International Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Constance Walker-Fowler, PHR, Board Secretary, has traveled extensively in Africa to assist in establishing VAM offices and affiliates and structuring their major project - VAM Village. In addition, in 2007 the office of VAM-Tanzania was inaugurated and VAM adopted a school in Uganda. Connie is Chairperson of the City of Yonkers Commission on Human Rights and helped develop the language for a Yonkers Resolution Against Domestic Violence in the Workplace. She is a Life Member of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., an international UN consulting organization and President of the Hudson Valley Section. She is a trustee of the Schomburg Corporation and serves on the advisory board of Groundworks Hudson Valley. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Connie moved to New York in 1993 and has resided in Yonkers since 1997. While in Detroit, Connie became the first Black woman to hold the position of Communications Specialist for Rockwell International Heavy-Duty Parts. After leaving Rockwell, Connie founded and incorporated Graphics, Etc., a management and marketing consulting firm. Connie has a degree in Marketing Management and has received several literary awards; certifications in business development and human resources; and earned her Professional of Human Resource Management Certification. Connie is the recipient of the 2008 Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus “Building Bridges” Award; and the YWCA 2009 Spirit of a Woman “Humanitarian” Award. Since 1999, Connie has been an Employee Relations Specialist for Towers Perrin, an international consulting firm and is responsible for maintaining federal government affirmative action compliance; and serving as a subject matter expert for various company implementation teams.
Albertine Smit, Director of Conflict Resolution, born in the Netherlands, is a highly qualified trainer and consultant in the field of management and organizational development, development of human resources policies, intercultural communication, diversity management, conflict management, mediation and counseling, multicultural education, psychological rehabilitation, human rights, NGO capacity building and community development at a grassroots level. She has worked in the Netherlands for a great variety of organizations, as well as abroad (U.S.A., West Africa, Georgia, and other former Soviet Union States). Because of her work abroad, she became very interested in cultural diversity and specializes in problems around communication, conflicts in an multicultural society and conflict prevention programs. While working in the former Soviet Republic Georgia as a Community facilitator for the United Nations, she started the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and with her training team the AVP Caucasus Group trained hundreds of people in non-violent communication skills. She also was part of a training group that started the Alternatives to Violence Program in Ghana (2000). Currently, as a trainer/coach for Lions Quest, she facilitates a training project in conflict prevention in schools. She also has her own company, Inter Cultural Consult, focusing on Training, Mediation and Coaching.
Jeffrey John Toolan, Director of Projects, comes from a long line of activism, ideals and entrepreneurial spirit. He grew up in Ithaca, NY voted one of the greenest, most well educated and enlightened small cities in the US. An avid, Artist, Actor, Athlete and Ecologist as a youth, Jeff attended his last year of high school at Cornell University, as part of a magnet program in the Sciences, dealt with activities as esoteric as immunizing elephants to rearing mountain chameleons. He moved to Japan as part of the Rotary International Youth Exchange Program, Jeff moved to Los Angeles in 1999 to attend the University of California (UCLA). Enrolling as an interdisciplinary International Relations major, Jeff founded the Undergraduate International Relations Society and graduated with an Honors degree in International Relations and Political Science in 2003. At UCLA, Jeff conducted research with Dr. Steven Spiegel, Former President Clinton’s advisor to the Mideast, and Ronald Rogowski, the then acting Vice Provost of the Burkle Center for International Relations. Jeff is fluent in French, Japanese and English, is an internationally recognized scholar, with his acceptance by Rotary International and continuing as a Fellow with the Consortium International droits de l’Homme in Geneva, Switzerland, where he spent time covering sessions at the United Nations’ Working Group on Indigenous Populations and attending the very last two Sub-Commissions on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights with an ECOSOC NGO in 2004 and 2005. Jeff’s previous work with nonprofits and his experiences meeting with officials from the International Labor Organization at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland provides an authentic connection to the victims of the garment industry and its often typical sweatshop conditions and has alerted him to the many problems within the mainstream garment industry. Due to his on-going research activities pertaining to Genocide, Jeff was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship. Having completed his research on the linkage between education/media and contemporary conflict such as, Genocide in partnership with the International Bureau of Education (IBE) in Geneva became a Fulbright Scholar. While in Geneva, Jeff also completed a graduate degree in International Law and Politics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, all while expanding his understanding of human rights with mentors at the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights at the United Nations.
