Advisory Board

Kim Burdick, Former PTPDE Executive Director

After receiving her MPA from the University of Delaware’s College of Urban Affairs, Kim Burdick staffed the Delaware Governor’s International Trade Council for ten years, later becoming a Board member of World Trade Center Delaware. Affiliated with People to People since its founding by Kathleen Meyer c1985, Kim became Executive Director of People to People Delaware in 2017. As Executive Director, her work included fundraising and public programming. Highlights included “Meet & Greet” programs for international scholars from the U.S. Department of State’s SUSI programs, and bringing Mary Eisenhower, and later, her son Merrill Atwater, both International Chairmen of PTPI, to Delaware. In 2020, she was honored at U.D.’s Global Studies Department’s “Best of UD Global” celebration. A well-known historian, Kim served from 1999-2009 as Project Director and President of the nine-state, DC and France organization, National Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association. Mrs. Burdick was awarded Les Palmes Académiques by French Ambassador Pierre Vimont and Consul General, Michel Schaffhauser, at Yorktown Days in October 2009. Kim and her husband, Dr. Ralph Burdick, have been the Resident Site Managers of the historic Hale Byrnes House in Stanton, Delaware since 2008.

Floyd Ho

Floyd Ho Bio Coming Soon

Patrick Kelly, Esq.

J. Patrick Kelly is the retired Vice-Dean and Professor of International Law at the Delaware Law School of Widener University. Professor Kelly received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from the University of Delaware. He has served as Counsel to the House Banking Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission. He received a Fulbright Professorship to teach at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He founded and has directed the Nairobi International Law Institute and founded the Sydney International Law Institute. His academic writings are primarily in international legal theory, international trade, and government regulation. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court as well as an associate member of the Delaware Bar Association where he has served as Chair of the International Law Section. His articles have appeared in many international law journals including those of Yale, Virginia, Duke, Cornell, Northwestern and Michigan law schools.

Miriam Marinello

I am Miriam Marinello from Panama City, Republic of Panama. I have been in the USA for 32 years. I am married to a new member of People to People, Steve Marinello, and mother of 2. We moved to Wilmington from South Jersey. I am very passionate about gastronomy from around the world, event planning, and I am a chef. I have previously worked for Hilton Hotels and Catering companies where I worked in the “front and back of the house”. I am looking forward to helping and volunteering.

Gigi Tewari, Esq.

Professor Tewari received her B.A. from Cornell University, her J.D. from Fordham Law School, and her M.F.A. in Writing from Columbia University School of the Arts. She teaches and writes as an interdisciplinary legal scholar, writer, and poet in the areas of contract law, professional responsibility, gender, and racial equity, and justice. Her most recent publications include Law and the New Urban Agenda (Routledge 2020) with endorsement by UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif, The Ethics of Gender Narratives for U.S. Corporate Boards [16 N.Y.U. J. L. & B. 221 (2019)], and Formality and Geopolitics, two sociopolitical poems in Michigan Quarterly Review. Following law school graduation, Professor Tawari clerked for New York State Supreme Court Justice Jaime A. Rios. She thereafter practiced with New York City’s Office of Corporation Counsel, the Washington D.C. Office of the Attorney General, and served as an Administrative Law Judge for the New York State Department of Labor. She is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. She also served as the Director of the Urban Law Center at Fordham Law School, where she launched the Women in Urban Law Leadership Initiative and collaborated with UN-Habitat on projects focused on urban planning laws. In 2019, she was a Visiting Artist Scholar at the American Academy in Rome and founded the Narrative Justice Project, with non-profit status through the New York Foundation for the Arts, to support collaboration between artists and lawyers for dialogue vital to justice and humanity. She has spoken on numerous topics, including feminist lawyering, narrative justice, inclusivity on corporate boards, and equal pay as a human right.

