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A.C.E. Executives
David B. Woodward, President and CEO (bio)
Anthony L. Fantham, COO (bio)
Colette Mercier, CFO (bio)
Samuel M. Shepherd, Senior Vice President (bio)
Dr. Rick O'Connor, Vice President for ESL Program Development (bio)
Sally Thomas, Senior Director (bio)
Dr. Robert K. Doebler, Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute
at Montana State University (bio)
Mr. Tim Healy, Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute
at Seattle Pacific University (bio)
Corporate Bios:
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David B. Woodward
President & CEO
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David Woodward is the President & CEO of Associates in Cultural Exchange* (A.C.E.), which he first joined in 1980. He has 30 years of professional international experience, including 21 years of senior management roles, in international business management, consultancy, and educational exchange programs and services involving clients from all major world markets. He became President and CEO of A.C.E. in 1998.
Woodward was born in Teheran, Iran, and spent his early youth in Southern Iran. He received a National Resource Fellowship in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization while at the University of Washington, and taught English as a foreign language at Kuwait University (1982-83). He has led in the establishment of a master's degree program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, has taught a 5-credit course on Modern Middle East History, and has presented extensively in forums and conferences on Middle East issues, Islam, cross-cultural communication, language education, and international program administration. Woodward holds four degrees from the University of Washington including a Master of Education in Higher Education with a specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language, a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, and a Bachelor of Arts in History.
Woodward has led A.C.E. in the development of various business startups and educational projects involving small businesses, universities, corporations, and government agencies within the U.S. and in peer regions of the world. Clients Woodward has worked with include the Ministry of Education of Korea, the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT), the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, Samsung Corporation, World Learning, AMIDEAST, Academy for Educational Development, Kuwait University, Boeing, Microsoft, USAID, EPA, Japan-U.S. Exchange Commission and the University of Washington. He has established contracts for services, branch offices and representative service arrangements with client organizations in Oman, Kazakhstan, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, Australia, and six U.S. states, as well as managing for-profit and not-for-profit subsidiaries and spin-offs. Core activities have included managing personnel in over 80 locations in the Pacific Northwest, marketing internationally, organizational development, and setting up strategic relationships worldwide. He has led in the formation of several key international marketing consortia, and collaborative initiatives across professional disciplines. Woodward also provides recruiting, consulting and liaison services for the UAE Academy in Abu Dhabi, Sultan Qaboos University of Oman, Goodman Real Estate of Seattle, and Quality Schools International headquartered in Slovenia.
Woodward is fluent in Arabic, Persian, and French and has studied Hebrew and Greek. He is a member of the EIKEN Professional Advisory Council of Japan, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce-appointed District Export Council for Washington State, the Seattle Rotary Club, the Advisory Board of the Trade Development Alliance of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Global Business Advisory Board of Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics, is a Co-Chair for Study Washington, a Co-Chair for the Middle East Interest Group of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and a member of the Taproot Theatre Advisory Board.
*DBA for American Cultural Exchange, a 501(c)3 founded in Seattle in 1973
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Anthony L. Fantham
Chief of Operations
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Anthony Fantham is the Chief Operations Officer of Associates in Cultural Exchange* (A.C.E.). He has 37 years of professional international experience, including 14 years of senior management roles, in international business management, and corporate technical and administrative programs and services involving clients from all business sectors. He became COO of A.C.E. in 2009.
Fantham was born and raised in London, England, and in 1972 joined British Telecom via their 3-year apprenticeship program which included attendance at Merton Technical College in Surrey. During training he was awarded certificates of merit each year for "Outstanding Field and College Results." Fantham was promoted to Technical Officer on completion and remained with British Telecom until 1980.
