Board of Directors

Central Asia Institute’s Board of Directors bring many years of leadership experience, expertise, and a depth of understanding of the cultures of where we work and the people we serve. They come to CAI from a range of fields including education, management, finance, corporate governance, and law.

If you are interested in becoming a CAI Board Member, please review the CAI Board Criteria, submit a letter of interest and your resume or curriculum vitae (CV) to info@ikat.org.

Steve Barrett – Board Chair
Steve Barrett is a native Montanan and worked as a lawyer in Bozeman for more than 35 years, first with Kirwan & Barrett and for the last several years of counsel with the firm of CrowleyFleck, PLLP. Steve recently concluded a seven-year term on the Board of Regents of the Montana University System where he served as Vice Chair and Chair. Steve was previously general counsel, senior vice president and CEO of Video Lottery Technologies, Inc (formerly NASDQ VLTS). He has also served on several nonprofit Boards, including Eagle Mount and Big Sky Owners Association. Steve earned his BS from Montana State University and his JD from Pepperdine University School of Law. Steve has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

Talat Khan – Board Member
Talat Khan is a retired teacher and philanthropist. Talat taught Chemistry at PECHS College for Women, Karachi for 13 years before emigrating to the U.S where she obtained a teaching credential and continued teaching Chemistry in San Francisco public schools for 23 years. More recently, Talat has developed and sponsored several educational and community initiatives in Pakistan including: classroom expansions, library materials, the “One Laptop Per Child” program, scholarship, and food programs. Talat has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

George E. McCown – Board Member
George E. McCown was chairman, co-founder, and managing director of McCown De Leeuw & Co. Inc. LLC (“MDC”) of Foster City, California and is a co-founder and operating director, American Infrastructure MLP Funds. He spent his early years with Boise Cascade Corporation, ultimately as senior VP, building materials group and president, Boise Cascade Home and Land Corp. His current business affiliations include chairman of the board, Oxford Resource Partners, LP (NYSE: OXF), Tunnel Hill Partners, LLC, Gold Run Aviation LLC and Sequoia Corp. and a director of United Bridge Partners, LLC. Previously he has been a chairman, vice chairman, and/or a director of over 40 private and public companies. He is a founding director of ChrysCap, a leading private equity firm in India; chairman emeritus of the World Business Academy; immediate past chair of Outward Bound USA and a director of the American Himalayan Foundation, the Bay Area Council, and Six Seconds, Inc. He is a former trustee of Stanford University; overseer of the Hoover Institution; director of the Packard Children’s Hospital and president of the Stanford Alumni Association. He currently is a member of Stanford Associates, the World Presidents Organization (presiding member of WPO/NCC Investors LLC), the Chief Executives Organization, Explorers Club and the Bohemian Club. He received a BS in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard University, where he worked as an assistant to Professor Georges F. Doriot, founder of American Research & Development Corp., following service as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, Strategic Air Command. He is married to Karen Stone McCown, founder of the Nueva, Six Seconds and Synapse Schools. They have 8 children, 13 grandchildren and reside in Portola Valley, CA. George has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since December 2013.

Greg Mortenson – Board Member, Ex-officio
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of Central Asia Institute (1996), co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea, and author of the bestseller Stones into Schools. Greg has dedicated 20 years of his life to promoting peace through education in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Farid Senzai – Board Member
Farid Senzai is a Fellow and the Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). He is also Assistant Professor of Political Science at Santa Clara University. Farid was previously a research associate at the Brookings Institution, where he studied U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, and a research analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as a consultant for Oxford Analytica and the World Bank. He is currently on the advisory board of The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. His recent co-authored book is “Educating the Muslims of America” (Oxford University Press, 2009). Farid received an M.A. in international affairs from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in politics and international relations from Oxford University. Farid has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

Iram Shah – Board Vice Chair
Iram Shah is a global marketing executive with 20 years of experience in marketing, general management, and business development in Fortune 20 companies and has held senior executive positions in companies such as Coca Cola, BP, Quaker Oats and Zurich Financial. She has worked and lived in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. Iram received her MBA degree in finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and attended postgraduate programs at Harvard and Kellogg Business Schools. She has won the Asian Jewel Award for business professionals and was included in the list of ‘Power 100’ Asians in UK in 2005. Iram has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

Howard T. Slayen – Board Member
Howard Slayen has over 35 years of professional services and financial operating management experience working in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and tax advisory for private equity firms, middle market operating companies, venture-backed technology companies, and multi-national conglomerates. For 30 years, Howard was with one of the major international accounting and professional services firms holding a number of management and leadership positions at both the national and regional level. Most recently, he has served on a number of boards of directors for public, private and nonprofit organizations. Howard holds an A.B. in Economics from Claremont McKenna and a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley (Boalt). He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and attorney (inactive) in the State of California. Howard has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

Peter Thatcher – Board Treasurer
Peter Thatcher is a retired international finance and management executive. Early in his career he spent nearly two years in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. He studied Middle Eastern history during summers at Harvard University, and earned an M.A. in food research at Stanford University in 1966. His career included living in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Cairo, Egypt, Moscow, and Vladivostok, Russia. In Washington, DC, he worked for the US Agency for International Development as Senior Agribusiness Advisor for the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. In Bozeman, Peter served at both the Montana State University College of Agriculture and Engineering Research Center. Peter has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

John E. (Jed) Williamson – Board Secretary
John E. “Jed” Williamson is the Past President of Sterling College in Vermont and of the American Alpine Club. He was on the faculty of the U. of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1982. In retirement, he serves as a consultant in education and outdoor pursuits and specializes in quality, risk management, and accreditation reviews. He has been the editor of “Accidents in North American Mountaineering” since 1974 and is the co-author of the Association for Experiential Education’s Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs. He has been a director, program director, and instructor for U.S. Outward Bound, Executive Director of the United States Biathlon Association, and has served on several nonprofit Boards. Jed received his B.A. in English Lit. and his M. Ed from the University of New Hampshire. Jed has been a member of CAI’s Board of Directors since July 2012.

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Emeritus Advisors

Abdul Jabbar, PhD
CAI Board Director / Board Chair emeritus 2003 – 2013
Professor
City College of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Karen McCown
CAI Board Director emeritus 2003 – 2013
Founder Nueva School (Hillsborough, CA)
San Francisco, CA

Julia Bergman
CAI Board Director / Board Chair emeritus 1997 – 2009
Retired librarian
San Francisco, CA

Andrew Marcus, Ph.D.
CAI Board Director / Board Chair emeritus 1996-2004
Chairman – Dept of Geography
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR

Dr. Jean Hoerni (1924-1997) in memory
CAI Co-founder / Board Chair emeritus 1996-1997
Seattle, WA

Thomas Vaughan MD (1937-2009) in memory
CAI Board Director / Board Chair emeritus 1996-2005
St. Francis Hospital, UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA