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CNI Board of Directors

Posted September 2, 2009

 
 
Harriet Fulbright, Chair

Mrs. Fulbright is President of the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Center in Washington DC.  She earned her BA from Radcliffe College and an MFA from the George Washington University and has spent most of her adult life in the fields of education and the arts.  From 1997 until 2000 she was the Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, whose mission is to enhance cultural life in America. Prior to that, she served as “Unofficial Ambassador” for the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright Program.

Throughout the 2000′s she undertook lecture tours to four continents, where she spoke on such topics as the vital role of international education exchanges, the importance of arts education, the life of Senator J. William Fulbright, September 11th and its impact, and life as a cancer patient.

In May 2009, Mrs. Fulbright took part in a CNI Foundation study tour of six Middle Eastern countries.  She and the other tour members met many Arab and Israeli political figures and undertook the onerous trip from Cairo to Gaza, where they viewed the extensive destruction inflicted by Israel during last winter’s war.

 

Amb. David Newton, Vice-Chair

David Newton served the U.S. for over 36 years in a Foreign Service career that included assignments as U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Yemen, and a three-year secondment to the faculty of the National Defense University.   From 1998 through 2004 he was the first director of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Iraq, based in Prague.

 
 
E. Faye Williams, Treasurer

Ms. Williams, Esq., is the President/CEO of Natural Health Options of Washington DC which provides economic empowerment opportunities for small business owners and individuals. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Health Network, Inc. She is the national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, and General Counsel to the National Congress of Black Women. She taught law at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge L.A. and holds MPA from the University of Southern California, a Ph.D. in Public Administration from City University in Los Angeles, a J.D. from Howard Law and  a Ph.D. in ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary.

 

Eugene Bird, President

Mr. Bird  is a twenty-year veteran of the Foreign Service, and has served as Counselor of Embassy in Jerusalem and other Middle East posts. He became President of CNI and CNI Foundation in 1993. He is knowledgeable about the politics and leadership of Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, where he is well known as a leader of two organizations dedicated to finding a lasting final peace settlement between Israel and all its neighbors.

 
 
Rosita “Mike” Abel is from Wilmington, Delaware and has been a participant of CNIF’s Political pilgrimage. Her parents are originally from Palestine and exposed her at a young age to Palestinian culture. She was part of the Middle East Children’s Alliance delegation team on the mission to bring medical supplies and children necessities to the refugee camps in Gaza. She comes from a background in heathcare administration and is is fluent in Arabic and Spanish.
 

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American former Fulbright scholar, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer, author, and activist for Palestinian rights. As a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank, Baltzer documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. She has appeared on Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” and numerous other t.v. and radio shows and has given her acclaimed presentation, “Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos,” to more than 400 audiences. In 2007, she published Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories with Paradigm Press.

In 2009, Baltzer received the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee’s prestigious Annual Rachel Corrie Peace & Justice Award and a Certificate of Commendation from the Governor of Wisconsin for her commitment to justice in the Holy Land. In addition to serving on the CNI board, she  serves on the Middle East committee of the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom and the boards of The Research Journalism Institute and Grassroots Jerusalem, and The Council for the National Interest. Her website is www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com.

 
 
Albert Fairchild is a retired Foreign Service Officer whose 38-year career with the State Department involved assignments in Africa (Senegal, the Central African Republic, and Niger), Afghanistan, and Iran.  He was Deputy Chief of Mission at his last two overseas posts.  In Washington he was Regional Affairs Deputy Director in the Africa Bureau, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Assignments Division Chief in the Bureau of Personnel, Director of African Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, and Senior Adviser in the Office of Management Policy.

Mr. Fairchild was instrumental in designing and implementing the State Department’s strategic planning system that involves every U.S. Embassy abroad and the major elements of the Department in Washington.  He currently works as a Foreign Affairs Consultant.

 

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, served in the US House of Representatives from 1991 until 2008. Gilchrest was one of only two Republicans in the House to vote for the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007 (H.R.1591), the Iraq supplemental spending bill, which included a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. The measure passed both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by the President. Gilchrest, a Vietnam War veteran, was decorated with the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Navy Commendation medal. He has been active participated with CNI’s public hearing on the Hill as witness to AIPAC’s influence on Congress.

 
 
Alison Weir is a journalist and the executive director of “If Americans Knew,” a nonprofit organization that focuses on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and specializing in statistical analysis and media studies. Weir has been a journalist for many years. She was associated with the Center for Investigative Reporting, served as an editor at Women Sports Magazine; a freelancer for the San Francisco Examiner, Rolling Stone and other publications; the education writer for the Pacific Sun; and the author of a children’s book published by E.P. Dutton.  Most recently, she was the editor of Marin Scope Newspaper in Sausalito, California.
 

Emeriti board leaders and members:

  • Rep. Paul Findley, founding co-chair
  • Rep. “Pete” McCloskey, founding co-chair
  • Col. F. Joe Hunt, emeritus member