SRMUN's Board of Directors consists of five voting members: three students or former students and two faculty members, all of whom are elected by their peers for one or two year terms during the annual conference. The voting members annually select the Board's president, vice president, and other offices it determines to fill, including the position of Executive Director(s). The Board president presides over Board meetings. Meeting three times each year, the Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the business aspects of the conference. These duties include ensuring the financial health and goals of the corporation as well as the educational mission and integrity for the conference. In addition, the Board selects and trains the Executive Staff of each conference. These offices are: the Secretary-General (SG), the Director-General (DG), the Deputy Director-General (DDG) and the Under Secretary-General of Conference Services (USG-CS). The SG and DG are charged by the Board of Directors to recruit the staff personnel for each year's conference, including the committee directors responsible for formulating and publishing committee background guides.

The members of 2008 SRMUN Board of Directors are:

Wayne Pfeiler, President

Wayne Pfeiler is pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering in the joint graduate program at UNC - Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University while residing in Raleigh, NC. Wayne received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville in May 2002, and a Master of Science degree from the same institution in Engineering Science in May 2004. Although his academic work has focused in science, Wayne has worked with Model UN in different capacities since 1994, when he began as delegate in high school. In 2001, he helped establish UTHSMUN, a new Model UN conference at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville for high school students. Wayne began his SRMUN experience in 2000 as a delegate. The following three years he served on staff as the Assistant Under Secretary-General for Conference Services. Wayne was hired as the Under Secretary-General of Conference Services in 2003 and served in the position for two years before being elected to serve on the Board of Directors. Before serving as President, Wayne served as Secretary for the SRMUN Board of Directors for two years.


Laura Merrell, Vice President

Laura Merrell is currently an Applications Processor and Student Services Assistant for the graduate programs of the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2003, she graduated from UNCG with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Studies. Currently, she is pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Non-Profit Management. 2007 marks Laura's 9th year with SRMUN as both a delegate and a staff member. She began serving on SRMUN staff in 2003, serving as the Director for the Commission on the Status of Women. In 2005, Laura was hired to serve as Deputy Director-General and also served as Director General in 2006. She joins the SRMUN Board of Directors this year serving as the Director General Emeritus. Having grown up traveling the world in a military family, Laura's interest in international issues comes naturally. She hopes to continue this international focus by enrolling in an internationally focused Masters of Public Health program in the Fall of 2008.


Kate Logan, Secretary

Kate Logan recently graduated from the University of Denver - Graduate School of International Studies with a Master of Arts degree in International Development and Global Health Affairs. She earned her a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from Berry College in 2002. In the spring of 2007, she was awarded the Presidential Management Fellowship through which she gained her current position with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Grants Management Specialist for International Health Programs. Kate began her Model UN career in 1995 as a delegate for her high school team. While at Berry College, Kate co-founded the Berry College Model United Nations team and served as Secretary-General from 2000-2002. She began on SRMUN staff in 2000 serving as the Assistant Director for the Commission on Human Rights and returned as the committee's Director in 2001. Kate was hired as part of the Executive Staff in 2002, serving as SRMUN's first Deputy Director-General. She served as Director General in both 2003 and 2004. Kate was elected to the SRMUN Board of Directors in November of 2004 and served as President for three years. She has also served as staff for the DC Global Classrooms High School Model UN and the Montessori Middle School Model UN.


Dr. Linda Morrison, Member at Large

Linda Morrison grew up as an Army brat. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in History from Pennsylvania State University. She also holds a Master of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Mississippi and completed additional graduate work at Emory University and the University of Florida. Linda's primary educational background comes from teaching high school Advanced Placement US History and Current Issues with the Atlanta Public Schools and Cobb County Public Schools. Linda was responsible developing the North Cobb High School Model United Nations program, which was regarded as t the biggest and most successful Model UN high school program in Georgia during her 20 year tenure. In any given year, she would take 60-70 students to the National High School Model United Nations Conference in New York. Now retired since 2003, Linda now serves as a professor in the Political Science Department at Kennesaw State University as the advisor for Model UN team and Model Arab League. She is a long time resident of Cobb County, GA and has been married to her husband Bob for 44 years this November (child bride!). They have two grown and successful daughters and two beautiful granddaughters. Linda also received two Fulbright Scholarships to Uzbekistan and Tanzania for summer studies during her high school teaching career. She was elected to the SRMUN Board of Directors in 2006 and will complete her term in 2008.


Dr. Kirsten Rafferty Taylor, Member at Large

Kirsten Taylor was elected to the SRMUN Board in 2007. She is Assistant Professor of Government and International Studies at Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia, where she is also faculty advisor to Berry's Model United Nations club. Kirsten received her doctorate in Political Science from McGill University in Montreal Canada. Her research interests include international security and international organizations. With Richard Mansbach, she is coauthor of Introduction to Global Politics (Routledge, 2007).