Fantham joined MCI Telecommunications in 1986. He quickly moved up the ranks from a Technical Consultant to Manager to Senior Manager of Operations where he was responsible for all facilities in Washington, Oregon, Northern California and interconnects with Alaska. His last assignment at MCI was a direct report to the President of Call Center Services as the Senior Business Manager. He was responsible for all aspects of this market segment, including: strategic and budget planning, vendor evaluation and coordination with Human Resources. Fantham also served for many years as an advisory board member with the University of Washington Data Communication certificate program.
Whilst earning a coaching license in 1979 from the Football Association in England, Fantham was recruited to play soccer at the University of Illinois, Springfield. He played three years of college soccer and earned a BA and MA in Communication and in 1984 wrote his thesis on "The Development of Direct Broadcast Satellites in the United States."
In 1999 Fantham took the opportunity to leave the corporate world for a period of time in order to spend more time with his wife and two young sons and volunteer in their schools as well as to follow up his keen interest in coaching soccer. Fantham became the Head Coach of girls' soccer at Ballard High School, Seattle in 2000 and moved to the Head Coaching position for both boys and girls' soccer at Ingraham High School, Seattle beginning in 2002. He is passionate about soccer and believes that the game teaches many of life's important lessons. He continually strives to apply the 'teaching moments' soccer provides to his players, coaches and parents, by doing so giving back to soccer the wonderful opportunities it has given him. Tony is also a soccer referee and has continued to play on competitive teams since leaving college.
Since 2006 Fantham has also provided consulting services, working closely with architects, clients, employees and the business owner to increase revenue and productivity.
Fantham has been married to his wife, Rosemarie, for over 25 years. Both of their sons are Eagle Scouts, and both are attending the University of Washington in the Foster School of Business.
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Colette Mercier
Chief Financial Officer
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Colette Mercier has over 30 years of experience, primarily in nonprofit accounting, as finance director, controller, CFO, and consultant, in organizations of varying size and mission. Here work has included nonprofit administration, human resources, coordination between development and finance departments, and restoring fiscal order in troubled organizations.
Colette has worked with A.C.E. as a finance consultant since March 2003, joining our staff in September 2009. She also serves as Finance Director of The Collins Group, Inc., a Seattle firm providing fundraising management consultation to Northwest nonprofits.
Colette received her B.A. Degree in Social Studies Field Major from U.C. Berkeley, and completed Ph.D. coursework in Sociology and Anthropology at the City University of New York. She is a licensed minister within United Centers for Spiritual Living, and Co-Founding Minister of Amazing Grace Spiritual, meeting in Seattle's South Lake Union District.
Her personal mission is to promote fiscal/administrative integrity and transparency as the bedrock upon which an organization's mission can be securely grounded.
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Samuel M. Shepherd
Senior Vice President
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Sam Shepherd has returned to Associates in Cultural Exchange* as Senior Vice President. From 2004-2009, he was President of the National Association of Japan-America Societies (NAJAS) and based in Washington, DC. From
1994 to early 2004 Shepherd was Executive Director/CEO of the Tokyo-based Japan-
United States Educational Commission (Fulbright Japan). Prior to assuming this
position, Shepherd was Executive Vice President of Associates in Cultural Exchange.
Shepherd has spoken and written widely on issues related to educational
exchange, language education, internationalization of education, and educational reform.
Appointed by the Japanese Minister of Education, he served as a Specialist Member of
the Central Council on (Primary & Secondary) Education from 1995-1998.
Subsequently, Shepherd was appointed to a commission that developed and administered
the first external evaluation of Japan's national universities.
In June of 2004, the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, &
Technology awarded Shepherd a Commendation of Merit for his contributions to
international education. In November 2010, the Japanese Government announced that
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan had decorated Shepherd with The Order of the Rising
Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in recognition of his "contribution to strengthening of the
relations between Japan and the United States through educational exchanges and
internationalization of education in Japan."
As an East-West Center Grantee ('67-'69), Shepherd earned an MA in Asian
Studies from the University of Hawaii. To date, Shepherd has spent over 30 years in
Japan including 15 of his first 19 years. Since 1972, he has been married to Connie
Shepherd, a Paralegal with Stoel Rives, LLP, Seattle.
