KEI's New Face
September 3, 2011
KEI has bid farewell to 6 of its 9 family members this year. The faces and personalities are changing, but KEI’s commitment to excellence remains.
We have a basic philosophy of hiring the best, nurturing their professional development and helping them move on to bigger and better opportunities when the time is right – and it is producing great results.
In March, Nicole Finnemann, Director of Research and Academic Affairs, left KEI after 4 years to become a Foreign Service Officer. She will be heading to Mexico City in November for her first assignment for the Department of State. At the beginning of July, Martha Legocki, Office Manager/Executive Assistant/Associate Director of Communications departed to start at the University of Denver’s Law School on a full scholarship. Toward the end of July, Greg Scarlatoiu finished 3 years as Director of Public Affairs and Business Issues to become Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Sarah Howe spent 2 years as Office Manager and Executive Assistant before being promoted and working as Associate Director for Programs for another 2 years. At the end of July, Sarah became an Associate Manager in the Political Affairs and Federation Relations Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Florence Lowe-Lee, Treasurer/Director of Finance/Director of Publications, was with KEI a remarkable 19 years before striking out on her own to create a consulting and educational/training company.
In each case, they were responsible for innovative ideas resulting in the positive growth and excellence of KEI. KEI is extremely proud and appreciative of their performance and congratulates them on the next phase of their professional careers. Because of the contributions of our former staff members that has made KEI what it is today, we continue to attract tremendous new talent and we are now pleased to introduce to you the new face of KEI:
In March, Nicholas Hamisevicz joined KEI as Director of Research and Academic Affairs, coming from the Heritage Foundation.
In June, Sarah Yun finished her Masters at SAIS and joined us first as Director of Communications and then as Director of Public Affairs and Regional Issues in late July.
Caryn Fisher joined KEI in early July as Office Manager and Executive Assistant. After graduating from Temple University, she interned at SAIS and the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Chad 0Carroll came to KEI form the German Marshal Fund in late July to become the Director of Communications and the new voice of KEI’s Korean Kontext Podcast.
Linda Kim joined us in August from the Embassy of Korea to be the Associate Director for Programs.
Min Kang became Director of Finance and Human Resources in late August. Before coming to KEI, Min was a financial analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as a staff accountant earlier at Chough, Oh, Chae and Co.
KEI will miss Nicole, Martha, Greg, Sarah and Florence, but we are equally excited by the new ideas, creativity and energy that Nick, Sarah, Chad, Caryn, Linda and Min bring. We invite you to go to our newly redesigned website (www.keia.org) which will go live at the end of this month and learn more about our new team. This fall, our new staff will be spearheading new programs such as the Korean Compass, a look at Korea’s global economic activities in the emerging markets, and rolling out many new podcasts in the Korean Kontext.
While not departing, Troy Stangarone was recently promoted to Senior Director, Congressional Affairs and Trade Issues. Troy is approaching his 6th anniversary with KEI.
KEI is well positioned to move forward, continuing our critical mission of providing informative programs about Korea and the U.S.-Korea relationship to the public. Join us at our next event. We are confident you will be pleased with the direction that KEI is headed.