David Grossman brought 30 years of technical and managerial experience in international development to his position leading ICMA International when he took on that new position in January 2008. In addition to his experience in municipal development, he has expertise in such areas as finance, credit, and urban infrastructure. He began his professional career with the New York City Planning Commission, helping tenants to organize and maintain their buildings. After a year with the United Nations Development Program, he served for six years as a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Foreign Service Officer, in Honduras and Costa Rica. From 1984 to 1994 he worked in the USAID Office of Housing and Urban Programs, including serving as its chief operating officer (COO). He later held COO positions with USAID’s Global Bureau Environment Center and USAID’s Office of Development Credit. Most recently he served as the senior advisor for research and development for the USAID Development Credit Authority. During his years at USAID, he received Honor Awards and other citations for outstanding performance. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science/Latin American studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree in international affairs, with a specialization in economics and urban planning, from Columbia University, in New York City. He speaks English and Spanish. Contact: dgrossman@icma.org  

Caroline Bixiones, Program Manager

Caroline Bixiones joined ICMA in July 2011, bringing six years of international experience in public health and education development. She previously served as an assistant language teacher on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in Tottori, Japan, and managed volunteer tours for The PEPY (Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself) Ride, an education non-profit in Cambodia. Caroline continued her transition into international development with the Global Capacity Project at IntraHealth International, where she focused on project management and operations. She has traveled throughout Europe and Asia and spent a semester studying in Florence, Italy, at the Lorenzo di Medici Institute. Caroline received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Women’s Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Public Administration degree from North Carolina State University. She speaks intermediate French and beginning Japanese and Italian. Contact: cbixiones@icma.org.

Judit Deilinger joined ICMA in 1996. She brings comprehensive experience in municipal management, local economic development, intergovernmental relations, and local government association development in transitioning countries. She has designed and implemented programs focusing on economic development, local government capacity building, and decentralization in numerous countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, and the Russian Far East. Her experience in designing and delivering public administration focused workshops, study tours, and training of elected local government officials in policy-making, communication, and other leadership skills has given her a reputation as a proficient trainer, facilitator, and curriculum developer. Currently, she leads ICMA International’s business development activities. In addition, she serves as Senior Governance Advisor for programs in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe and Eurasia. Previously, she served as ICMA’s regional representative for the Serbian International Resource Cities partnerships, Deputy Project Director for ICMA’s Public Administration Project in Hungary, and Director of International Relations for the Partnership of Hungarian Local Government Associations. A native speaker of Hungarian, Judit is fluent in English and also speaks conversational Russian. She holds an M.A. in European Studies/Economics from the University of Economics in Budapest, Hungary. Contact: jdeilinger@icma.org

Sheranga Dias, Assistant Program Manager

Sheranga Dias has experience as a program assistant with responsibility for accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll management, budgeting, procurement, contract preparation, travel arrangements, meeting scheduling and logistics, and other administrative activities. She received a bachelor of commerce (business) degree with honors from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a master of arts degree in economics from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she was named Outstanding Graduate Student in Economics. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society. While she was studying in Sri Lanka, she worked as an administrative assistant with the International Organization for Migration, where she represented IOM at the United Nations Joint Logistics Committee, an interagency committee established to facilitate logistics-related services during the emergency phase of tsunami relief efforts in Colombo. She also worked as a finance and administrative assistant with the World Health Organization. Sheranga is a member of ICMA’s Afghanistan team. She speaks Sinhalese and English. Contact: sdias@icma.org

Alan Edmond, Senior Governance Advisor

Alan Edmond joined ICMA International in October 2009, bringing a city management and international development perspective to his position. He began his four decade career in the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs, working in Model Cities and Community Action Program capacity building. He served as a municipal training and development officer, and later as the HR Director for Community Affairs. He next spent fifteen years as a city manager and a town manager in New England, working in a university town, a fast-growing city, and a suburb of Boston. He then began a second career in international development, working primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, and then in all other regions, in more than 30 countries. Principally a decentralization and local governance specialist, Alan has also developed and managed projects in business climate reform, anti-corruption program development, program evaluation, and city planning (most notably as one of the principals in creating a master plan for Luxor, Egypt). He has worked with international development firms in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of New Hampshire. Contact: aedmond@icma.org

