Our People

Board Of Directors

Christie Doherty – Chair

Christie Doherty is the President of Trinity Partners, LLC a business performance consulting firm that specializes in leadership and organizational development, business process and workforce transformation. Trinity Partners has a unique niche in the area of corporate culture and inclusion strategies for progressive organizations focused on state of the art talent management. As a former telecom and cable executive, she has extensive experience successfully leading large, complex, diverse organizations through organizational change and transformation.

She is past President of the Women’sVision Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on the development and advancement of corporate women. During her leadership tenure, The Women’sVision Foundation grew to more than 62 corporate members and 3,600 individual members. Women’s Vision provides a wide array of leadership and professional development programs, events and networking resources to its members.

Former Vice President, Wholesale Service Delivery at Qwest, Christie had responsibility for Customer Service Operations for Wholesale customers, managing over 1,700 employees with revenue responsibility for $3.2 billion. She held a number of positions in the telecom and cable industries, including assignments in Strategic Planning, Customer Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Organization Effectiveness. For three years she was Vice-President, Marketing and Sales for Time Warner Cable, with responsibility for the development of the company’s integrated cable/telecom business.

Christie is a member of the International Women’s Forum and the WiseWomen Council. Extremely active and committed to giving back to her community, she is Board Chair for INROADS—Rocky Mountain Region and is a National INROADS Board Director; Board Chair for the FGS; Board Chair for DenUM, a Denver human services outreach non-profit, and Chair of the Women’s Collaborative for Colorado. Christie is an active mentor and informal coach to women across the spectrum of corporate, small business and non-profits sectors.

A graduate of Regis University with a degree in business, Christie also is a past member of the Regis University Executive Advisory Council and is an advisor for Women in the Boardroom. She is the recipient of the US West Chairman’s Award for Leadership, the Women’s Leader of Excellence Award, and the Woman of Vision Award.

Darren W. Royal – Vice Chair

Darren W. Royal, President and owner of Royal Wealth Management, has been helping clients pursue their financial goals for over 18 years. He began his career in financial services as an investment banker and has held financial advisor positions with major broker/dealers. In order to better serve his clients, Darren founded his independent firm, Royal Wealth Management in 2002.

Darren earned 3 degrees from Indiana University in management, international business and marketing. He also studied international finance at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. He currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 31, 63 and 65 registrations through LPL Financial as well as life, accident & health, and variable contract insurance licenses.

Darren served on the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for 6 years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Leadership Foundation and FGS. Darren is also a volunteer for Junior Achievement. He and his wife Jennifer have lived in Castle Pines for over 10 years. They have two children, Alexandra and Ava. In addition to Darren’s philanthropic endeavors, Darren enjoys the outdoors with his family and is an avid fly fisherman.

Cynthia Banks – President

Cynthia Banks is President of the Foundation for Global Scholars a non-profit organization supporting study abroad scholarships and recently helped launch a new educational mobile company called Unleesh. Her consulting practice, New World Vistas, designs business and leadership strategies. From 1990-2014, Banks was the founder and CEO of GlobaLinks Learning Abroad an education abroad organization which helped more than 30,000 students study or intern abroad. She earned an M.S. in organizational development from the University of Colorado. Banks is a member of NAFSA’s Board of Directors, a member of the International Women’s Forum, a board member for the Colorado State University Institute of Entrepreneurship and was honored in 2013 as a top three Minority/Women Owned Businesses by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Lawrence Bell – Secretary

For the past 18 years, Larry has been the chief international officer on the campus where he has worked. Each of the three campuses where he has served in this capacity has been somewhat differently organized but all three offices have been responsible for both the inbound and outbound students and faculty.

Originally trained as an ESL teacher, Larry is a graduate of Southern Illinois University (SIU) where he taught for two years. He also taught in and directed the intensive English program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for 12 years before moving into international education administration on that campus. All told, the higher education international experience combines for a total of 32 years.

