NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS

William F. Vendley, Secretary General
Dr. William F. VendleyDr. Vendley has served as Secretary General Religions for Peace since 1994. He is a member of the World Council, which is composed of outstanding international religious leaders. He also serves as the organization’s chief executive officer, overseeing the international secretariat in North America, Europe, the Balkans, West and East Africa, and Asia.

In addition, Dr. Vendley coordinates the international activities and projects of Religions for Peace’s Interreligious Councils in more than 70 states around the world. He actively works in areas engaged in armed conflict to mobilize and equip religious communities to mediate and mitigate violent conflict and build a climate of peace. In Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liberia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, Dr. Vendley has led negotiations that have helped to prevent conflicts from developing, to mediate peace among warring parties, and to rebuild societies in the aftermath of violence.

Under his leadership, Religions for Peace and its local affiliates engaged religious communities in collaborative work to assist the more than 12 million orphans of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Notable among the Religions for Peace developments during the tenure of Dr. Vendley’s leadership is the first-ever Global Network of Religious Women’s organizations. The network facilitates multireligious collaboration among religious women’s organizations and mainstreams their leadership into Religions for Peace action programs.

Dr. Vendley is a theologian and has served as a professor and dean in graduate schools of theology. He lectures frequently in academic, United Nations and NGO fora. He has been awarded numerous prizes for religion and human rights, and serves on the boards of a number of organizations ranging from the fine arts to those committed to peacebuilding. He holds a doctorate in systematic theology from Fordham University and a master’s degree in religious studies from the Maryknoll School of Theology.

Mr. Stein VillumstadStein Villumstad, Deputy Secretary General
Mr. Villumstad has extensive and distinguished experience in international development, conflict transformation, and human rights. He served as regional representative for Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) in Eastern Africa, where he oversaw development activities in ten countries and managed five regional sub-offices. Previously, he held the position of assistant general secretary of Norwegian Church Aid managing the Department for Policy and Human Rights.

Mr. Villumstad brings history of partnership with religious communities, many of whom he has worked with in conflict and post-conflict situations. He has been a close partner with the religious leaders in Sierra Leone and Ethiopia-Eritrea in their conflict transformation efforts. In 1995, Mr. Villumstad became the first co-chair of the Action by Churches Together (ACT International) Executive Committee, charged with coordinating church based emergency relief for more than one hundred organizations worldwide. Until 2006, he was a member of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Commission on International Affairs. His writing includes the book, Reconstruction of Africa: Perspectives from Within and Without (2005), and a number of articles in periodicals and newspapers. In addition to his bachelors of education, Mr. Villumstad holds a masters of international administration from the School for International Training in Vermont, where his thesis focused on policy considerations for non-governmental organizations involved in humanitarian assistance during conflict and complex emergencies.

James Cairns, Director, Programs
Since 2001 Mr. Cairns has overseen the organization’s involvement in all issues related to child and family welfare, particularly the impact of HIV/AIDS on children. He coordinates a range of programs to engage religious communities in expanded efforts to address HIV/AIDS, including Religions for Peace’s participation in the Hope for African Children Initiative, which is a partnership designed to provide resources to local community and faith-based organizations in Africa to support their work with children affected by HIV/AIDS.

He joined the staff of Religions for Peace in November 1997 as director of the Bosnia Project and later served as director of programs in the International Secretariat. In Sarajevo, he coordinated Religions for Peace’s efforts to build cooperation among religious communities to promote peace building and reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and throughout the Southeastern Europe region, including Kosovo. From 1995–97, he served as a mission specialist with the Presbyterian Church (USA), working in Malawi with the Public Affairs Committee, a local inter-religious organization, to develop civic education and advocacy programs on democracy and human rights.

Mr. Cairns holds master’s degrees in international relations and theology from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard. He previously worked for the United Nations office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and held internships with the Carter Center and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Geneva on human rights-related issues.

Lisa Locke, Director of Institutional Support
Ms. Locke is responsible for managing and supporting resource mobilization efforts at Religions for Peace. With more than sixteen years of experience in non-profit management and fundraising, she has extensive experience in proposal development, strategic partnerships at the regional and international levels and public-private partnerships. She also conducted program evaluations on international humanitarian aid projects. Ms. Locke is currently engaged in leadership and governance issues, strategic planning, resource allocation and human resource decisions. Her overseas work assignments include Turkey and India. She has a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University and is completing a master’s degree in organizational change management at the New School University.

