Board of Directors and International Board of Advisors

Charles F. Clarke III is the founding partner of Kinzie Realty Corp, a redeveloper of low to moderate income apartment communities in the Chicago, Illinois, metropolitan area. Mr. Clarke holds a B.A. degree from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania as well as his real estate brokerage license. Mr. Clarke is a Board Member of Verado Energy Inc. and Vice Chairman of the Board of the Old People's Home of the City of Chicago. In addition to his family, business and philanthropic pursuits, he is an occasional but enthusiastic architecture student. An avid traveler and student of cultures, Mr. Clarke found his passion for cultural understanding as a young man while participating in an overseas volunteer effort similar to United Planet's Quest Program.

Ron D’Vari is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of NewOak Capital. He has 28 years of combined experience in fixed-income, engineering design optimization and academics. Prior to joining NewOak in August 2008, Dr. D’Vari was Managing Director and Head of Structured Finance CDO at BlackRock and member of several key BlackRock’s committees (Fixed Income Business Management, Alternatives, and New Products Committees). Prior to BlackRock's aquisition of State Street Research (SSR), Dr. D’Vari served for 12 years in various capacities in SSR's Fixed Income Department leading to heading the MBS/ABS/CMBS Portfolio Management as well as Director of Research. Dr. D’Vari was on the Bond Policy Committee that managed $27 billion of fixed income assets. Dr. D’Vari also established and led the firm's Structured Finance CDO business and Quantitative Research team.  Concurrent with his SSR position, Dr. D’Vari was an adjunct professor at Brandeis University in the International Business School and a professor at the Harvard University Extension Program. Prior to joining SSR, Dr. D’Vari served as Senior Principal Engineer and Scientist with McDonnell Douglas, Adjunct Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Southern California.  Dr. D’Vari serves as the Chairman of the Board at Agire Mortgage Corporation/EdgeMAC, a mortgage due diligence and advisory firm. In addition, Dr. D’Vari serves on the Advisory Boards of the American Securitization Forum and Fixed Income Forum. Dr. D’Vari has been on the Board of the Boston Security Analyst Society and a member of its Education Committee.   Dr. D’Vari holds MBA, PhD, MS and BS degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Edwin H. Gragert is Executive Director of iEARN-USA.  During his 19 years at iEARN (International Education and Resource Network), he has pioneered the use of telecommunications technology and teacher professional development to facilitate on-line educational project work on the primary and secondary school levels.  Since its creation in 1988, iEARN has become the world’s largest educational telecommunications network involving project-based Learning.  It currently links students and teachers in over 125 countries, speaking 33 languages, to enable them to collaborate on projects that both enhance learning through a global curriculum and improve the quality of life on the planet.  Approximately 2,000,000 students are working daily on collaborative projects through the iEARN network.  

From 1979-90, he was the Executive Director of ICYE-US, an international youth exchange program with both high school and community service volunteer exchanges among 30 countries. At ICYE-US, he worked closely with ECA at the US Department of State to initiative service-learning exchanges at the high school level.  He served on several occasions on the ICYE International Board of Managers.

He worked for the International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, concentrating on US-Korean relations.

Ed received his BA in Japanese political science from the University of Washington (Seattle), MA in Korean History and certificate from the School of International Affairs at Columbia University.  He has had extensive language experience in Korean, Japanese and Classical Chinese.  His PhD at Columbia University was in Japanese history, focusing on landownership changes brought about by Japanese colonial administration in the early 20th century.  His book,  Landownership Under Colonial Rule: Korea's Japanese Experience, was published by Columbia University and the University of Hawaii in 1994.

Jeffrey Petty has twenty years experience working with entrepreneurial organizations ranging from start-ups to multi-national corporations as well as non-profit and governmental organizations. He has worked in strategic advisory and venture capital throughout Australasia, Europe and the USA and has assisted a wide range of media and technology companies. Dr. Petty holds an MBA in international management from Thunderbird as well as a doctorate in management from University of Lausanne.

Dave Santulli is the Executive Director and founder of United Planet. Mr. Santulli lived in Tokyo, Japan for 9 years as the CEO of a Tokyo-based trading company. Mr. Santulli holds a Master's of International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, attended St. Louis University's International Business and Spanish Language program in Madrid, Spain, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Santulli has also been a teacher in US public schools and certified accountant and financial consultant for Price Waterhouse. In addition to living in various parts of the world for a significant portion of his life, Mr. Santulli has traveled to over 100 nations and has studied Spanish, Japanese, and Russian. Mr. Santulli created the concept of Relational Diplomacy as a practical method to improve intercultural relations. Relational Diplomacy is the theory that peace building and improved intercultural relations can occur by creating a vast and intricate web of interpersonal relationships and friendships. Relational Diplomacy is instrumental to his work at United Planet.

Ashraf Hegazy is the founder and President of Hegazy Consulting, a strategic business consulting firm. Mr. Hegazy is a graduate of Harvard University, where he conducted original research focused on leadership characteristics most successful at organizations varying in size, makeup, area of focus, history, and culture. He has put his research expertise into practice by founding and/or leading seventeen organizations over the past fifteen years.

