masters degree in International Conflict Analysis, with a concentration on the Middle East, from the University of Kent – Brussels School of International Studies. He has a special interest in inter-faith dialogue and Middle East conflict resolution. While at Kent, he was student government president and has given presentations and attended conferences from Canterbury, England, to Amman, Jordan. After graduate school he worked for the European Union Peace Building Liaison's Office in Brussels and gained insight on the European approach to the Middle East. He has a great deal of experience in American politics gained from his work as an intern on Capital Hill and advocacy with the National Council of La Raza. He has been actively involved with political campaigns in Florida, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Vicente is from Harlingen, Texas but has lived and traveled extensively throughout the United States, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In his spare time, Vicente loves to play sports, particularly soccer, and enjoy the outdoors. He speaks English, Spanish, basic French, and plans to learn Arabic.
Seth Green - Founder and Board Member Seth Green is the Founder of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization working to raise global awareness on more than 1,000 U.S. university campuses and in over 10 countries. Green is an expert on U.S. relations with the Muslim world, U.S. development assistance policy, international law, and globalization.
In his role as AID’s chief executive for the last four years, Green has built a network that includes more than 15,000 members, created partnerships with leading think tanks and NGOs, and recruited funding from more than a dozen foundations. Green has been a featured speaker on international affairs and youth activism at the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, World Bank, United Nations, Associated Press, and other leading institutions.
Green is a frequent contributor to the media, having served as a guest on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, the Montel Williams Show, CNN, and MSNBC, and written op-eds for the Christian Science Monitor and Miami Herald. Green is also a core contributor to the Partnership for a Secure America's Across the Aisle blog. In addition, his work with AID has been featured by hundreds of publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Marie Claire.
Prior to AID, Green worked at the Brookings Institution, Taxpayers for Common Sense, The American Prospect, and Lazard Freres, and he helped to lead several successful NGO chapters and activist movements.
A Marshall scholar, Green graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and earned masters degrees in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and in Women's Studies from Oxford University. He is currently completing a JD degree at Yale Law School, where he was named an Olin Fellow by the Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy.
Green currently serves on the Board of Directors of Citizens for Global Solutions, the Network Advisory Team of Connect US, and the Advisory Board of America’s Impact. He previously served on a Grant Review Panel for the Tides Foundation and on the National Youth Council of the March of Dimes.
Sarah Bush - Board Member
Sarah Bush is a PhD candidate in International Relations in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. Sarah has worked in the past with AID as its Co-Executive Director during the 2005-2006 academic year. Her previous experience also includes work for the U.S. State Department, St. Louis City Mayor's Office and Teach for America. Sarah received her BA with honors from Northwestern University, where she founded an active AID chapter, and was a visiting student at St. Anne's College, Oxford University.
Veronica Canton - Board Member Veronica Canton is a Research Analyst for the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, an organization focused on working with immigrant communities through faith related coalitions within California, assisting newly arrived immigrants with multiple aspects of the acculturation process. In addition, she is employed with a law firm, directly working with attorneys who represent the Guantánamo Bay Detainees in litigation against the US Government to bestow their constitutional rights and international legal rights. She received her Bachelor's Degree from San Francisco State University in International Relations, with an emphasis on Intelligence and Security. She has written two articles: Perils of the Oil Industry (International Relations Journal, Fall 2004), which she presented at the CSU Social Science Research and Instructional Council on April 28th, 2005; and US Torture Policy Of Non-Combatant Detainees (International Relations Journal, Spring 2005). Veronica was born in El Salvador in 1977, during the early years of the civil war, which ended in the early 1990s. Veronica is currently studying Portuguese and is working on a personal project prior to pursuing her graduate studies.
Stephanie Cochinos - Board Member Stephanie Cochinos is a Manager with Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting, LLC in New York. With more than eight years of experience in corporate strategic planning, marketing and business development, Ms. Cochinos has worked with clients in industries such as financial services, consumer products, energy and education.
Ms. Cochinos primarily concentrates on strategic repositioning, including market sizing, segmentation and entry; customer segmentation; business line and product portfolio re-positioning; acquisition and joint venture strategy development; strategic plan development; customer relationship management; brand building; process re-engineering and new product development.
