Matthew Asada
Matthew is a mid-level political officer who has served in South Asia and in Europe. He is currently on a one-year APSA congressional fellowship. He has had several unaccompanied assignments, including on a PRT in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Matthew has contributed articles to the Foreign Service Journal, STATE Magazine, and the new edition of AFSA’s "Inside a U.S. Embassy."
William Bent
A Foreign Service Officer since 1992, Bill has served in Prague, Kingston, and Santo Domingo. As a consular officer, Bill has been the Chief of Diplomatic Liaison in the Visa Office and the Chief of Public Outreach for the Bureau of Consular Affairs. He is now the Chief of the Visa Office's Post Liaison Division. Bill has a B.A. from Boston University and an M.A. from American University.
E. Alex Copher
Everett "Alex" Copher joined the Department in July 1989 and has served in SCO Accra; Asuncion; IMO Almaty; IMS Bogota; IMO Lilongwe; IMO Kathmandu; IMO Rangoon; IMO Yerevan; IMO Georgetown; and recently assigned to IRM/External Affairs. From 1980-1982 Alex served as a USMC Marine Security Guard in Colombo and Bogota. He's been a member of AFSA for 23 years.
Tim Corso
A DSS Special Agent, Tim currently serves as the lead investigator for State's Rewards for Justice Program. He previously served as one of two Assistant Regional Security Officers at U.S. Embassy Rabat, at the U.S. Embassy Baghdad and the DSS Washington Field Office. Before joining the Department in 2007, he worked in the field of emergency medical services.
Kenneth Kero-Mentz
Ken joined the Department in January 2000 and has served in Rio, Washington, Berlin, Baghdad, Colombo, and is now in EUR/PGI. He also served a year as Kosovo desk officer at the German Foreign Office through the Fellowship of Hope program. In 2009, Ken was named AFSA Post Representative of the Year while serving in Berlin. He is also the president of GLIFAA. Ken married in Berlin in 2008.
Elise Mellinger
Elise is a mid-level political officer and cultural anthropologist. An FSO since 2003, she has served as a consular officer in Mumbai, India; a political officer working on political parties and parliamentary affairs in Jakarta, Indonesia; and as Cyprus Desk Officer. After completing an FSI Economics Training course and TDY with Visa Singapore, Elise is now at the Senate as a Pearson Fellow. She speaks Hebrew, Indonesian, Hindi, and Korean. She is married with a daughter.
Joyce Namde
A Consular Officer by cone, Joyce Namde has served as post representative in two locations and on the AFSA Board from 2005-2007. Her overseas tours include London, Lagos, Manila, Ciudad Juarez and currently as Narcotics Affairs Director in Port au Prince. In Washington she served in OES and IO.
Ted Osius
Ted Osius is a Senior Visiting State Department Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was most recently DCM in Jakarta; earlier postings include New Delhi, India, Bangkok, Thailand, Manila, Philippines, the Vatican, the UN, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the Korea Desk in Washington. He serves as a mentor for Foreign Service members and is very concerned with training issues.
Lillian Wahl-Tuco
Lilly is a mid-level consular officer who has served in Paris, Skopje, on a bridge as Iceland/Denmark desk, and currently as the Czech desk officer in EUR/CE. She also serves on the Board of 'Balancing Act' at State promoting work/life balance issues. Prior to State, Lilly worked in the non-profit sector in refugee repatriation and with a World Affairs Council. She is married to a Civil Servant and has a son.
David Zwach
David is a mid-level Security Engineer (SEO) who has served in Abu Dhabi, New Delhi and Frankfurt. David created the only USG role-based classroom-led cybersecurity training Center of Excellence at the DS Training Center. He encouraged the creation of the Tenure Certificate program for FS Specialists and is the only SEO to be named winner of the Harris Award for dissent. David has contributed articles to the FSJ.