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Born and raised in Ghana, Issah is a young peacebuilder and a community activist. In the aftermath of of the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2019, he founded African Students For Interfaith Tolerance (ASFIT) as a youth-led peacebuilding NGO. ASFIT focuses on mobilising youth and working with local authorities, political, religious, and traditional leaders to create grassroots and policy change in communities around Ghana.

Issah hold a Bachelor of Degree in Information Technology and has many years of experience in networks and NGO communications.

As a PPA alumni, Issah applies concepts and practices from the program into his advocacy and peacebuilding work with young people as well as religious and traditional leaders in Ghana. From organizing youth peace education camps, to organizing peacebuilding football tournaments, to influencing policy at the district and regional levels, Issah is a passionate changemaker who brings his whole heart, soul, and mind to everything pursues.

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Kathryn (Katy) Lunardelli is a global leader and listener, having worked in multicultural settings for the last two decades. Katy comes to Euphrates after eighteen years in the field of corporate social responsibility and ethical sourcing where she worked for Reebok International, Hasbro, and most recently the Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC). At the FFC, she led initiatives for companies and multi-stakeholder groups to collaborate on improving the human rights conditions in supply chains.

Katy holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, a B.A. in Sociology and World Perspectives from Principia College, and a certificate from the graduate level “Leadership for Change” program at Boston College, Carroll School of Management. She has served on the Board of Directors for Global Grassroots, a nonprofit organization with a mission to catalyze women and girls as leaders of conscious social change. Katy currently serves on the Board of the FFC, a nonprofit dedicated to ethical sourcing and fostering collaboration to improve supply chains.

Katy’s professional, educational, and volunteer experiences have led to her current role as Executive Director of Euphrates. She joins the leadership team with a purpose of seeing and experiencing unity between other people and our environment. She has a deep interest in the connection between personal and societal transformation and the power of grassroots peacebuilding initiatives. Katy resides in Barrington, Rhode Island with her husband and three children.

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Hollister’s primary focus for the last 17 years has been facilitating the growth and development of her three ‘unschooled’ children in an environment designed to nurture their purpose and authenticity as global citizens. During this time she has worked as a customer advocate for an international newspaper as well as maintained a career in photography. She is also a certified yogi who volunteers her teaching skills with a homeless women’s transition home.

Graduating from college with a B.A. in International Relations and Photojournalism, Hollister has served in numerous capacities with organizations focused on local and global inclusion and holistic development. Hollister and her husband have started two grassroots campaigns – RAK Friday encourages “random/radical acts of kindness” and Holiday Hope for the Homeless provides gift bags to local homeless individuals.

Hollister is an idealist and a pragmatist and sees the value of both outlooks in the work of peacebuilding. She enjoys finding opportunities to positively impact her local community and amplify the possibility of peace and transformation in the world at large. Becoming a part of the Euphrates team supports Hollister’s desire to work with an organization that believes in global change through individual transformation….and it finally validates her college major! Hollister can be found on the beach in Jupiter, Florida with her husband, three children and one adorable dog.

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Lisa leads monitoring, evaluation and learning for the Euphrates Institute. She is an independent evaluation and research consultant with 15 years of experience, who works primarily with organizations focused on peacebuilding and social justice. Lisa is also a co-founder of the Peace Leadership Collaborative (with Euphrates and others). Before pursuing work as an independent consultant, Lisa worked as a Senior Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Advisor at Oxfam for over a decade, providing support to multiple U.S. and multi-country programs and advocacy efforts.

Lisa holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration, and Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology. In addition to being an experienced researcher with expertise in qualitative methods, she also brings knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines, including Buddhist and Western psychology, sociology, public policy, and contemplative practice.

Lisa seeks through her work to help organizations, groups, and individuals to reflect, learn, and continuously improve. Her approach is very collaborative, driven by her belief that while teams and individuals may at times need additional information or support in creating space for learning and reflection, ultimately, they hold the wisdom needed to make their own professional (and personal) decisions.

She also aspires through her professional and personal endeavors to deepen our understanding of effective practices and approaches to promote peace and compassion within ourselves, with others, and among groups. Lisa enjoys opportunities to hear and share the stories of individuals and groups working to promote peace, and in her free time she also enjoys reading, being in nature and spending time with her dog.

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Wes comes to Euphrates with a ten-year background in teaching and international youth education, cooperation on international programs, and partnering alongside a global network to expand Peace leadership programming and Peace-focused community engagement in four continents.

An MA graduate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, their research centered on gender equality and Peace education, which Wes was able to explore through partnering on Peace education projects with Education for Global Peace, the Peace and Collaborative Development Network (PCDN.Global), and the Sydney-based think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Wes’ human centered and empathy-driven life focus was shaped by volunteer opportunities working with young people and women’s groups both in their native Chicago in the U.S., as well as rural Poland, Colombia, Uganda, and Ukraine. This included two years with the Peace Corps partnering with local Ukrainian teachers and community leaders, where together they cultivated local youth programming focusing on leadership development, volunteerism, mental and physical health, and gender equity.

Wes believes wholeheartedly in empowering the most important aspect of any society- the human connection. By connecting concepts of Positive Peace to address systemic injustice, engage nonviolent communication in educational capacities, build more sustainable and grassroots led communities, Wes adores partnering with friends around the world to creatively reimagine a more equitable, empathetic, and nurturing world for every person.

