Our Team

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Tony Balis  Boston, USA
Tony is the founder of The Humanity Initiative. He worked for sixteen years as both publisher of our journal, humanity, and as our de facto Executive Director. Previous positions include Associate Publisher of WorldPaper and Executive Director of the National Advertising Review Board. He was president of the British American Educational Foundation (New York City and London) from 1975 to 1980 and served as a trustee for twenty-one years. Tony also was a lecturer in international marketing at Babson College. He holds a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Eleanor Tabibito Jorden  Zurich, Switzerland
Tabi is General Manager of Catalyst Europe AG, an organization that works with business to effect change for women through research, advisory services and communication. She is responsible for developing memberships and partnerships in Europe and addressing the global diversity needs of Catalyst members. Tabi previously was Managing Director of the Paradigm Group, an international human resources research and consulting organization specializing in corporate change initiatives, performance management and cross-cultural diversity. She has presented papers and spoken before numerous audiences in Europe, Asia and North America. Tabi attended Princeton University as an advanced standing scholar and Bryn Mawr College, graduating with an A. B. magna cum laude in history. She went on to earn her M.Sc. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Jade Dyer   Perth, Australia
Jade is currently completing a research project into the pathophysiology of migraine headaches for the National Health and Medical Research Committee, as part of a BA (Hons) in Psychology at Murdoch University. She also has a BSc from the University of Western Australia and works as an Ophthalmic Technician for a private practice in Perth, using medical technology to test patients' vision. As manager of our extern program, Jade travelled across five continents in January 2004 to consult with members of the THI team. She also is involved with several volunteer and activist groups in Western Australia.

Professor Tom Ockerse  Providence, Rhode Island USA
Tom Ockerse is our designer and has been with THI since 1989. He is known internationally for his work in semiotics and design theory. He was head of the Graphic Design Department at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1973 to 1993. He continues to teach at RISD as program head of graduate studies. Tom has worked throughout his career as a consultant for communication and design strategies and has lectured extensively in North America, Asia and Europe. He is also on the board of the American Theosophical Society. He was born Dutch in Indonesia, raised in Holland, and educated at Ohio State and Yale University.

BOARD OF ADVISORS


Justen Ahren  Tisbury, Massachusetts USA
Poet and farmer, Justen worked as an editor with THI for over three years on the premier and second issues of humanity. He also ran our volunteer intern program and established our folklore initiative.Justen has just completed his master's degree in poetry from Emerson College and also runs his own landscaping service. He is married, with two young children.

Kylie Burgess  Johannesburg, South Africa
Kylie currently is Project Manager for a multi-media adult basic education and training company in her hometown of Johannesburg, specialising in the implementation and managing of literacy and numeracy programmes. She consults on a variety of skills development initiatives involving management and learner liaison, managing skills audits, developing and aligning learning material to national standards, and implementing adult learning processes. She completed both a BA degree in Education and a BA Honours degree in Publishing at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Sheila Kinkade  Baltimore, Maryland USA
Sheila is a children's book author, travel writer, and communications consultant working to help nonprofits tell their stories. She has worked for the International Youth Foundation for many years, work that has taken her to over twenty countries. She is a graduate of Duke University and of the Columbia University School of Journalism. She lives restlessly in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Dr Sandra Pralong   Bratislava, Slovakia
Sandra is currently the Regional Advisor for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, in charge of communications. A native of Romania, Sandra set up and ran the Soros Foundation in Bucharest between 1990 and 1993. She also served as advisor to Emil Constantinescu when he was President; she was in charge of international communications and the relation with Romanians abroad. Sandra earned her MPhil from Columbia University and an MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has written extensively on ethics and the development of civil society.