Larry has served NAFSA: Association of International Education in a number of positions including regional chair, national office, conference organizational positions. Larry was Chair of Region V in 1993-4. Prior to that he held a variety of state and regional positions on the Region V NAFSA teams. He recently served as NAFSA’s Vice President for Policy and Practice (2005 – 07). He served as Chair of the Consular Affairs Working Group from 2001 to 2004. He has been conference and local arrangements chair for TESOL Regional and NAFSA Regional conferences and was Local Arrangements Co-Chair for NAFSA ’99 the annual conference of 6,000 plus held in Denver.

Larry developed his interest in international activities while serving as a draftee in the military in Viet Nam. After leaving the army, he studied Vietnamese language and linguistics (his BA is in Vietnamese language from SIU, MA in linguistics) and that started him on his international journey.

Keith Smith – Treasurer

Keith has served as a commercial banker for Colorado Business Bank since 2008. From 2001 to 2008, Mr. Smith worked in both retail and commercial banking roles at First National Bank of Omaha (Denver office). Prior to banking, Keith served in the United States Air Force as an intelligence analyst. He holds a B.A. degree in Finance and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado.

Shelia Houston – Director

Shelia Houston has actively been involved in the field of International Education for over twenty years. Passionate about travel as an important part of an individual’s learning journey, Shelia was a business partner, in a study abroad company AustraLearn, later to become GlobaLinks Learning Abroad as its global reach expanded from North America and the Pacific countries into Asia and Europe. Shelia was the Director of GlobaLinks Learning Abroad’s operations in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. She worked for GlobaLinks for more than 18 years and had served as the Acting Executive Director in the US office. Shelia was a founding member of the Foundation for Global Scholars.

Prior to her involvement with AustraLearn, Shelia was on the management team of a Fortune 500 company in the US and later was founder and CEO of the CQUniversity Travel Centre in Australia. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Shelia was born in the US and following her university study she travelled the world extensively and immigrated to Australia where she resides with her husband. She has a broad background in international business in both public and private sectors. She was a founding member of the Australian Internship Industry Association (AIIA). As President of AIIA, Shelia liaised with Government Ministers and Departments on issues related to process standards for visas and fair workplace expectations for interns. In 2012, Shelia was a finalist in the Management Excellence Award, Professional Manager of the Year category of AIM (Australian Institute of Managers). She now acts in the role of Award judge for AIM.

In 2014, after facilitating a merger between GlobaLinks and ISA, Shelia stepped down from her position with the company to allow more time for travelling, at the same time balancing this with her commitment on the Board of three Australian companies.

Cindy Humphrey – Director

Cindy Humphrey, a seasoned executive leader with experience in marketing, sales, engineering and operations has held vice president positions with Cochlear Americas and CenturyLink/Qwest. Her latest position was vice president of Marketing at Cochlear, responsible for all marketing and product capabilities. During her tenure there, Cochlear introduced several new products and tripled leads through the direct to consumer division. In her previous position at CenturyLink, she handled a broad scope of responsibility in reaching all segments of the business market, including medium to large size businesses, government and education accounts. She managed a team of marketing and product professionals working to equip the company with the types of tools that drove growth in the business market.

Before these two roles in strategic marketing, Cindy was a regional vice president for Qwest, responsible for sales to wireless carriers. Her group, serving accounts from the smallest wireless customers to the very largest, achieved increased sales levels in a declining marketing over multiple years.

Cindy began her career as a network manager and over time, became an expert in product management with roles in a variety of product areas from mature products to product development. Additionally, she holds a patent for work completed in a product development position.

Cindy is a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing from the University of Denver. She was awarded the B-to-B Marketer of the Year award from the Direct Marketing Association in 2011 and many of the campaigns and projects her team worked on have received accolades.

She and her husband Craig reside in Arvada and are the parents of two children.

Kenya Haupt – Director

Kenya Haupt is the National People Director in Corporate Responsibility (CR) for PwC. Her responsibilities entail engaging U.S. employees in various corporate social responsibility initiatives such as volunteerism, serving on Boards of Directors, participating on green teams and other socially and environmentally responsible practices. She has been with the Firm for nearly 28 years in a variety of roles, including leading the Human Capital function for the Denver and Salt Lake City offices, and leading the campus recruiting efforts for the West Region.

Kenya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and Management and is currently a member of the Society of Human Resource Management and the Colorado Human Resource Association.

