Group 20 - Business Development & Environment
2001-2003

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The following are brief biosketches of volunteers serving in Business Development & Environment Group 20.

Business Volunteers

Christie Appelhanz swapped the wheat fields and sunflowers of Kansas for the ones in Ukraine. She is putting her three years experience as a business reporter at the Topeka Capital-Journal to work in Ukraine as a teacher of Junior Achievement and Business English. The staff and students at school No. 37 in Poltava have shown her exactly why Ukrainian hospitality is world famous. Christie serves as Peace Corps Group 20's representative on the Volunteer Advisory Committee in Kyiv.

Chistie graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in business communications.

David Barrett is working as a Business Facilitator for the City Administration of Berdyansk. The city of Berdyansk is located in the Southeast of Ukraine on the coast of the Azov Sea. Berdyansk is a seaport tourist city of 140,000 with many resorts located on a 22km peninsula.

David's hometown is Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Cathey Bernhard works at the NGO Fond Bospor. Their responsibility is to market the tourism of this ancient city. Kerch is 2600 years old and has many archeological sites and places of interest. She also supports an orphanage for abused and neglected children and a pensioner's home for pensioners without children to support them emotionally or financially. She also works with an English School. Cathey currently has three secondary projects including a leadership club for teenagers taught in English, a leadership club for businesswomen taught in Russian, and an English Club.

Krista Bourgoin is working as a business education volunteer.

Krista is originally from West Warwick, Rhode Island. In May 2000 she graduated with a BS degree in Business Management from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Krista worked as Training Director in a New Orleans restaurant.

Jonathan Braddick works in Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrosk Oblast. He is teaching courses in Marketing, Management and Business English at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. This prestigious higher education facility is in direct correlation with Kiev's University of Economics. He coordinates with seven different teacher's classrooms on a weekly basis. He also is the coordinator for an International English Club that he helped initiate. They meet on a weekly basis, conducting two different sessions of American culture and International Business, alternating each week. Their activities have included an Internet seminar, a Fourth of July celebration, and other various sessions. He is a coordinating director for a newly established NGO that conducts a summer camp for young Ukrainian community activists, and provides a network for continuing support for implementation of the participant's action plans. He is the In-country Contact for the World Wise Schools program. He also works on the web team for PCUkraine, collecting content for the Travel and WWS sections.

Jonathan is from Plano, Texas and has a bachelor degree in Business Administration from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

Jon K. Daigle is currently consulting small and medium-sized businesses as a volunteer at the Main Economic Department of the Khmelnitsky State Regional Administration. The city of Khmelnitsky is home to more than 280,000 people and was named after Ukrainian national hero Bohdan Khmelnitsky. Jon also co-leads the web development team for Peace Corps Ukraine. In his spare time, he enjoys running down the beautiful, clean streets of Khmelnitsky, testing the ski slopes of Eastern Europe, and cooking just about anything that tastes good in his shashlik machine, a treasure that has been passed on to new volunteers in the Khmelnitsky Oblast since Group 2.

Jon is from Seattle, Washington, where he had worked as a Business Analyst at The Boeing Company before working in business development at a startup company in the medical equipment industry

Bruce Grogan

Brett Harrison is working in Reni, located in the Odessa Oblast. At the Reni Academy of Management, Business and Law he is teaching Economics and English courses, as well as coordinating the activities of the US Studies Club. Reni is a small port city and is situated on the Danube River. The city has much to offer in culture, due to the influence of the other countries that are located a pebbles throw away. Apart from work, Brett has an infatuation with the local goats and chickens, and is known for wearing his hair in a way that has been termed the "fifa" style.

Vicki Ingersoll lives in the city of Melitopol. She is serving as a Business Development Consultant for the NGO: Melitopol Women's Organization - ROST. Her primary function is to assist in capacity development of women, including organizational skills, business training and education, networking, and community project assistance.

Vicki has thirty years experience in technology and business management. She has enjoyed a successful career in the Information and Document Technology field, providing technical analysis, sales, management and consulting for large United States and global corporations. Until January of 2001, she was a Global Account General Manager for Xerox Corporation, where she was employed for the past eighteen years. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Vicki lived in Indianapolis, Indiana and Redondo Beach, California. She has three grown sons living in the Indianapolis area.

