Carol Bellamy recently completed her mandate as the Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF). Carol was previously Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), President and CEO of World Learning, and President of its School for International Training.

From 1993 to 1995, she served as Director of the United States Peace Corps. Appointed by then U.S. President Bill Clinton, she was the first director to have previously been a volunteer, having served in Guatemala from 1963-65. Prior to that, she was a member of the New York State Senate and was the first woman elected city-wide as President of the New York City Council. Carol has worked in the private sector at Morgan Stanley and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She is also an emeritus member of the American University of Beirut Board of Trustees and is a former Fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Mark Gearan is a public servant, lawyer, and higher education leader. Following five years as Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, he recently returned to serve as president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) in New York, making him the longest-serving president in HWS history.

Mark's career spans various fields of politics and government in the U.S., from working as a reporter and a congressional staffer to serving as a White House official and a campaign manager. He also served as the 14th Director of the Peace Corps under President Bill Clinton, expanding the program into new countries and creating the Crisis Corps (now Peace Corps Response).

He has held various roles in American politics and government, such as White House Communications Director, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and Vice Presidential Campaign Manager for Clinton/Gore ’92. He is the Vice Chair for National and Public Service of a national commission and a former chair of two boards related to civic engagement. He also serves on a Harvard committee for public service. Mark holds a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard and a law degree from Georgetown University. He has received 13 honorary degrees for his work.

Maureen Orth is an award-winning journalist, a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair and the author of two books. She is also the founder of the Marina Orth Foundation. Maureen began her career as one of the first woman writers at Newsweek. At Vanity Fair her profiles include everyone from Angela Merkel and Madonna to Vladimir Putin and major investigative pieces on Michael Jackson and Woody Allen. She has also written extensively about Colombia from travel pieces to the rescue of Presidential Candidate Ingrid Bentacourt from Colombian FARC rebels. 

“The commitment to global service is one of our country’s greatest ideals. The Peace Corps Commemorative forever enshrines that noble achievement.”  

- Maureen Orth

Maureen’s love for and commitment to Colombia started in the Peace Corps, just after graduation from UC Berkeley with a degree in Political Science.  She also holds a Masters in Journalism from UCLA.  In 2005, she founded the Marina Orth Foundation that provides training in STEM, tech, robotics, leadership and English to both students and teachers in 21 public schools in Colombia. The foundation also awards university scholarships. Its championship robotics teams win international competitions and its model program can be scaled throughout the region.  

In 2015, Maureen was awarded the Cruz de San Carlos, Colombia’s highest foreign civilian award. In 2015, she also received the Refugees International Humanitarian Award.  In 2022, she received her greatest honor from Colombian President Ivan Duque -- Colombian Citizenship. Insert your text here