Our Team

Board of Trustees

Charlie Harcourt, Executive Director

Currently, Charlie is the Associate Director of Graduate and International Programs at Cazenovia College near Syracuse, NY. Previously, he recruited and supported international students throughout the admission, immigration, and matriculation process as the International Recruitment and Operations Coordinator at Wells College in Aurora, NY.

He has significant experience in working with international students from developing countries and recruiting in emerging markets. He serves in a leadership role focused on engaging recruitment agents and member institutions with the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC).

He first visited Myanmar for two months in 2016 to complete graduate research focused on study abroad opportunities for students from an emerging nation. He has had the opportunity to return twice since then to work with students interested in pursuing higher education in the US.

Tim Clark, Treasurer

Tim Clark is a retired journalist and market researcher based in Silicon Valley. He was bit by the Burma bug on a 2009 trip to the country and subsequently co-led five civil society tours to Myanmar that also hit the main tourist attractions.

On each trip, students of the Pre-Collegiate Program served as Yangon guides for the visitors and a crucial part of the cultural connection. Tim and his wife Mia have hosted many P-CP graduates at their home while those students studied in the U.S. He currently serves as treasurer of the Foundation and previously as executive director.

Kamran Emad

Kamran joined the MFAE board in January 2021. Most recently, Kamran served as a Senior Manager on the strategy team tasked with architecting T-Mobile’s digital transformation. Before joining T-Mobile, Kamran was based in Myanmar (Inle Lake and Yangon) from 2013-2015 focused on promoting responsible business in Myanmar’s tourism and ICT sectors.

During his time in Myanmar, mobile phone penetration increased from <1% to >50%. Prior to his time in Myanmar, Kamran was focused on launching a new industrial category for Amazon’s B2B arm, Amazon Business. At Amazon, Kamran focused on vendor negotiations and signing new partners, managing pricing and profitability, and driving customer experience excellence.

Phyu Hninn Nyein

Phyu Hninn Nyein, aka, Hninn is a statistician turned small farmer enthusiast. After working in conservation and statistical genetics in the US, she returned to Myanmar in 2012 as Myanmar emerged from decades-long isolation.

Passionate about the application of data, technology and entrepreneurship for rural development and environmental sustainability, she joined Proximity Designs. After building up Proximity’s research and impact arm, she has led Farm Advisory Services through its rapid expansion to a 200+ people team impacting 50,000+ farmers/year in 30 townships across Myanmar.

She now heads up nation-wide operations of Proximity Designs, providing affordable, well-designed and climate-smart techniques and services that boost smallholder farmers’ productivity and incomes. Hninn is also an alumna of the Pre-Collegiate Program.

David A. Hytha

David is Managing Partner at New Wave Partners Inc., an investment and strategic advisory firm in mobile/IoT, cloud computing including blockchain/cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence (AI), and Augmented Reality (AR).

David’s career includes leadership roles bringing over $10B of mobile systems and cloud solutions to market in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Asia, as an operating executive and venture capitalist. David has served as an advisor to Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Columbia University and Cambridge University and publishes on technology and go-to-market strategy.

David holds an MBA in Operations Management and Finance from Columbia University and a BA from the College of the Holy Cross. He is actively involved in social entrepreneurship and education and has been involved in educational projects in Myanmar.

Jason Leong Campbell

Jason is a financial analyst based in Portland, Oregon. He is an alumnus of the Pre-Collegiate Program, class of 2010 and studied Economics at Reed College afterwards.

His favorite classes and experiences during the Pre-Collegiate Program were social studies and the trips to Bagan as well as Kalaw and nearby villages in Northeastern Burma.

Scot Marciel

Scot Marciel is Oksenberg-Rohlen Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, affiliated with the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

A career Foreign Service Officer, he most recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar from March 2016 through May 2020.  Prior to his assignment in Myanmar, Ambassador Marciel was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, where he oversaw U.S. relations with Southeast Asia. From 2010 to 2013, Scot Marciel was U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country.  Before that, he served concurrently as the first U.S. Ambassador for ASEAN Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia from 2007 to 2010. 

Scot has more than 35 years of experience as a diplomat in Asia and around the world.  In addition to the assignments noted above, he has worked at U.S. missions in Turkey, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Brazil and the Philippines. At the State Department, he served as Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia, Director of the Office of Mainland Southeast Asia, and Director of the Office of Southern European Affairs.

Alyssa Paylor

Alyssa joined the MFAE board in November 2022.

Peter Sang

Peter Chan Min Sang is a high-school ESL teacher in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Peter first came to Minnesota in 2013 to study at Carleton College.

A graduate of the Pre-Collegiate Program (PCP), Peter taught Sociology at PCP right after his undergraduate studies. He moved back to Minnesota in 2018 to join an M.Ed program at University of Minnesota, and soon afterwards married his wife Zara, who teaches middle-school Language Arts.

In his current teaching position, Peter works with many Karen/Kayin students who grew up in refugee camps in Thai-Burma border. He is excited to use his experience as a PCP alum and an educator to help other young people from Burma get the same educational opportunities as he did.

Penny Stroud

Penny has been on the MFAE board since 2018. She has had an interest in Myanmar for decades and was drawn to the PCP model of educating future leaders.

She has a particular interest in developing countries, environmental protection and sustainability. As an entrepreneur and business consultant, her goal for the board and the school is to develop a sustainable business model and active involvement of local/regional Myanmar constituents.