Lynn Jarrett is living and working in the beautiful and historic city of Lviv in Western Ukraine. Her primary job is as a business consultant in a center that provides a job skills training program, provides legal and social counseling to women, helps women find employment, and helps women start new businesses. She also started and maintains an English Club. She has helped initiate an HIV/AIDS train-the-trainers program in Lviv. She would be interested in communicating with any invitees, especially the older over-50 people who may have many different questions than younger Peace Corps invitees.

Lynn received both her BA and MBA degrees in Information Technology from National University in San Diego. Her education along with her business, technical and managerial experience at the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper along with her volunteer experiences, especially that of a former member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego YWCA, provide her with the business and volunteer skills needed to assist the Women's Perspective in their endeavors to enhance the education, economic and life experiences of women in Lviv. She has two grown children and four grandchildren all living in Southern California.

Judy Johnson brings thirty years of experience as an educator, trainer, and entrepreneur to the Business Development project in Ukraine. She is a consultant with the Crimean Tourism Development Center in Yalta, currently working to introduce customer service skills within the popular Crimea tourist sector.

Judy is a grandmother from San Diego, who has wanted to be in the Peace Corps all her life.

Ward Kelman is an instructor of Business English and Economics at the Ukrainian Academy of Foreign Trade in the city of Kiev.

Ward worked for twelve years in international trade prior to joining the Peace Corps. Originally from Detroit, he is a graduate of Western Michigan University. A lifelong student of history, Ward plans to visit Kiev's museums extensively during his two years of service.

Adam Kimmel works as a business facilitator at the Agency of Agri-Business and Market Development in the beautiful city of L'viv. He works with farmers in the L'viv Oblast, helping them to form cooperatives and develop marketing plans for their products.

Adam has a BA degree in English Literature from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and an MBA in International Business and Marketing from Georgia State University.

Dakota Korth, a Taurus and born in the year of the horse, is working in the city of Izmai as a professor of business at the city of Izmail's premier private Institute, in the Economics Department at the Izmail Maritime Institute. He teaches Organizational Management, Entrepreneurial Strategy, Global Marketing, International Business, and American Culture to students. Dakota is in the process of developing curricula and lesson plans for eleven courses, in addition to working to overhaul the grading and evaluation process of students.

Dakota has a BS degree in Business Administration and Corporate Relations from the ever-prestigious University of Michigan. Before becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer, Dakota taught at the elementary and high school levels, instructed test-taking courses for Princeton Review, and even waited tables at Chili's Restaurant. He likes to believe that he is a good fly-fisherman and is athletic and attempts to prove such in his spare time. In addition, he enjoys hiking and all things outdoors, but avoids mayonnaise and sour cream as if they are the plague.

Kyle Laird is serving in the city of Zaporizhya. Kyle is working as a professor of Economics, English, and Photojournalism at the Zaporizhya Institute for Municipal Government.

Kyle graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia with a BA degree in Economics in 1996 and from Randolph Community College in Asheboro, North Carolina with an AA in Photojournalism in 1999. Before joining the Peace Corps, Kyle co-coordinated the Photography Department at the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Patricia Anne Lillicotch works at the Kremenchug State Polytechnic University, where she teaches classes in the areas of business and marketing. Patricia also works with the International Department. She enjoys working to clean up the environment and helping the homeless animals in her city. Kremenchug is an industrialized city with eight factories (only four operating), four extraordinary parks, and a beautiful view of the Dnipro River.

Patricia is from Fredericksburg, Virginia. She graduated in 1997 from Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska. Patricia has lived in many different countries, including Korea and Germany.

Judith Mandel site of Artemosk is small community of 92,000 in the Donetsk oblast. Her assignment at the City Administration, has her workng with the 64 public organizations. She is promoting volunteerism and good will between the city government and the general population. Artemovsk is the home of one of three champagne factories in Ukraine. She comments that the people of Artemovsk are very welcoming.

