Staff
Interim President & CEO
Jennifer Teunon is currently serving as the Interim President and CEO of the World Affairs Council. She is a partner with Luma Consulting, a firm that specializes in helping nonprofit organizations and philanthropic organizations with strategic planning, implementing new programs, and managing leadership changes.
Jennifer has worked in the nonprofit sector for nearly twenty years. Prior to joining Luma Consulting, she worked for the Medina Foundation as a Program Officer and eventually as the Acting Executive Director. She administered the Laurel Foundation for two years, and she was the first Managing Director for Book-It Repertory Theatre. She started her career at Treehouse, an organization that helps children in the foster care system, where she developed programs and led fundraising efforts. Jennifer has created and managed grants processes, provided technical assistance to countless nonprofits and worked extensively with boards.
Jennifer has volunteered with the Washington Women’s Foundation, the Northwest Children’s Fund, the Crisis Clinic, and United Way of King County. She is currently a board member for Express Advantage, the nonprofit arm of King County’s first low-income credit union. Email Jennifer here.
Community Programs
Stephanie Hillman, Vice President of Programs
Stephanie is the Vice President of Programs at the World Affairs Council. Stephanie comes to us from Greenpeace where she has spent the past fifteen years working on global environmental campaigns primarily in campaign strategy, along with the related fundraising and field work.
Stephanie spent two years in Turkey as the Greenpeace Program Director for the Mediterranean office, which involved coordinating international and regional campaigns among Turkey, Israel, and Lebanon. As the Program Director and in her other roles within Greenpeace, Stephanie has collaborated extensively with other organizations to deliver multiyear advocacy campaigns. She has developed evaluation guidelines and protocols for Greenpeace, managed staff, and her work with the global organization has given her a wide range of travel experience.
Stephanie has always had a keen interest in current events and world affairs and she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western Washington University, with a focus on global economics and poverty issues.
Having spent years developing campaigns, Stephanie has enjoyed educating and exposing local communities to global issues, while inspiring them to create change. Stephanie grew up in the Northwest and is very happy to be back and engaging in the Seattle community. Email Stephanie here.
Majd Baniodeh, Community Events Coordinator
Majd moved to Seattle from the West Bank, in 2005, in search for both educational and professional opportunities. Majd coordinated several cultural and fundraising events for the Seattle University campus. While a student at Seattle University, Majd demonstrated a dedication to raising awareness about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and helped build workshops that foster love, tolerance and equality.
She gained her professional experience over the years from having served as the Program Coordinator for Young Women Empowered, where she helped shape the mentorship/leadership program and helped create networking and fundraising events.
Majd was an integral part of the success of USAID/AED Project AIDE in Djibouti, where she helped interpret dialogues, documents and conversations for data collection and research purposes.
Majd aims to build a career in the international relations field and holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Women’s Studies from Seattle University. Email Majd here.
Global Classroom
Tese Wintz Neighbor, Senior Director of Professional Development
Tese Wintz Neighbor has traveled extensively around the world, especially Asia. Tese lived in China from 1981-1983 working in Beijing as the English editor for China Pictorial magazine as well as teaching English at Beijing University.
Tese holds a Masters degree in China Regional Studies from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. She has worked as an adjunct Asian history instructor at Seattle-area colleges and currently teaches an intensive East Asia Seminar class for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, based at UW. She has led more than fifty educational tours to Asia and has published articles in the Asia Wall Street Journal and Education About Asia; she has also written numerous curriculums on China. Tese is the Senior Director of Professional Development for the World Affairs Council’s Global Classroom Program, where she has worked since 1999. Email Tese here.
Laura Adriance, Director of Youth Programming
Laura Adriance serves as Director of Youth Programming for the World Affairs Council’s Global Classroom program. Laura has worked as an educator in a variety of settings. She taught elementary school in both New York and Washington and worked with future teachers in the University of Washington’s teacher education program. And, as part of her Peace Corps service, she conducted professional development for teachers in rural Namibia. Laura grew up in New Jersey and earned her bachelors degree at Drew University, with one semester spent studying abroad in Cannes, France. She holds a Masters degree in elementary education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a PhD in education from the University of Washington. Given her own experiences as a classroom teacher, Laura is particularly passionate about supporting teachers in their efforts to help students learn about the world beyond our borders and truly become global citizens. Email Laura here.
