Our Team
The people who help build and support field-based education across 12 countries.
Leadership
The senior leadership team guiding SFS's mission, operations, and academic vision.
Katlyn's career spans more than two decades of experiential learning and global engagement. Before becoming President, she served as Chief Operating Officer and, earlier, as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and New Program Development, cultivating international partnerships and guiding the institution's growth. Her path into the field began with a high school exchange and a junior year abroad. Off the clock, she practices yoga, skis, and enjoys live music and the ocean.
Phil is an educator and operations professional with more than a decade in study abroad and experiential education. He spent four years in northeast Thailand with CIEE's Development and Globalization program, learning from grassroots environmental movements including the Assembly of the Poor, and later worked with SIT/World Learning's International Honors Program. His interests run to experiential learning, environmental organizing, and helping students engage with today's ecological and social challenges.
An SFS Kenya alumna, Katie pursued graduate work in agroecology, researching biodiversity conservation across Mesoamerican coffee landscapes. She joined SFS in 2017 from Wellesley College, where she taught Environmental Studies and led science pedagogy initiatives, and in 2019 helped launch the Chile center as a faculty member. She still wishes she were hardcore enough to drink a thermos of mate.
Yizette is an accomplished finance and accounting executive with deep expertise in nonprofit, international, and corporate finance. In her 18-plus years at SFS, she has overseen global financial operations: budgeting, accounting, cash management, payroll, audits, and compliance. Her expertise spans international finance, multi-currency accounting, internal controls, and grants management.
Devin joined SFS in 2014 after a decade spent traveling anywhere it was hard to get a visa: more than 40 countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Iran, Russia, and Somalia. He wrote a book about how young people in conflict zones get by, and worked on food insecurity in Niger for Mercy Corps. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three daughters.
Michael joined SFS in 2014 after roles with GlobaLinks Learning Abroad and Arizona State University's Study Abroad Office. His path into international education began with a semester in Wales and later included study and internships in England and Peru. Before all that, he worked in the feature film industry in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. He enjoys basketball, music, and time with his family in Arizona.
Headquarters Staff
Remy has traveled to more than 40 countries and previously worked with Semester at Sea. She supports students through field-based learning around the world. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, she enjoys hiking local trails and exploring the outdoors with her dog.
Born in Hong Kong, taught to walk in New Zealand, and raised in Alaska, Amy credits her parents for a curiosity that took her around the world. Leading programs on social justice and the US-Mexico border fueled her commitment to experiential learning, though her Peace Corps service in Bolivia was the most formative chapter. She joined SFS in 2008.
Darren oversees technology infrastructure and strategy across SFS's 12 global field centers. With a focus on operational efficiency and data security, he has led major initiatives in cloud infrastructure, compliance, and IT governance, modernizing systems to support SFS's mission worldwide. Based in Washington State.
Nicole brings a decade of nonprofit experience in program development, volunteer management, outreach, and recruitment, along with HR consulting for startups, nonprofits, and small businesses. She serves on a local nonprofit board of directors and, outside of work, enjoys hiking, gardening, community outreach, and fostering animals.
Nicole's path to global operations ran through the Amazon, literally. After backpacking Peru at 18, she spent years between Canada and Latin America as a scuba guide, arborist, and conservation worker before joining SFS Peru in 2014, where she built the program over five years. That field-level experience now informs every operational decision she makes from her remote post.
Rebecca spent four years at The New School in New York City, in roles spanning academic advising, commencement coordination, and senior operations for student success, before bringing that institutional expertise to SFS. Her own study abroad experiences in Sri Lanka and France give her a personal understanding of what students need when learning far from home.
With more than 25 years of accounting experience across the hospitality and nonprofit sectors, Tanja brings deep expertise in full-cycle accounting, reconciliations, and audit preparation. Originally from Bosnia and fluent in three languages, she has strengthened SFS's financial operations since joining in 2014.
A high school trip to France gave Joan her first taste of life abroad, and a later work assignment in the Netherlands deepened her love of cultural immersion. She joined SFS in 2016 with a background in accounting, finance, and information systems, and believes every student should experience life beyond the USA, something she's glad to help them fund.
With over a decade in tech, including five years supporting students and instructors at an online high school, Jewel brings an educator's patience to IT. Her experience bridging technology and learning makes her a natural fit for keeping SFS's global network of field centers connected.
Originally from Argentina, Bárbara grew up between Buenos Aires and Patagonia before moving to New York to work as a freelance journalist focused on environmental topics. Her love of nature, travel, and education led her to SFS, where she helps students apply to study abroad programs.
A two-time SFS alumna (Turks and Caicos Islands, then Mexico), Juliann has more than a decade in environmental education and nonprofit management, with roles at the Shedd Aquarium and the Alliance for the Great Lakes. A certified diver, she has mapped shipwrecks in Lake Erie and surveyed seahorses in Palau. She was named an Obama Foundation Scholar in 2025.
A study abroad researching sustainability in Costa Rica set Kallin's course toward environmental education. Since then she has guided citizen science expeditions through the Peruvian Amazon and taught aquaponics lessons on the coast of the Dominican Republic. She joined SFS in November 2021, bringing that field experience to the programs she now supports.
Perla began her career with an international accounting internship in the Dominican Republic and built her expertise across banking, real estate finance, and small business consulting. That global financial perspective, rooted in her training at UNPHU College, equips her to manage the multi-currency finances of a nonprofit spanning 12 countries.
Before SFS, Leah volunteered in elephant conservation in Thailand, organized an alternative spring break in Greece for refugee resettlement, and coordinated study abroad at Old Dominion University. She covers her region from a self-converted adventure van, a fitting base for someone whose graduate research focused on sustainable international service-learning.
Mike has worked in international education for more than 15 years, including positions in the study abroad offices at Ohio State University, Rollins College, and Oberlin College. He believes that working on campuses and directly with students lets him support and advocate for SFS's partners in a more dynamic, effective way.
Adriana is an author and advocate for equitable access to global experiences. She has spent more than a decade leading workshops on anti-Blackness, diversity, and underrecognized populations. Her book is “Studying Abroad for Black Women.” A former semi-professional football player, Adriana enjoys mystery novels, astrology, and learning about country flags.
Gabriela fell in love with Latin America while traveling through Colombia at 15 to learn Spanish and reconnect with her roots. Those experiences shaped a commitment to education and culture that led her to facilitate global programs and support students across the Americas and Europe. She is glad to be back at SFS HQ, building connection through global education.
Lauren brings more than a decade of experience in marketing, communications, donor relations, grant writing, and fundraising. Her work in child welfare and behavioral health inspired a commitment to serving diverse and underserved communities. A longtime Scouting volunteer, she loves helping young people explore science, nature, and conservation.
Faculty in the Field
Our center directors and faculty conduct research alongside students at every center. Meet the researchers who lead our programs.