Judith is a retired banker from Los Angeles.

Ollie McArdle, age 24, is working at the Agrarian Academy in the city of Uman, teaching classes in Small Business Management and Economics. Uman is small and is located in the center of Ukraine, but attracts many tourists during the summers who hope to catch one of the many beautiful, sunny days in the famous Sofifka Park.

Ollie is from the state of Vermont. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1998 with a BA degree in Small Business Management.

Carol McLaughlin She works at a site that is sponsored by the United Nations Development Program called The Crimea Integration and Development Program. It is involved with the peaceful reintegration of over 260,000 people that were forcibly deported after WWII and allowed to return with their families only ten years ago. Most of these people are Crimean Tatars, but they include Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians and others that lived on the Crimean peninsula for many centuries. As a Business Facilitator, she works with all the partner organizations that the UN sponsors in Crimea that includes Business Centers, Women's Centers, Youth Centers and Home Schools. She helps with business plans, marketing plans and organizational procedures. Sometimes she edits reports to improve the English versions and generally assists in any way she can to add value to these organizations. She reports that it has been a challenge trying to apply the business methods that she is familiar with to a new culture and business environment, but that is what makes it so rewarding.

Carol worked for Kodak for thirty years. Her most recent positions at Kodak was as a Marketing Specialist and Regional Manager. She has a science background and worked for many years in Kodak's research labs. Carol's hometown is Grapevine, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. She has three daughters and three grandsons. Carol is fulfilling a lifetime desire to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer and is enjoying the great Ukrainian experience.

Dan McMinn, age 23, serves as a business educator in the city of Kherson, located at the mouth of the Dnipro River. In Kherson, he teaches classes in International Business and Organizational Behavior at the Kherson Inter-Regional Business Institute and shows up to be honorary American guy at conferences and the like.

Dan graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a major in History and minor in business. Before joining the Peace Corps, he worked in the non-profit sector for the administrative department of a student housing and community site for Berkeley students. Dan also volunteered his time at a low-income housing program and drug rehabilitation organization called Jubilee. More specifically, he has experience in administration, web site development, non-profit organization and grant writing. If you are looking for him, you'll probably find him playing ultimate frisbee as he loves the sport more than any healthy individual should. Dan

Brad Miller serves in L'viv, working with the National Scout Organization of Ukraine.

Brad is originally from Sandusky, Ohio. Brad graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a BA degree in International Studies. While a student at Miami, he studied at the Miami University Dolibois European Center in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He has a keen interest in improvisational theatre.

Dewaine Norris works in Kirovograd, a city of approximately 300,000 people and located in the south of Central Ukraine, Dewaine is working with the Creative Initiatives Supporting Center (CISC). CISC is one of a number of NGO resource centers across Ukraine that supports other NGOs. He works with Entrepreneur's Union of Kirovograd Oblast, an organization working with SME's (Small and Medium Sized Businesses) through the Oblast (comparable to a state in the US). This involves a variety of different activities including working to strengthen the organization itself (when and where needed), working with companies in the Oblast and with City and Oblast administration from time to time. Additionally, he is teaching two classes in Business Communication at the Kirovograd Institute of Commerce and he is also involved in several other projects in the area as well as working on some volunteer-initiative projects with Peace Corps Ukraine. In addition, he is facilitating activities at other organizations in Kirovograd, hoping to share his business and organization experience.

Dewaine moved to Ukraine from St. Petersburg, Florida. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he worked in management for a company specializing in materials handling and distribution products

Molly Norris lives in the city of Kirovograd and works with the Creative Initiatives Supporting Center (CISC), a NGO resource center for other NGOs in the oblast. She is developing a financial management seminar for NGOs.

Molly is a CPA from St. Petersburg, Florida. She has experience with real estate development, insurance and public accounting companies.

Matthew Olsen is currently serving in the city of Kherson, instructing courses in the areas of Marketing, Management and Economics at the Kherson Institute of Economy and Law. He is also involved in developing a curriculum that will be used in the Institute's new Marketing Department. He teaches approximately ten to fifteen hours per week without a translator. He works on several secondary projects as well such as giving guest lectures and speeches at business conferences here in Kherson at the pedagogical university. He also has an English club that meets about twice a month.