Prior to joining A&M, Ms. Cochinos served as a strategic planner for Amerada Hess Corporation. Previously, she was an investment banker in the Global Power & Energy, Energy Technology practice of Merrill Lynch; a task manager with Pace Global Energy Services; and an account manager with the Standard Register Company.
Ms. Cochinos holds a bachelor's degree in American Political Theory from Georgetown University. She received a master's degree in business administration, with a concentration in Finance, from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.
Elleni Ghebremicael – Board Member Elleni Ghebremicael is currently serving in the Teach for America Corps, a two-year commitment to teach in one of America’s inner-city public school districts. Prior to her work with TFA, she served as the Co-Founder and Co-President of the University of Richmond chapter of AID (UR-AID). Among the speakers she brought to the UR campus were Colin Thomas-Jensen of the International Crisis Group; Carol Welch, the U.S. Coordinator for the Millennium Campaign; and Gayle Smith, Senior Adviser for the Center of American Progress. She also set up a table in their student union to collect donations for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), distribute ONE bands, and offer students an opportunity to sign a petition in support of the Millennium Campaign. Ghebremicael first got involved in AID during an overseas study program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in fall of 2004. The Political Science/Sociology major, Leadership Studies minor applied to attend the “Bringing the World Home” summit in Berlin, Germany, and has been actively involved ever since.
Morgan H. McKenney - Board Member Morgan McKenney is the Chief of Staff for Robert Druskin, Chief Operating Officer of Citigroup. Prior to this role, she worked in the Strategy group of the Corporate and Investment Banking division at Citigroup as a Senior Vice President.
Before joining Citigroup, Morgan worked in the New York office of London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), now part of Euronext, working with US-based banks, hedge funds and other trading firms to grow exchange volumes.
Prior to LIFFE, she traded equities and derivatives for Martin “Buzzy” Schwartz, an independent trader based in Boca Raton, Florida. Marty is author of Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street’s Champion Trader, and was featured in Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards.
She began her career as a Management Associate at Capital One Financial in Richmond, Virginia.
Morgan received a BA in Computer Science from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Anne Richard – Board Member Anne C. Richard is Vice President, Government Relations & Advocacy, for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Based in Washington, D.C., she leads the organization's relations with the executive branch, Congress and the NGO community — and she also guides the IRC's global advocacy efforts. The IRC conduncts humanitarian aid programs in 25 countries, assisting people uprooted by war or presecution — and operates a network of refegee resettlement offices in the United States.
Ms. Richard served as Director of the Secretary's Office of Resources, Plans and Policy at the State Department from 1999-2001 and, as such, was Secretary Albright's top adviser for budget and planning. She previously had served in the US Office of Management and Budget, Department of State and at Peace Corps headquarters and was part of the team that created the International Crisis Group.
She is a former International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow to Germany, and a Presidential Management Intern. Ms. Richard is a graduate of Georgetown University (B.S. Foreign Service) and the University of Chicago (M.A. Public Policy).
Tim Ruckh – Board Member Tim Ruckh is a grad student for Engineering at Colorado State University and a man who believes “you should never stop acquiring information.” Ruckh is also a regional director for Americans for Informed Democracy and President of the CSU Chapter of AID. He organized “Fighting for What’s Right” in Colorado, a week that brought town halls across the state to focus on America’s role in fighting global poverty. Ruckh, after he graduates, wants to go in to the Peace Corps either in Eastern Africa or the Pacific Islands.
Jacob Scherr - Board Member S. Jacob Scherr is a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in its Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Scherr serves as Director of NRDC's International Program and a Director of the NRDC BioGems Initiative. During his career with NRDC since 1976, he has worked extensively on a broad range of international environmental and nuclear issues.
In 1989, Mr. Scherr initiated NRDC’s work on global climate change. In 1992, he founded Earth Summit Watch to monitor national implementation of the commitments to sustainable development made at the Rio Earth Summit; and he was actively very involved in the August 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. Mr. Scherr created the Earth Legacy campaign launched in June 2004 to seek the creation of an unprecedented Congressionally-mandated commission on the state of the global environment and the role of the United States.
