The AUA Team

 

Bill Kruvant
President

Bill became president of Creative Learning in 2005. Since then, Creative Learning has carried out a number of international projects, all of which have featured the idea of grass-roots “micro” development as a way to build prosperous, peaceful societies. America’s Unofficial Ambassadors is the latest and most ambitious of these efforts. Bill is an economist, having earned a Doctorate in Economics in International Development from American University. Bill has worked in both the private and public sectors, and has collaborated on foundation-funded research projects in the areas of energy and civil rights.

Bill previously served as chief of economic studies for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the areas of energy and natural resources, where he carried out a series of studies in the financial institutions area including banking and government-sponsored enterprises. He later joined Creative Associates as a Senior Advisor, consulting on corporate planning and development. He also directed community and economic development projects in Lebanon and Jordan, developing a methodology of introducing community development and conflict mitigation at the community and multi-community levels. This experience was important in reinforcing his view of the centrality of person-to-person communication and relationship-building when attempting to build peace and development in areas which have endured conflict.

Bill is a farmer, growing wine grapes commercially in Virginia, and is also a ceramic artist.

Benjamin Orbach
Director

Ben is the Director of the America’s Unofficial Ambassadors project at Creative Learning and the author of Live from Jordan: Letters Home from My Journey through the Middle East (Amacom Books 2007). Prior to joining Creative Learning, he was Creative Associates International’s Resident Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza, where he developed and managed a small grant program of close to 100 projects that developed community leadership at the most grassroots level in West Bank cities, villages, and refugee camps. From 2004-2007, Ben was the Deputy Regional Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). He received superior achievement and meritorious achievement awards for designing and managing democratic reform projects in the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining the State Department, Ben was a research fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Ben has a Masters degree in Middle East Studies and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a BA in History from the University of Michigan. At SAIS, he was a David Boren Fellow, CASA Fellow, and the David Kagan Fellow. A speaker of Arabic and Hebrew, Ben has lived in Jerusalem, Amman, and Cairo, and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He previously taught special education social studies in Washington D.C. and volunteered with AmeriCorps in Colorado and Texas. He is a proud Pittsburgh native.

Gideon Culman
Project Officer

Gideon has worked for AUA since November, 2011. Previously, Gideon served as a technical manager at Creative Associates International, working in the  Office of Strategy Management. While at Creative Associates, Gideon backstopped a small grant program that developed community leadership at the most grassroots level in West Bank cities, villages, and refugee camps. Gideon holds Master’s degrees in both Liberal Arts and Eastern Classics from St. John’s College and a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic. Gideon is building on his foundation of knowledge in Western and Eastern thought, eagerly expanding to include the literary and philosophical traditions of the Muslim World.  He is head over heels for Hafiz and Rumi.

Charlotte A. Hutchison
Communications Officer

Charlotte joined AUA in July 2011. Previously, Charlotte completed social media marketing plans for Stellar Winery (South Africa), Intel (China) and the Swedish EPA. In the summer of 2009, she traveled to London to work on a strategic social media marketing plan for Fauna & Flora International’s Soundwood Program. During her time as a communications and marketing assistant for the Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University, she planned and reported on special events.  As a corporate communication intern at Chemonics International in Washington, DC, Charlotte provided planning in the areas of issues management, marketing communications, strategic communications and special events. Charlotte graduated Summa Cum Laude from Georgetown University with a master of professional studies in public relations and corporate communications. While at Georgetown, she co-founded the Master of Professional Studies in Public Relations and Corporate Communications Student Advisory Council. Charlotte is a native of Austin, Texas.

Christopher Van Hoose
Consultant

Chris joined AUA in September 2011. During enlisted service in the military, Chris learned to speak Arabic and spent more than a year in Iraq. In addition to his security roles there, he worked closely with neighborhood leaders and unit commanders to assess local public needs throughout Baghdad in an effort to reduce unrest by increasing the availability and quality of basic public services. Of all the awards he received for his efforts overseas, Chris was most pleased with a small bracelet given to him by a young girl who was just happy that someone had stopped to ask her family how they were doing – this made him realize how important even the attempt to help can be to those in need. Having just earned his BA in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Washington, Chris is excited to support a project that encourages international volunteerism in the Muslim World, and hopes to continue his work in the Middle East sometime soon through some volunteer work of his own!

Naa-Okailey Annan
Intern

Naa-Okailey is a senior journalism major at Howard University, where she serves as the Public Relations Student Society of Ameria (PRSSA)’s Professional Liaison. Previously, she interned for The Praxis Project where she worked on minority community health initiatives with a strong emphasis on childhood obesity. It was during a recent month-long visit to Ghana to visit family members that she realized the dynamic importance of building close people-to-people relationships between Americans and citizens of other countries. She is excited to be joining a team of individuals working to promote international volunteerism and community outreach.

Olga Kent
Volunteer

Olga joined AUA in August 2011 after relocating to Washington, DC from Kazakhstan. Before moving to the United States, Olga worked for a radiological testing center and ecological NGO in the city of Karaganda where she developed fundraising campaigns and coordinated volunteer activities among local environmental NGOs. As a student of Karaganda State University she focused on Asian and Central Asian regional land conflicts and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Regional Studies. During her last year in collage she assisted local Peace Corps Volunteers in developing and implementing a Model UN debate club in the Karaganda Community School District. In past summers, Olga participated in a student work and travel program, where she worked as a counselor at the Eagle Springs Special Needs Camp in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. Olga has also lived in Beijing, China, where she studied Chinese and worked as a Russian tutor.