Lisa Martin has over 25 years of experience working with arts and cultural organizations on both US coasts, as well as across Europe. Lisa has served as Executive Director of Silver Spring Town Center Inc, a non-profit, since November 2011. As the first Executive Director of SSTCi, she has oversight of over 120 ongoing SSTCi programs and events that take place throughout the year in Downtown Silver Spring, including the annual Silver Spring Blues Festival. She has also worked in research and evaluation for museums, galleries, science centers and historic sites.

Lisa is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served as an English Teacher in the village of Loo (LOW)–10km, from the Estonian capital of Tallinn. In the early 2000’s, she served as the NPCA Events Chair for the Peace Corps’ 40th (and rescheduled 40 1) anniversary celebrations. In 2005, she served as a Crisis Corps Volunteer on Rita/Katrina Relief. She has served on boards related to international development and cultural exchange, including the international board of directors of Partners of the Americas and its DC Chapter, as well as with Peace Corps alumni groups, including as president of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington DC and Friends of the Baltics. In 2013, as part of a Partners of the Americas cultural exchange, she traveled to Brasilia, Brazil on an Education and Culture Program travel grant sponsored by the US State Department. As part of this exchange, she gave several presentations entitled Community Building Through the Arts in Public Spaces, which details her work in creative placemaking.

She has a Master’s Degree in Arts Management from American University, a BS in Cultural Anthropology and BA in Journalism from San Diego State University, as well as an Executive Certificate in Facilitation from the Institute of Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University. Lisa is recipient of the 2016 Montgomery County Executive’s Award for Excellence in the Arts & Humanities for Community Leadership, and is a member of the 2017 Core Class of Leadership Montgomery.

Like many RPCVs, Lisa is an avid traveler and learner of languages. In her spare time, she also enjoys festivals, museums, music, film, theater, comedy writing, doing art (encaustic, mosaics, mixed media & collage), and singing in two choirs, including the Washington International Chorus and the Baltimore Washington Estonian Choir.

A Native San Diegan, Lisa has called DC home since 1999. She lives in Foggy Bottom with her partner Towfik who is originally from Bangladesh.

Beth Hain is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Bulgaria from 1998 to 2000, an experience that continues to shape her approach to service, leadership, and community. With over two decades of global experience, Beth has worked across India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Sub-Saharan Africa supporting inclusive development, cross-sector partnerships, and public policy efforts. She brings a collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset and a strong belief in the power of Peace Corps values to make an impact—both abroad and here in Northern Virginia.

Beth holds a Master’s degree in International Management from Thunderbird (Arizona State University) and a Bachelor’s in Business from Michigan State University. She is also a certified leadership coach through Georgetown University. Beth lives in Falls Church with her spouse and two teenagers, and is proud to be part of the vibrant, globally minded RPCV community that calls this region home.

Rachel Howard was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central Highland Andean region of Ecuador in 2004-2006 (Rural Public Health). As a Peace Corps volunteer, Rachel taught health education and English in her village schools, worked with the health care providers on vaccination campaigns, secured small business grant funding for the local youth group to start a small business in the community and learned to speak the local language, Quichua.

Her hobbies include: gardening, designing and implementing home improvement projects with her husband, Jorge, enjoying the local outdoors, and travel-especially to Latin America.

She loves learning and teaching languages (currently trying to maintain her Quichua and learn Portuguese) She and Jorge run a weekly Spanish/English language exchange group and they enjoy attending language exchange groups in the DC area.

Rachel is an elementary ESOL teacher in Silver Spring, MD-she was inspired to become an educator as a result of her Peace Corps experiences. She loves teaching first and second-generation immigrant children, often shares her Peace Corps experiences with her students and encourages her students to maintain their home language while learning English.

RPCV Community Development – Nepal 1983-86

Like many retired international relief and development workers, Mr. Flanagan (now77) initiated his career by serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  From 1968-70, he served as a Peace Corps Community Development, Teacher, and Agriculture Extension Worker in Peru. Over the next four decades he returned to work for Peace Corps in a wide variety of operational and management positions. First, he served as an ACTION/PEACE CORPS/ VISTA Recruiter and Manager for Ohio and Michigan (1971-76). From 1988 to 1991, he was the Peace Corps Inter-America Regional Program and Training Officer. In 1991, he became the Peace Corps Program and Training Officer for Poland. And in 1992, he was promoted to the position of Peace Corps Country Director for Romania (1992-1996). In his various positions in Eastern Europe he and his staffs developed successful Volunteer projects in the areas of education, banking, social work, business/agribusiness development, NGO development, and environmental protection. He is particularly proud of the Peace Corps Romania Volunteers who founded the effective secondary activity known as the “Girls Leading Our World” which helps young girls and teens develop self-esteem, practical educational and work skills, and emotional intelligence. This project rapidly spread to over 55 Peace Corps countries.    