Michael Lynch

Michael Lynch is an International Consultant and serves on the Board of People to People International, Delaware Chapter, the Cecil College Multicultural Student Advisory Board and he is a member of the Delaware African Coalition. Mr. Lynch has coordinated numerous programs with the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC to foster better understanding between the Indonesian Community and diverse organizations in Maryland and Delaware. Mr. Lynch has and is currently working with the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs to foster better understanding and engagement with the Asian Pacific Community residing in the US. He also consults and advises the chairman of the Governor’s Delaware African Caribbean Affairs Commission and its members. Mr. Lynch has engaged with dignitaries from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, and Liberia regarding a number of initiatives. He has coordinated events and programs with the Namibian Embassy to promote better understanding, trade and commerce. Mr. Lynch is an outspoken advocate for doing business in Africa and he foresees Africa as contributing significantly to the global economy. A graduate of North Georgia College, Mr. Lynch was commissioned as an Officer in the US Army where he served in numerous capacities in the United States, Europe and South West Asia. He currently resides in Newark, Delaware where he is extensively involved in promoting positive international relations and engagement.

Dr. Yulia Watters

Dr. Yulia Watters serves as a Director of Curriculum Development at the JFK School of Psychology and Social and Behavioral Sciences at National University. Dr. Watters holds a master’s and a doctoral degree in Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University with a specialization in Medical Family Therapy and master’s degree In Instructional Design from Northcentral University. Dr. Watters is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Delaware and Florida and has a private practice providing therapy in English, French, and Russian to first generation immigrants and multicultural couples. Dr. Watters published extensively in the Journal of Family Psychotherapy, SAGE Research Methods Cases, Annals of Behavioral Science and Medical Education, and International Journal of Transgenderism. Her first book, Hypnobirth: Theories and practices for healthcare providers was published by Rowman and Littlefield. Her co-edited volume with Dr. Darren Adamson, Foundational concepts and models of Family Therapy: An Introduction for online learning, was published by Routledge. Dr. Watters is also a renowned speaker, and presented at the AAMFT Systemic Conference, AAMFT Leadership Institute, as well International Family Therapy Congress. Dr. Watters is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and actively engaged in training the new generation of MFTs by teaching clinical courses at National University in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy. She is an AAMFT Clinical Member and served as a COAMFTE Commissionaire during the pandemic of COVID-19. Dr. Watters is an avid reader and owns an independent bookstore in Wilmington, DE, where she offers new and preloved books for children and adults in English, French, and Russian.

Raelena Taylor

Experienced legal and compliance professional committed to ensuring adherence to regulatory standards and ethical principles within the healthcare industry. Valued by teams as a subject matter expert with comprehensive understanding of healthcare laws and regulations, coupled with a strong legal background and the ability to implement effective compliance strategies, adept at analyzing and solving problems, creating automation frameworks, and committed to driving continuous process improvements to optimize efficiency.

Mary Cella, MS

Mary Cella, originally from New York, retired in 2009 after 35 years as a Vice President of Operations from JPMorgan Chase. In 2016, Mary retired for a second time from the Little Sisters of the Poor as their Director of Volunteer Services. Currently, she serves on the Advisory Board for the BTL Foundation. Mary also volunteers with the Red Cross Disaster Team and is a member of the Wilmington University Alumni Committee. Mary has a Business undergraduate degree from Pace University in New York (attended University of Puerto Rico in her junior year) and a Masters of Science from Wilmington University in Organizational Leadership. She is an avid traveler and has visited 30 countries and the 48 contiguous states.

Andres Rodriguez

Andres Rodriguez was born in Cali, Colombia. After high school, he moved to New Jersey where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from The Stevens Institute of Technology. Andres started his professional career in 2009 working in the oil refining industry coordinating the execution of field maintenance projects. In 2011 he joined the DuPont Performance Solutions – Kalrez® business where he has worked as a Plant Area Supervisor overseeing the production of high-performance elastomer parts and as a Manufacturing Engineer leading continuous improvement programs at the plant site. Andres is currently a Technical Service & Development Engineer that provides support and expertise to the Americas customers and manages the technical and customer-facing aspects of new development programs in concert with sales and manufacturing technology to commercialize new business opportunities. Andres is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and is passionate about STEM programs in the community; he supported engineering and science learning through participation in Las Americas Aspira Academy Science Olympiad program, where he mentored students with their science projects for several years. He lives in Middletown with his wife Catalina and their two kids, Evan and Sophie.

Dr. Marilyn Stadalius

Dr. Marilyn Stadalius Bio Coming Soon

Anna White

Bio Coming Soon