Staff Profiles
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Andrew Motiwalla
Jessica Rose Miller
Andrew serves as the Executive Director of GLA. He has extensive experience operating international educational programs around the world. He served as Senior Vice President for the non-profit international volunteer program Cross-Cultural Solutions, where he helped build programs from scratch into a network of 14 countries and 2,500 volunteers. Andrew is a graduate of Lawrence University and has done graduate studies in nonprofit management at New School University in New York City. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese. In addition to international education, he enjoys studying languages, anthropology and technology, and loves spending time with his two daughters at their home in San Diego.
Jessica is our Director of Admissions & Programs; she oversees the entire enrollment, pre-departure coordination process and program staff. Jessica has a passion for international education and social entrepreneurship that stems from experiences living and working abroad. Jessica is a graduate of Oregon State University, where she studied History, Anthropology and Spanish. After graduating, she worked as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Cantabria in northern Spain. She has directed GLA programs in Brazil, Ghana, Tanzania, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, China, Peru and South Africa.
Mike Shangkuan
Vince Bayard
Mike is the Managing Director of GLA. Although he was born and raised in New Jersey, he is the son of parents who emigrated from Taiwan. His passion for travel and immersing himself in other cultures began in high school when he took his first trip outside of the States to France. It was a life-changing experience. Since then he has lived in eight countries across Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Mike is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish and likes to travel, lift weights, and sing in his free time. He has a BA in Economics from Yale and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
Vince is the Sr. Admissions Coordinator for GLA. He received a degree in Cultural Anthropology from San Francisco State University. Vince was on the administrative teams for both the San Diego Natural History Museum as well as the San Francisco Fine Art Museums. Vince has lived and worked in France where he organized educational programs for nonFrench citizens. He has organized these group tours in Spain, England, Italy, Canada, and Argentina as well as in the United States. He has a great passion for easing the travel process for students and families.
Bridget McFaul
Carly Tucker
Bridget is an Enrollment Advisor for GLA and has led programs in Brazil, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ghana, and Tanzania. She enjoys helping students find international experiences which will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Bridget has a deep passion for international relations, community service, and working with youth.
Carly is an Enrollment Advisor and Program Director for GLA. Carly has been to Australia, New Zealand, and numerous countries throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America. Through her travels she has learned to look at the world with open eyes while respecting all cultures. With a degree in Natural Resources from Oregon State University, Carly leads programs for GLA, spending the last two summers in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. Carly believes strongly in experiential education as a means of inspiring youth to learn more about themselves and their world.
Sydney Miller
Lisa Likens
Sydney serves as an Enrollment Advisor for GLA. She believes that the future depends upon people being thoughtful, dedicated global citizens, and traveling abroad is one of the best ways to achieve this. She earned her BA from Oregon State University and has traveled extensively throughout Europe. Additionally, she has staffed a GLA program in Costa Rica and hopes to help students fulfill their dreams of traveling to other countries as well.
Lisa is an Admissions Coordinator. She has staffed the GLA Dominican Republic program and traveled to Costa Rica and New Zealand as an international student volunteer. She is a graduate of San Diego State University and is thrilled to help high school students embark on volunteer and international experiences that will change their lives.
For more staff profiles, please see page 9.