Meet the Board of Directors
Bill Felstiner | President
One-time Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Cardiff University, Bill has been Associate Dean of the Yale Law School, Assistant Director of the USAID Mission to India, and Director of the American Bar Foundation and the International Institute for the Sociology of Law. He taught law at UCLA and sociology at UCSB.
Bill has been on eleven missions to Chad.
Sara Christine Dallain | Vice-President
Sara has eleven years of experience with global non-profits: from program design and evaluation and grant management to fundraising and grantmaking. She has a BA in political science from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and an MPH in Public Health from UCLA. Sara worked for iACT from 2012-19 before becoming its Executive Director in 2023. In the interim she was the Executive Director of FRI. She has been to Chad on eighteen humanitarian missions.
Mary-Louise Scully | Medical Director
Mary-Louise Scully is the Director of the Travel and Tropical Medicine Center of the Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, California. She holds a Certificate of Knowledge in Tropical Medicine from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). She recently served seven years as the Chair of the Professional Education Committee of the International Society of Travel Medicine and a is also the former Education Editor of the Journal of Travel Medicine. Mary-Louise has made two trips to south Chad to review medical facilities in the UNHCR camps.
Rich Appelbaum | Secretary
Rich is Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor at UCSB, where he held the MacArthur Chair in Sociology and Global & International Studies. At UCSB he was Chair of the Sociology Department and Director of the Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chairs the Advisory Council of the
Workers’ Rights Consortium.
Vanessa Bechtel | Treasurer
Vanessa is a graduate of UCSB. For four years she was the Executive Director of the Foundation for Santa Barbara City College. In 2010 she was named Businesswoman of the Year by the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce. Vanessa is now the President and CEO of the
Ventura County Community Foundation.
Catherine Swysen |
Director Emerita
Catherine, a past President of FRI, is a Judge of the Superior Court in San Luis County, California after a career as a trial and appellate lawyer specializing in criminal defense work. She has been recognized by the state legislature of California and civil liberties groups for her efforts in defense of civil rights. She is a past President of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association.
Casilda Gil de Santavanes Finat | Director Emerita
Casilda earned a graduate degree in globalization and multinational corporations from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a degree in biological anthropology from the University of Bournemouth. She spent thirteen months in south Chad as a representative of FRI. In 2016 she was appointed Associate Program Officer, UNHCR, Luanda, Angola and since has worked with UNHCR in Malawi, Algeria and Central America. Casilda is currently a
UNHCR Program Officer in Baghdad, Iraq.