3/4/2005 - AFS International Announces Election of Trustees

AFS International announced the reelection of Victor Oporto as the chairperson of the Board of Trustees, the election of J. Brian Atwood as vice chair and the election of two new Board members, Ms. Maleeratna Plumchitchom and Dr. Hassan El Kalla.

Oporto has served two terms as National Chair of AFS in his native country of Argentina. He is the Executive Director of CIDAL SA, a large manufacturing company in Argentina with worldwide sales and exclusive contracts with organizations such as the United Nations. This will be his fifth year serving as chair of the Board. He is an AFS alum who spent his program year in Northridge, California (USA) in 1977.

J. Brian Atwood, the newly elected vice chair, is the Dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He was appointed to head the Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Clinton administration, where he introduced comprehensive management reforms and a focused development strategy. He served on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Panel on Peace Operations in 2001. An AFS alum, he traveled to Luxembourg in 1959 for his exchange program.

Ms. Maleeratna Plumchitchom is the executive vice president of Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. She is chairperson of the Board of Cambodia Commercial Bank and an associate judge at the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court in her country. She has been honored with the Thai Red Cross Medal of Appreciation, First Class, among other recognitions. Ms. Plumchitchom was a member of the first contingent of AFS Thai grantees to study in the U.S. in 1962.

Dr. Hassan El Kalla is the first undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Egypt. He has been the chairperson of the Futures Foundation which operates private schools, and he serves as the secretary general of the Egyptian Society of Quality in Health Care. His work as a key member of health policy committees in Egypt has laid the foundation for health sector reform.

“We are truly excited about the role that the newly elected Board members will play. AFS’s ambitious plans to continue to deliver on its core values of enabling people to act as responsible global citizens and to work for peace and understanding in a diverse world, will be well served by this board.”, said Leslie Bains, President of AFS International, “These board members will help AFS reaffirm its commitment to continue to achieve excellence as the premier intercultural global exchange organization.”