Steve Markey – Director

Steve Markey is Vice President of Sales at Green Toys, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of eco-friendly toys, all of which are manufactured in the USA.

Born in Manchester, England, Steve graduated from Leeds University with a degree in French and Spanish, a course which included two study abroad spells in France and Spain.

After two years teaching English in Madrid, Spain, and Castres in southwestern France, Steve entered the toy industry, eventually running the Europe, Middle East and Africa division of Ertl, a leading US toy manufacturer.

Since then, Steve has held a number of senior sales roles within various toy companies including OddzOn, Hasbro, Wham-O, Prime Time, Sprig and Green Toys.

In his current role at Green Toys, where he took on the position of VP of Sales when the company was still in its infancy, Steve has helped the company expand distribution into over 5,000 US retail outlets, and, his biggest source of pride, the company’s US manufactured toys are now sold in over 85 international markets.

Ian Kynor – Director

Ian Kynor is the Director of B-to-B Sales and Support for STA Travel, the world’s largest student travel provider. In this role, Ian oversees the account management, logistics, sales, and support for all of STA Travel’s U.S. academic and study abroad accounts: including custom groups, faculty-led programs, individual study abroad programs, and corporate travel. During the past 12 years of working in student and youth travel, Ian has trained travel experts, managed STA Travel’s surface and land product portfolio, implemented significant enhancements to ISIC, the International Student Identity Card, and developed strategic initiatives and partnerships focused on the expansion of international travel for students and young people.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ian’s life changed when he participated in a BUNAC student work exchange program while studying Business in college. Through this program, he found himself in London, working for the first time in the student travel industry. Experiencing the transformative effects of travel first-hand ignited a passion in Ian that would become his current drive to provide the life-changing opportunity of travel to young people.

Ian has traveled throughout the world and is proud to take his wife and two young boys on international trips, knowing that by doing so he is helping his sons become better global citizens. As an Eagle Scout, Ian volunteers his time with the Boy Scouts of America and other youth organizations, further helping shape the next generation and tomorrow’s leaders. Ian and his family have lived in many places in the U.S.; they now call Phoenix, Arizona home.

Meg VanderLaan – Director

Meg VanderLaan is Chief Communications Officer of MWH Global, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. She is charged with strengthening the MWH brand by increasing the awareness of the MWH organization globally, while improving employee and customer loyalty. Meg has a passion for taking the complex subjects that often accompany MWH projects and effectively communicating those topics in a way that is relatable, accessible and easily understood for people in communities around the world.

Prior to joining MWH in 2009, Meg spent 13 years with Gates Corporation, a world leader in industrial and automotive solutions, ultimately serving as the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. In 2006 she became a member of the Board of Directors for Gates Winhere, a joint venture based in Yantai, China. She also worked in marketing for a dot-com start-up and managed marketing programs in the health insurance industry.

Outside of the office, Meg is active in several organizations, including serving on the Management Group of the Downtown Denver Partnership, Denver Civic Ventures Board of Directors for the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Events Board of Directors. Since 2012, she has served on the Board of Trustees for Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. In her spare time, Ms. VanderLaan enjoys skiing, mountain biking and travelling.

Meg has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts with a proficiency certificate in German from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. She currently lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her husband John.

Mary Cook – Director

Mary Cook is a passionate international educator and experienced professional in higher education. For the past 18 years, Mary worked at Regis University. Over the last 12 years, Mary developed, administered, and managed the study abroad program. Under her direction, the number of students studying abroad grew exponentially and a culture of study abroad formed on the campus. Special attention was devoted to encourage and assist first-generation and underrepresented students to go abroad. As a one-person office, Mary handled a broad scope of responsibility including advising, marketing, training, budgeting, and administration. She facilitated program expansion and developed numerous new partnerships with institutions and organizations around the world. Mary also acted as the international student advisor for incoming exchange students.

Mary’s interest in international education developed when her daughter studied abroad as a Rotary Ambassador student. Her daughter departed for a year-long exchange in Caracas, Venezuela, as a naïve high school student and returned a mature, globally aware, confident, independent, young woman who spoke fluent Spanish. This experience convinced Mary of the powerful transformative effect of international education and exchange, and inspired her to enter into the field of international education in an effort to assist others to achieve their dream of studying abroad.