Andrea Louie, Communications Manager
Ms. Louie is a writer, reporter, and communications professional with extensive experience in the arts and not-for-profit communities. She has served as a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, publications director for The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and senior writer at the office of communications at Brooklyn College. She is co-editor of the anthology, Topography of War: Asian American Essays (The Asian American Writers’ Workshop) and the author of a novel, Moon Cakes (Ballantine Books). She has received such awards as the Hannah S. and Samuel A. Cohn Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and a Ludwig Volgelstein Foundation grant. Ms. Louie serves as a steering committee member of the New York Insight Meditation Center, focusing on membership and diversity issues. She is also currently a member of the review panel in literature for the New York Council on the Arts and was a writer-in-residence for the National Book Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in news journalism from Kent State University and a graduate certificate in Asian studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Jacqueline Moturi Ogega, Director of the Women’s Mobilization Program
Ms. Ogega is the Director of the Women’s Program at the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Prior to joining Religions for Peace-International in New York, Ms. Ogega served as the African Women’s Project Director at Religions for Peace in Africa where she established the African Women of Faith Network, a fundamental infrastructure for building multi-religious cooperation for action in Africa. Ms. Ogega has extensive experience and skills in gender, peace-building and development programming. She has worked to mobilize financial and human resources to tap on the global resource of women as agents for transformation. Ms. Ogega worked previously in various positions as a lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, National Coordinator of the Gender and Development Program of Caritas Kenya, and as a graduate teacher. Ms. Ogega’s field experience blends well with her academic qualifications and interests; she holds a masters degree as well as a post-graduate diploma in gender and development, both from the University of Nairobi Kenya. She earned her bachelor's degree in education from Kenyatta University in Kenya. Ms. Ogega has international specialized training in peace-building and conflict transformation from the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont, USA and from the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR).


Paul Sherbow, Senior Researcher
Mr. Sherbow has studied several world religions, specializing in Hinduism. He was senior Sanskrit editor for translations published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in the 1970s, and his articles have been included in recent publications from Columbia University Press, Oxford University Press, and the Journal of Vaisnava Studies. He holds a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern studies from Columbia University.

Deepika Singh, Associate Director of Programs
Ms. Singh is responsible for managing and coordinating grant management; overseeing grant compliance and donor stewardship; developing and implementing a donor-outreach strategy for external audiences; supporting strategic program development and project planning, implementation, and monitoring; and developing and editing proposals and reports. Previously, Ms. Singh was at the Environmental Health Project, a USAID-funded project in Nepal where she was responsible for developing operational plans, overseeing program implementation, and establishing linkages with local and international partners. She also served as editor-in-chief of Strategic Studies, published by the Nepal Institute for International and Strategic Studies in Kathmandu. She received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Bede's College, in Shimla, India, a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, and a master’s of public administration from Pace University in New York.

Rev. Kyoichi Sugino, Director of Inter-religious Council Development and Field Coordination
Rev. Sugino has been secunded from a lay Buddhist organization in Japan, Rissho Kosei-kai (RKK), to Religions for Peace. He graduated from Rissho Kosei-kai Seminary in 1991 as a Dharma Teacher. In 1995 he worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, then served as Policy Research Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva between 1996 and 1998. He holds a master’s degree in international law and international human rights law from the University of Wisconsin. Rev. Sugino currently coordinates Religions for Peace’s regional offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe and affiliated inter-religious councils in seventy countries. He has directly engaged in multi-religious diplomacy and negotiations in Sri Lanka, Iraq, and other conflict areas. His published works include: The “Non-Political and Humanitarian’ Clause in UNHCR’s Statute,” Refugee Survey Quarterly, Volume17, Number 1 (UNHCR/Oxford University Press, 1998), and “Building Peace in Iraq: Inter-religious Council of Iraq,” United Nations Journal, Vol.4, 2004.

Ms. Kinza Ghaznavi, Program Officer for Youth and Network Coordination
Ms. Allison Pytlak, Project Coordinator for Cluster Munitions and Disarmament
Ms. Valerie Nash, Chief of Staff
Ms. Masue Suzuki, Executive Assistant to the Secretary General
Ms. Luisa Hernandez, Director of Finance and Human Resources
Ms. Darlene Garcia, Junior Accountant
Ms. Jessica Schuder, Administrative Assistant
Ms. Alicia Allison, Communications Assistant
Ms. Ankita Suri, Institutional Support Intern
Mr. Paul Londrigan, Graduate Intern, IRC Development
Ms. Shreya Kumar, Intern, Office of the Secretary General
Mr. Esteban Olhagaray, Intern, Programs Department
Ms. Raphaele Marjo, Intern, Institutional Support
Ms. Alexandra Brodsky, Intern, Women's Department

AFRICA REGIONAL OFFICE (NAIROBI, KENYA)

Dr. Mustafa Ali, Director & Secretary General, African Council of Religious Leaders 
Rev. William Tolbert, III, Director, West Africa Sub-Regional Office, Monrovia, Liberia 


Ms. Zebib Kavuma, Project Coordinator, Children and HIV/AIDS


Mr. Celestin Nkundabemera, Regional Project Director, Conflict Transformation


Ms. Emma Kang’ethe, African Women’s Project Director


Ms. Beth Mwangi, Finance and Administration Manager


Ms. Gloria Diffu, Office Manager

WEST AFRICA OFFICE (MONROVIA, LIBERIA)

Rev. William Tolbert, III, Director

LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGIONAL OFFICE (LIMA, PERU)

Mr. Elias Szczytnicki, Director & General Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders (LACCRL)

Ms. Valeria Gatti, Network Coordination Officer

Rev. Eduardo Chinchilla, Program Officer