UNA-Westchester Board of Directors Marcia M. Brewster, President, devoted most of her career to United Nations

programs related to water, sustainable development and gender. Until 2006 she was Senior Officer for water resources in the Sustainable Development

Division at United Nations headquarters in New York. She worked for the United Nations for over 30 years, both in New York and at the regional UN office for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok, Thailand. She served as Manager of the UN’s Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water, and is deeply concerned about gender equality and the empowerment of women. She has over 40 technical publications and has been a keynote speaker and presenter at many international conferences. She is currently working as a senior consultant with Nautilus International Development Consulting in New York, and has recently undertaken assignments with the Nature Conservancy and the World Water Council. She has also undertaken evaluations for the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Development Program. She has a Masters Degree from Georgetown University’s School of the Foreign Service and spent 13 years living and working in Asia. Ms. Brewster has organized numerous high profile events to raise awareness and build support for programs related to the United Nations. She has served as President of UNA-Westchester for the last four years. She lives in Hastings on Hudson and has two children.

Mr. Narinder Kakar, Vice President, is accredited to the United Nations as the Permanent Observer of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s oldest and largest environmental network, as well as the Permanent Observer of the UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE). Mr. Kakar is also an Adjunct Professor at Pace Law School, teaching the course on Environmental Diplomacy.

Mr. Kakar has had extensive experience working for the United Nations. He served the UN Development Programme (UNDP), both in New York and at country level, for over 30 years. He worked in such diverse countries as Yemen, Guyana, Turkey, China and the Maldives, including as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative. He also was associated with the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has had prominent roles in discussions related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Because of his recognized expertise in conservation, Mr. Kakar was featured in an interview for the American Museum of Natural History’s renovated Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall. Mr. Kakar earned his bachelor-level diploma from Delhi Polytechnic and a Diploma in Journalism from the Institute of Journalism in Delhi. He received a Masters Degree from the Haceteppe University in Turkey, and was subsequently a Research Associate at Harvard University. Among the many boards he has served on, Mr. Kakar

was on the Board of the UNA-USA Westchester chapter from 2010-2013. Scott C. Monje, Secretary, has served as

the secretary of the UNA’s Westchester chapter since 2007. He is also coeditor of the chapter’s newsletter, UNA-Westchester Global Connection, and a frequent contributor to the

publication. In his other life, Scott is senior editor of the Encyclopedia Americana, the author of The Central Intelligence Agency: A Documentary History (Greenwood Press, 2008), and a regular contributor to the Foreign Policy Association’s ForeignPolicyBlogs.com. He has made occasional television appearances on Fresh Outlook, a public affairs program broadcast on cable and satellite by Ebru TV. In the past, Scott has taught courses in international, comparative, and U.S. politics at Rutgers University, New York University, and Purchase College, SUNY. He is also past president (2008–11) of the Historical Society, Inc., serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Scott holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. He lives with his wife and daughter (Audrey and Patricia), two dogs, and a cat in Tarrytown.

David R. Finch, Treasurer, has served on UNA- Westchester’s Board for the last 14 years. He was an international banker for 22 years.

Having begun his international interests when living in Burma in the early 1950s, he was stationed in Thailand from 1968 to 1973 and Indonesia from 1976 to 1978, with travel to over 30 countries. He spent six years on the board of his church's

national NGO at the United Nations and is now a member of its International Funding Panel. He has an MBA from New York University and is a Certified Financial Planner. He lives in Mamaroneck.

J. Yuhanna Edwards is a member of the Mount Vernon City Council. He has held other city government posts, including Commissioner of Parks and Recreation and director of Civil Defense and Emergency Services. He is also a New York State licensed insurance consultant. He has served on the board for two years in the capacity of advocacy committee cochair. As a combat paramedic in the Vietnam War, Mr. Edwards received a gunshot wound and was honorably discharged in 1968. In addition to the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Distinguished Service Military Awards, Mr. Edwards has received numerous awards for his dedication to youth and senior citizens and outstanding community service. He holds several leadership positions, board appointments, and organization memberships, including Omega Psi Phi’s Omicron Iota Chapter. Mr. Edwards is a graduate of Mercy College. He has been married for 42 years and has three children and five grandchildren. Joan Alice Maliha Katen is currently an

Adjunct Professor at Pace University, Pleasantville, NY. She has designed courses in Middle East Politics as well as Peace Justice and Sustainability

Studies, and and co-designed the Peace and Justice Minor at Pace. She was previously an instructor at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Boston, MA.

She is co founder and member of the Peace Justice and Sustainability Board and is Advocacy Chair of the UNA-USA Westchester chapter.

Ms. Katen has received a number of prestigious awards, including the National Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Service, 2013, a Congressional Proclamation honoring her for her distinguished career as an author and Middle Eastern expert (2007) and an award from the American Muslim Women’s Association for “Building Bridges between Communities”. She has also received awards from the Village of Mamaroneck and Westchester County.

She received a Master’s Degree from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government and completed all the coursework for a PhD at Columbia’s Department of Public Law and Government and the Middle East Institute. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate at Hunter College, where she also received the Francis Morehouse Prize for her distinguished record in the Social Sciences. Joan Katen is the author of “Love at the Edge”, a novel concerning the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. She has held a number of positions in the government of Mamaroneck and was President of the Mamaroneck league of Women Voters and Chair of the Health Commission of Mamaroneck.