Mr. Hegazy began his career as a market analyst at Fidelity Investments Research & Marketing Company, and later joined the Boston office of top European strategy consulting firm LEK. His clients included top biotech, pharmaceutical, hospital management, media, entertainment, wholesale, and retail companies, as well as foreign government departments.

In 1998, Mr. Hegazy joined Sapient, the #1 e-business consulting company. He continued to work on business strategy, organizational design, and implementation for a number of start-up, mid-sized, and large companies, as well as the Marine Corps and other government and non-profit organizations.

Mr. Hegazy is also very active in volunteer and non-profit work, and is currently on the boards of three organizations. He has played key leadership roles with the American Red Cross, the Arab American Institute, and The Mars Society, among others. Mr. Hegazy is dedicated to promoting cross-cultural friendship and is actively involved in promoting US-Arab relations and understanding. Mr. Hegazy is also the co-founder of the Harvard Arab Alumni Association, which holds events throughout the world to promote greater cross-cultural understanding.

Ambassador John Simon is a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development. Mr. Simon recently served as the United States Ambassador to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that appointment, he was the Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Mr. Simon’s work at OPIC saw him leading efforts to promote private investment in the developing world, especially the creation of new private equity funds focused on social impact investment in Africa.  He previously served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization and Development on the National Security Council (NSC) staff and at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy and Program Coordination.  At the White House, Mr. Simon was responsible for several new development initiatives including the Millennium Challenge Account, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the President’s Malaria Initiative.  He also oversaw relief efforts for international disasters, including the South Asia Earthquake of 2005.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Simon worked at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He earned his bachelor's degree at Princeton University and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Jake Brewer is the Chief Technology Officer for the Energy Action Coalition which aims to get policy passed on the creation of green economy jobs, 80% reduction in carbon emissions, and a moratorium on new coal plants in the United States.

Jake is an entrepreneur, activist, and "translator". In his work, Jake seeks to connect strategic networks in the business, nonprofit, and social media sectors to help translate organizations' good intentions into effective and responsible action.

In his diverse career, Jake has at different times spent two years at the United States Naval Academy - subsequently graduating from Vanderbilt University - served as a corporate consultant in the Middle East oil sector, designed and implemented international service-learning programs for universities, conducted community development projects from central Jamaica to East Africa to Mongolia, and prior to Idealist served as the executive director of Break Away® - the national organization through which 40,000 college students connect with nonprofits and spend "alternative spring breaks" learning to become active citizens each year.

Jake is a former All-American triathlete, a published photographer and writer - currently he is a regularly featured contributor to the Huffington Post - and in addition to his role with Idealist.org, serves on the board of directors for Hostelling International USA, as an advisor to the University of Texas Project on Conflict Resolution, and as the conference director of Education Without Borders - an event in the United Arab Emirates which brings 1000 young leaders from 110 countries together to discuss "innovative solutions to global challenges."

Reem Bsaiso is the Chief Executive Officer of World Links Arab Region (WLAR), an international NGO that provides specifically-tailored programs to improve educational outcomes, economic opportunities and global understanding for youth in the Arab region. She is also a representative of the PUM Senior Netherland Experts, a non-profit organization that identifies programs aimed at building sustainability and capacities while fighting poverty and unemployment in the South of Jordan.

Prior to WLAR, Ms. Bsaiso served as an Institutional Capacity Building Specialist for a CDM International-USAID project in Jordan. She also worked as the Program Manager of the Jordanian-American Commission for Educational Exchange, and Executive Director of the Jordan Europe Business Association. She has also held contracts as an independent consultant with the Prime Ministry and the Ministries of Information & Communication Technology and Education.

Joseph Christian is a newly-appointed partner at DLA Piper's Real Estate Practice group located in Boston, MA. Mr. Christian focuses his practice primarily on real estate and real estate capital markets transactions, he has dealt extensively with the acquisition, management, and disposition of real estate assets in major markets across the United States and overseas. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Mr. Christian was a partner with WilmerHale, a senior executive and counsel at Copley Real Estate Advisors, which later merged with AEW Capital Management, L.P. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business has listed Mr. Christian in every edition since 2005. In 2008, Christian was named in The Best Lawyers in America as a New England Super Lawyer. Mr. Christian received his B.A degree from Catholic University and his J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

Brian Dawson was born in Kampala, Uganda, spent time in Kenya and Swaziland but lived most of his life in South Africa. He completed a BA degree and teaching diploma at the University of Natal Durban and later added an Honours degree in Geography through the University of South Africa. He is married to Angela and they will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary this year. They have two sons, Warrick  who is currently spending a Gap year at Armidale in NSW Australia, Andrew who is in year ten at Stanford Lake College, and a daughter, Hayley who is in year eight at Stanford Lake College. They live in a most stunning part of north eastern South Africa called the Magoebaskloof.

