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Joint Council STAFF
Thomas DiFilipo, President & Chief
Executive Officer
Joelle Ruben, Education &
Research Program Manager
Taylor Fleeson, Programs & Services
Assistant
Anna Rough, Child Advocacy Program
Manager
Rebecca Harris, Government Relations
&Communications Manager
Heather Rice, Research Associate
Thomas DiFilipo,
President & Chief Executive
Officer
Tom DiFilipo, newly appointed President & CEO, comes to Joint
Council after
nine years as Vice President for the CASI Foundation and Chief
Operations Officer for International Children’s Alliance. Mr.
DiFilipo also served the social services community through his roles
as a Board member for Joint Council on International Children’s
Services, Focus on Adoption and Discovery Ministries. In 2006, Mr.
DiFilipo was hired as the Director of International Relations for
Joint Council where he was instrumental in forming new relationships
and communicating our mission and goals to a world-wide audience.
Prior to his work in
children’s services, Mr. DiFilipo held executive positions with a
variety of consumer products firms including Sorbee International,
Mars Inc and Pace Brokers. Mr. DiFilipo is the father of three
children, with two joining the family through adoption.
Joelle
Ruben,
Education & Research Program Manager
Email: joeller@jcics.org
Ms. Ruben joined
Joint Council in August 2006, to pursue a long-time interest in international
adoption. She has also worked at Deloitte Consulting and the Corporate
Executive Board in Washington, D.C. A graduate of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill (with majors in Journalism and
International Studies), Ms. Ruben has studied abroad twice in Beijing,
China and spent many hours in Mandarin classes.
Taylor Fleeson,
Programs and Services Assistant
Email: taylorf@jcics.org
After serving as
an intern with Joint Council since September 2007, Taylor Fleeson has
officially joined the Joint Council team as Programs and Services
Assistant. Ms. Fleeson recently graduated from Tufts University with
a degree in Psychology, focusing on developmental issues. She spent
her junior year abroad in France and became fluent in French. Ms.
Fleeson jumps at any chance for international travel and enjoys
exposure to different cultures. Taylor is committed to permanency for
all children and is very excited to begin a long career improving the
lives of children worldwide at the Joint Council on International
Children's Services.
Anna Rough,
Child Advocacy Program Manager
Email:
annar@jcics.org
Anna Rough joined Joint Council in
March 2008 to pursue her interests in child advocacy work. Ms. Rough
graduated from the George Washington University in 2003 with a B.A. in
International Relations. She previously worked at the Atlantic
Council, also in Washington, D.C. Ms. Rough completed an M.E.S. in
2006 at the University of Krems, in Austria. Her thesis work focused
on human rights policies, and she hopes to deepen her knowledge in
this area through her work at Joint Council.
Rebecca Harris,
Rebecca joined Joint Council in September of 2008. Prior to
working for Joint Council, she was an International Program
Coordinator for Adoption Alliance in Denver, CO. In 2004, Becky
earned her B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a focus on
Peace & Conflict Studies from Long Island University, Global
College. While attending LIU she studied all over the world
including Australia, London, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
While studying in South Africa Rebecca cared for HIV positive
orphans and was a member of the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Ex-Combatant Re-skilling Project which
transitioned South African veterans into society.
Heather Rice,
Research Associate
Ms. Rice
joined Joint Council in September 2007 as Research Assistant for
Africa. Ms. Rice is currently teaching university English in Djibouti,
East Africa and will also be utilizing her time to work with local
orphanages as a volunteer and to collect qualitative research on the
status of orphans in the area. In addition, she will be conducting
community interviews related to the perceptions of orphans and
vulnerable children. Before joining Joint Council, Ms. Rice worked as an
intern and then as a policy fellow for the Congressional Coalition on
Adoption Institute (CCAI). Ms. Rice is a graduate of Colorado State
University where she majored in Social Work and Liberal Arts, with a
concentration in Law and a Certificate in International Development
Studies.
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