Our Board

Eben Carey grew up in Chico, in Northern California, as the middle of three brothers. He studied Spanish and Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada before joining Peace Corps, where he served as a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Volunteer in coastal Peru from 2011-2013. Since returning to the US, he has pursued his passion for combating climate change, working in a number of roles with a California-based solar energy provider before joining Tesla, where he works as a Senior Project Manager in Global Learning & Development. He enjoys camping, hiking, mountain biking and lives with his partner Sonnet, a fellow RPCV, in Virginia Highlands.

Saba Alemayehu is a relevantly new RPCV, returned in April 18’, and a new native to Atlanta. Although originally from Pennsylvania, she is accustomed to living in the South as a she received her undergraduate degree, in Biology, from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Shortly after, she transitioned back up to her Yankee roots and taught middle school and high school science. Feeling the need for a colder winter, she moved to Ithaca, NY to pursue her graduate degree at Cornell University. At the end of the her Fall 15’ semester, Saba left gorgeous Ithaca to become a Resilient Environment, Agriculture and Livelihood (REAL) Peace Corps volunteer in Amhara, Ethiopia.

During her Peace Corps service, she conducted assessments of the current gardening practices and techniques and created action plans to improve current gardening practices of the female farmer. Although officially assigned as a R.E.A.L volunteer, Saba has a passion for Gender Equality, as she held the National Coordinator position on the Gender and Development committee for 1.5 years and facilitated several gendered focused secondary projects. Including a collaboration with Wollo University's Gender Department, which she developed and facilitated a Life Skills workshop to first-year female students, with the objective to impart students with healthy decision-making skills to retain female freshmen. In her community, she also improved the condition of Menstrual Hygiene Management in the school system and at the district level through training and policy changes and also built new female latrines and dignity rooms at her local high school.

After her Peace Corps service, Saba returned to Cornell and graduated with her Masters in International Development, with a focus on Gender and Youth Empowerment. In September, Saba and her fiancé, another Ethiopia RPCV, moved to Atlanta. She is currently serving as a Youth Development Program Coordinator with GUIDE Inc. and oversees and coordinates youth development initiatives, strategic planning, management, and maintenance of ASYD Quality Standards and deliverables.

Tricia Akers served as an Environmental Health Volunteer in Panama from 2011-2013. She worked on water and sanitation projects, as well as youth camps and health seminars. Tricia holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida. As a Master's International student, she finished her thesis based on composting latrine research conducted during her service. In 2014, she moved to Atlanta, where she lives with her husband, Brad (RPCV Madagascar), and their newest addition, James. Continuing to work in water and sanitation, she is an environmental engineer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has served on the board for two years and is excited for where AARPCV is headed in 2018.

Andrew Mills served as an Education Volunteer in Tanzania between 2015 and 2017. At his secondary school he taught math and physics and led after school health programs. He holds a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. In September 2018 he moved from his hometown of St. Louis to start work in Atlanta at the Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental engineer in the Air Enforcement division. He is looking forward to connecting with and serving the Atlanta RPCV community.

A Georgia native, Teni-Ola Ogunjobi is influential in areas of community engagement, volunteer management, intercultural education, grassroots development, business management and communications/journalism. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/English from Howard University and a Master of Arts degree in Intercultural Relations from the University of the Pacific. As a part of her master's program, she lived and worked as a Community Economic Development Agent in West Africa (Mali & Senegal) with the Peace Corps. Most recently, she has served the refugee and immigrant community as an AmeriCorps member and volunteer coordinator at a refugee resettlement agency and she currently heads all aspects of community engagement at a school for refugee girls. Teni-Ola is committed to serving diverse communities in international and domestic settings and seeks difference in her personal and professional contexts. She values service and is passionate about inspiring the youth and adults to maximize their potential.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa Mary Novotny lead teams which developed the first national curriculum in environmental conservation for the Ministry of Education and created an exhibition on the environment for the Gambia National Museum. She is passionate about local foods and food security and worked previously as the director of the Heckscher Farm for Children at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in Stamford, Connecticut and the Heritage Farm Museum in Metro Washington D.C. Mary currently is the NPCA Advocacy Coordinator for Georgia and volunteer coordinator for the American Alliance of Museums 2015 Annual Conference in Atlanta.

Bob Gerzoff served as math and science teacher in an isolated mountain village in Nepal from 1976-1979. Bob recently retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is now a part-time independent consultant. . Bob is responsible for maintaining our emails, membership DB, and generally keeping us in line.

Bueeeeeeenas! Originally from East Tennessee, Abby Brenller studied Marketing & International Business at Saint Vincent College in Pittsburgh, PA, before moving to Bocas del Toro, Panamá to become an agribusiness volunteer specializing in cacao. She extended her service for a 3rd year to serve as Regional Leader of the Darién province and while there met her now-husband, Austin Brenller, who is also a Panamá RPCV! They moved to Atlanta specifically for Abby's current job, Marketing & Sales Coordinator for Xocolatl Small Batch Chocolate. Abby's boss is also an RPCV, and she loves being able to continue my work with cacao and ethical food sourcing here in America.

A native Georgian, Amber Davis is the AARPCV Adviser. As a Family Hillside Farming Volunteer in Honduras from 2002-2004, Amber primarily worked with women's groups to improve nutrition through crop diversification. She currently serves as Chief of the Communities Support Section for the Environmental Protection Agency. Amber has a Master and Bachelor degrees in agriculture from the University of Georgia and has previously served in the AARPCV president and vice president roles.

Erica Heiman (Mozambique '04-'06) is a recent transplant to Atlanta. She grew up in New York City, and spent most of her adult life in Northern California. After returning from Mozambique, she went to medical school. She now works as a doctor and medical educator on the Emory faculty, based at Grady Hospital. She lives with her husband Steve and cat Banshee. She enjoys running, yoga, sewing, and crafting.

Bonnie Harvey was raised in rural West Virginia. She obtained a BA in International Relations- focused in Africa/African American Studies and minoring in Geography from Elon University (09’). She served in Peace Corps Malawi (09’-11’) as a Community Health Advisor in Nkhata Bay, and an additional year as an AmeriCorps Volunteer teaching inner-city Philadelphia high school 'push-outs' (11’-12’). After three years of service, she achieved a MS in Applied Anthropology from Portland State University (15’) - exploring placed-based service learning and stewardship along the Appalachian Trail. In 2016 she returned to her Peace Corps village (Usisya) to support a local NGO with program evaluation. In August of 2017 she accepted a position at the CDC in their Global Immunization Division as a monitoring and evaluation Fellow.