Brian has have spent all his  life, other than a two year stint in the military, in the teaching profession, and has a fondness and compassion for young adults and a vast respect for those who have chosen to work in this profession.  The family enjoys the outdoors, travel and sport.  They often journey to game parks to camp out and take pleasure in the solitude of the African bush or splendour of the southern African coastline.

Brian’s interaction with Round Square has given him the opportunity to experience the immeasurable value it returns to its members and the many opportunities it has created for young men and women all over the world. He is unwavering in his belief in the philosophy of Round Square and that the application of this thinking is nothing short of a perfect means to prepare young adults for an ever changing world.

Paul Fischer is a high school teacher and university professor in Santiago, Chile. Mr. Fischer has operated his own trade-related business in Chile and worked for the U. S. Foreign & Commercial Service at the American Embassy in Santiago. Mr. Fischer has a B.A. degree from Duke University and an M.A. degree in History from the University of Denver. Mr. Fischer also spent several years in Africa with the Peace Corps. He currently lives in the Lo Barnechea sector of Santiago with his wife and their three children.

John D. Judge is Chief Development Officer for the City of Springfield, Massachusetts. Judge oversees several of the City’s key departments, including: economic development; housing; inspectional services and zoning; neighborhood services; planning; community development; marketing; historic preservation; and conservation. Reporting to the Mayor, Judge leads an ambitious growth agenda in New England’s fourth largest city.

From July 2004 to June 2009, John served as founder and president of The Judge Co. LLC, a for-profit, public-purpose urban development firm. Judge Co was responsible for development of dozens of inner city properties..  Prior to Judge Co, he served for seven years as executive director of Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston.

John has advised regional and international nonprofit organizations, including raising $100 million in private and public funds. He has developed a national reputation as a leader in collaboration around community challenges.

From 2003 to 2007 he served as Chair of the Massachusetts Commission on Community Service and Volunteerism (the Mass Service Alliance). In addition to United Planet, John serves on several nonprofit boards, including Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and the Boylston Street Athletic Club.  He is a graduate of Stonehill College and Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Melanie Marsh develops online marketing strategic plans and creative programs for Bank of America. This includes sponsorhips with the NFL, MLB and NASCAR.

Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Commerce, a Masters of Science in Computer Information Systems, and an MBA. Her background is a blended mix of sales, operations, technology, and online strategic business development. She is frequently recognized for her innovative solutions that drive business results.

Melanie grew up in both England and Australia, and now resides in the United States. She has a deep understanding of cultural differences, and manages them daily both for herself as well as for those who report to her, and interact with her. She is dedicated to promoting cultural awareness and understanding in the workplace and her personal life.

Yoshimi Nagaya is the Director of the Japanese Language Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. She holds an MA from Cornell University and BA from Nanzan University. She has been teaching Japanese at MIT since 1994. Prior to joining MIT, she taught at Williams College and Cornell University. Professor Nagaya also taught Language Pedagogy at Japanese Teacher’s Workshops at Bryn Mawr College and Ohio State University.

Jon Ryder is the president of Great River Dentistry, PC in Davenport, Iowa. He is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry Operative Department where he is co-director of the CEREC Advanced Technology Education program. Dr. Ryder graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL with degrees in Asian Studies and Philosophy. He received the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry where he was the recipient of the President's Award and the Fraternal Achievement Award. He is a member of the ADA, the Academy of Operative Dentistry, The International College of Implantology, and the International Society of Computerized Dentistry. Dr. Ryder has advanced education in the fields of aesthetic, computerized, and implant reconstructive dentistry. Dr. Ryder provides workshops, seminars, and training programs and lectures on dental technology and CEREC technology nationally and internationally. Dr. Ryder is committed to advancing educational opportunities around the world.

Omar Shdeifat obtained a PhD. Degree in Theoretical Linguistics from the University of Illinois in 1984. He is the author of more than thirty research papers and published books and has conducted numerous studies in the field of academic research, higher education and university affairs.

He became Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in November, 2007. Prior to that, he was the president of Hashemite University and a member of the World Bank Council for Development of Higher Education, both situated in Jordan.

Yoshikatsu Takeda is the Managing Director of Mikihouse (US), a globally known high-end children's clothing brand currently based in New York. Mikihouse has around 200 direct management shops in Japan and 35 shops in 11 countries, including in Paris, Milan, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Dubai. He is currently in charge of the Mikihouse US project. He received his B.A. degree in Law from University of Tokyo. He graduated from the Boston University School of Management and completed his MBA and MS for information systems.

Caroline Zwick is a post-baccalaureate premedical student at Columbia University. Ms. Zwick holds a BA in International Studies and German from Boston College. As an undergraduate, she also studied at Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet in Munich, Germany. In addition to her medical, international and language studies, she also worked as an intern and trainer for several sports and physical therapy organizations including the Back Education & Sports Therapy Center (B.E.S.T.) and the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement. Ms. Zwick also worked as a healthcare program coordinator for United Planet where she worked directly with country coordinators in Cambodia, Nepal, Peru, Guatemala, Tanzania and several other developing countries. Ms. Zwick will be continuing her medical studies in the Fall of 2009.