Our Leadership Team, composed of staff, volunteers, and interns, manages AMF’s day-to-day operations and carries out the organization’s strategic plan as determined by our Boards. Our work is broken up into 6 organization-wide strategic areas, including: National Operations, Chapter Development, PR/Marketing, Fundraising, Strategy & Programming, and Business & Legal Operations.
National Operations:
David Fajgenbaum, MSc, is the active Executive Director and Board Chair of National Students of AMF. He is currently a MD/MBA candidate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton School of Business, where he leads the UPenn chapter of Students of AMF. David is deeply passionate about the growth of this organization and would be thrilled to hear from you regarding any and all questions about or ideas you may have for improving the support that we provide to our students. david@studentsofamf.org
Vahid Sanii, a recent graduate of UNC (’10), is the Volunteer Coordinator for National Students of AMF. After spending 4 years in college joining, leading, and being a part of every possible volunteer project on UNC’s volunteer-packed campus, Vahid graduated and found himself looking for a way to make a deep, meaningful impact. When he learned about AMF’s mission, he was immediately hooked and joined the team. Immediately, Vahid took on the responsibility of Conference Coordinator for the 2011 National Conference on College Student Grief, which was a huge success. Now Vahid is involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization, particularly the coordination of the dozens of AMF volunteers. In his own words: “I was drawn to AMF because of the invaluable support system it provides to college students in a time of need and the tremendous amount of positive outreach it provides for truly wonderful and inspiring students my age.” vahid@studentsofamf.org
Chapter Development members:
Kiri Thompson is the former Founding President of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay Chapter of Students of AMF and currently a Chapter Development Coordinator, who supports dozens of active chapter leaders, as well as a member of the Board of Alumni/Student Leaders. In her non-AMF life, she is a new Master’s level therapist working in a private practice in Milwaukee, WI – her specialty is grief work and children/adolescence. kiri@studentsofamf.org
Natasha Sutcliffe Garcia has been involved with Students of AMF since August 2008. In her own words: “I became involved with the organization after hearing Dave tell his story about his mom (at a UPenn Medical School Orientation get-together at the start of Med School…my husband and Dave are classmates). I was really touched by Dave’s story and the promise that he made to his mom to help other students who were going through a sickness or death of a close family member. Since then I have been meeting with Dave and a few other support group members to help support new chapter development, as well as help with current chapter sustainment and growth. In my non-AMF life, I am a Human Resources Manager at Starbucks Coffee Co. and I love spending time with my family doing anything fun outside (we love skiing, hiking, boating and traveling).” natasha@studentsofamf.org
PR/Marketing Team members:
Abigail Covington is one of our newest volunteer additions! She was a student at William & Mary when an AMF chapter was starting up and she does freelance writing for a number of amazing organizations, like The Onion! She has begun working on an ambitious initiative to re-vamp/boost our Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Idealist.org presence; help to develop a bi-weekly blog process for our members to post about their experience with grief and why involved with AMF; and eventually add an interactive forum for grieving students to communicate. abigail@studentsofamf.org
Caitlin Prazenica started a chapter of Students of AMF while she was a Sophomore at Meredith College. Under her leadership, the organization participated in community service projects throughout the Raleigh-community and developed a deep, meaningful support group. She lead its growth until May 2010, when she graduated; the organization continues to thrive on Meredith’s campus. Caitlin is now a Sales Assistant with Splendid and Ella Moss (a division of VF contemporary brands) in New York City, serves as a member of the National Students of AMF Board of Alumni/Student Leaders, and focuses her volunteer time towards PR/Marketing activities for National Students of AMF (so don’t be surprised if you get a “poke” from her to Like AMF on Facebook).
Strategy & Programming Team members:
Kristen Stefureac is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), studying to receive her masters degree in Social Work. She was the chapter president of Students of AMF at UNC and is still involved with AMF as the chair of the AMF Board of Alumni/Student Leaders. kristen@studentsofamf.org
Marissa Kramer is a recent graduate of NC State, who has been involved with AMF for the last 3 years– first as an intern and now as our volunteer Technology Guru (SalesForce and Social Media). marissa@studentsofamf.org
Business & Legal Operations Team members:
Ruth Kinyua has helped with bookkeeping and accounting for AMF for the last 5 months. Ruth also works full time as an accountant for Novozymes and she is involved in the community as a praise and worship leader for Kenya Christian Felloship in America as well as a speaker to new immigrants about coping well in this country. In her own words: “Since I have begun volunteering for AMF, I have fallen in love with the cause. Every one would like someone to stand with them if they lost a loved one, this is a time hope seems not to exist and we need to show and share love to those who are hurting. AMF provides that hope to those who have lost a loved one and I enjoy being a part of that.”
Fundraising Team members:
Margaret Farland Griffin has been involved with Students of AMF since the very beginning as a member of the first chapter at Georgetown University. Since that time, she has volunteered for and participated in dozens of AMF events and is currently heavily involved in 2012 Spring Soiree planning. margaret@studentsofamf.org