Nathan Sharpe, Program Assistant
Nathan began his time at the World Affairs Council in January 2011 as a Global Classroom intern. He served as an intern for nine short months before joining the staff as a Program Assistant. He has been connecting with teachers by helping administer the bi-monthly email newsletter and by assisting with the Educational Gaming Initiative, especially by organizing the Games Without Borders Youth Challenge. Before Joining the World Affairs Council, Nathan graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2009. While attending Puget Sound, he was able to cement his appreciation for international relations by studying the history of the European Union in Freiburg, Germany and by visiting EU institutions in eight other countries. Nathan hopes he can use his organizational abilities to further Global Classroom’s capacity to authentically connect teachers to global resources and to make a foothold for the Seattle area in the field of educational gaming. Email Nathan here.
International Visitor Program
Emily Peters joined the World Affairs Council in September of 2011 as an International Visitor Program intern before taking her current position in January of 2012. Emily has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and International Studies from Willamette University. While in school, Emily worked for a Chilean ecotourism resort where she was responsible for everything from translation, to farm work, to program administration. She also participated in earthquake relief efforts and served as a tutor and community preschool volunteer while in Chile. Prior to joining the World Affairs Council, Emily worked for a nonprofit ecotourism organization in Southeast Alaska that aimed to conserve, protect, and share the beauty of the Tongass National Forest.
Emily is passionate about international education, exchange, and the power of building personal relationships that cross cultural borders. She enjoys the opportunity to share everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer with international delegations, and in her free time she enjoys and explores it herself. Email Emily here.
Rachel Paris-Lambert joined the World Affair Council’s International Visitor Program from World Learning in Washington, DC, where she worked on the IVLP program as a senior program associate. Rachel received her M.A. in international education from the SIT Graduate Institute and a B.A. in anthropology from Whitman College and has a passion for global citizenship and experiential learning. Prior to joining World Learning, Rachel worked for the Fulbright Commission in Bogota, Colombia and was the assistant field office coordinator for Semester at Sea’s Fall 2008 voyage. Rachel has also led several international programs for high school students in Central America and spent a number of years teaching and coordinating environmental education programs in Maine and Wyoming. In her free time, Rachel enjoys playing and exploring outside, traveling, cooking, and spending time with friends and family. Email Rachel here.
Nadine Shaw, Program Officer
Nadine Shaw joined the World Affairs Council as an International Visitor Program intern before taking her current position in December of 2012. Nadine has a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Management from the University of Montana. While in school, Nadine spent time in New Zealand studying the progression of ecotourism and sustainability, and focused on the importance of a green business model. Prior to joining the World Affairs Council, she worked as an Academic Peer Advisor interacting closely with the diverse undergraduate student population at the University of Montana. In her free time, Nadine enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest and finding new cuisine to try. Email Nadine here.
Program Support
Jesse Foster, Operations Director
Jesse is the Operations Director at the World Affairs Council. Jesse completed his Political Science degree at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where he spent his final year working closely with Professor and Author, Stephanie Coonts, as a research assistant for the Council on Contemporary Families.
Jesse spent the last six years working at Provail leading a team of Employment Consultants to develop and maintain employment opportunities for People with Disabilities. Jesse developed an online database and document sharing platform, an internal training website, and many other programmatic innovations that allowed his department to more than double in size.
As someone who continually educates himself in world affairs, Jesse is an avid follower of current events and strives to engage others in becoming active citizens of the global community. Locally, Jesse is a volunteer at the Rainier Valley Post and the reigning ping-pong champion at several local hangouts. Email Jesse here.
Julie Kageler, Finance Director
Julie Kageler is the Finance Director at the World Affairs Council. Since earning a Bachelor of Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, an accounting concentration from the University of Washington and passing the CPA exam, Julie has worked primarily in the nonprofit sector. She started her career in larger health care organizations including SeaMar Community Health Center and Providence Hospice of Seattle. For the past ten years Julie has worked and consulted in a finance capacity for a number of small nonprofit organizations in Seattle and New York. She joined the World Affairs Council in July of 2007.
Julie feels strongly about applying her skills and experience to organizations, like the World Affairs Council, toward which she feels a commitment to the mission. Along with her half-time work as Finance Director at the World Affairs Council, Julie works with organizations involved in eliminating hunger, providing healthcare to children, creating global issues curriculum, and mobilizing philanthropy in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Email Julie here.
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