Nate Engle, Senior Program Manager

Nate Engle joined ICMA in August 2011 with more than seven years of experience in international affairs. Most recently, he had served for two years as the country representative for an international NGO in Southern Sudan. Prior to that he lived and worked in Madagascar, serving two years with the Peace Corps and working two years in the private sector. Nate's work has also taken him to Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius, and Canada. Hailing from the “Great Lakes State,” he has provided international trade support to Michigan-based businesses and has worked in Michigan state government. His professional interests include comparative politics and public administration as well as issues surrounding land use, agriculture, and food systems in the Great Lakes region. Nate earned a bachelor of science degree in urban and regional planning at Michigan State University and a master of public administration degree at Grand Valley State University’s School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In his free time, he enjoys reading history and biographies as well as hunting and bicycling with his wife. Contact: nengle@icma.org

Brancy Finkler, Director, Operations and Program Management

Since joining ICMA International as an intern in 1998, Brancy Finkler has made contributions to the larger organization as well as to the International Team. During her tenure at ICMA, she has managed a portfolio of programs, served on proposal development teams as the overall and cost coordinator, contributed to business development, and assisted with team operations. This has led to overseas  travel to Albania, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Jamaica, and Mongolia and work experience with many countries. Currently, Brancy oversees the International Team’s annual grants and contracts portfolio and supervises project staff. She has also represented the International Team on a number of organizational “hot teams” and committees that focused on specific issues/topics such as contract administration, corporate culture, program management, and procurement. In 2000, Brancy received an award for Employee Excellence. Prior to joining ICMA, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan, where she taught English to students in grades five through ten. During her time in Central Asia, she established an after-school English club at both a school and a children’s activity center. In 1996, Brancy served as a White House intern in the Counselor to the President’s office. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from Smith College and has a basic understanding of Uzbek and German. Contact: bfinkler@icma.org  

Shraddha Kharel-Pandey is a senior member of ICMA’s Afghanistan Team, which oversees ICMA’s portfolio of programs in that country. During her tenure at ICMA, which began in 2005, she also managed all aspects of the USAID-funded Afghanistan Municipal Strengthening Program, the CityLinks Leader with Associates Award worldwide, the FIRE III Program in India, the MEGA Serbia Program, the World Bank-funded Lebanese Local Economic Development program, and other programs in India and Sri Lanka. She also participates in business development in South Asia. While a graduate student at the University of Louisville, where she earned a master's degree in political science with a focus on international studies, Shraddha was a member of the Management Team for the International Service Learning Program. She received a bachelor's degree from Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu, Nepal) and also worked in Kathmandu before coming to the United States. She speaks fluent English, Nepali, Hindi, and Urdu. Contact: skharelpandey@icma.org 

Mindy Ko, Assistant Program Manager

Mindy Ko joined ICMA in 2010 with eight years of experience in domestic and international education. Her background includes directing an after-school program for middle-school students, coordinating road races and athletic events in the Washington, D.C., area, and serving in the Peace Corps as a community development advisor and English teacher in Jordan, where she also learned how to make fresh yogurt and cook camel meat. Mindy holds a B.A. degree in Psychology and Sociology from Rice University, where she also played on the varsity tennis team.  She has traveled through the Middle East, Asia, South America, and Africa, and speaks proficient Arabic and Spanish and basic Mandarin Chinese. In her capacity as Assistant Program Manager, Mindy provides support for ICMA International projects. Contact: mko@icma.org

