Renée serves as a Senior Program Officer at the Meridian Center for Global Leadership, connecting current and emerging leaders from around the world to their counterparts in the United States through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). In addition, as Co-Facilitator of the Staff Exchange Program, she organizes week-long exchanges with our Community Based Member (CBM) partners focusing on organizational management and programming best practices. Previously, Renée served for five years as the Program Director for the World Affairs Council of Rhode Island CBM. Concurrent with that duty, she also founded and directed Global Rhode Island, a non-profit which promotes international education programs for high school educators and students. She moved to Washington, DC in 2007, where she worked with USAID contractors, EnCompass and Creative Associates International, on proposal development. Originally from northern California, Renée has an undergraduate degree in French from Santa Clara University and an M.A. in Translation, French from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.