 | Aisha Brangran , Grant Program Services Director
Aisha became part of the CCI team in May of 2005. She has experienced cultural exchange first-hand while studying abroad in Spain. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at UCLA and began working in the social service field shortly thereafter with a variety of populations including severely, emotionally disturbed adolescents, battered women and their families and former adult prisoners. Aisha received her Master's degree in Social Work at the University of Chicago in June 2008. Her duties as Program Manager at CCI include processing AYP student applications, assisting students in obtaining travel documents, maintaining positive and effective working relations with international partners, problem solving and conflict resolution with student issues, and overall management of the student programs while studying in the United States. In addition to the AYP program, Aisha recently began working with the Grant Programs and the scholarship students sponsored by the Department of State. The students in the Grant Programs include the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) students from the former Soviet Union countries as well as the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) students from predominantly Muslim countries.
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 | Kathy Hundley, Private Schools/AYP Program Manager
Kathy moved to Chicago in 2008 after living overseas with her husband and two daughters. For 18 years she navigated her family through the schools, cultures and economies of Jerusalem, Warsaw, Rome and London. Before moving overseas Kathy worked in various divisions of IBM and also taught middle school and high school sciences. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in Public Health. Kathy began as an intern in the AYP department of CCI in December of 2008. |
 | Megan McGaughey , General Director of Academic and Grant Programs
Megan has been a part of CCI since 2001. She has worked in various capacities for the Academic Year Program. In 2004, she began overseeing the Academic Year Program as Director of Student Services. Megan has a Masters Degree in International Administration and has studied abroad in Trinidad and Tobago. She oversees the daily operation of the Academic Year Program while communicating with both our international partners and extensive national field network on a daily basis. |
 | Matt Nusko, Grant Programs Coordinator
Matt joined CCI in September of 2009. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in Comparative Literary Studies with a concentration in Modern Japanese Literature. Matt loves the Japanese language, and spent two summers studying in Japan and living with Japanese students and Japanese families. During his undergraduate career, Matt worked as a work-study student at the Northwestern University Study Abroad Office, was active in the Northwestern College Feminists as Co-Chair for Take Back the Night, and volunteered at a soup kitchen in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Matt currently lives in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood and enjoys volunteering at Planned Parenthood as a patient escort on the weekends. As a Coordinator, Matt processes applications and other incoming paperwork as well as assists Program Managers with their workload.
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 | Ahmad Refky, Academic Year Program Training and Development Manager
Ahmad earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt (where he is originally from). Prior to joining CCI, Ahmad worked at The Rotary Foundation coordinating outbound exchange teams of young professionals from North America, the Caribbean, Eastern Russia and the Middle East. Ahmad began his interest in cultural exchange when he came to Chicago as a foreign exchange student at the age of 16. Ahmad works closely with both the Director of Placement Services and Director of Student Services to develop and implement effective training for CCI Area Representatives nationally. He is fluent in speaking and writing Arabic. |
 | Stephanie Spataro, AYP Program Manager
Stephanie joined CCI in February 2010 as an intern and became a Program Manager in June 2010. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in French from DePaul University in 2007 where she focused on French literature. During her collegiate career, Stephanie studied abroad in the French Alps for 4 months in 2005 and attended an international school. Her other international experience includes a 7 month stint as an English language assistant in a high school in the village of Laon in the north of France. She loved working with the kids and exchanging cultures and languages. Shortly thereafter, she backpacked throughout Europe, covering 18 cities and countless kilometers by foot and rail in 2 months. Stephanie is responsible for processing AYP student applications, communicating with international partners, and problem solving and conflict resolution with issues that arise during the school year. |
 | Colleen Sullivan, AYP Program Support
Colleen joined CCI in July of 2007. She has studied abroad in Ireland and also spent several months working in Australia. She graduated from Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame, Indiana, in 2001. Prior to CCI, Colleen worked in meeting planning and web-conferencing and in customer marketing. At CCI, Colleen is responsible for processing AYP student applications, communicating with international partners, and problem solving and conflict resolution with issues that arise during the school year. |
 | Lori Tibbett, Director of Placement Services and Regional Director for California
Lori supervises and supports the AYP national field staff with training and recruitment. Lori also serves as the State Director for California. She started with CCI in fall of 2004 after returning to the United States from Rome, Italy, where she taught Computer Studies at the American international school. Before Italy, Lori was a high school teacher and business manager in California, where she lived with her family until 2000. She has experienced cultural exchange personally by hosting a Brazilian student and having her children participate in exchange programs in Mexico, Ireland and Panama. Lori also enjoys being a local Area Representative in the Chicago suburbs where she lives with her husband Richard. |
| Kat Treister, Academic Year Program Assistant
Kat joined CCI in March 2009. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Service Management, with a concentration in Fundraising and Philanthropy, from DePaul University. In her junior year of college Kat studied abroad in Florence, Italy, where she took courses in Italian culture, history and literature. Since graduating she has had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador, through an organization called International Student Volunteers, and to the Philippines for a graduate school course. In addition, before joining the CCI team Kat worked for a student organization at Northwestern University where she had the opportunity to lead a group of students on a journey to Israel. As the Program Assistant Kat processes applications, along with other paperwork, to help facilitate these incredible cultural exchanges.