Michael Kunz, Senior Governance Advisor  

Michael Kunz joined ICMA in June 2011 as Senior Governance Advisor for RAMP-UP (East, West, and North). Previously, he served in senior capacities managing complex development assistance projects promoting good governance and private-sector development in Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia through programs funded by USAID, the World Bank, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the European Union, and the Mellon Foundation. Michael has served as the chief of party on a number of USAID projects, including the Azerbaijan Civil Society Project, which included local governance strengthening and public financial management components. As the regional director for Counterpart International, he oversaw a diverse portfolio spanning nine countries in Eurasia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Following the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, Michael co-designed and managed the Czech Economic Development Certification Program, which set up 12 local economic development offices and established standards for industrial parks and industrial park financing. In the United States, he served as the executive director for the Edmonds (Washington) Alliance for Economic Development, a public-private partnership in a town of 40,000 in the Greater Seattle area. Michael holds a master’s degree in international relations from Tufts University Fletcher School and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Washington. Contact: mkunz@icma.org

Lisa Lau, Program Manager

Prior to joining ICMA in July 2010, Lisa Lau worked in the international field in Washington, D.C. for four years.  She worked at World Links, an international education nonprofit, where she helped manage several programs in Asia and Latin America. She later moved on to the World Bank to be the publications manager for the Agricultural and Rural Development Department. There, she managed the editorial and production process of key publications that were disseminated to the field offices and the international development community. Besides chasing after authors and managers to hand in their manuscripts on time, she coordinated and participated in a Department Training on Fisheries and Aquaculture in Nha Trang, Vietnam, where she almost fell in a lobster cage while trying to document the training. She has also conducted research and has had various work experience in Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, and China. She graduated from Brown University with a double major in Anthropology and International Relations and attained her master's degree in International Education Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She speaks Cantonese (mother tongue),  Mandarin, Spanish, and basic French. Contact: llau@icma.org

Carlos Loría-Chaves, Governance and Economic Advisor

Carlos Loría-Chaves joined ICMA in 2010, bringing more than 25 years of experience working at the local and national levels in his home country of Costa Rica and elsewhere in Latin America and Eastern Europe. In his work he has conducted, designed, and implemented programs to strengthen transparency and public finance, support economic reforms, and promote efficient and effective government management. He has served for many years in technical positions providing support to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly and has more than 10 years of experience working on USAID-funded policy reform, municipal development, public budget analysis, and fiscal programs. Carlos formerly served as Chief of Party for the USAID/Guatemala Decentralization and Local Governance Program (2005-2008). He has a B.A. degree in Economics from the Universidad de Costa Rica and an M.B.A. degree with a major in Finance from the Universidad Interamericana in Costa Rica. He has been short-term consultant for ICMA since May 2009, serving as Regional Program Manager on the USAID-funded Municipal Partnerships for Violence Prevention in Central America program and as the Governance Advisor on the Communities Youth-at-Risk program in Panama. He also provides support to the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility Program to improve the creditworthiness of municipalities in Costa Rica and Argentina, among other business development tasks. Carlos is based in Costa Rica. He speaks Spanish and English. Contact: cloria@icma.org

Ian O’Brien joined ICMA in 2009 with more than nine years of international development experience.  His experience includes working with trade, income generation, and civil society-strengthening programs in various capacities, including marketing and business development, proposal development, program management, and field operations. He has lived and worked in Central Asia and Southern Africa, serving on large USAID-funded projects in these regions.  He also has experience managing project start-up activities in Iraq, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Ian holds a B.A. degree in history from Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., and an MBA degree in International Business from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He speaks English and intermediate Russian. Contact: iobrien@icma.org 

Amy Nolan Osborn joined ICMA in 2009 with more than twenty years of experience in public service as a U.S. foreign service officer and international consultant to the U.S. government (USAID) and the World Bank. She has worked in 31 countries, with long-term assignments in the former Soviet Union, Central Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Eurasia, the South Pacific, and the Balkans. She has managed and supported the design, financing, and implementation of national and local development programs in developing countries and transitional economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. She has been responsible for all aspects of program management and oversight, including strategy and policy development, sector research and analyses, project and sector component designs, monitoring and evaluation, participant training and professional exchanges, program negotiations, budgeting, reporting, and personnel and contractor management.

She has specific expertise in decentralization/deconcentration policy; local financial, administrative, and democratic governance and municipal management systems; community and local economic development; rural-urban linkages; business development, trade, privatization, and private-sector restructuring; infrastructure and housing development and finance; knowledge management, global learning networks, and communication; conflict management; and humanitarian assistance. She has also served as Director of Housing Production for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority in Lansing Michigan, working with private developers to design, finance, and develop low- and moderate-income housing and housing for the elderly and the physically and mentally challenged state-wide. 