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Rick O'Connor
Vice President for ESL Program Development
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Dr. Rick O'Connor is Vice President for ESL Program Development of A.C.E. He has served in the latter role since 2006. Rick is originally from New York City, but has lived and worked in various parts of the world including Afghanistan, Iran, and Japan. He has worked in the field of ESL since 1974.
Rick received his B.A. in English Literature from St. John's University in New York. He earned his M.A.T. in English as a Second/Foreign Language from the School for International Training in Vermont. Rick's Ph.D. is in Educational Administration from Washington State University. His research interests included curriculum development and program administration.
Rick has been the director of ESL programs at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA, Washington State University in Pullman, WA, and Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. He has taught at the secondary and tertiary levels in Afghanistan, Iran, Japan and the U.S.
Rick has authored or co-authored six ESL textbooks. He has also given papers and presentations many times at the state, regional, and national levels. He has also taken part in the development and implementation of three academic curricula at three different universities. Rick's been married to Masumi Adachi O'Connor for more than 30 years. They have three grown sons.
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Sally Thomas
Senior Director
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Sally Thomas, who has been Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute at SPU since 2007, is now our Senior Director taking on responsibility to co-lead the Client Relations team and to oversee Group Programs as well as coordinating the overall accreditation process. Ms. Thomas served as a senior teacher trainer in St. Petersburg, Russia from 2005-2007 with the U.S. State Department's English Language Fellow program. Prior to this role, Ms. Thomas worked with the Seattle Public Schools as an ESL teacher and was the Associate Director of the Language Institute for Refugees and Immigrants from 1999-2005. Since 1992, Ms. Thomas has taught English and basic skills in public and private schools to students of all ages and backgrounds including two years on the tiny island of Guam and three years in Russia. Ms. Thomas holds a master's degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Seattle University and has a B.A. in education and a Washington State teaching certificate which she earned through Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. Ms. Thomas has traveled extensively throughout the world and is proud of being a first generation Norwegian.
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Robert K. Doebler
Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute at Montana State University
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Robert K. Doebler is the Program Director of A.C.E. Language Institute at Montana State University. Before coming to A.C.E., he taught English in institutions in Taiwan; in the Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and in two different universities in China. He has also taught anthropology and linguistic courses at North Central University (Minneapolis, MN) and Bethel University (St. Paul, MN). From 2007 to 2011 he worked in a newly established university in Erbil, Iraq, where he taught English and held senior administrative positions.
Robert received his B.A. in biology from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota and an M.S. in oceanography from National Taiwan University's Institute of Oceanography. His education abroad redirected his academic interests, and he returned to the U.S. and did graduate studies at Indiana University receiving both an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and later his Ph.D. in Central Eurasia Studies in 1994. His dissertation was Cities, Population Redistribution, and Urbanization in Mongolia: 1919-1990.
In addition to academic posts, Robert has also worked for two international NGOs and held administrative positions in both. He headed up flood relief work in Inner Mongolia in 1998 and helped in economic development/educationalprojects in a Tibetan area of China. He has also served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps overseas in Okinawa, Japan, and in the States.
His major academic interests are teaching analytical skills and practical applications in deductive and rote memory educational traditions and in social changes and the process by which minority cultures are incorporated-and resist incorporation-into the majority system. Robert is married to Yvonne and they have two children.
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Mr. Tim Healy
Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute at Seattle Pacific University
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Tim is originally from Buffalo, New York. He has a B.A. in Russian/ Soviet Studies and a M.A. TESOL. He has been teaching at A.C.E. since 2003. Tim is proficient in Russian. An interesting fact about him is that he lived and worked in Russia for two years.
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A.C.E.
200 W. Mercer Street, Suite 108
Seattle, WA 98119
USA
Tel: 206.217.9644
Fax: 206.217.9643
Email
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