Mary earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Masters in Art in Intercultural Communication from Regis University and was inducted as a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society. She completed a Certificate in International Education through the NAFSA Academy. Mary is an active member of NAFSA: Association of International Education and the Forum on Education Abroad. Mary has facilitated workshops and training sessions on a variety of topics regarding international education and intercultural communication. While she never had the opportunity to study abroad herself, Mary has had the opportunity to travel to more than 30 countries.

A Colorado native, Mary, and her husband Paul, reside in Broomfield. She enjoys travel, spending time outdoors, attending concerts and the theater, and spending time with family and friends. Her blended family includes four children and five grandchildren.

Antonio Papuzza – Director

Antonio Papuzza is an international business (IB) and negotiation specialist (OB), with an additional consulting background in organizational culture and coaching. He is currently an Instructor in the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder where he teaches courses in the fields of International Business and Organizational Behavior for undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs. Additionally, he designs, teaches, and directs, for Leeds, academic programs in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Luxemburg), Southern Europe (Italy), and Asia (Indonesia). Antonio is the faculty director of the Leeds program “Go Global Boot Camp” for CU students who want to work internationally.

Antonio also works as an international business consultant, cultural business mediator, and coach (cross-cultural training, intercultural business communication, and coaching) for multinational companies, world organizations, and international institutions. He has an additional background in analysis of organizational culture and change management. Some of the clients who have recently worked with Antonio are: Pearson Prentice Hall, Lemco MICS (Harley Davidson partner), and Ericsson America.

Antonio was born in a small town between Verona and Venice, raised in Sicily for most of his childhood, and completed his school and academic path in Europe (Italy, UK, and Spain) and the US. He has lived, worked, conducted business, and done research in several countries in Europe, in the Southern Mediterranean region, and in North America for national and international organizations (private companies, nonprofit organizations, public institutions, and schools.) Prior to Leeds, Antonio was a Business Instructor in Business Anthropology with CU Continuing Education, area Professional Development, for a group of senior entrepreneurs and business professionals in Colorado.

Prior to CU, Antonio worked in a number of international business consulting, cultural mediation, and language services projects between Europe and the USA (CEO International, Rosetta Stone, Artsana group, WHO, WWF, International House World Organization, Rosebud Sioux Lakota Sicangu Nation, and City of Palermo/Italian Government.) Other lives include being an entrepreneur in the field of food and wine distribution, a business coach, and teaching Italian language and culture in Europe and in the US. He has a PhD from the University of Florence, Italy, in Anthropological Sciences (Business and Economic Anthropology).

Our Staff

Nancy Kepner – Executive Director

Nancy Kepner is the Executive Director of FGS. Prior to joining FGS, she was a director at Firefly Autism in Denver, overseeing its operational growth from a small start-up organization to the largest learning center for children with autism in the Rocky Mountain region. Her experience living and working in Japan and Russia for several years and study at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico sparked a wholehearted appreciation for the transformative power of international experiences. A Texas native, Nancy earned a BA from Baylor University, an MA from the University of Texas, and an MEd from Western Washington University.

Direct Phone: 303.719.3145
Email: nkepner@fgscholars.org

Jodi Reesman – Scholarship Director

Jodi Reesman joined FGS after nearly eight years with the GlobaLinks Learning Abroad admissions team, as a study abroad coordinator followed by manager of degree programs.

Jodi first traveled overseas as an exchange student to Germany while still in high school. Although a relatively short experience, it changed the path of her future. While earning her bachelor degree at the University of Evansville, she studied abroad at the University of South Australia.

Later Jodi returned to Australia to backpack the continent and volunteered in Guatemala. Her personal travels have also taken her to New Zealand, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, and throughout Western Europe, including Iceland.

Many years ago Jodi aspired to be a travel writer. Now she simply journals her travel experiences and enjoys the art of armchair travel. Apart from reading travel books, Jodi enjoys afternoon runs, baseball at Coors Field, summer concerts at Red Rocks, and hiking and snowshoeing Colorado’s mountains.

Jodi is enrolled in a Master of Corporate and Organizational Communication at Northeastern University.

