Expert Staff
In the GLA experience, bright students connect with accomplished mentors. This is because our staff are not chaperones; they’re experts. By design, each GLA program is co-managed by both a local and international director. The combination is key: each local director has intimate knowledge of the host community and culture; each international director comes from the U.S. or U.K. and has in-depth professional experience working with youth. All of our staff hold college degrees – most with graduate degrees. Many also return year after year to work with GLA. Explore some of our expert staffs’ backgrounds below:
Danielle Harlan
Danielle is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at Stanford University and holds a Masters degree from the School of Education at Stanford. Danielle worked as a special education teacher and for various U.S. and international nonprofit organizations. She has also been part of the GLA team in Brazil, Costa Rica, and South Africa and works with a number of service organizations including Teach for America and the Orphan Foundation of America.
Kate Hanavan
Kate was raised in Goffstown, New Hampshire and attended Emerson College in Boston where she received a degree in Education. Kate currently lives in San Francisco where she teaches at an elite primary school in the mornings and tutors high school students around the city in the evenings. In the summer, Kate directs GLA programs and has worked in Tanzania, Australia and China. She has a strong passion for educating youth and traveling internationally as she has visited 20 different countries on five different continents.
Ryan Feinstein
Ryan is the founder of the Global Youth in Action Programs and was Project Director for the third international “Awakening Global Action” gathering in Bali. He has helped design and host all three “Quest for Global Healing” conferences with more than 1200 people from around the world. When not in Bali, Ryan runs leadership development programs for young people. Most recently, he was in charge of leadership programs at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla, CA. Ryan received his BA in International Studies from UC San Diego.
Dave Addison
Dave holds a BA from the University of the State of New York in International Relations and a PhD in Global Sustainability from Argosy University. Prior to working with GLA, Dave was a US Navy Seal and a financial analyst on Wall Street. Having raised three children, he now lives in the Dominican Republic working on environmental sustainability and humanitarian projects with high school students. Dave loves sharing his knowledge with students and inspiring them to build a healthy, habitable planet for future generations.
Annabel Smith
Annabel holds a BA in International History and MS in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. She has taught in the UK, the US and East Africa, and is currently the Director of Global Studies and Community Partnerships at the American School in London. Her passion for human rights education led her to join GLA. She has directed GLA programs in India and South Africa.
Esther Simba
Country Director for GLA programs in Tanzania, Esther has a wealth of experience in education and volunteer programming. She has taught primary school and secondary school, trained teachers at multiple teacher training colleges, consulted for the US Peace Corps, and was the founding Country Director for Cross-Cultural Solutions Tanzania. She also co-facilitates international women’s empowerment workshops. Through the development of her own organization, Experience Tanzania, Esther has partnered with local and international organizations working to be the change.
Orlando Arizandietar
Orlando studied Business Administration and is trilingual in Spanish, English, and Norwegian. In addition to having over a decade of experience facilitating service-learning programs for youth, Orlando has also worked for the Guatemalan government and with high school students and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. He has worked to eradicate poverty, produce green energy, and promote multiculturalism and ethnic diversity. He finds sharing his culture and language with GLA students very rewarding.
Interested in having your student work with a Program Staff member this summer? Click here.
