Staff

Carmen K. Iezzi

Executive Director

 

Carmen K. Iezzi has served as the Executive Director of the Fair Trade Federation since October 2006. Among her responsibilities, Carmen manages the strategic, administrative, and programmatic aspects of Federation.

 

Previously, she oversaw the education and outreach programs for the Atlantic Council of the United States and directed the alumni relations program for the School of International Service (SIS) at American University (AU). While at the Atlantic Council, she acted as primary point of contact for the 2004 Pan-Atlantic Student Summit, held in conjunction with the NATO summit in Istanbul, and represented the Council before prime ministers, presidents, government officials, non-governmental organization representatives, educators, students, and many others. During her time at AU, she managed events on five continents and participated in the launch of the largest fundraising campaign in the University's history.

 

Graduating Phi Beta Kappa from SIS, Carmen stayed to complete her master's degree in International Politics with a focus on the impact of regional integration on good governance. In the course of her studies, Carmen provided analyses for NATO's Partnership for Peace in Mons, Belgium and worked in the United Nations Development Program Washington Office.

 

Presently, she writes and conducts research on a freelance basis, acts as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Ten Thousand Villages of Alexandria, is a director for the Abyssinian Fund, and chairs the Millennium Development Goals Task Force for the UN Association of the National Capital Area, and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Fair Trade Studies. Born and raised outside of Pittsburgh, PA, Carmen has lived and studied in Brussels, Belgium, Havana, Cuba, and Washington DC. She received the 2008 Rising Star Alumni Award from American University.

Mary Rose Parrish
Membership Coordinator

Mary Rose Parrish has served as the Membership Coordinator of the Fair Trade Federation since January 2009. Her duties include processing applicants for membership in the Federation, liaising with applicants and members, overseeing events and outreach efforts, and supporting the fulfillment of the FTF Strategic Plan.  

Mary recently returned from Nicaragua, where she was a Rural Agriculture Development and Food Security Extension Agent for Peace Corps.  There, she worked with sustainable development, food security, promoting Agroecology techniques, integrated patio management, crop diversification, community garden development, market organization, and resource development.  It was in Nicaragua when Mary first saw the positive effects of Fair Trade, in particular with coffee cooperatives.    

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Mary double majored in International Political Economy and Latin American Studies with a concentration in Latin American Agricultural Economics.  Fluent in Spanish, she spent a semester as a Foreign Investment Intern for the Secretary of Economic Development in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.  

Raised in Raleigh, NC, Mary has lived and studied in Switzerland, Mexico, California, Nicaragua, and Washington, D.C.  Mary has worked in the Community Affairs Department at the Consulate of Mexico in North Carolina, as a Researcher for the UC Berkeley Department of Economics and FAO looking at International Poultry Trade affected by Avian Flu, as a Development Consultant for the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco, and as a Legislative Intern in U.S. Representative David Price's Washington, D.C. Office.  She also spent four years as the Campaigns and Parents Fund Assistant at Annual Programs, UREL, UC Berkeley.

Rachel Bradburd
Conference Coordinator

Rachel joined the Fair Trade Federation in January 2010 as the Fair Trade Futures Conference Coordinator.  Rachel’s responsibilities include recruiting for the September conference in Boston, coordinating logistics for the event, and promoting the conference.

Rachel graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in American Studies and Sociology and a minor in Spanish. She recently worked as the Fair Trade Intern at Green America and has coordinated a number of events for community groups, at her university, and with a local middle school. She studied abroad for a semester in Chile, traveled to Honduras with Habitat for Humanity, and spent a summer studying anthropology in Tanzania, where she was first introduced to Fair Trade coffee and saw the positive effects Fair Trade can have on communities worldwide.

Sarah Ferst
Program Associate

Sarah Ferst is a senior at the George Washington University in Washington DC.  She is an International Affairs major with concentrations in International Development and Latin American Studies.  She recently lived in Costa Rica for six weeks where she studied at the International Center for Development Studies immediately followed by living and studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina for five months.  Through these experiences, Sarah gained fluency in Spanish and hopes to use her Spanish in the future.  Sarah is the president of Buzzing for Change at GW, a chapter of a national foundation which raises money for children with Cancer.  After graduation, Sarah hopes to volunteer in Latin America for a year before attending graduate school.

Samantha Doyle
Program Associate

Samantha Doyle is an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Political Economics with an emphasis in globalization and development and a minor in African American Studies. Her academic background includes work with the McNair Scholars program, which is a competitive research fellowship that prepares students for graduate level research,   and several academic and social retention programs at her University. Her interest in policy planning to bolster the development of sub-saharan economic markets, and hopes to enter a career in international economic policy one day after she receives her MBA and MPA degrees.

Jason Chan
Program Associate, Small Business Development

Jason Chan is attending the University of California Riverside and is pursuing a major in Economics and a minor in Asian Studies with an emphasis in the Chinese Mandarin language. Prior to his interest in Economics, he entered college on the path of pre-med to obtain a career that would have positive impact on society. However, he later realized that his true passion is in business planning, and thereafter also became involved in developing the Tae Kwon Do Club at the UC Riverside. After graduating from UC Riverside, he will return home to work at his family business; a food service wholesaler which engages in local food distribution and imports. After further developing the business, he plans to work abroad before returning to school to pursue an international MBA. Beyond that, his plans are to become more involved in the global business community and to continue his involvement in global development.

Shubhra Kumar
Program Associate, Marketing

Shubhra Kumar is an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Economics with a minor in Public Policy.  She is interested in business, law, marketing, and community development. Her academic background includes work in applied economics, statistics/econometrics, and inequality studies. Previously, she worked at the Student Legal Clinic and the Undergraduate Marketing Association at Berkeley, as well as the Credit Union for Berkeley Students. There she helped in advertising and cultivating sponsorships for the credit union for the benefit of Cal students. In the past she has worked in the development of marketing strategies, creation of marketing materials, and campaign execution.