Dr. Cindy Combs, Member Ex-Officio

Cindy Combs received her doctorate in Political Science from George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1984. She is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, teaching at the University since 1988. She became the faculty advisor for the University's Model UN organization in 1990. Cindy has served as a member of the SRMUN Board of Directors since the conference conception in 1991, as well as on the board of the National Model UN and the Carolinas Model UN Conferences. Dr. Combs is the author of the text, Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, (Prentice-Hall, in its 4th edition, 2006), and with Martin Slann has co-edited the Encyclopedia of Terrorism (Facts on File, revised edition, 2007). She has been the recipient of the Bank of America Teaching Award (1997), the Bonnie Cone Distinguished Professorship of Teaching (2003), and in 2005 the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year for North Carolina Award. She has served as a member of a national Task Force on Terrorism; a consultant for local, state, regional, and national law enforcement agencies on terrorism; and a resource person for more than eighteen years with a wide range of educational, religious and media groups seeking to deal with the role of terrorism in the contemporary world.


Dr. Martin Slann, Member Ex-Officio

Martin Slann received his doctorate in political science from the University of Georgia. He is a long-time member of the American and Midwest Political Science Associations. He is a former member and chair of the political science faculty at Clemson University and a former faculty member and Director of Academic Affairs at Pennsylvania State University Wilkes-Barre. He is currently the chair of the Division of Social Sciences at Macon State College. He has been the faculty advisor for the Model United Nations student organization at all three institutions. With Cindy Combs, he has co-edited the Encyclopedia of Terrorism (Facts on File, revised edition, 2007) and is the author of Introduction to Politics: Governments and Nations in the Twenty-First Century, 4th ed. (Thomson Learning, 2006). He has received awards for advisement excellence at Clemson University and Penn State. Teaching and research interests include Middle East Politics and political terrorism. Along with Cindy Combs, Dr. Slann has served on the SRMUN Board of Directors since the conference's genesis in 1991.


Dr. Rashid Naim, Member Ex-Officio

Rashid Bio.


Christy Moore, Member Ex-Officio

Christy Bio.


Xiaoyi Wang, Member Ex-Officio, Secretary-General Emeritus

Xiaoyi Wang is currently working in Shenyang, China as an Industrial Engineer for Michelin Tire Coorporation. In 2005, she graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science in Biosystems Engineering with a focus in Biotechnology and minors in Bioengineering and International Relations. 2007 marks Xiaoyi's 10th year in Model UN and her 5th year with SRMUN. She previously served as the Secretary-General (SRMUN XVII), as well as several years as a Director and Assistant Director. Prior to her time with SRMUN, she served as the President of Clemson MUN from 2003-2005. In the summer of 2005, Xiaoyi studied economics and law with the American Institute of Political and Economic Studies in Prague, Czech Republic. Her interests include international health, human rights law, travel and learning new languages. She is originally from Shanghai, China.


Michael B Gaspar, Executive Director - Finance

Michael B. Gaspar was raised and is currently living in the New York City area. He graduated from Pace University with his combined Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in public accounting and minors in political science and history. After graduation Mike went to work in the public accounting field concentrating in corporate and partnership taxation at such firms as Arthur Andersen, LLP and Ernst & Young, LLP. Mike has been attending SRMUN since 1998 where he started as a first time Model UN delegate. Since then, he has attended close to forty Model UN conferences across North America. Mike has served at SRMUN as a four time director, including committees such as the General Assembly Plenary and World Bank and then as Secretary of the Board of Directors in 2005. This is currently his second year as the Executive Director of Finance for SRMUN, Inc. Mike has also served on the staff of several other conferences including the National Model UN where he recently served as the Deputy Chief of Staff. In addition, Mike has also assisted in many Model UN conferences for middle school and high school students, including conferences that were held in such places as the United Nations Headquarters and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Currently, Mike is an owner of a construction firm in the tri-state specializing in urban grounds improvements. In the near future, Mike intends to sit for the Certified Public Accounting exam and return to graduate school to study real estate development.


Jill Dawson, Executive Director - Operations

Jill Dawson is a Georgia native and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Berry College in 2001. She graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate in Comparative and International Law in 2005. She is a former intern and special legal consultant for Human Rights Watch, and assisted in the recent publication of a compendium on the caselaw of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In 2006, Jill served as a stagiaire at the European Court of Justice as a fellow with the Dean Acheson Legal Scholarship Program. She is currently teaching Political Science courses at Macon State College. This will serve as her eighth SRMUN conference, and third as Executive Director of Operations. Jill has previously directed the African Union, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Law Commission and served as Secretary-General of SRMUN XVI.