Bio

Growing up I longed to see other lands and people.  In part, this led me to be among the earliest volunteers for the Peace Corps.  After serving in South America I took time off to travel from one end of the continent to the other before returning to the US where I completed graduate studies in Social Anthropology, organizational behavior and administration.   After completing my studies I served as a Labor Negotiator, Human Resource Director and court appointed mediator before joining the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in 1993.  With short breaks to serve in the Middle East as the Country Director of an NGO and briefly with USAID in Washington, DC I continued to serve with the UN in high profile and frequently hazardous assignments in Somalia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan, among others.

Although officially retired from the UN, I have been called back for special assignments to East Timor, Democratic Republic of Congo and twice to Sudan.

From humble beginnings to global peacekeeper, I like to think that my path in life has allowed me in some way to fulfill my dream of making the world a better place.  Through personal connections and unique cultural experiences I have discovered that what we share far outweighs our differences as individuals, an opinion that is regularly challenged by current events and the changing political climate.  My ambitions have brought me to places unlike any I could have imagined and continue to guide me on my travels and in my writing.