Board Appointed Positions

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Kathy DeBest, FAUSAAssistant Treasurer
Kathy is a member of FAUSA after repatriating in 2017. She resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan and spends a great deal of the winter in Naples, Florida. Most recently, she lived in The Hague, Netherlands where she was a member of the AWC and served on the Board as Treasurer. In 2016 Kathy performed the financial reviews of the 18 FAWCO Target Project applicants. She began her expat life in 2003 living in Warwickshire, England with her husband and three young daughters. It was there she encountered her first FAWCO Club and joined the North American Connection (NAC), serving on the Board as Secretary. During her professional career she worked in public accounting as a CPA and managed the accounting department of a billion-dollar company. She most recently served as The FAWCO Foundation's Treasurer.
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Tracy Moede, AWC HamburgDevelopment Grant Administrator, Quilt Team Admin
Tracy Moede is from the Washington D.C.-Baltimore-Annapolis Triangle in Maryland. In 1988, during her year in Hannover on a Fulbright Scholarship, she met her husband, Dietmar, and has been living in northern Germany ever since. They have two daughters, Rebecca and Allison. She attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she received her degrees in German, Linguistics, and Education. Most of her working career has been teaching English as a Second Language privately and at various language schools and kindergartens in Hamburg and Kiel, Germany. During her 25 years as a member of the AWC Hamburg, she has been circulation chair, membership chair, the FAWCO representative, treasurer and the Heart Pillow Project chair. She served for five years on the FAWCO Sites Committee, and eight years on the Foundation board, four as VP Programs and most recently four as VP Communications. In addition to co-chairing FAWCO’s Tax & Banking Committee, she has now taken on the position of DG Administrator for The Foundation.
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Michelle D. Miller, AIWC CologneEducation Awards Administrator
Michelle was born in Austin, Texas, but considers herself a New Englander, having lived in CT, MA, and VT for most of her adult life. Michelle started her career as an Army nurse and served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. After separating from the Army, she then earned her Master’s in Public Health from Yale University and her JD from Cornell Law School. Currently, she is getting ready to teach her last semester as a tenured Associate Professor of Legal Studies at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, at the end of which she will retire in December 2023. Michelle is very happy to be returning to Cologne and the AIWCC after a 10-year absence. She is a huge believer in the added value that FAWCO brings to its members, having served on the FAWCO Board as VP for Global issues in 2009-10. Michelle is delighted to reconnect with FAWCO friends and to once again become involved in the important work of the organization as Co-Chair of the Education Team. She is also excited to be working with the FAWCO Foundation for the first time as the EA Administrator.
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Lauren Mescon, FAUSATarget Project 5 Fundraising Coordinator
Lauren moved to Amsterdam with her husband and dog “Buddy” in December 2014 and returned to Georgia in 2022. Lauren began her professional life as a prosecuting attorney, taking perpetrators of domestic violence and child abuse to trial. Her primary focus for most of her career was family law, with a specialty in Collaborative Divorce. Upon moving to Europe, she immediately joined AWC Amsterdam and attended her first FAWCO region 4 meeting in 2015. From there she was hooked and volunteered at the Human Trafficking Symposium in the Hague in 2016. She also joined the Human Rights team. She became the club’s FAWCO Rep in 2017. Sharing the FAWCO Foundation’s amazing work with her club inspired her to take on the role of VP Fundraising and she now looks forward to working as the Target Project 5 Fundraising Coordinator.
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Carol-Lyn McKelvey, FAUSASilent Auction Coordinator
Carol-Lyn caught FAWCO Fever while living in Cologne, Germany, from 2013 - 2017. An educator for over 30 years, she left her life as a middle school principal and pivoted to the expat life with the help of the AIWC Cologne and the amazing women therein. While in Cologne, she was co-chair of the AIWCC Social Committee with Janet Davis, assumed the role of FAWCO Education Team co-chair and became involved with the Foundation via the Silent Auction in Frankfort. Carol-Lyn, with husband Steve, repatriated to the US in 2017, rejoining their daughters, Laura (Chicago) and Kristen (Detroit). She has coordinated the Silent Auction since 2018, shepherding it through on-site, paper bidding to the current age of virtual auctions. Carol-Lyn, now a member of FAUSA, lives in metro Detroit, where she works as an educational consultant.
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Patti Meek, AWC DublinCounselor Liaison, Archives Team
A native Californian, Patti graduated from the University of California, Davis in 1977 with a BS in Environmental Design. She met her Irish husband in San Francisco and their two sons were born in Berkeley. In 1997, when the boys were small, they moved "back" to Dublin where they have settled happily. Patti is a member of AWC Dublin and has held a variety of positions on the Executive Board including co-chair of the 2012 FAWCO Conference Committee. She served as Secretary to the FAWCO Board from 2013-2015 and was then elected President of The FAWCO Foundation in 2015, serving for one term. After serving the following term as Parliamentarian for The Foundation, she had a brief retirement, active only as a Foundation Counselor and member of the Archive Team. Refreshed and revived, Patti is delighted to have been appointed as Parliamentarian to the FAWCO Board of 2021-23 and as The Foundation’s Archivist. 
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Margaret Hilditch, Munich IWCArchives Team
Born in N Ireland, Margaret grew up on a farm but her mind was set on teaching as a career. She graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, with a B.Ed. degree with Commendation specialising in Music and Mathematics, An additional piano teaching qualification from Trinity Music College, London, equipped Margaret to pursue her dream as she accompanied her soulmate, military pilot and test pilot on numerous tours in the UK, a year in Maryland, and a total of 16 years in Germany. Her desire to learn German became a reality. With the opportunities to give piano lessons privately, teach and tutor IB students in the Bavarian International School alongside participating in the Munich International Women's Club, Margaret has felt fulfilled and humbled to work with so many nationalities. A people person, Margaret has always been keen to meet new people, wherever home turned out to be. During her second move to Munich, she joined the Munich International Women's Club in 2003. As President of the club, 2006-2009, she was invited to attend the FAWCO Conference in Vilnius, in March 2009. FAWCO fever hit and she was smitten with the global impact of clubs working together. Munich became a member of FAWCO. In 2012, Margaret was invited to join The FAWCO Foundation as secretary to the Board. She served until 2015 and has been proactive ever since, helping to digitise the legal and historical records required for TFF archives. She has attended most FAWCO bi-annual conferences ever since. " Staying Connected with my FAWCO friends has been very important to me."

In Memoriam

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Maureen G. Beals, Secretary 2021-2022 AWC Madrid

We are deeply saddened that our FAWCO Foundation Secretary Maureen G. Beals passed away on November 22, 2021. Maureen was a wonderful and very upbeat addition to our board and we regret that our time together was so short. Our deepest sympathy to Maureen’s husband Gary and to the large circle of family and friends who loved her. Maureen was a great proponent of FAWCO and The FAWCO Foundation. Donations to The FAWCO Foundation's programs can be made in Maureen's honor.