AFS Intercultural Programs has added new members, Victor Oporto (Argentina) and Eloise Dolan (Australia), to the AFS International Board of Trustees. They will bring in their extensive experience and skills to advance AFS’s mission to build a more just and peaceful world by developing active global citizens, globalizing schools and institutions, and expanding access to intercultural education.
Lennart D’hulst, Makiko Haraga, and Ulrich Voss, were elected for another three-year term on the Board. We also thank outgoing Trustees, Dr. Veronica Boix Mansilla and Ivonne de Leon, for their dedication and commitment during their service on the AFS International Board of Trustees.
Two new members were also added to the AFS Partner Director Representatives, who work in conjunction with our Board of Trustees: Diana Sey (AFS Ghana) and Andrea Franzoi (Intercultura Italy). Marcel Krause (AFS Germany) was re-elected for another term. We thank Derya Komitoglu (AFS Turkey) and Ulrik Wehner (AFS Denmark) whose service as Partner Director Representatives ended.
Find out more about the leadership of AFS here.
Meet the new members of the AFS International Board of Trustees:
Eloise Dolan
(Melbourne, Australia)
Eloise Dolan is a Program Manager and Generation Asia Lead at Asia Society Australia, where she is in charge of coordinating the center’s programming output with a special focus on youth, as well as managing relationships with key Australian stakeholders. She is skilled in stakeholder management, intercultural communication and facilitation, event management and content production.
Eloise was awarded the prestigious Tony Adams Rising Star Award, during the last Australia International Conference (AIEC) in October 2022. The Tony Adams Rising Star Award is granted to an early career professional who has shown excellence in, and made a notable contribution to, international education in Australia. Also, nominated as the 2021 Young Woman to Watch by Young Australians in International Affairs, Eloise is a global citizen and experienced program and project manager with a passion for international relations, international education and youth engagement.
She has previously worked at the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program, facilitated the Victoria Department of Education And Training “Young Leaders to China” and served at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria. She holds a Master of International Relations from the University of Melbourne. Eloise studied abroad with AFS from Australia to France in 2009, and has since been active as a board member, facilitator and mentor in Australia and abroad.
Victor Oporto
(Santa Fe, Argentina)
Victor Oporto is the President of OPTILENT SRL, an optical chain store, and founder and partner at CONSULFE, a business consulting firm. He has a long career in the business field, as an executive director of a large manufacturing company, an entrepreneur in his own company and a consultant both in the private and public sector. Victor is the current Vice Chair of the Business Managers Association (ADE Santa Fe) and Board Member of Santa Fe Chamber of Opticians.
His educational background and expertise in financial engineering, business strategic planning, family owned companies and business valuation. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and has a postgraduate degree in Business Administration from Universidad Católica de Córdoba, Argentina.
Since 1979 Victor Oporto has been an AFS volunteer and has made enormous contributions to our organization, having served in many different roles and capacities. He previously served on the AFS Board of Trustees from 1995-2006, including as chair. Since his term ended in 2006, he became active again in AFS Argentina and Uruguay at the Board and the local chapter level. In 2013, Victor was granted The Galatti Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, which honors AFS volunteers whose longtime commitment, dedication and exceptional journey with the organization have advanced our mission and goals. Victor studied abroad with AFS from Argentina to the USA in 1977.
Meet all AFS Board of Trustee members here
Meet the new AFS Partner Director Representatives:
Diana Sey
(Ghana)
Diana has been the Partner Director of AFS Ghana since March 2019. She has 20+ years of experience working with government agencies, private sector, corporate and nonprofit organizations within Ghana and in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Diana has managed regional and global programmes across a variety of sectors, including media, education, youth development, and arts. Diana spent 16 years at the British Council, Ghana serving in multiple roles, including Acting Country Director, Communications Manager, Head of Corporate Affairs, as well as leading a scholarship program (funded by a private corporation) in seven countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and three countries in South America. She holds an MBA from University of Northampton (UK).
Andrea Franzoi
(Italy)
Andrea has been the Secretary General of Intercultura (Italian Partner of AFS Intercultural Programs) since 2017. Andrea served as the Volunteer Manager at Intercultura since 2009, and was a life-long volunteer for AFS since his study abroad program in 1996 to Germany. He is former Board member for Intercultura and former Board member and Vice Chair for EFIL, the European Federation for Intercultural learning. I served as a co-opted member of AFS Partner Director Representatives in 2018-2019. Before joining AFS as a staff member, Andrea worked in journalism and public relations. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Bologna.