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Krista comes to the Euphrates Institute after working for the past 15 years supporting mission-driven organizations focused on youth development and gender equity, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, City Year, the Mariposa DR Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club. Most recently, Krista worked at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation where she helped develop a bi-national inter-faith network supporting and accompanying women, children, and youth on the move along the US/MX border. After her time at the Foundation, Krista worked and continues to work part-time as a fundraising and strategy consultant, supporting, advising, and motivating small and grassroots initiatives to help them grow and deepen their impact.

Krista’s approach to work is empathy-driven and shaped by her experiences as a program manager and volunteer working with youth both domestically and internationally, including two years serving with the Peace Corps where she cultivated the growth of local youth groups, with a focus on leadership development.

Krista holds an MBA and MA in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University and a B.A. in Spanish from Cal Poly Humboldt.

Krista is an enthusiastic and supportive community builder who cares deeply about people and the causes that matter most to them. She is thrilled to join the Euphrates team and is appreciative of the opportunity to continue to develop her own peace practice while learning with and supporting the practice of others.

Krista is originally from California and enjoys traveling, spending time in the outdoors, painting, and listening to music. She currently is in transition to making her next home in El Salvador with her partner and their new beautiful baby boy.

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David Jesmer Jr. is consultant to the National Intelligence Manager for the Near East, and retired senior Army Special Forces officer and Foreign Area Officer with broad experience in the Middle East and with special operations and intelligence operations. In the military, Jesmer served as the Political Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; as a military attache in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon; Special Forces training chief and combat commander, as well as multiple tours at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

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Steve Miska is the Principal Investigator for Strategically Protecting Soft NetworksTM, a project supported by the Pacific Council on International Policy in L.A. and numerous other partners to protect vulnerable allies who work with Americans in conflict zones. As Executive Director of First Amendment Voice, he leads a nonpartisan effort to reinvigorate civic awareness around free expression, religious liberty, press freedom and other first amendment issues. Steve retired as a Colonel after 25 years in the Army. His last assignment was teaching three years as the Army Chair at Marine Corps University. Previously, he served in the White House as Director for Iraq on the National Security Council. In 2007, on his second of three combat tours, Steve led a team that established an underground railroad for dozens of interpreters from Baghdad to Amman to the United States. He earned top academic honors as a Counterterrorism Fellow at the College of International Security Affairs and has taught economics at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Steve routinely speaks on soft networks and has addressed DIA, RAND, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Young Presidents Organization of LA, and numerous media outlets and think tanks. He holds degrees from Cornell University, National Defense University, and West Point. He serves as an advisor to several nonprofits, including No One Left Behind, the International Refugee Assistance Project, and the i5 Freedom Network. He and his wife of 27 years have two children and reside in Southern California.

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Jessica spent nearly ten years in National Security working for the Defense Department, State Department and the US Agency for International Development. Her assignments included a year and a half in Iraq, as well as India, Burma and US Pacific Command. Currently, Jessica is continuing her public service by running for Congress in her home district in California. Ms. Morse worked for US Pacific Command as an advisor on US-India defense strategy. She developed a defense engagement strategy, which included an innovative approach to using renewable energy technology as a platform for expanded technical cooperation between the US and Indian militaries. Jessica spent six months at the US Embassy in New Delhi coordinating the US-India Strategic Dialogue. Ms. Morse also worked for several years in the field of international development. She served as the Iraq Country Coordinator for the U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Director of Foreign Assistance. In this role Ms. Morse coordinated the $25 billion Iraq foreign assistance budget and defended her budget proposals before appropriations committee staff and harmonizing programs between the State Department and USAID. Ms. Morse worked as a program officer in the USAID mission in Baghdad Iraq from October 2005 through January 2007. She spearheaded a USAID program that developed a professional civil service corps for Iraq’s national government. For her first six months in Iraq, Jessica served as Information Officer where she had the opportunity to visit many USAID projects across Iraq and document the impact of American foreign aid funding on individual Iraqis. During graduate school, Ms. Morse served as an advisor for the Congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting using her lessons learned from Iraq to guide the Commission’s recommendations, including preventing human trafficking in warzones. Ms. Morse has also worked for several non-profit organizations including Empowering the Women of Nepal in Pokhara, Nepal and Save the Children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ms. Morse holds a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Principia College.

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Shalini Nataraj is currently Vice President of Programs with the Ing Foundation, a private philanthropy focused on advancing human rights. Prior to this, she was with the Global Fund for Women for nine years as Vice President of Programs and then led GFW’s Advocacy and Partnerships program. She came to GFW from the Reebok Human Rights Award Program where she was the Associate director. Shalini has deep experience in designing and implementing programs to promote human rights and systemic, positive change in the lives of marginalized communities, primarily through grant making. She has strong expertise in program design and management, evaluating social change initiatives and in engaging donors in innovative philanthropic enterprises. Shalini has extensive experience working on human rights issues, with a specific focus on women’s rights and on addressing societal inequalities with a feminist lens. Shalini graduated magna cum laude with a Masters in Social Science from Long Island University, New York, and a post-graduate program in Social Science Research from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She lives in San Jose, CA and enjoys hiking, wine tasting and dancing.

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Bishop William Swing is the President and Founder of the United Religions Initiative. Bishop Swing had the original vision of URI in 1993 in response to an invitation from the United Nations asking him to host an interfaith service honoring the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. Bishop Swing served as the Episcopal Bishop of California from 1980 until his retirement in 2006. In that capacity, he was a national and international leader in response to the AIDS crisis and co-founded Episcopal Community Services to address San Francisco’s homeless problem.