ASFAR Board of Directors and Officers

The ASFAR Board of Directors

ASFAR&s all-volunteer Board of Directors is directly responsible for the long-term management of ASFAR. Our team of seven Directors, including four Board officers, is selected from the membership annually to serve a term of one year. The Board values your input on issues related to the future and long-term health of ASFAR.

President: Svend la Rose

Svend la Rose has been active in youth rights since 2002, when he became active as a student rights advocate through his high school student union. He was the Research and Education Director for the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) until December 2005.

La Rose became president of ASFAR in March 2006. His current focus is on developing and expanding ASFAR's national volunteer staff and resources for activists in the field. In addition to these duties, he is the acting regional director for the Far West (California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawai'i and the Pacific Rim). He has been admitted as a junior in the College of Letters and Science, University of California, Berkeley, for the spring semester 2008.

Vice-President: Alexandra Pell

Alex Pell is a self-taught author and activist from Akron, Ohio. She is the research and education officer of ASFAR and was elected to the Board in 2007. On 3 December 2007, she informed ASFAR that she would seek re-election to the Board for the year 2008.

Secretary: Susan Wishnetsky

Susan Wishnetsky, a librarian in Chicago, Illinois, has been a believer in equal rights for youth for as long as she can remember, possibly since she was born in 1958. She would like ASFAR to focus initially on increasing its membership, developing a large collection of research materials, and producing a publication, to establish the respectability of the group. Further down the road, she envisions greater involvement in protests and political activity.

Wishnetsky has served on the Board since 1999, and has served as secretary since 2003. On 4 December 2007, she announced that she will seek re-election to the Board and re-appointment as secretary for the year 2008.

Director: Jacob Kafka

Jacob Kafka was elected to the ASFAR Board in 2007. He previously served on the Board in 2003 and again in 2005. He has informed ASFAR that he will not run for re-election in 2008.

Director: Yonaton (Yoni) Yares

Yoni Yares was appointed to the Board of Directors in July 2007. He is currently the treasurer of the Rutgers University Student Assembly.