Donald Filer is Director of the Office of International Affairs and Associate Secretary of the University, appointed to this position in 2000. Prior to his appointment at Yale, he served in a number of capacities at Connecticut College from 1991 to 2000 including Vice President for Community and Public Affairs, Secretary of the College, and Acting Vice President for Development. He worked for former U.S. Representative Bruce A. Morrison of New Haven from 1985 to 1991.
João C. Aleixo was vice president of the Latin America Region for a commercial finance company, which specializes in providing financing to small and medium sized companies in emerging markets around the world, prior to his appointment at Yale. He has traveled through Latin America extensively. He was born in Mozambique and lived in Portugal prior to moving to the United States. He holds a master’s degree in international studies.
Sharon Butler worked in Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars where she coordinated the University’s inaugural International Cultural Festival in 2003. While pursuing her B.A. at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, she attended l'Université Paris-Sorbonne for a year and completed academic programs at universities in Belgium and Nova Scotia, Canada. She holds a Master's in French Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
James Cohen is the Assistant Secretary responsible for Africa and the Middle East. Prior to his appointment at Yale, Jim spent nearly ten years as a career diplomat with the United States Department of State's Foreign Service, with postings on three continents and on the staffs of Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Jim received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Emory University and a Master's in the History of International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Kameka Dempsey has responsibility within the Office of International Affairs for Europe. She also serves as Director for Shared Interest Groups at the Association of Yale Alumni. Prior to her appointment at Yale, Kameka was a director at the Financial Times and Business Week #1 ranked Customized Executive Education Provider where she designed and delivered educational programs for Fortune 500 companies around the world. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Yale and a Master's in Education from Harvard.
George Joseph has responsibility within the Office of International Affairs for Asia with the exception of China. He served in the Office of International Education and Fellowships Programs in Yale College and on the South Asian Studies Council in the Yale Center for International and Area Studies before joining the Office of International Affairs in October 2004. Prior to these positions involving the University's international initiatives, George was a doctoral student at Yale. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Washington University in Saint Louis and graduate degrees from Yale.
Neli Lazarova is a Woodbridge Fellow for the 2009-2010 academic year. She was appointed by the President’s Office to support the various international initiatives of the University. Neli graduated from Yale College in 2009 with a BA in Political Science. During her time in Yale College, she studied abroad in the United Kingdom and Denmark and worked in China and India. Neli grew up in Bulgaria and Austria.
Sheila Pastor served as Director of the Mead Visitor Center at Yale University from 2000-2008 where she supervised 40 student tour guides who give daily tours of the Yale campus. In addition she developed an International Ambassadors program that allows visitors to take a campus tours in eight different languages. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the Leadership Center of Greater New Haven. Sheila was also the Director of Volunteers and Children’s programming for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven.
Aki Tanabe has responsibility for supporting the University's strategy, visibility and engagement in Asia with special focus on Japan and Korea. Prior to her appointment at Yale, Aki served as the International Development Coordinator at Waseda University, Japan's leading private university, where she supported Waseda's linkages with over 170 partner institutions in North America, Latin America and Oceania. She holds a bachelor's degree in international politics, economics and business, and spent a year in the United States as an exchange student. She grew up in Tokyo, Japan.
Fawn Wang has responsibility within the Office of International Affairs for China. Prior to her appointment in the Office of International Affairs, she was a senior program officer at the Yale-China Association where she worked for five years. She currently serves as a consultant for Lingnan Foundation and the Board of Directors for China Development Council. Wang, who has master’s degrees in English and in Library and Information Science, was previously on the faculty of Anhui University of Medical Science before she came to United States in 1987.
Tina Christenfeld Weiner recently joined the Office of International Affairs as Special Assistant. Previously she was the Associate Director and Publishing Director of the Yale University Press and has been over a frequent speaker, workshop leader, and consultant within the publishing community both in the United States and abroad. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Smith College and spent a year studying at the University of Florence.
