FFI Board Meeting

The annual meeting of the Board of Directors was held in Atlanta September 9-11 with all 12 active members in attendance. The board received regular operations reports from the staff and approved a preliminary budget for 2008. A major portion of the time was spent looking to the future of Friendship Force with a strategic planning session, led by John Suddes who was one of the speakers at the 30th anniversary conference in Atlanta earlier in the year. The results of the strategic planning process will be announced later in the year. The board expressed its appreciation to all the club leaders around the world who responded to several surveys, which were very useful in helping shape the discussion.

An important part of the annual meeting is the election of officers for the next year and also filling of vacancies on the board. For 2008, the officers will be as follows: Donna Lambeth (North Carolina) will be Board Chairperson; Arifin Mochtar (Indonesia) will serve as Vice-Chair; Thomas Dortch (Atlanta, GA) was elected Treasurer; and Rita Powell (Oregon) will serve a second year as Secretary.

Four new board members were elected to fill vacancies. Each will serve a four-year term beginning January 2008 and ending December 2011. The new members represent different countries and have a variety of backgrounds.

Cang Jian (known to FF members as Jack) is from Nanjiing, China and is 42 years old. He is married and has a 12-year-old daughter. Jack has degrees from both Peking University and Nanjing University. Jack speaks English, Hebrew and several Chinese dialects. Jack is the director of the Department of International Liaisons at the Jiangsu International Cultural Exchange Center. This organization is FFI’s partner organization for the Nanjing exchange program that has been very effective in both hosting FF delegations and also in organizing outbound exchanges. He has participated and planned exchange programs to Canada, France, Japan, Russia and the U.S. Jack became involved with the Friendship Force in 1995. Since that time China has hosted nearly 40 inbound exchanges.

Elza Maria Fernandes dos Santos (known to FF members simply as Elza) is 51 years old and lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil with her husband Eduardo de Cillo. In addition to Portuguese, she speaks English and Spanish. Elza graduated from Ibero Americana University and worked in human resources and sales before opening her own business. She is now retired. Elza joined the Friendship Force in 1988 and served as club president from 2001 to 2006. She was the host chair for the 2005 International Conference in Sao Paulo, and has recently served as Vice Chair of the FF Council of Brazil. Elza has traveled extensively with the Friendship Force and participated in a three-month homestay with a family in Colorado with another organization.

Andrew Stirling is 62 years old and from Ottawa, Canada, but he was born and raised in Adelaide, Australia. He has degrees from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia. After completing his education, Andrew moved to Canada where he worked at Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. before retiring. He speaks both French and English. Andrew and his wife are widely traveled around the world. They joined the Ottawa club in 2001 and have participated in 15 outbound exchanges since that time. In 2002 he was elected to the Ottawa club’s board of directors and has served as president. During his professional career, Andrew traveled to Japan on 12 occasions and multiple times to countries throughout Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.

Dave Kalan is 52 years old and from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has lived his entire life in the U.S. He has engineering degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Marquette University. Dave worked professionally for S.C. Johnson Wax for 21 years. While there he traveled frequently while supporting offices in London, Amsterdam and Sydney. Since retiring seven years ago, Dave has spent much of his time volunteering. Dave has been active with the Friendship Force for 17 years and has been on 16 Friendship Force exchanges and exchange director on 9 exchanges. He held the positions of Midwest field representative, club president, club vice-president and club treasurer. In addition to Dave’s travel with work and the Friendship Force, he travels with friends on a regular basis. He recently traveled with a friend to Senegal, West Africa.