Trustees:

Linda Yepoyan has twenty years of diverse project management experience, the last twelve within the non-profit sector. Since living in Armenia from 1989 to1992, she has maintained many homeland ties and relationships that take her back regularly. Her 1993 creation of the NGO Training and Resource Center in Armenia has aided Armenia’s development and improved the lives of many. Yepoyan is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She resides in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Sharistan Melkonian visited Armenia regularly before relocating to Yerevan to direct the Armenian Volunteer Corps. A Massachusetts native, she has lived in Los Angeles, where she graduated from Ferrahian High School; New York; and Boston. Melkonian has been actively involved with a number of Armenian-American organizations, including St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School in Boston, and the Armenian National Committee of America, where she held a variety of positions. Melkonian spent eight years as Legislative Director for YouthBuild USA. She has a B.A. in Communications from Worcester State College and a M.A. in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University.

Rouzan Baghdasaryan is the founder and director of Manana – Youth Educational-Cultural Center. Manana was founded in Yerevan in 1995 and educates over 80 school-aged children in areas of film, journalism, photography, and English. Ruzan graduated from the philological faculty of Yerevan State University. She is also the editor-in-chief of the youth almanac “Children’s Planet” (the online version can be viewed at www.mibanasem.com). Ruzanna has authored the children’s book, “The Dark”, available in over 14 languages on www.amazon.com. She is married and has three sons.

Araz Artinian was born in Canada and is an independent filmmaker. She completed a B.A. in Communication Studies at Concordia University. She specialized in filmmaking. In 1999, Artinian started working with Atom Egoyan as Head Researcher for his feature film Ararat which was premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. In 2003, with Lisa Djevahirdjian, she co-directed The Story of Arsinee Khanjian, a video biography of the Gemini Award winning Canadian actress. In April of 2005, Artinian launched the website www.twentyvoices.com, the story of 20 survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The website, which has had 50,000 hits so far, has been selected by Applied Arts, Canada ’s preeminent visual communications publication, for North America 's Best Design and Advertising in the category of Educational Projects. The Genocide in Me is Artinian's latest documentary. She wrote, filmed, and directed the film. She also co-produced it with Ian Quenneville and Nathalie Barton of InformAction Films. Araz currently resides in Yerevan and is highly involved in philanthropy work.

Oscar Tatosian

Father Hovnan Demerjian earned his B.A. from Boston College and M.A. in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. From 1996 to1998, he taught in the public schools of Armenia as a member of the U.S. Peace Corps, an experience that motivated him to establish the Armenian Volunteer Corps in 2000. Father Hovnan returned to the United States in 2003 and joined the staff of the Diocese of the Armenian Church, where he pioneered a program to connect Armenian college students with the church. He graduated from St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in 2007 with a certificate in Armenian Studies, and following his ordination as a priest in June, he was assigned to St. Hagop Armenian Church in Pinellas Park, Florida.

Special thanks to: Charlie Gazarian, Rob Torres at digital reaction, Kevork Marachelian at the Mirror Spectator, Jessica Ricci and Armand Andreassian