Board of Directors

BARPCV Board – Membership Chair

Responsibilities

The Membership Chair leads BARPCV’s effort to grow its member count which, in turn, assures financial stability, well-attended events, and impactful service/community engagement.

The Membership Chair works closely with the Newsletter Chair, Social Media Chair, the Webmaster, and the President to understand trends in membership and to consider what factors are driving those trends. The Chair then develops and implements actions to reach out to potential members, tell the story of why membership is important, and to ensure the fees and structure of the membership offer makes sense.

Panamá 2016-2017, Social Media Chair ([email protected])

Abe served as a sustainable agriculture volunteer in the Coclé province of central Panamá, primarily working with small scale coffee growers to combat invasive species, increase crop yield, and expand their farms through cost-effective locally available approaches. On the side he co-directed the nonprofit Ultimate Without Borders, organizing youth events to teach leadership and life skills through the lens of a new sport. Originally from Wisconsin, Abe moved to Boston upon returning stateside where he has worked in federal government, private sector energy efficiency, and most recently molecular biology research. In his free time you can find him rock climbing, exploring the outdoors, and playing ultimate frisbee. He aims to facilitate connections within the Boston RPCV community through social media outreach.

Botswana 2009-2011, Photos Chair ([email protected])

Phoebe served in Botswana from 2009 – 2011. She worked in a small village on the edge of the Kalahari with the administrative team that coordinated services provided by the Regional Health Office. Her main goal was to support HIV programs but she also assisted the team to create a Quality Improvement program. She retired from the Boise, ID VA Medical Center in 2009. Volunteering with the Peace Corps was her retirement dream. She recently moved to the Boston area to be near family.

Malawi 1995-97., Community Grants([email protected])

Karen served in the Peace Corps in Malawi as a secondary level science teacher from 1995-97. While teaching, she also developed a school laboratory for practicals and expanded the school library. After returning, she obtained an MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins. Since then, she has spent her career in the biomedical field at Dana Farber, Novartis, and AstraZeneca. She is an avid runner and has raced in Canada, Spain, Croatia, and Cyprus. She has three children and currently lives in Hopkinton, MA.

Burkina Faso 2015-2018, Events Chair ([email protected])

Andrew served in Burkina Faso. “Peace Corps service was one of the most important and fulfilling experiences of my life, and I love my village of Gogo in the Zounweogo Province, Burkina. While in Gogo, I was the director of the village preschool (Bisongo), coached a young women’s soccer team, organized and hosted 2 gender camps (one for men, one for women.) I trained incoming volunteers, organized and co-authored a volunteer guide on teaching preschool in Burkina, among other things.”

He is from Rochester on the Massachusetts south coast. He went to Bishop Stang High and played soccer as well as lacrosse. He enrolled at Endicott College in Elementary Education program where he received his Masters in Special Education. With friends and family as Peace Corps volunteers/affiliates, he admired Peace Corps and decided to apply. He was assigned to West Africa, and he was chosen to be a preschool education volunteer from 2015-2107.

Upon returning from service, he continued in the human services field and managed a variety of programs. He is now at Salem State University’s MSW program, where he is training to become a therapist.

Uganda 2016-2018, Sports Chair ([email protected])

Slater served as an Agribusiness volunteer in Mubende, rural central Uganda, from 2016 through 2018. He primarily worked with local beekeepers teaching candle making, water harvesting, and permagardening.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, he returned to Boston upon completion of his service after spending a few months road tripping the US and Canada mostly living out of his car and camping. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, with a major in Game Design and Development and a minor History.

After working in the video game industry for a few years, Slater joined the Peace Corps. Upon completion of his service, Slater returned to his roots working as a software developer.

Slater has been a member of BARPCV since moving to Boston in 2019 and is passionate about hosting sports events to create opportunities for RPCVs to network and foster camaraderie. In his free time, he enjoys a variety of hobbies including wood carving, leather working, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and cooking.