Mr. Scherr also has worked extensively with indigenous peoples and environmental organizations in various countries concerned about threats posed by large-scale development projects. He was a leader of the successful campaign to stop the construction of a giant saltworks at Laguna San Ignacio, an important gray whale nursery, in Baja Calfornia, Mexico (1995-2000). Mr. Scherr now oversees NRDC’s initiative to protect such threatened special natural places – called “BioGems” – throughout the Americas. Over the last four years, more than 500,000 people have come to the BioGems website, signed up as “BioGem Defenders” e-activists, and sent more than 5 million messages to government and corporate officials.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Scherr has participated in numerous legal and administrative proceedings; testified before Congressional committees; published articles, chapters, and reports; and addressed university, professional, and public audiences. He has worked extensively with the media. Mr. Scherr produced both NRDC’s first nationally-televised presentation and advocacy advertising campaign.
Mr. Scherr also serves as President of the Herbert Scoville, Jr. Peace Fellowship and is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business.
Mr. Scherr is a 1970 graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In 1974, he received his JD with highest honors from the University of Maryland Law School. Prior to joining NRDC, he was a Fellow at the American Society of International Law and a lecturer in International Law at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Jon Seeber – Board Member Jon Seeber is an Associate at Updata Partners, a Venture Capital and Private Equity firm. He supports the firm's deal sourcing and due diligence efforts, and works closely with Updata Partners portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Updata Partners, Mr. Seeber worked for IBM Global Services Business Development, where he managed acquisition, divestiture, and investment activities for IBM's largest business unit. He played a key role on several transactions, including the acquisitions of Internet Security Systems, Healthlink, and Corio, leading efforts ranging from strategy development and due diligence to negotiation and integration planning.
From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Seeber served on active duty in the US Air Force as an Intelligence Officer, first leading combat intelligence collection missions, and later managing the development of information systems for the Air Force and the Intelligence Community.
Mr. Seeber earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Computer Science and History from Duke University, where he was a member of the varsity wrestling team.
Zeeshan Suhail – Board Member Zeeshan Suhail – Board Member Zeeshan was recently appointed Board Member for Americans for Informed Democracy and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in International Relations at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He was elected to the Student Government at his campus in 2006, where he will now be representing his department and fellow students. Zeeshan was also an active member of student government at his undergraduate school, Queens College-CUNY, where he was the first Pakistani and the first Muslim to be elected Vice President in the 35 years of student government history.
While at Queens College, Zeeshan also founded the South Asian Students Association (SASA), whose aim is to promote South Asian culture through panel discussions, film screenings and other cultural events. He was the Secretary for a political party called United People and the Society of Success and Leadership.
Zeeshan has also been involved in activities across the University system. He was a delegate to the University Student Senate (the CUNY student government) where he sat on the Committee for Academic Policies along with the CUNY Chancellery and made decisions affecting the tens of thousands of CUNY students. Zeeshan was also the youngest member of the Steering Committee for the Second Annual South Asian Conference organized by the Asian American/Asian Research Institute at CUNY, which brought together scholars, students and professionals from all over the country.
Zeeshan has also done voice-over work and hosted a TV show which introduced New York City to South Asian audiences all over the world, and currently writes a column for a Pakistani newspaper detailing Pakistani-American life in New York (among other things) to a Pakistani audience. His work has been published in Q-News (Britain), The World Scholar (New York), Pakistan Post (New York) and The Nation (Pakistan).
In his spare time, Zeeshan volunteers for the United Nations Association, the Foreign Policy Association, and has received advanced leadership certifications from the Institute of Student Leadership at Paper Clip Communications as well as the National Conference on Student Leadership.
Umer Raffat – Vice President for Partnerships Umer Raffat is the Vice President of Americans for Informed Democracy, and has been involved in managing AID's grass-root activities in the Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Umer's work with AID has been featured in several leading newspapers, including Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Shorthorn. He has been a guest debator at UN Foundation's "The People Speak" event, focusing on global security issues. As an Archer Fellow, Umer has worked with House Energy and Commerce Committee through Congressman Joe Barton's office. Umer graduated with Honors from the University of Texas at Arlington, and is currently pursuing a Masters in International Health at Harvard.
Steven Lei – West Coast Director of Partnerships Steven Lei serves as West Coast Director of Partnerships and is the president of the San Diego chapter of AID. He is involved with various educational reform work and, separate from his work with AID, he is active in Democratic politics. Steven was elected the youngest delegate from California to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and more recently, was a political intern with Senator John Edwards’ office and the One America Committee in Washington, DC. He is an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego studying Political Science-International Relations and Sociology.
