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 2010 SRMUN Board of Directors are:

Laura Merrell, President
Laura Merrell is currently pursuing her Master's of Public Health at the University of South Florida. Focusing on both Global Health and Maternal and Child Health, Laura has worked with women suffering from obstetric fistula in Niger, low-income people living with HIV/AIDS in Tampa, and will be working with a community-based health and development program in rural India in the summer of 2010. In 2003, she graduated from UNCG with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Studies. 2010 marks Laura's 11th year with SRMUN as both a delegate and a staff member. She began serving on SRMUN staff in 2003, 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. Laura has previously served on the Board of Directors as the the Director General Emerita and Vice President.


Dr. Erika Pfeiler, Vice-President
Erika Pfeiler recieved her Ph.D. in Genomic Sciences from North Carolina State University in 2009. She currently holds a Commissioner's Fellowship with the United States Food and Drug Administration where she plays a role in the review of dietary supplement products. Erika has been active in Model United Nations for several years, first with the University of Tennessee High School Model United Nations (2000-2004, serving as Secretary-General in 2004) and more recently with SRMUN. Erika has held the positions of Assistant Undersecretary-General for Conference Services, Undersecretary-General for Conference Services, and served as Secretary-General for SRMUN XVIII and XIX.


Earl Fields, Secretary



Tonya Thorton-Neaves, Member at Large
Tonya Thornton-Neaves is a Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Center and Co-Director of the Mississippi Model Security Council for the Department of Political Science and Public Administration both of Mississippi State University. Currently, while at MSU, Tonya is pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Public Policy and Administration from Mississippi State University, where she also holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy and Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Geosciences. Some of her honors while at MSU include being named as the University's Outstanding Graduate Woman, the Department of Political Science and Public Administration's Outstanding Graduate and Undergraduate Student, and the Order of Omega's Outstanding Faculty/Staff of the Year. Tonya's honor societies include, Pi Alpha, Alpha and Pi Sigma Alpha, and she is a current member of the American Society of Public Administrators and the Academy of Political Science. Tonya's current research portfolio includes working as a researcher with the Public Safety Data Laboratory for the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and a Co-Pi on the 2008 Presidential Climate Study. For the past several years, Tonya has also coordinated a foreign exchange program with the University of Catania in Italy, and, more recently, with the University of Zagreb in Croatia. This year marks Tonya's ninth year as being a Model UNer, with former experience as being Secretary General of MMSC and Security Council Director and Assistant Director of SRMUN, where she now serves a Faculty Board Member-at-Large.


Dr. Emmanuel Naniuzeyi, Member at Large
Dr. Emmanuel Naniuzeyi is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Education Center at Savannah State University. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Naniuzeyi holds a B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration from the National University of Zaire, a M.A. in International Affairs from Ohio University, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Atlanta University. His teaching and research interest are in Comparative Politics, African Politics, International Relations, and Political Economy. Dr. Naniuzeyi is the former Executive Director of the Center for Research on the Congo, a position that he held for 10 years. In addition to his articles in the Journal of Black Studies and the Journal of African American studies, Dr. Naniuzeyi is the co-author of the book titled �Governance, Conflict Analysis, and Conflict Resolution�. For over twenty years, Dr. Naniuzeyi has exposed students to international and intercultural experiences through the Model United Nations program. His students had the opportunity to participate in various Model UN conferences held respectively in Scotland, China, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, Switzerland, England, and the Netherlands. He also had the privilege to organize Model UN conferences in Murcia, Spain in 1998 and 1999. Dr. Naniuzeyi is married to Connie, a Registered Nurse, and they both have two children: Emmanuel Jr., Senior at Elon University in North Carolina and Yvette, Sophomore at Loyola University in New Orleans.


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. Vilma Fuentes, Member Ex-Officio



Cardell Johnson, Member Ex-Officio, Secretary-General Emeritus
Cardell received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Alma College in 2002 and his Masters of Public Affairs in Environmental Policy, Policy Analysis and Conflict Resolution from Indiana University. Currently, he works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in Washington D.C. as a Senior Policy and Budget Analyst. Cardell has been involved in various Model United Nations Conferences for the past ten years.


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 joined the Macon State faculty in January of 2008 and teaches American Government and Constitutional Law courses. She graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctor in International and Comparative Law in 2005 and is currently working towards her PhD in Political Science at Georgia State University. In 2006, Jill served as a stagiaire at the European Court of Justice as a fellow with the Dean Acheson Legal Scholarship Program. She has been involved with the Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference for 10 years, previously serving as a committee director and Secretary General before joining the Board of Directors as Executive Director of Operations.


Kate Logan, Executive Director - Advancement
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. Wayne Pfeiler, Executive Director - Information and Technology
Wayne Pfeiler is a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University in Durham, NC. He just completed 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. Wayne served as Secretary for the SRMUN Board of Directors for two years, then President for two years before being appointed as the Executive Director for Information and Technology.