DEIJ Team

Kam Chohan became Executive Director at ECIS in August 2020.

With an impressive background in education and leadership, Kam is a learning leader and brings insight, wisdom, and compassion to the role. She has demonstrated the ability to build meaningful, lasting relationships that contribute to personal and organisational development and improvement.

Kam is committed to social justice and equity through diversity, inclusion, and intercultural understanding in international education.

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James P. Duval is the Head of the Lower School at Riverdale Country School. James joined Riverdale Country School in July of 2016. Prior to joining Riverdale Country School, James was the Elementary School Principal at Benjamin Franklin International School where he worked for more than 9 years.

Jessica Delgado is currently the Assistant Head of Lower School at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, NY. She has a diverse professional background, having worked over the past 20 years in international education and also in U.S. public and independent schools. She has experience working as a social worker, school counselor, health teacher, and school leader. Jessica has led curriculum development and implementation in the areas of social and emotional learning, health and sexuality, and anti-bias education in PreK-Grade 8 schools. Her work includes experience in instructional practice, teacher mentoring, professional development, standards based curriculum design. Jessica holds a MSW from Columbia University and a MEd in Educational Leadership from Montclair State University. She has completed the New Jersey State Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS) Leadership Institute, the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute, the NYSAIS Emerging Leaders Institute, and currently serves on the NYSAIS Diversity Committee.

Sarah has worked in the UK and Germany as a primary, secondary and special education teacher, and she taught undergraduate education in London. A seasoned presenter and workshop leader, Sarah’s expertise spans interlingual learning, DEIJ and intercultural understanding, and crafting school culture through solution-focused practices. She has been thrilled to work with schools on building anti-discriminatory cultures and creating inclusive communities belonging.  Currently, she serves as the Head of School Relationship and Partnerships at ECIS, fostering global educational networks.

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Margaret Park is a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant who works with organizations to make positive changes for all community members. She is the former Elementary School Assistant Principal at Seoul Foreign School and is currently on the Advisory Council for the Association of International Educators and Leaders of Color. Margaret is also a NetKAL fellow and a member of the Council of Korean Americans. Margaret is committed to fostering leadership development with experience in facilitating professional development, training leadership teams, counseling, mentoring, coaching, and curating innovative learning spaces. Margaret is a Fulbright Scholar and received an Education Masters and Certificate of Advanced Studies from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Margaret is particularly interested in thinking about leadership through an Equity and Justice lens. Find her on LinkedIn and Twitter: @MargaretLPark

Michael Neumann is an enthusiastic educational leader, deeply committed to fostering inclusive and engaging learning environments. His international teaching journey began in Taiwan, and he is now in his seventh year in Malta, where he is currently the Elementary Assistant Principal and the Diversity, Inclusion, and Well-Being Lead at Verdala International School. This year, Michael is excited to start his new role as a DEIJ Coordinator at St. George’s International School in Luxembourg. During his time at Verdala International School, Michael has been actively advocating for the school’s DEIJ journey. He initiated and co-wrote the school’s anti-discrimination policy and led various workshops within the school community. A highlight of his work is coordinating Verdala International School’s Friday Focus programme, where he collaborates with monthly Diversity, Inclusion, and Well-Being (DIW) champions to develop student inquiries into various DIW themes.

Yasmine Aslam – Hashmi is an international school educator with 18 years of experience. She has taught in Canada, South Korea, Vietnam and Switzerland where she currently resides. Having taken on multiple roles within schools as a teacher, department head, curriculum developer, instructional coach, and an academic and action researcher – Yasmine is an inclusive and equitable schools specialist, with additional specialist in learning support and teaching English to multilingual learners. She has taught middle school Mathematics, Science, Learning Support, English as an Additional Language, and Grade 11 and 12 Theory of Knowledge. Yasmine is an international school educator based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Loretta Fernando-Smith is an educator with more than 20 years of experience in international schools. She grew up between cultures, moving several times during her childhood. She is also the mother of two multi-racial, Cross Culture Kids. Her experiences of straddling several cultures as a child, adult, parent and educator have made her aware of how people negotiate belonging in different spaces. This tension drives her curiosity, inquiry and research into belonging. Her study on young children’s perceptions of belonging in culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse settings is a part of the recently published Handbook of Research on Critical Issues and Global Trends in International Education.