During the time he served as the Inter-America Regional Programming and Training Officer (1988-90) and Senior Eastern European field assignments (1991-1996), he served on six Peace Corps’ entry/re-entry program development and negotiation teams and co-authored several large regional and country specific training and technical assistance agreements with USAID and international NGOs. These USAID and NGO partnership programs focused on strengthening the skills of Volunteers, their counterparts, and host country beneficiaries in the areas of agriculture, environment, business, municipal development, and housing. During his time as the Inter-America Regional Programming and Training Officer, he also made significant contributions to the creation and implementation off Peace Corps’ Programming and Training System (PATS) and complementary budget rationalization systems that helped fuel Peace Corps’ growth in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In addition to his work with Peace Corps, Mr. Flanagan also worked ten years with international NGOs such as: CARE (Program Officer-Nicaragua), Save the Children (Director in Mozambique), and Family Planning International Assistance (Latin America Regional Program Officer). In 1999, Mr. Flanagan worked as RONCO’s Regional Project Director for its’ Eastern European Relief Contract that supported USAID/OTI activities in Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia. This post war relief effort was successful in implementing the initial rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, housing relief, the reconstruction and/or rehabilitation of municipal facilities and markets, and the repair of several regional media facilities.  In 2000, Mr. Flanagan joined a 4 person USAID Re-entry Program Strategy Team for USAID Serbia. Their primary purpose was to develop and implement USAID/Serbia’s multi-year relief, reconstruction, and transitional development strategy. In 2014, Mr. Flanagan completed 10 years of service as a Senior Program Adviser to USAID/Serbia. His work in Serbia focused on the design and implementation of nation-wide projects in a wide variety of sectors including community development, citizen participation, municipal and governmental development, business, education, and agriculture.

After leaving USAID Serbia in 2010 (due to retirement age requirements), he became the Peace Corps Country Director in the Dominican Republic where he managed a volunteer force of 180 Volunteers who worked in education, environmental preservation and development, health, and business development. Upon his departure from the DR, he received several achievement and recognition awards from Peace Corps

Mr. Flanagan is married to Mary Frances Doyle.  Since 1986, Mary accompanied Art to all his posts. Mary had an equally productive and fulfilling career in International Development. She worked in Project Manager and Country Directorship positions with NGOs that focused on education, entrepreneurial development, and health and family planning. Their daughter Kerry is now a professional Occupational Therapist currently living and working in Oregon. It should be noted that Mary and Kerry’s enthusiastic approach to living, studying, and working overseas were critical factors in enabling Art to succeed and enjoy his work as an International Developer.

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Note: Art is now retired and currently resides in Ashburn Va. He still enjoys Volunteering his time to worthy activities that include teaching English to Refugees (with Caritas) and acting as an advocate for Asylum seekers (with “the Young Center”). And, of course, he still enjoys promoting Peace Corps through the activities of the National Peace Corps Association and the Northern Virginia Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association. He and his wife have also travelled extensively to many of the Countries where they served and to many others that are new adventures.

Art still enjoys playing tennis, paddle ball, biking, and body building. He also continues to be an avid sports fan, (especially for teams from Chicago –his hometown.)

Corey Quinlan Taylor
RPCV Benin 1997-1999

Corey Quinlan Taylor served as a Small Business Development Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, West Africa. When not teaching marketing and accounting classes to farmers and female cooperatives, Corey also mentored local girls as a part of Women in Development (WID), a subcomponent of Corps de la Paix Benin that focused on initiatives that improved the lives of women and girls within the country.

During his service, he enjoyed extended bike rides and mocking French development workers in front of village children. Oh! And Benin is the birthplace of the Vodoun religion, widely referred to as Voodoo.

Prior to his time in Benin, Corey earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from Ohio University, in Athens. His time at OU initially began as a journalism major, before switching to poli-sci; however, despite this decision, Corey wrote for two local newspapers in the small Southeastern Ohio town. Fun fact: Athens, Ohio is one of the epicenters of the supernatural and is known nationwide for its festive Halloween celebrations. Corey currently divides his professional time as a writer/editor consultant for Federal government contractors, writing and editing proposals, technical reports, white papers, blog articles, and other content. He also works as a reservist, engaged in post-disaster recovery work with FEMA.

As for personal trivia, he comes from a large family of one amazing parent (his mother), six siblings (including himself), and 48 nieces and nephews. He loves writing fiction and non-fiction and live-mic storytelling, with past work appearing in Writer’s Digest, Playboy, and National Public Radio. Corey loves cycling, cooking, hanging out with friends, and is a fan of esoteric cinema. He loves both cats and dog. He does not, however, love small talk. So don’t be surprised if he makes an excuse to use the
restroom if you begin talking about refinancing your mortgage.

Originally a native of New Delhi, Udit is a DC area based professional with 10+ years of experience ranging from Healthcare Administration to Volunteer Recruitment. He served for two years in Albania with the Peace Corps as a Health Educator and currently works for Peace Corps Response as a Recruitment and Placement Specialist. Udit completed his graduate degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University. He enjoys flying airplanes, travelling and learning new languages. He is particularly excited to share his experience and passion for public service and international work with others.

Lori Yamamoto
RPCV Niger 1989 – 1992

Lori Yamamoto is an Environmental Protection Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Niger,
West Africa. Her work with local villagers including traditionally cloistered women in sub-
Saharan Africa has shaped her approach to inclusive development and collaboration. For the
past two decades, Lori has worked across francophone Africa, Asia and Iraq on programs
focused on empowering youth, women, and institutions to strengthen resilience and good
governance. She brings a strong belief in empowering local communities and individuals and in
helping others.

Lori holds an MA in International Affairs at Columbia with a focus on economic and political
development and a BA in anthropology from the University of Virginia. Her interests include
traveling, hiking, volunteering and cultural events. She loves visiting museums, festivals, parks
and learning about local history. On weekends, she may be at an outdoor concert or festival or
enjoying the mountains at a local winery.