Una Ann Hardester - Senior Political Analyst. Una is a student at American New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she is studying human rights with a geographic focus on Europe and Central Asia. She spent the fall semester of 2006 in Belgium, studying the politics, institutions, economics, and foreign and security policy of the European Union. Una’s background in public and international affairs is eclectic. She has been a political columnist for her hometown newspaper, an event organizer, a volunteer lobbyist, and a member of her university’s student government. Una would like to work for a major human rights NGO, or international organization. During her time in Belgium, Una was an intern at the Centre Européen Juif d’Information (CEJI), a Brussels-based organization that combats anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and promotes religious, ethnic, and racial tolerance in Europe. As a political analyst for Americans for Informed Democracy, Una will be writing about human rights issues, trans-Atlantic and European affairs, the United Nations, and international law.
Christine Heckman - Senior Political Analyst. Christine Heckman graduated cum laude from the University of California, Davis with a degree in International Relations. She recently completed her Master’s degree in Global Media at the University of Westminster, London. Her dissertation, entitled “From the Cold War to the War on Terror,” analyzed terrorism framing in the US government documents and news media. Christine currently lives in London and works for the Syracuse University London Program. She plans on continuing her education in the field of International Law.
Jessica Jones - Senior Political Analyst. Jessica Jones is a Senior Political Analyst for Americans for Informed Democracy. She recently graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in both International Studies and Psychology. During her time at Northwestern University, Jessica spent a year abroad in Beijing, China, and became involved with Northwestern’s AID chapter, organizing various events. She is now relocated to DC; her interests are in law, conflict resolution, and international development.
Eugene B. Kogan - Senior Political Analyst. Eugene B. Kogan is a Senior Political Analyst at Americans for Informed Democracy. His research interests include U.S. foreign policy, Congress, international security, and nuclear proliferation in North East Asia. Most recently, he worked as Deputy Editor of Millennium: Journal of International Studies in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2004-2005, he was the John Kenneth Galbraith Fellow at the Americans for Democratic Action Education Fund in Washington, D.C. Kogan’s latest publication is The War Congress: Shouldering the Responsibilities of a U.S. Global Role (ADA Education Fund, 2005), a study of Congress’s role in foreign policy-making since September 11, 2001. Kogan has been published widely and has spoken on U.S. foreign policy and international security issues at a number of universities and organizations.
Jacques Koko - Senior Political Analyst. Jacques KOKO is a doctoral student in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Nova Southeastern University (Florida). Originally, from Benin in West Africa, Mr. KOKO's work and reasearch interests encompass democracy, the circulation of small weapons in Africa, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and local capacity building. Jacques holds a BA in Political Philosophy, and a Masters of Arts in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding. In addition to English, Jacques speaks fluently French, Spanish, and several African languages. He has published articles in both French and English.
Jeff Le - Senior Political Analyst. Jeff Le is currently the 2006-2007 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and CEU Fellow to Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Prior to his Master's candidacy in Political Science, he has worked with the U.S. Department of State (Washington, D.C.; Tbilisi, Georgia; Bucharest, Romania), the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and, most recently, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has served as an international election observer for the March 2005 Macedonian Elections and the May 2006 Montenegrin Independence Referendum. During his undergraduate career, he studied abroad at the University of Leeds, UK and conducted research abroad at the University of Ghana as a Benjamin A. Gilman Scholar and David Jay Gambee Research Fellow. He holds Bachelors in Arts in History and Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and is originally from Irvine, California. His research interests are focused on U.S. Foreign Policy and Decision-Making in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia.
Lindsay Ramirez - Senior Political Analyst. Lindsay Ramirez was a 2004 – 2005 Rotary Ambassador of Goodwill to Granada, Spain where she graduated with outstanding marks from the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Willamette University majoring in Politics and Spanish. Lindsay has given numerous presentations on both sides of the Atlantic aimed at increasing international understanding and recently helped organize AID’s first major conference in the Pacific Northwest, The Universal Ethic of Humanitarianism. Recently, she has married and moved to Washington D.C. to gain practical experience in international affairs. She currently works analyzing Latin American security issues for a private intelligence organization in Maryland and plans to begin graduate work next fall.