Andy Laub is a life-long New Yorker. He graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx in 2012 with a BA in Political Science and has been active with the

Democratic Party both locally and nationally. He volunteered on both of President Obama's campaign and was one of the youngest district leaders with the Westchester Democratic Committee. He

also was the National Membership Director for the College Having begun his international interests when living in Democrats of America and now work as a Staff Assistant for Congressman Eliot Engel out of the Mt. Vernon office. He has a passion for getting young people involved in important issues and is looking to expand internationally. Andy was brought on board as a Director in 2014 and is cochair of the Young Professionals program. Martha Perez just graduated with honors from Mercy College in International Relations and Diplomacy in May 2015. She has been involved in volunteering her time to address pressing world issues that will and have directly affected our youth. Mercy College gave her the opportunity to be a part of excellent extracurricular activities such as the Environmental Sustainability and Justice club, and the Model United Nations club (she was head delegate this year). These clubs strengthened her role as a global citizen and enabled her to address issues like climate change, gender inequality and sustainability. She was brought onto the Board of UNA-Westchester in 2014 as cochair of the Young Professionals program. She feels that the YP program is an excellent platform for the youth to come together and become more involved in order to achieve global progress and further understand the fundamental role of the United Nations.

James (Jim) Rapp has been an Information Technology Executive at Citibank for 25 years. His current area of focus is the telecommunications infrastructure supporting Citi’s Global Network in

100+ countries. He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and has been active with UNA of Westchester for almost two years. His efforts on the Program Committee, meeting with Yonkers schoolchildren to introduce them to the UN and explain how it plays a vital role in world events, and attendance at board meetings have led to his interest in further contributing as a board member. His particular personal interests as part of UNA include furthering the outreach to young people and energy conservation issues.

Karen Rockwell El-Badry was a staff member of the United Nations Secretariat in New York for 35 years. For much of that time she served as Recruitment and Administrative Officer for the program of technical cooperation.

Karen’s activities past and present have focused on peace, cooperation and understanding in the world. She has lived in Egypt and takes an active interest in issues relating to the Middle East. She has participated for more than 10 years in the Dialogue Project of the New York area, an organization that brings together people from diverse backgrounds to engage in transformative dialogue on issues relating to the Middle East.

She is also a Board member of the Center for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, a Westchester organization that seeks to promote conversations among members of the Abrahamic faiths through outreach, presentations and social and educational events.

Karen has been a member of UNA-USA Westchester Chapter since 2005 and has served as Board member for six years. She is on the Education Committee and is Coordinator for a program in the Yonkers

public schools, entitled "Peace Makes the World a Better Place," which introduces students to the UN and the concept of peace-making. She lives in Dobbs Ferry with her husband and daughter.

Lilli Schindler has worked for the United Nations in the Department of Public Information (DPI) for the past 20 years. She is currently Acting Chief of the Visitors

Services Section in the Outreach Division of the UN Department of Public Information. Previously, she worked in the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Section of DPI. She began her career in the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General. Having grown up in Westchester, she comes from a UN family, as her father, a Brazilian national, and her mother, a Dutch national, both worked for the organization from its inception. She holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from Columbia University. She has served on the board for two years in the capacity of program committee cochair. Lilli lives in Rye with her three children. Robina Singh is the program director at the National Association of Asian MBAs (NAAMBA). She manages organizational development, membership benefits, external partnerships, annual conference design, and logistics as well as marketing and outreach efforts. She also recruits and manages organization-wide volunteers and interns.

Robina has extensive experience working in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. She has worked with the United Nations NGO Committee on Financing for

Development, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations, all in New York. Robina is a Young Ambassador of Peace, an honor bestowed by the Youth Federation for World Peace (YFWP). She holds a B.A. from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and a master’s in International Affairs (focus on International Development) from the New School University. She is currently the chair of UNA-Westchester’s Young Professionals Program, chair of the Communications Committee, and a member of the chapter's Nominations Committee. She is a resident of Yonkers and is an avid badminton player.

Brenda L. Galloway Smith has served on the UNA-Westchester Board for five years, and is currently Partnerships Chair. She served from 2002 to June 2007 as Superintendent of the Mount Vernon Public Schools, following 39 years of service in the education system. As superintendent, she oversaw a $180 million budget and supervised a staff of 1400, with a student body of more than 10,000 students. Dr. Smith represents the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women to the UN, which affords her the opportunity to travel worldwide and to work with other NGOs at the UN. She is the recipient of more than 100 awards for service to youth and the community from clubs, churches, fraternities and foundations. She was named New York State Teacher of the Year, among other awards. Dr. Smith is a board member of numerous organizations. Mrs. Smith received a B.S. Degree from Livingstone College in North Carolina, and Masters from Hunter College and Columbia University. She received a Doctorate in Organization and Leadership

in Educational Administration at Teachers College, Columbia University and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Livingstone College. Mrs. Smith is actively involved in the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, where her husband Dr. Gregory Robeson Smith, Sr. is senior Pastor. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Marcia Wallace has been a representative to the United Nations of the International Federation of Social Workers NGO since 2004. This NGO represents over 80 countries with social work professional organizations.

Previously (1978-2003) she worked at New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center, Westchester Division, White Plains as Coordinator of the Core Agency and Supervisor of the Case Management Program. The purpose of these programs is to integrate and coordinate a delivery system of service for chronically seriously mentally disabled individuals living in the community. She also had worked in Medical, Adoption and Half Way House positions. Her involvement with social work Professional Organizations includes: President, National Association of Social Workers, Westchester Division; and Nominations and Leadership Chair, Delegate to National Delegate Assembly of the New York State Board.

She holds a B.A. from Smith College and a Masters in Social Service Administration (MSSA) from the University of Chicago. She has served on the UNA-USA Westchester Board since 2004 as Chair, Education Committee (until 2011) and Chair, Nominations Committee. She has a large family of 6 children, 13 grand-children and 2 great grandchildren.