Matthew is from North Easton, Massachusetts and has been known to have a heavy Boston accent. He graduated from Stonehill College with a BS degree in Marketing and Environmental Studies. Matthew also enjoys playing basketball and long walks on the beach.

Glenn Joseph Orzehoskie is currently working at the Lviv Institute of Management as a business educator. He is developing various projects and creating a new English club for students.

Glenn is from the city of Slidell, Louisiana, located near New Orleans. In Slidell, he co-operated a small sporting goods business. Glenn graduated from the University of Southern California with BA degrees in Economics and Psychology, and also has a minor in Neuroscience.

Paul Peou is teaching Corporate Finance, Operations and Information Management at the Odessa State Economics University.

Paul graduated in 1998 from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics. Prior to becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer, he worked as a financial analyst

Stephanie Plageman lives in Ivano-Frankivsk and teaches Business English at the Ivano-Frankivsk Technology University of Oil & Gas. Ivano-Frankivsk is a city of approximately 240,000 people and is situated at the base of the Carpathian Mountain Range.

Stephanie is from Cincinnati, Ohio and holds a BA degree from Miami University of Ohio.

Holly Robinson works in the city of Izmail at the Higher Vocational College #9. She manages the Marketing Department of the school's training firm, where she helps students conduct market research, develop catalogs, publish advertisements, and prepare for their annual trade fair. She currently teachs a lab class on marketing and advertising.

Holly is from Winona, Minnesota. She graduated from Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky with a BS degree in Business Administration and Sociology.

Kevin Patrick Spence is currently working at the Kharkov State Polytechnic University in downtown Kharkov. The city of Kharkov is known as a "city of students" and was formally the capital of Ukraine. Kevin is teaching Business English and a variety of classes in the area of economics.

Kevin is from Williamsburg, Virginia. He graduated from a small school in Newport News, called Christopher Newport University. Through his involvement in many charities and organizations Kevin became interested in serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His hobbies include reading, traveling, and playing hockey and soccer. After the Peace Corps, Kevin hopes to fulfill his lifelong ambition to see the world. He's also known to be a picky eater. Go McDonald's!

Melvin van Houten is serving at the Crimea International Business Center in Saki, Crimea, working with the center's director in an effort to revitalize Saki's position as an international spa attraction and medicinal mud treatment center.

Melvin is a retired foreign-service officer who served nearly 30 years with the US State Department in an administrative and financial capacity. He was posted to nine foreign countries. He holds a masters degree from the University of Oregon in International Business.

Eric Wallace works in the Economics and Management Faculty of Donetsk State Technical University in Donetsk. He teaches management classes, business English, and helps the university develop its international contacts. He also works with the city English club and with AIESEC, which is an international organization of business students.

Eric went to Reed College, and in his old life worked in the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A native of New Mexico, he was profoundly (and pleasantly) surprised to find a Mexican restaurant in Donetsk.

Tren A. Williamson works as a business facilitator in the city of Yenakievo, which has approximately 168,000 citizens. The city of Yenakievo is situated in far Eastern Ukraine, not far from the Russian border. It is a coal mining and steel producing area with tremendous potential for the future as a prime energy resource for Ukraine.

Environment Volunteers

Steve Carpenedo works for Uzanski National Park near Velykiy Berezny, where he is helping set up their research department. He is also working with the local youth ecological organization.

Steve came to Peace Corps from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He received his BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

Mark DeTray is working as a teacher of ecology at the Kherson Oblast Lyceum in Kherson, Ukraine. Kherson is a city of roughly 350,000 people and is situated near the delta of the Dnipro River. The Lyceum is essentially a high school, where students come to live and study at during the week, but then return home on the weekends. Through the Lyceum, Mark is also involved in local environmental monitoring and conservation projects.

Mark has a BA degree in Russian and Environmental Studies.

Kay Edly, works with the Eco-school and Eco-club in the city of Rivne.