Francie Randolph  Truro, Massachusetts USA
Francie is a visual artist whose work explores the patterns, structures and cycles of the natural world. Her work has been exhibited internationally, has won multiple awards and has been reviewed in The New York Times, Harvard Magazine, and ArtHouse Magazine in Korea, among others. After receiving a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard, Francie traveled through Papua New Guinea on a Radcliffe grant, exploring the interrelationship between culture and village arts. She settled in Australia, later returning to the USA to teach at Harvard for seven years and received an MEd in Visual Arts and Technology. She lives with her husband, painter Thomas A. D. Watson, and their two children in an eighteenth-century farmhouse on Cape Cod. Francie was head of the THI intern program in 1990. (www.francierandolph.com)

Michelle M. Sullivan  Sheridan, Wyoming, USA
Michelle is principal of Sullivan & Associates, a private firm that assists philanthropists, private foundations and nonprofits to maximize their effectiveness. She recently has served as president of the Ucross Foundation, as director of Wyoming operations for the Daniels Fund, and as a senior associate at the Aspen Institute's Community Strategies Group and Global Interdependence Initiative. Currently Michelle serves on the Wyoming State Board of Education and as a trustee of the Homer & Mildred Scott Foundation. In 1997 she was awarded a three-year Kellogg National Fellowship, during which she examined the leadership issues that emerge out of cross-cultural conflict. She was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University in 1995 & 1996 and also was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Colorado College for her work to develop the Snake River Institute in Jackson Hole in 1988. Michelle is married and has three children.
 
Dr Shashi Tharoor  New York City
Chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Shashi was the official candidate of India for the succession to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006, and came a close second out of seven contenders in the race. His career began in 1978, when he joined the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, and included key responsibilities in peace-keeping after the Cold War and as a senior adviser to the Secretary-General, as well as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. Shashi is also the award-winning author of nine books, as well as hundreds of articles, op-eds and book reviews in a wide range of publications. He has served for two years as a Contributing Editor and occasional columnist for Newsweek International. Since April 2001 he has authored a fortnightly column in The Hindu and since January 2007 in The Times of India. See also www.shashitharoor.com.

Jacqueline Wigglesworth London, England
Jacqueline is an actress and freelance personal trainer. Half English and half Venezuelan, she was brought up in England and America. Her extensive travels have included work on humanitarian and environmental projects, including with the Philippe Cousteau Foundation in Bonaire and more recently at an orphanage in Nepal through Global Vision International. She is working on creating a company, Delphinex, which intends to make inspiring documentaries about humanity. Jacqueline is also on the International Committee of the Red Cross. She has a degree from Exeter University in Drama and English and a diploma with distinction from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Professor Wu Ningkun  Reston, Virginia USA
Professor Emeritus of English at the International Institute of Beijing, Ningkun spent 22 years in internal incarceration in his native China. During the 1980's he held visiting fellowships at Cambridge University, Northwestern University and the University of California. In 1990 he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Manchester College. Ningkun published his memoir, A Single Tear,  in 1993 and now lives and writes in Virginia with his wife of fifty years, Li Yikai.

EXTERNS

Rachel Gabriel Amherst, Masssachusetts, USA
Rachel is a senior at the University of Massachusetts, with a double major in political science/international relations and product management. She's a member of the Arab Students Club and captain of the women's soccer club team. Rachel is developing a children's section for this site.

Jessica Mariglio Clinton, New York, USA
Jess is a senior at Hamilton College, majoring in psychology. She co-founded both Students Against Violence and 'Rock The Vote Hamilton College!' Jess is creating an extensive bibliography for THI, covering not only literature but also theater, film, art and photography.

Devon White Boston, USA
Devon teaches Spanish and coaches soccer and basketball at the Dexter and Southfield Schools. She graduated from Middlebury College with a BA in Spanish and Italian and also has an Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Devon is leading the development of our positive change course.

WEB MASTERS

Heather Goff Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts USA
Heather runs her own web design and consulting practice. She has worked in the visual arts for over 20 years as a painter and ceramist, and in computer programming and internet development since 1997. Heather is married and has three children. See: goffgrafix.com.

Dave Sawyer Tisbury, Massachusetts USA
Dave has worked with THI for ten years, implementing our original design language to the web and ensuring its technical fluency. He works as an independent consultant, runs an internet cafe, and is an accomplished improv actor.