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Staff
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
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
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, serves on the editorial board of
the Journal of Fair Trade Studies, and chairs
the Millennium Development Goals Task Force for
the UN Association of the National Capital
Area. Born and raised outside of
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.
Saratu AbiolaAssociate
Saratu Abiola was raised in Lagos, Nigeria, but attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While there, she earned a degree in International Studies: Politics and Social Movements and minor in Creative Writing. As a student, she has worked in Ghana on microfinance projects, founded a magazine on African politics and culture, and studied French and Portuguese. In the future she hopes to work in foreign affairs and diplomacy.
Zsofia Decker
Associate
Zsofia Decker was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. She is a senior student majoring International Relations at the Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, focusing on Regional Development. Her minor is Ethnic and Minority Studies. She has studied at UC San Diego for two quarters, majoring Political Science, focusing on xenophobia and poverty in South Africa.
As a student associate, she has been responsible for building and maintaining the foreign relations and scholarship opportunities of her department for two years. Zsofia has also participated in projects of the Pillar Foundation promoting European values, aims and achievements within the Union. She is planning to work in cultural diplomacy or foreign affairs. Zsofia's work at the Federation is sponsored by the Rosztoczy Foundation.