Ana served in The Gambia, West Africa from 2006 – 2008, collaborating with local groups, women’s gardening clubs and schools to promote live fencing, income-generating projects and anti-malarial initiatives.  After completing her service, she worked in the non-profit sector, before switching to healthcare as a registered nurse on medical-surgical units at major hospitals and volunteering at free medical clinics in New York City, her hometown.  She began her career as a nurse practitioner during the pandemic seeing patients at health clinics.  Following, she moved to the Greater Boston area with her family and enjoys exploring Massachusetts on weekends.  Ana is passionate about sexual and reproductive health, women’s health as well as gender affirming healthcare within the LGBTQIA+ community.  She is also interested in nursing research, healthcare informatics, and telehealth via start-ups.

Namibia 2003-2005, TGIF Chair ([email protected])

Alicia served as a Teacher Trainer in Swakopmund, Namibia – a tourist town on the south Atlantic coast of Africa. Namibia became independent in 1990 and adopted English as the official language at that time. In her role as a Teacher Trainer, Alicia was assigned to the Erongo region’s Teacher Resource Center (TRC), a part of the Ministry of Education. Alicia’s main role was to travel to primary schools in the region and work with teachers who were employed prior to independence and train them on how to teach English phonics to their learners.

After Peace Corps Alicia traveled to South Africa, Zanzibar, Egypt, Dubai, Germany and Great Britain before heading back to the States. Once reestablished in the U.S., she worked for an international non-profit that collaborated with developing countries to fortify food staples with micronutrients, combating widespread birth defects. Through this organization she was able to work throughout Rwanda and Honduras.

Alicia received her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Framingham State University and her Masters in International Education from SIT, World Learning. In her free time, you will find her either, behind the wheel of her car on a serendipitous road trip or on her couch, unable to move because her cat (Luna Lovegood) is on her lap. And everyone knows you can’t move if there’s a cat on you lap…

She looks forward to joining other Boston Area RPCV’s at the next TGIF!

Service Chair ([email protected]) – Open

The Service Chair is responsible for developing a schedule of community supportive volunteer events that engage RPCVs and reflect the life-long service ethos of RPCV. These events are important ties between the community and BARPCV.

The Chair selects the time, location and frequency of events with member needs in mind. They take into account learnings from past efforts and bring new ideas of their own. The Chair books the venues with service partners. They  write summaries of the event for promotional efforts and load relevant information on our Event Details sheet, which is then used for email, social media and website announcements. They determine RSVP needs and work with other Board members to create invitations and reminders as they deem appropriate. They usually attend Service events. Finally, they provide post event pictures and descriptions to help build excitement around Service Events.

To apply as Service Chair email us at [email protected].

Restaurant Night Chair ([email protected]) – Open

The Restaurant Night Chair is responsible for developing a schedule of engaging, affordable dining events that are attractive to RPCVs and reflect the global nature of our service.

The Chair selects the time, location and frequency of events with member needs in mind. They take into account learnings from past efforts and bring new ideas of their own. The Chair books the venues. They  write summaries of the event for promotional efforts and load relevant information on our Event Details sheet, which is then used for email, social media and website announcements. They determine RSVP needs and work with other Board members to create invitations and reminders as they deem appropriate. They usually attend Restaurant Night events. Finally, they provide post event pictures and descriptions to help build excitement around Restaurant Night.

To apply as Restaurant Chair email us at [email protected].

Chris served as a forestry extension agent in Mali from 1987 to 1989.  He led projects in reforestation and soil conservation.  He took on secondary projects, digging two wells.

After Peace Corps, Chris spent most of his professional life as a software developer and a database engineer.

Chris enjoys exploring places, such as the Horseshoe Bend AZ shown on the picture (which reminds him of the Mopti region, where he served in the Peace Corps).

Zambia 2010-2013, President ([email protected])

Elise served as an Agriculture and Environment Volunteer in Zambia. She taught agroforestry and organic gardening to farmers in her village in order to promote better health and nutrition as well as environmental sustainability. She also took on secondary projects in appropriate technology innovation training and HIV/AIDS prevention education. Elise extended for a third year as PCVL, leading workshops and providing volunteer support. Upon returning to Boston, Elise earned her Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and currently works as an outreach coordinator with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Elise joined the board as Communications Chair in 2015.