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 | Gwen Vitzthum, Director of Operations
Gwen began working with CCI in September of 2004. She was born and raised in Japan until her sophomore year in high school at which time her family returned to the US. She’s been married for 32 years and has 2 children – a son, age 17, and a daughter, age 19. Gwen has a B.A. degree from the University of Iowa and has worked in a variety of roles including (but not limited to)… newspaper copy editor, office manager, substitute teacher, bookkeeper, flight attendant training coordinator, floral department clerk at Jewel grocery store, and special education classroom aide. |
 | Kristen Ware, AYP Program Manager
Kristen joined CCI in March 2007. She has studied abroad in Spain and earned her Bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has volunteered at a center for refugees, acting as a Spanish translator for completing citizenship and insurance documents, as well as helping prepare clients for their citizenship exams and interviews. Kristen is responsible for processing AYP student applications, communicating with international partners, and problem solving and conflict resolution with issues that arise during the school year. |
Academic Year Program Regional Directors
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 | Molly Allscheid, Regional Director for the Midwest
Since traveling to Spain in high school for spring break, Molly has been become passionate about international travel and learning about different cultures. In the past several years, her family has hosted young adults from a variety of countries who are studying English in the Chicago area. She also co-founded a volunteer vacation program to Nicaragua and lived there for a month with her two daughters. Molly and her husband have lived in Oak Park, IL since 1993 and she is proud to oversee the Midwest as a CCI Regional Director. Her previous careers include educational publishing sales and community development work. She earned a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a graduate certificate in affordable housing from the University of Illinois in Chicago. She enjoys derby roller skating, participating in her neighborhood book club, involvement in her congregation, and being active with family and friends.
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 | Barbara Bancel, Regional Director for Hawaii and Alaska
Barbara has served as CCI's National Consultant for 18 years prior to becoming a Regional Director. For CCI Barbara has created two Greenheart Spring Break Programs (Hawaii and Oregon) and encouraged several international partners to join CCI. She has also taken a particular interest in working with Grant Program participants (FLEX and YES) She has spent her entire professional career working in the international educational and cultural exchange field creating unique short term programs and developing a network of host families in Hawaii, Alaska and across the Mainland USA. She is the founding director of the International Hospitality Center, a Hawaii based programming organization. Barbara has been married for the past 40 years to Philip, renowned as the oldest snowboarder on earth. They have a married daughter and two darling grandchildren who reside in Oregon. With little time for hobbies, Barbara enjoys reading, swimming and going to the theater and movies. |
 | Teresa Clark, Regional Director for the Southeast
Teresa began hosting with CCI in 1997 and accepted an Area Representative position in 1999. Over the years she has served as Area Coordinator as well as Regional Manager while hosting 12 students of her own. She is the co-owner of a small heating and air conditioning company in Orlando, Florida, and the proud mom of two young adults and three pugs. She loves gardening and traveling, and especially working with all the great students in the Academic Year program. |
 | Connie Dean, Regional Director for the South
Shortly after moving to Texas in 1990, Connie and her husband, Richard, hosted their first exchange student, "Kiko," from Brazil. Although she had been working in Occupational Nursing for over 20 years, Connie accepted a part time position as a local coordinator in student exchange, so she could expose her own children to other cultures and help them to build friendships across the world. Little did Connie know that 16 years later, Kiko would give her family their first "international grandchild," baby Enzo. Having grown up in a small Oklahoma town, Connie didn't have the opportunity to travel much and could only dream of traveling to other countries and learning about other cultures. In 1998, she chose to leave her nursing career and work full time in student exchange. Living in a North Texas community, Connie and Richard enjoy traveling, gardening, and most of all, the love of our grandchildren.
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| Rob Douglas, Regional Director for the Northeast
Rob lives in upstate New York with his wife Kristin and daughters Madalyn and Molly. He began with CCI in 1997 as an Area Representative, working with summer language groups from Spain while teaching high school Spanish. He became interested in foreign exchange in high school, living with host families while travelling through Europe and hosting a student from Finland during his senior year. While attending Canisius College he studied abroad in Oviedo, Spain and spent a year in South Korea teaching ESL shortly after graduating. Most recently Rob has translated for international missions, coached high school volleyball, started a group travel business, continued coordinating summer groups, and joined the AYP team full time as a Regional Director.
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 | Christy Gibson, Regional Director for the Northwest
Christy’s experience with international exchange began at the age of 11 when her parents began hosting exchange students. Six years later, Christy headed to Australia as an exchange student herself. This exposure to students from many countries and experience living abroad laid the groundwork for Christy’s career path, which has always involved supporting international students and their educational pursuits. Beginning with two years of teaching ESL in South Korea, Christy has worked as a program manager, academic advisor, personal counselor, and student services director on numerous West Coast college campuses, including UC Berkeley, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, San Jose State University, and the University of Washington. Christy was inspired to work with high school exchange students after she visited her Australian host parents in the summer of 2009—more than 26 years after becoming their host daughter. She is excited to be working with CCI’s Northwest region! |
 | Lee White, Regional Director for the Rocky Mountain Region
Can meeting a young, very adventuresome graduate student from France change the lives of an equally young (but less adventuresome) right-out-of-college woman? For Lee White, it did! Patrice from France resulted in a life-long friendship, her first time on "foreign soil," a 25-year reunion in Strasbourg, and a love of travel and cultures that began years ago but still is as strong as ever. Believing that countries and cultures only become real through traveling and through meeting people, Lee (with a MA in Education) left previous careers to work full time in cultural exchange. Since that first encounter with Patrice from France, her life has become enriched over and over again by the many international people who have become close to them. Lee enjoys traveling, working with students, hosts, and schools, as well as caring for her two (semi-precious) miniature schnauzers. |