News & Events
YFU USA Announces New Board Members
Posted on 04.28.2011
YFU USA Announces New Board Members
Youth For Understanding USA Chairman Ulrich Zahlten is pleased to announce the election of Ms. Donna Schnaars, Ms. Heather Reynolds, and Mr. Daryl Weinert to the YFU USA Board of Directors.
Donna Schnaars – elected for 2011 term at the December 2010 Board meeting.
Donna Schnaars of Virginia Beach, Virginia brings a wealth of experience to the Board having been active in the YFU community for twenty-five years. Schnaars, who has worked as an educator and media specialist in the Virginia Beach School District, joins the Board as a former host parent, Field Director, and current volunteer. In 1985, her family hosted their first international student and they have continued to host two exchange students almost every year since then. Building on her first positive hosting experience, she began volunteering as an Area Representative (AR) the following year, supporting local students and families. Schnaars served in this capacity for fourteen years. She then worked as the local Field Director in Virginia Beach from 2000 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2008. She currently serves as her community’s Area Coordinator (AC).
Heather Clark Reynolds and Daryl Weinert – elected for remaining 2011 term at the March 2011 Board meeting.
Heather Reynolds of Louisville, Kentucky owns a consulting company, Moneta Strategies, and works as a Business Advisor at Purdue University mentoring small business owners in operational efficiency, marketing, and strategic planning. She oversees training programs for other advisors throughout Indiana and works to develop alliances with strategic community partners. Prior to her position, Reynolds founded and ran a successful law practice for eight years, specializing in civil litigation. She has also focused on conflict of law issues (international private law). She has volunteered with YFU USA as an Area Representative (AR) helping to support students and families in the program and is active in her local Association of Women Business Owners and Relay for Life, an organization working to prevent cancer.
Daryl Weinert of Ann Arbor, Michigan currently oversees the University of Michigan’s Business Engagement Center as its Executive Director. Weinert pens a regular column for the Michigan Business Review and sits on the Board of the Regional Chamber of Commerce. His professional career has included working as the Director of Procurement Strategy at Aon Corporation as well as Vice President for Strategic Sourcing and Vice President for Commercial Banking at First Chicago NBD Corporation. Weinert’s background includes international experiences such as working for the US Department of Energy in Hungary and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, which he traces back to his first intercultural educational experience participating as a YFU American Overseas exchange student to Spain in 1980. He has supported YFU ever since.
YFU USA welcomes Schnaars, Reynolds, and Weinert as devoted advocates of global exchange and the greater YFU experience.