Kay is from East Lansing, Michigan, graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Natural Resources and the Environment with a concentration in aquatic ecology. She recently received an M.S. in Entomology from the University of Illinois, where she studied aquatic insects. She enjoys traditional Irish music and culture, foreign films, and ice cream.

Timothy Fox is working in the Saint Mountains National Park as a protected areas management coordinator.

Tim is from Hampton, Connecticut and graduated from the University of Maine at Orono. He received a BS degree in zoology and a minor in chemistry.

Kelly French is serving in the city of Kobelyaky, located in the Poltava Oblast. She recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a degree in Resource Management-Environmental Education. Kelly teaches at a training complex/school in Kobelyaky, instructing courses in ecology to students in grades 3-11. She is developing an ecology curriculum for the school and running two ecology clubs and an American studies club for students in her city.

Kelly is from Madison, Wisconsin.

Amy Haase works at the Methodology Center for Environmental Education at the Cherkasy Oblast Environment Protection Society (MCEECOEPS), or the House of Nature for short. She is currently teaching classes about ecology at several local schools.

Amy is originally from Piney Flats, Tennessee and graduated in 2000 with a BS degree in Biology from the Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Rawls Howard is currently working in Dnipropetrovsk for the Youth Ecological League of Prydniprova (MELP) which had strong ties to Zeleny Svit-Friends of the Earth Ukraine and the Green Party of Ukraine. Among other activities, his work includes monitoring industrial waste in the Dnipro River, working with Green Party members, helping draft proposals for environmental legislation, conducting English speaking clubs (some involving English movies), fund raising, facilitating educational programs to oblast youth on the subjects of ecology and geography, and teaching Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications to environmental modeling and management in one of the most environmentally distressed areas in the country.
Additionally, Rawls has an interest to study alternative power feasibility in Ukraine.

Rawls is from Boone, North Carolina. He received his BS degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. His undergraduate studies were in Applied Geography with a second major in Regional Planning. He received his MA degree from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina in 2000 with a specialty in Geography. In his free time, he likes long-distance running, cooking, kayaking on the Dnipro, and mountain climbing in the Carpathians.

Sarah Lashley lives in the Northeastern town of Okhtyrka, where she is working with the Okhtyrka Children-Youth Center. Her days in Okhtyrka are filled with leading ecology and English study groups, as well as facilitating summer camps and bolstering student enthusiasm for environmentalism.

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Sarah earned a degree in Environmental Studies, with foci in International Politics and English from Allegheny College.

Michael Marsh is serving at the Crimean Republic Ecology-Naturalists Center for Youth in the city of Simferopol, where he teaches Basic Ecology, Environmental Science and Sustainable Development. During his summers in Crimea, he teaches ecology, swimming and American Studies at a camp in Yalta. In addition, Michael is working to develop a model methodology for environmental education in Crimea and an exchange program for ecology club students that will enable them to travel throughout Ukraine to witness a variety of environmental challenges.

Michael is from western North Carolina. He graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and received a BS degree in Community and Regional Planning with a minor in Sustainable Development.

Angela Matusik currently serves in the beautiful, small town of Kosiv, located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. As a Regional Community Development Coordinator, she is helping to develop "green" tourism.

Angela is from Orlando, Florida. She received her bachelor's degree in Anthropology in 1991 from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida prior to working as an archaeologist in the US and Latin America. In 1997, she received her master's degree in Urban Planning (international/economic development, not zoning/architecture) from the University of California Los Angeles. Angela worked for the United Way in Austin, Texas for a year before moving into the private sector to work as a project manager/trainer for a small software company.

Bree Oswill is currently serving as an Environmental Educator in the town of Bakhchisarai, Turkish for "garden palace." Bakhchisarai is located in the Autonomous Region of Crimea and has a population of 45,000. As the first Peace Corps Volunteer in her town, Bree is teaching an integrated curriculum of English and environmental education at the Bakhchisarai School-Lyceum. She likes traveling, writing, yoga and - now - ketchup on her pizza.

Bree graduated from Oberlin College in 1998 with a BA degree in Environmental Studies. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, she worked in London at a publishing house and in Boston as a faculty assistant at Harvard Law School.