Brian Farr
Brian L. Farr, J. D. is a Rotary Peace Fellow. He currently serves on the RAGFP Board and is the Chair-elect of RAGFP. He is scheduled to become the Chair of RAGFP on July 1, 2017. He also serves as the Chair of RAGFP’s Ad Hoc Committee on Governance and has led efforts to develop RAGFP’s Strategic Plan. He is leading efforts to implement both – including plans to to establish 17 regional subcommittees (that align with the geographical areas covered by each of RI’s 17 Directors) to facilitate implementation of the Strategic Plan globally, to get local feedback to the RAGFP Board, and to help engage Rotary Peace Fellows in Rotary’s peacebuilding activities. The Chairs of the regional committees will form a RAGFP Global Council that will meet from time-to-time to consider how to fine-tune and strengthen RAGFP’s peacebuilding efforts.
Brian practiced law in both the public and private sectors for nearly forty years including service as Chief Legal Counsel and Deputy Chief of Policy to the Governor of the State of Utah and ten years as a Division Chief in the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
He is the Chair of the North American Interfaith Network, Peace Committee Chair of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, and board member of the Norman and Barbara Tanner Center for Non-Violent Human Rights Advocacy at the University of Utah. He is member of the Interreligious Engagement Advisory Council at Utah Valley University, and past President of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (a nonprofit organization that hosts U.S. State Department visitors under the International Visitor Leadership Program).
Alison Sutherland
I have spent ll years serving as a missionary specialising in HIV/AIDS in East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo). This involved the founding of an NGO and a UK charity. The Centre undertook prevention/awareness seminars in the surrounding villages. In the centre we undertook counselling/testing/treatment of opportunistic infections/home based care and were responsible for feeding 183 people per week. In addition, we organised micro finance for women, a catch up school for orphans and we trained many volunteers both in Tanzania and surrounding countries. I too served in a consultative role with the University and other major NGOs. One of the major successes of the Centre was our success rate in turning around stigma and discrimination.
During my time in Africa I was an Honorary Member of Durham Rotary. For the last three years of my time in Africa I lived and worked in Dar es Salaam and joined the Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam where I became Secretary of the Club.
Upon return to the UK, I joined Cardiff Bay Rotary where I founded Rotakids and Rotaract Clubs. I have also piloted peace for the District by training Rotaractors, working with refugee and asylum seekers, prisoners and others. The plan for the work with refugees/asylum seekers and the prisons is to replicate the work within and beyond the District.
For the past three years I have been a Director of the RAGFP and am currently engaged in identifying and evaluating youth peace programmes which could be shared with Rotarians. Also with the goal of identifying and supporting possible global grants for youth.
I am passionate about peace and justice and being the voice of the voiceless.
Isabel Cristina Martinez
Isabel is Colombian. She is an accountant, MBA and the Vice President of Administration. She has experience in operations and business development. Horses, culture and literacy are her hobbies.
“My resume so far is the result of a lot of hard work, but also and mostly of the belief that only the sky is the limit. The challenges we face as women in the construction of peace is to start building a culture of peace. Most Colombians do not know what peace looks like because we have not known anything else in Colombia. In my country, about 260,000 people were killed and millions displaced in the 52-year conflict.
I am the leader of an amazing and inspiring Peace Project in Colombia! We are improving the life conditions of rural women affected by violence, thanks to the support of different Rotary Clubs. This is action and work in team! Sometimes the smallest things that often go unnoticed make the biggest impact.”
Isabel was a Rotaract before and is now proud to be Rotarian and more proud to be a Woman in Rotary.
Garbis Der-Yeghian
Currently serves as Treasurer of RAGFP.
Has held numerous leadership position in Rotary:
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL – Global Quest Membership Task Force (Chair, USA); Representative of RI President to District Conferences; Moderator and Speaker, Presidential Peace Conferences.
REGIONAL LEVEL – Co-chair and Speaker, Caucasus Peace Conference (First ever Turkish-Armenian Rotary Peace Conference, in Ankara, Turkey).
ZONE LEVEL – Chair, World Peace Committee; Zone Institute Organizing Committee; Advisor to RI Director; Membership Coordinator; Foundation Coordinator; Literacy Task Force Coordinator; Poverty Alleviation Coordinator;
MULTIDISTRICT LEVEL: Chair, Presidents-Elect Training Seminar (PETS); PETS Instructor; Governors-Elect Training Seminar (GETS) Workshop Leader.
DISTRICT LEVEL: District Governor; has founded, chaired and organized 27 World Peace Conferences (in appreciation of his unparalleled leadership, the Peace Institute of District 5300 is named after him); International Committee Chair for 12 years; Rotary International Fellowships Chair; Annual Fund Giving Chair; Multicultural Festival Committee Chair; Polio Eradication Chair; Budget and Finance Committee; District Governor Nominating Committee; Established the Ethics Essay Contest; Established the District’s Foundation – Charitable Trust; Presenter at Assemblies and Conferences;
CLUB LEVEL – Joined the Rotary Club of La Verne, California in 1981 and served as President in 1984-1985. International Service Chair; Membership Chair; Peace Conference Chair; Silver and Golden Anniversaries Committee Chair.
ROTARY AWARDS – Service Above Self, Meritorious Service, Rotary Foundation Service, Distinguished District Governor and World Champion, Presidential Citation; Peace Ambassador, Peacemaker of the Year, Rotarian of the Year.
EDUCATION – Doctoral Degrees in Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and in Organizational Leadership/Educational Management, University of La Verne, La Verne, California. Master’s in Educational Administration and Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Mathematics, American University of Beirut,Beirut, Lebanon. Five Honorary Doctorates.
EMPLOYMENT: President/CEO and Senior Professor, Mashdots College, Glendale, California, 1992-Present; President/Dean and Professor, American Armenian International College/University of La Verne, 1976-1992. Seven Honorary Professorships.