The governing Board of Directors of Friendship Force International (FFI) consists of volunteers who contribute their time and expertise to overseeing the global operations of the organization. Board members serve four year terms. The current members are from nine countries. Most are experienced Friendship Force leaders, but several come from outside of FFI, adding a valuable external perspective.
Board of Directors
James PermanaChair - Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Bio
- James Permana lives in Houston, Texas, USA, and works as a healthcare data consultant. Friendship Force has been instrumental in shaping his love and appreciation of international friendship in high school when he participated in the first International Summer Institute (later renamed “Global Youth Institute”). James hosted international guests through Sisters Cities International and Youth For Understanding, and he was a pioneer member of the CouchSurfing community. James also volunteers as an ESL tutor, an income tax preparer, and worked at the information desk at O'Hare International Airport through Traveler’s Aid. James travels extensively domestically for work and internationally for fun. He has been all over Asia and Europe and looks forward to exploring new countries with FFI.
Marilyn PetersonVice Chair - Mid-Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
- Bio
- Marilyn Peterson of Albany, Oregon, USA, has been a member of the Friendship Force of Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley since 2003. A native of Northern California, she received a bachelor’s degree in Classics (Latin) from the University of Oregon. She taught high school Latin and Public Speaking for a number of years before “retiring” to raise her daughter. She returned to the work force as a computer programmer at Oregon State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. During her employment at Hewlett Packard Company, she held a number of positions in the Information Technology department. At the time of her retirement she was the manager of the operations side of the site telecommunications department in Corvallis, Oregon. Marilyn and her late husband enjoyed traveling the United States. Friendship Force has been an important part of her retirement. With the organization she has traveled to numerous countries including Cuba, Jordan, Japan, India, New Zealand, Romania, Taiwan and Indonesia. She is a former Friendship Force Field Representative for the Pacific Northwest/Northern Rockies Region (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana). Within her club she has hosted and day-hosted guests, been the Journey Coordinator several times including an outbound to Romania and the Moon Shadow Over Oregon inbound Journey for the 2017 total solar eclipse. Currently she is the webmaster and provides other forms of club communication materials. She is a volunteer at the Albany Public Library and member of AAUW (American Association of University Women, ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League), BRAINet (outreach for Oregon Health Sciences University), Oregon Railroad Heritage Foundation and University of Oregon Alumni. Other interests include knitting, reading, astronomy and music.
Christiane BeaupréTreasurer - Montréal, Canada
- Bio
- Christiane Beaupré has been a member of FF Montréal since 2009, and she has held the positions of Secretary and President. Christiane and her husband Yves Thouin have also managed many Journeys. Christiane set up exchanges/Journeys between Canadian clubs to promote cooperation between clubs. She has just completed a three-year term as Regional Representative for Eastern Canada Clubs. She spearheaded annual club meetings and completed her term with the first Ontario and Quebec club leaders' conference. Christiane holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. She has had a career in the federal public service in Canada. She has served as Chair of many organizations and on the boards of organizations, including the Institute of Public Administration of Greater Montreal and the National Association of Federal Retirees in the Montreal area. Christiane continues her work as a management skills development coach in the Government of Canada. She is actively interested in developing leadership in Friendship Force clubs.
Atik WijayantiSecretary - Solo-Surakarta, Indonesia
- Bio
- Atik has been involved with Friendship Force as a member in FF Solo – Surakarta, Indonesia since 1996. She has served as President of her club in the early years after the club chartered in 1997 and also has been an Exchange Director for inbound and outbound exchanges/Journeys. Besides being a member of the Next Generation Council, she is also currently a Field Representative for Indonesia, and has been since 2015. Atik’s career is mainly in education and other hospitality business areas. She founded an international hospitality education institution that has been running well for the past 20 years, becoming a leading school in the region with a worldwide network. Developing general institutional strategic planning and international collaboration are some of her activities for the institution. She also involved as member in EUHOFA International (a leading association for hotel-school Directors) and served as President in Rotary Club Solo Raya (D3420 – Indonesia) and Business Council.
Chuck GoldfarbWashington DC, USA
- Bio
- Chuck Goldfarb is a second-generation Friendship Force member. His parents were active in the Los Angeles club and he has been active in the National Capital Area (Washington, DC) club since 2006. He has been exchange director (Journey Coordinator) for both inbound and outbound Journeys and club president. He helped create a Friendship Force presence in the Philippines. For 39 years Chuck was a public policy economist, working in both the public and private sectors, with a specialization in telecommunications and media. For more than 45 years Chuck has held leadership positions in non-profit organizations serving the LGBT community. For the past six years he has chaired the Rainbow History Project, whose mission is to collect, preserve, and promote the history, arts, and culture of DC’s diverse LGBT communities. For twenty years he was a board member of SMYAL, the support organization for LGBT youth, and he also was steering committee president of Black and White Men Together, which addressed racial discrimination in the LGBT community. Chuck and his husband, Bo Hong, live in an 1880s row house in DC.
Tracy MirembeKampala, Uganda
- Bio
- Tracy has been an active member of Friendship Force since 2016. Tracy holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration majoring in Procurement and Logistics and high diploma in counseling; special needs, and family/marriage counseling. Tracy’s career is mainly in charity and business development. Throughout her life, she has found herself in positions of leadership in her community and enjoys interacting with people of different cultures and background. Tracy travels a lot internationally and locally for both work and fun, and has also had the privilege of living in different countries. She enjoys reading, travelling, and spending time with her amazing big family. She hopes to help FFI growth plans in Africa and into the next generation