Staff

Program Coordinator – Augusta Girard

Board of Directors

President – Paul L. Hodel

Vice President - Susan Yolen

Secretary – James C. Van Pelt

Treasurer – Jeffry Larson

Director – Frances Frazier Elliott and Kate Frazier (Share)

Advisory Board

Martin Cherniack MD, chair

Steven Massey

Johnathan Schell

Al Marder

Board of Directors

Paul L. Hodel, President – (2006-present) is PEP’s longest- serving Board member (1976-present). He is the former founding director of the Peace & Justice Center in New Haven. His is active in the Society of Friends (Quakers) and its peace activities. A graduate of the Yale Divinity School and a former member of its alumni board, Paul lives in New Haven with his wife Pat Wallace, a senior administrator in the city’s government. Together and separately they have attended hundreds of peace marches, demonstrations, and related events. Paul teaches on peace and nonviolence topics at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven.

Susan Yolen Vice President – Since 1987, Susan has been Vice President for Public Affairs and Communication at Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, where she oversees that agency’s government affairs and advocacy programs. Susan is a graduate of Hobart & William Smith Colleges where she currently serves as a member of the board of trustees. She received her masters in liberal studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. She has served on many boards and committees in the New Haven area. She was the secretary of the board of the national Planned Parenthood Action Fund and serves on its federal PAC committee. Susan chaired the Connecticut Coalition for Choice for many years, and is a founding board member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Connecticut. In 2005, Susan received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Connecticut NOW, and in 2001 she received the “Sexuality Educator of the Year” award from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of Connecticut. Susan lives in New Haven with her husband, Tim. They have two grown children.

James Clement van Pelt, Secretary – James Clement van Pelt has served as the secretary of PEP since its revitalization began in 2007. He has been an active PEP member and volunteer since 1989, assisting in PEP’s Gandhi Peace Award program and PEP’s support of humanitarian programs and the Japan Peace Boat, among others, and representing PEP at the World Solidarity Congress in Cuba (1994). He has authored or coauthored various books and articles, including Peace Heroes: The Gandhi Peace Awards, and has co-founded several alternative institutions including the Miccosukee Land Cooperative, the Connecticut Folk Festival, and the Center for Participant Education at Florida State University. He has been a member of the Green Party since 2000. He has provided technology assistance to a variety of Connecticut progressive and charitable groups, and his technologist positions have included Senior Technology Advisor for the public school districts in central Connecticut; Director of Advanced Solutions for Dun & Bradstreet; and personal technology consultant to American Express and other corporations and non-profits. He holds a BA from Duke University and a Master of Arts in Religion (magna cum laude) from the Yale Divinity School, where he was a Research Fellow from 2003 to 2005 and an Instructor/Lecturer from 2005 to 2007. He has been a seminar leader and conference organizer at Yale’s Center for International and Area Studies, organized the 2008 annual conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (AAA), co-founded and currently coordinates Yale’s Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology, and represents Yale at various conferences relating to consciousness and science-religion studies.

Jeffry Larson, Treasurer – Jeffry was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the month after Hitler invaded Poland. He is a graduate of Scattergood Friends School and Haverford College, and has a doctorate in French from Yale University and a masters in librarianship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After teaching French and other humanities, he followed a career in academic librarianship ending at Yale University, whence he retired. He has been active in various peace and justice groups at the local or state level:The Nuclear Freeze, Sane-Freeze and Peace Action; Freeze Voter; 20/20 Vision; the Middle East Crisis Committee; the Connecticut AFSC Program; the Progressive Action Roundtable, laying out its Newsletter; the Connecticut Green Party; and Charles Pillsbury’s Congressional campaign.

Frances Frazier Elliott and Kate Frazier (2005-Present)

Board of Advisors

Martin Cherniack, MD, Chair

Steven Massey, Financial Advisor

Jonathan Schell

Alfred L. Marder (2000-2003, 2005-present), rejoined the Board to help lead the defense of PEP during the assault on its existence and assets.

Staff

Augusta Girard, Program Coordinator – Augusta is the newest member to join PEP as their program coordinator. Prior to PEP she was the Marketing and Communications Manager for The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford CT. Augusta has volunteered her time to 10,000 Villiages, Habitat for Humanity, Hartford Walk Against Hunger and Planned Parenthood. She holds 2 associate degrees from Middlesex Community College and a BS from Central Connecticut State University. She has been a long-time activist, beginning in the 1960′s, supporting civil rights and women’s rights. She has participated in non-violent direct action against the WTO, World Bank and participates in anti-war and workers rights actions.