Amy holds a B.A. degree in urban studies from Connecticut College, an M.A. in urban studies from Occidental College, and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For ICMA, she provides technical program management for on-going programs in Afghanistan and Jordan. She is active in new business development worldwide with emphasis on new programs relating to municipal water and sanitation infrastructure investment and service delivery. She also promotes World Bank relations and coordination of joint initiatives. Contact: aosborn@icma.org 

Sandra Tripp-Jones joined ICMA International in November 2009, bringing substantial experience as a trainer/educator and public sector administrator in the United States and internationally. Her responsibilities include business development, proposal preparation, training development, and project oversight. Before joining the staff, she undertook assignments for ICMA in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Iraq. She has conducted local government needs assessments and designed and delivered training and Training of Trainers programs. Among her assignments was a five-month contract in Iraq as local government advisor under the CAP III program, with responsibility for the startup of a local government training program with 6 full-time and 17 part-time national training staff; development of curriculum and training modules; Training of Trainers for all national training staff; and training of 32 local Iraq government councils and their mayors. The curriculum included experiential training in leadership, negotiation, strategic planning, including visioning, communication, partnering with community groups, media relations, and council meeting procedures.

As a city administrator before joining ICMA, she managed a full-service city of 90,000 with an annual operating and capital budget of $200 million, 1,100 employees, and 10 departments and served as executive director to the Santa Barbara Redevelopment Agency. In addition to her responsibilities with ICMA, Sandra is the executive vice president of Sentient Systems, Inc., which provides consulting and training services to public sector organizations in the areas of strategic planning, organization development, community involvement, management skills, performance review, and leadership development. She has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a master of public administration degree from the University of Kansas, and certificates in training of trainers (Continuing Education for Public Officials) and negotiating sustainable agreements (Harvard University Kennedy School). She speaks English (native) and Spanish (fluent). Contact: strippjones@icma.org

Charles Xu, Intern, ICMA China Program

Charles Xu joined ICMA in March 2011, after completing a master of laws degree at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington. He also holds a bachelor of laws degree from the Law School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. While he was a student in China, he served internships with several courts and worked as assistant manager and adviser at the Legal Aid Center of Central South University. He participated in the social investigation that won the grand prize in the Extra-Curricular Academic Competition of Central South University. He also worked as a program specialist for Global Placement and Staffing, Inc., in Changsha, organizing China-U.S. exchanges. At ICMA, Charles works on ICMA’s China program. He speaks Chinese (native) and English (fluent). Contact: cxu@icma.org.

Ziauddin Zia, Chief of Party, CAWSA

Ziauddin Zia is chief of party for ICMA's USAID-funded Commercialization of Afghanistan Water and Sanitation Activity (CAWSA) program. Previously, he served as deputy chief of party for the Regional Afghan Municipalities Program for Urban Populations (RAMP UP) and as chief of party for the Afghanistan Municipal Strengthening Program (AMSP). His professional career includes experience in strategic planning, general management, project management, human resources and administration, training, quality management, and local governance. He has held positions with the Afghanistan Justice Sector Support Program (U.S. Department of State), the USAID Local Governance and Community Development project (working with a private consulting firm), the United Nations Development Program’s Afghanistan National Development Strategy project, the Ministry of Finance on the UNDP-funded Making Budgets Work and Aid Coordination (MBWAC) project, and FINCA-Afghanistan, a microfinance institution. He also served fourteen years with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Training Agency (META), United Nations Mine Action Program for Afghanistan, where he developed training materials and delivered training in management and mine action related activities and assumed progressively responsible positions, serving as deputy director of the agency. He holds an MBA degree in general management from Preston University in Peshawar, Pakistan, and a “mini MBA” in general management for senior managers with a focus on strategic thinking and planning from Cranfield University, Swindon, U.K. An Afghan national, he is fluent in Dari, Pashto, Urdu, and English. Contact: zzia@icma.org