Tish Lampert, Director of Media Relations, originally from New York City, began her work as a photojournalist in London where she freelanced for numerous publications and newspapers, including The London Times, The Evening Standard, and Time Out Magazine. During that period, she covered everything from rock n’ roll to the Queen’s garden parties at Buckingham Palace and distinguished herself as one of the only women who photographed inside the mines at Abergavenny.
In the last two decades in Los Angeles, Tish has worked primarily with a focus on relevant political issues. She covered the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, as well as the Caesar Chavez movement for workers rights. For ten years, she worked with the Navajo Nation in Window Rock and Tuba City, Arizona. She continues to work in the field as a photojournalist for Voices Of African Mothers and organizations such as Viewpoint, Voices Of African Mothers, Human Rights Watch, The Fund For Peace, Concierge, N.O.W., The Africa Project, The Navajo Nation, The Los Angeles School District, Tap-Tap, The Los Angeles Conservancy, Effortless Activism, AMMP as well as having just completed a project working with the United Nations in Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo. She is presently mounting a campaign to raise world awareness for the Congolese gorilla. Tish recently completed work on an extensive photo essay/book on the voices of dissent in the United States during GW Bush: The Silenced Majority. Her portraits include some of today’s most outspoken critics on the current political scene. Currently Tish has an exhibition up at The Endangered Planet Gallery and exhibits often in Los Angeles, New York and upcoming in Geneva and Paris in 2010. On May 2nd Tish was honored at United Nations Association of San Diego for her achievement as a photojournalist in Sub-Sahara
Lampert’s photographs are in numerous private collections, including The Kress Family, Ambassador Chowdhury, Nana-Fosu Randall, Lynn Howard Selby, The Lanes, Thomas Fay, John & Cassandra Spiak, The Olsen Foundation, The Lake Tahoe Association, My Club (after-school kids at risk program) The Luckman Collection, Joanna and Col Henry Worsley, Herbie Hancock, Joan Javits, Pauletta and Denzel Washington, Angelica Huston, Harry Belafonte, Shari Belafonte, Adrienne Belafonte, Martin Sheen, Effortless Activism, Thor Halverson, The Human Rights Foundation, Wilda Spalding and the Spalding Trust and The Congolese Mission at The United Nations; a partial list .
List of exhibitions available upon request.
When she isn’t behind the lens of her camera, Tish is a writer who has created, produced and directed numerous plays. She originated the Navajo Repertory Theatre and wrote, “Lay My Burden Down”, a seminal musical on slavery that is performed at The House of Blues. Her work in the theatre led her to writing screenplays and television pilots. The list includes: Haverstock Hill, No Prescription Necessary, Hope Inc., Plausible Deniability (optioned property), TLC (optioned property) and …let the good times roll” (optioned property). She is credited as a co-author on the forthcoming book “Sinister Thoughts” written with Dr Josie Hadley. Her next project is Empty Shoes, a travelog of outsourcing and factory closure in the today’s U.S.
Tish’s website: tishlampertimages.com
Lisa Katz, Director of Youth Advocacy, grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, a suburb outside of New York City. She was an active performer, working on both stage and film and by the age of 16 was teaching dance at the professionally acclaimed Broadway Dance Center in NYC. Lisa graduated New York University from the prestigious Gallatin School of Individualized Study. With a concentration in holistic physical therapy, Lisa maintained strong interdisciplinary studies to examine how the body has been viewed from antiquity to present. She studied not only the physical body, but its psychological and social constructs in relation to culture, gender, and holistic approaches to medicine. After college, Lisa returned to her roots in the entertainment industry, this time working behind the scenes, in production and development. Lisa also became an active officer in a non-profit youth organization called Manifest Your Destiny and saw first hand the kind of work that could be done in service to others. The organization is dedicated to empowering and encouraging undeserved youth to succeed. The philosophy behind the organization is to provide young men and women with nurturing support systems, resources, and guidance through mentorship, scholarship and grant programs. Lisa currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Patricia Kuya, Tanzania Executive Director
(bio to come)Mekdes Gebre-Medhin, UN Liaison
(bio to come)Advisory Board
- Dr. Chariott Charity Abaka
- Mary Boama
- Delores Brathwaite, Esq.
- H.E. Ambassador Isaiah Z. Chabala
- Pastor Philip Djan
- Dr. Benjamin Dodoo
- Mable Drake
- Dr. Fatima Gambari
- Carolyn Hubbard-Kamunanwire
- Kwasi Poku
- Rose Poku
VAM is a 501(c)3 Organization
VAM is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC