About Us

Our Mission

The Friends of the American University of Afghanistan (FAUAF) supports specific charitable, scientific and educational purposes activities conducted by academic institutions in Afghanistan, including but not limited to The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), both by supporting the programs and facilities of such academic institutions within Afghanistan and its associated community in locations outside Afghanistan and by increasing awareness and understanding of such academic institutions in communities outside Afghanistan.

Our Story

Board of Trustees

Michelle Quinn
Vice Chair
Senior Advisor at SOC, a Day & Zimmermann Company Michelle Quinn has worked in high-threat theaters and post-conflict operations for twenty years, providing a broad scope of security, training, operational, and logistics solutions for DOS, DOD, DOE, and other government agencies. Supporting the private sector, Michelle is focused on critical U.S. Government missions and programs with acute security needs, both CONUS and OCONUS. Prior to joining SOC, Michelle served as Vice President of Capture at Constellis, 2021-23. Previous to that, she served as Senior Vice President at Patriot Group International; Vice President at VxL Enterprises; Vice President at A-T Solutions; Operations Manager for a multi-agency Counter-Terrorism program at the FBI National Lab; and Manager of Operations and Training for Department of State’s Worldwide Protective Services Program. Michelle has also worked on Capitol Hill, supporting the House Banking Committee on legislation tied to work and funding of USAID, IMF, World Bank; at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB); and at several private family philanthropies. Michelle currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) in Geneva, Switzerland, holding the Americas Security Industry Pillar/seat for Private Security Companies. Michelle also serves on the Advisory Board of the International Stability Operations Association where she previously served as ISOA’s Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2019-2020 and established ISOA’s formal Women, Peace, and Security Certification program for the private sector in 2020. Most importantly, she serves on the Board of The Friends of the American University of Afghanistan, supporting the undying education dreams of Afghan women and girls.
Michelle Quinn
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Leslie Schweitzer headshot
Leslie M. Schweitzer
President & Chair
Schweitzer founded the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan in 2008, a 501c3 that supports not-for-profit, private, co-educational, non-sectarian higher education in Afghanistan, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of AUAF. Over four decades, Schweitzer has accumulated a unique combination of founding businesses in emerging and post conflict markets and facilitating capacity-building projects throughout the world. She has amassed on-the-ground e perience in over 20 countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Turkey, Chile, Russia, the Caribbean, and Central America. Schweitzer pioneered U.S.-China trade beginning in 1977 as a co-founder of Noble Trading Company. After selling her company, Schweitzer served as the Senior Trade Advisor for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Schweitzer’s responsibilities included: founding a private-public partnership to promote trade between Turkey and US; creating Trade Roots, the first and only sustained national grassroots international trade education program, promote support for Congressional passage of China PNTR, TPA, trade agreements with Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco, CAFTA, Peru, South Korea, Panama, and Colombia; and working on the Iraq Business Initiative to re-energize U.S. investment in Iraq. Schweitzer is a member of U.S. Afghan Women’s Council, the Advisory Board of International Programs-University of Kansas, D.C.-Virginia DEC, International Stability Operations Association Advisory Council, Advisory Board Four Star Global Security, Board of Trustees of the Command and General Staff College, and IWIU.
Leslie M. Schweitzer
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Kevin Haggerty
Treasurer
Kevin Haggerty brings over 35 years of experience in financial oversight in the international development, computer software and consulting services industries. Currently, Haggerty is the CFO at ACDI/VOCA with prior experience at Institute of International Education (IIE), DAI and Ernst & Young.
Kevin Haggerty
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Evan Dobelle
Secretary
Evan Dobelle is the Managing Director of Countable, a high tech company with offices in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Dobelle is the former President of City College of San Francisco, University of Hawaii, and Trinity College (CT). Dobelle offers a bold vision for the value of education and the challenges of building a community in a fast-changing world.
Evan Dobelle
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Amb. Robin Raphel
Robin Raphel worked for nearly 40 years in foreign affairs agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. Department of Defense. She has served as assistant secretary of state for South Asia, ambassador to Tunisia, vice president of the National Defense University, and deputy special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Amb. Robin Raphel
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Ronald Neumann Headshot
Amb. Ronald E. Neumann

Formerly a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Ronald E. Neumann served three times as Ambassador; to Algeria, Bahrain and finally to Afghanistan from July 2005 to April 2007. Before Afghanistan, Mr. Neumann, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, served in Baghdad from February 2004 with the Coalition Provisional Authority and then as Embassy […]

Amb. Ronald E. Neumann
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Annie Pforzheimer

A retired career diplomat from the U.S. Department of State, Annie is a Senior Non-Resident Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York and Pace University, and a public commentator on foreign policy. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations […]

Annie Pforzheimer
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Dr. Nilofar Sakhi
Dr. Nilofar Sakhi is a Professorial Lecturer of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University. Additionally, she holds the position of Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. She has also taught at George Mason University. She taught classes on Research Methods, Security, Public Policy Making, Contentious Politics, Conflict Analysis & Resolution, Conflict Assessment and Evaluation. Dr. Sakhi is a distinguished scholar and policy analysts, with a thematic focus on security, armed conflict, geopolitics, and peacemaking. She has contributed extensively to the literature on traditional, nontraditional, transnational security, and human security. Her recent publication is a book titled “Human Security and Agency: Reframing Productive Power.” During her career, she has held various significant roles. Notably, Dr. Sakhi served as a Course Coordinator and Instructor at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute through a contract with McColm & Company, where she also served as the Director of Policy and Diplomacy. She also worked as a Country Director at the Open Society Foundation and held the positions of Executive Director and Trustee at the American University of Afghanistan. Dr. Sakhi has been actively engaged in assisting in the formulation of policies related to peace, development and counterinsurgency. She has a rich research background, having been a visiting Research Fellow at the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame University, the National Endowment of Democracy, and Columbia University. Additionally, she has been a Fellow at the Asia Society and the International Center for Tolerance Education. Nilofar Sakhi holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis & Resolution from George Mason University. She has a master’s degree in international public policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, as well as a second master’s degree from Eastern Mennonite University.
Dr. Nilofar Sakhi
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Elaina Edwards
Elaina Edwards is Vice President at Louis Berger US. She has served in a range of operational, business development, strategy and marketing leadership roles. Her experience includes supporting U.S. government, multilateral institutions and commercial clients with a focus on mega programs. Ms. Edwards has managed winning proposals for more than $3 billion in contracts, including a $1.4 billion single-award contract for Afghanistan reconstruction.
Elaina Edwards
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Karolyn Stuver

Karolyn Stuver is Executive Director and Global Lead for Internal Communications and the Office of Inclusion at Flour Corporation. She previously led all communications, marketing, strategic planning and proposals for Fluor’s Mission Solutions business. Prior to her position at Flour, Stuver served as the Director of Strategy, Marketing and Communications at KBR.

Karolyn Stuver
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Michelle Kosinski
Michelle Kosinski is CNN’s senior diplomatic correspondent responsible for covering the State Department. Previously, Kosinski served as the network’s White House correspondent during the Obama administration. She contributes to all CNN programs and platforms.
Michelle Kosinski
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Sarah Peck
Sarah Peck is a career diplomat from Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently the Executive Director of the U.S.-Pakistan Women’s Council. Sarah has extensive experience on regional issues. She previously served as the Political Team Lead at the Office of Pakistan Affairs at the U.S. State Department. Prior to joining the desk, she worked as a Pearson Fellow for in-coming Secretary of State Kerry at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Sarah Peck
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Suzanne Kianpour
Suzanne Kianpour is an Emmy nominated journalist who has spent nearly a decade with the BBC reporting on foreign affairs, politics and breaking news. With postings based in Washington, London, Beirut, and Los Angeles, her reporting has taken her around the world to over 50 countries.
Suzanne Kianpour
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