Rick’s career includes federal contracting work in the intelligence community, DoD, and State Department. He received a BBA in Accounting from James Madison University, a Master’s in International Policy & Practice from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, and holds a variety of certifications including Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Cybersecurity: Managing Risk in the Information Age from Harvard, Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM), DevOps Foundation, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, and Project Management Professional (PMP).

While living in Bangladesh, Rick volunteered at the Acid Survivors Foundation, Thrive, and operated on his own traveling through slums administering rudimentary medical care. Rick was Secretary John Kerry’s photographer on the Secretary’s state visit to Bangladesh. While living in Cambodia Rick volunteered at several NGOs teaching English and worked in Public Affairs at the US Embassy.

Paula Church Albertson serves as the Senior Labor Officer in the Office of International Labor Affairs, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. State Department. She served as the Peace Corps Country Director in Cambodia and as the United States Labor Attaché in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Paula worked for 15 years at the Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her Doctor of Law (JD) from Stanford Law School.

Karen resides in Lexington, SC and has taught special education for over 20 years. She has a B.A. in Elementary/Middle Education, a M. Ed. in Learning Disabilities from George Mason University and is a National Board Certified Teacher.

After graduating from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BA in Architecture, Mike spent three years traveling and learning carpentry skills before settling in San Francisco and beginning a career in architecture. Several years of experience in small firms and a successful completion of the architectural licensing exams led Mike to start his own practice in partnership with a fellow VPI graduate. After 25+ years, APPARATUS Architecture continues to do work throughout the San Francisco bay area plus select projects out of state.

Sideth Chhin works in USAID/Cambodia’s Office of the Director. Before joining USAID, Sideth spent five years as Executive Assistant to the Country Director at Peace Corps/Cambodia where he provided secretarial support, grant management, annual report writing and design, communication and outreach, and social media management. Prior to Peace Corps, Sideth was the International Volunteer Coordinator at the Sihanouk Hospital Center HOPE managing the International Volunteer Program to bring medical professionals from US, Australia, and Europe to provide clinical training in Cambodia. In addition, Sideth took a role as the Program Assistant for the Breast Cancer program at this hospital. He also worked as the Human Resource Officer at the Sihanouk Hospital Center HOPE, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Sideth holds a Master of International Development from Flinders University, Australia, through the Australia Awards Scholarship program. He earned a Platinum Leadership Award through Flinders Horizon Award program. Sideth holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development from Royal University of Agriculture, and Bachelor of English from Human Resources University, both in Cambodia. Sideth is very passionate about development work and inspired by education.

Gil Church was born in a small Wisconsin town. He is a retired partner of Milwaukee's largest law firm who first specialized in litigation and later branched into general corporate law. His wife Sinikka Church, also retired, taught for six years in the Milwaukee Public school system, retired when she had her first child, taught later as a substitute teacher, and then procured her PhD in German Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin.

Mary Sue is President of Varsant, Inc. and has over 30 years of experience providing engineering and acquisition support to the Federal Government, specializing in cost estimating and analysis and proposal evaluation. She has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Celeste is an attorney with 26-years of combined experience in administrative law and international project management with the U.S. government. She has a B.A. from the University of Maryland and J.D. from Loyola University, New Orleans, LA.

Since her retirement in 2012, Celeste has volunteered in the township of Masiphumelele, south of Cape Town, South Africa. She has worked with local NGOs, including Ikamva Youth and Valley Development Projects. Most recently she has been working with Masicorp. The NGO, Masicorp provides access to quality educational opportunities for young children and youth in the township, with an emphasis on early childhood development.

Celeste has served on the U.S. Board of Trustees for Masicorp since November 2021. Celeste also teaches ESL to adults who have recently arrived in the U.S.

Linda is currently a clinical dermatologist at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California, and has practiced academic dermatology for more than twenty years. She earned an AB from Smith College (1991); an MD,PhD from Duke University (1998); and an MPH from Columbia University (2023).

Linda’s life-long interest in education became her passion, and she has taught innumerable students between the ages of 4 and 40 years old in formal and informal settings. Her own return to student life at the age of 53 provided unique and invaluable perspectives on the current state of education. Linda believes educational system improvements will help reset the default to fuller, better, more joyful lives around the world.

Linda also whole-heartedly enjoys her volunteer experiences with the US Veterans’ Administration, Habitat for Humanity, local school districts, and numerous health care facilities and public health organizations.

Antony Mukim serves as the Project Management Assistant in the environment and energy team of the Economic Growth Office at USAID in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He supports the team in implementation of three environmental conservation activities under the local works programs with the host communities impacted by the Rohingya influx in Cox’s Bazar area. In addition he is one of the three members supporting the dynamic energy portfolio.

Antony completed his Master’s Degree in Information Science at the University of Dhaka. Antony lives in Dhaka but comes from Moulvibazar district, the Northeastern part of the country, which is famous for tea and its greenery.

Prior to joining USAID, he attended the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) for his leadership role in educating and establishing basic human rights for his unique and underprivileged Khasi indigenous community.

Chheang works in the security apparatus at the US Embassy Phnom Penh and is an elite martial artist and former professional mixed martial arts fighter.