Direct Phone: 303.502.7256
Email: jereesman@fgscholars.org

Allison Grenney – Product Innovation Director

Allison Grenney is thrilled to be joining the Foundation for Global Scholars as the Product Innovation Director. Previously Allison founded a socially conscious business, EduKate, and consulted with several start-up businesses on strategic development. At the University of Denver she earned a degree in Environmental Science with minors in International Studies and Geography. Her hunger for knowledge and desire to grow pushes Allison to take every opportunity to travel and see the world. Her love for the outdoors and living in an active culture always brings her back to her home state of Colorado.

Direct Line: 303.601.5314
Email: agrenney@fgscholars.org

Molly Dupuis – Marketing Manager

Molly Dupuis is thrilled and honored to join FGS as Marketing Manager. She began her international endeavors in 2011 at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and has had an insatiable desire for expanding global horizons ever since.

Previously an International Program Specialist at GlobaLinks Learning Abroad, Molly believes strongly in an international experience’s power to catalyze global changemaking in young adults.

Molly is a Midwesterner to the core, but is constantly seeking opportunities to see the world, recently crossing off her fifth continent from her traveling bucket list. With degrees in Public Relations and Graphic Design, she is excited to work with FGS to transform young adults into global changemakers.

Direct Phone: 651.341.0212
Email: mdupuis@fgscholars.org

Our Business Advisory Group

Scott Ford

Scott joined ZOLL in 2006 and leads the service and delivery teams for all RescueNet and CodeData software products. Scott’s teams are responsible for project management, client relations, implementation, professional services, technical support and corporate IT. Prior to joining ZOLL, Scott held several management positions in technologies companies, including Avolent, where he served as Director of Technical Services, and Spectra Logic, where he held a number of positions. In his role as the General Manager of Spectra Logic Japan, Scott was based in Tokyo and responsible for operations throughout Asia and Australia. Scott earned a bachelor degree in English from California State University, Long Beach and an MBA from the University of Colorado. Scott enjoys spending time with his wife and sons skiing, snowboarding and traveling.

Owen Jones

Owen was born in England. He completed a 7 year engineering apprenticeship with Rolls Royce in England emerging with a degree in manufacturing engineering

He joined Parker Pen UK as a production engineer and after a few years he was managing the engineering group with postgraduate degrees in Business and Management.

In ’83 he was moved to Wisconsin with his family for a one-year temporary assignment to help revive the main Parker plant. The assignment became permanent as he was asked to run the plant. Later he assumed the responsibility for North American Operations. He became American Citizen in 1989.

He was part of the management buyout of Parker which ended after 7 years with the sale of the company to Gillette in the mid 90s.

A year after the sale, he and two other directors jumped ship and bought Sheaffer Pen, a struggling competitor based in Iowa. He took the position of CEO, the first challenge being to reverse the bankruptcy filing and to deal with a UAW strike.

After a four year turnaround replacing an ancient product range and developing global distribution, BIC made an offer that couldn’t be refused. The sale heralded the end of the last independent American writing instrument manufacturer.

Owen then moved on to ownership of an Ohio 1st tier supplier for Kenworth and Peterbuilt class 8 trucks. A huge transition from writing instruments – and with all the challenges of serving a ‘classic’ automotive customer.

After 2 years he sold his interest in the company and finally came to his senses and moved to Colorado – to start up TurningPoint, an executive retreat on 14 acres above Estes Park. It opened a month before 911.

Executive clients wanted help with new careers and that led to partnering with Colorado Careers. In 2004 Owen bought the assets and decided to revive and rebuild the company with its unique approach to careers and its Colorado market niche.

The TurningPoint retreat was sold in 2005 and by then Owen and his wife Jeanie were operating Colorado Careers with a book of 50 clients and offices across the Front Range.

Owen has always had a taste for adventure, both in his career and his private life. In England he was a long distance Kayak racer and an avid dingy racer both giving way to ocean sailing windsurfers. He started mountain biking and salmon fishing in Wisconsin moving on to Marathoning in Colorado and Utah. He took up Off Road Expeditioning in 2005 after just one backcountry trip in a Rover Defender. He now also guides leadership training expeditions with his subsidiary, High Trail Expeditions.