Nicolas was the Associate Director at IES Abroad Nantes for a year and a half prior to becoming Center Director. Previously at the Université de Nantes, Nicolas was the European Project Manager specializing in Social Sciences and Humanities and coordinating activities of international researchers specialized in the History of Religions. He also worked on research project funding proposals for the European Research Council (ERC), the French National Research Agency (ANR), and regional funds. He earned his master’s degree in arts, literature, and languages at the Université de Nantes, having wrote his thesis on American contemporary literature. Nicolas has also spent parts of his education and professional career abroad in the United Kingdom and the United States.

A native of Nagoya, Dr. Satoshi Tsukamoto has been the Director of the IES Abroad Center in Nagoya since 2000. He earned his Ph.D. in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University. His fields of study include the philosophy of education, multicultural education, cultural studies, and qualitative research methods. In addition to his work for IES Abroad, he is a professor in the Department of International Communications at Aichi University in Nagoya.

For more than 25 years, Roberto Andreoni has been the Director of the Milan program. Dr. Andreoni holds a Ph.D. in Music from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his undergraduate degrees at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan. He has previously served as the director of the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan. Dr. Andreoni is an internationally recognized composer whose works are regularly commissioned, performed, published, and recorded. Dr. Andreoni also serves as the Cluster Dean of the IES Abroad Italian Centers and is a professor of Composition at the Conservatorio di Musica A.Boito in Parma. In 2010, he was the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for Music and Italian Studies at Scripps College.

Dr. Elvira Muñoz has been the IES Abroad Madrid Center Director since 2005. She served a two-year appointment as Associate Director for the Education Abroad program at the University of California Madrid. Her association with the University of California began at UCLA, where she was a Lecturer and Associate Undergraduate Vice Chair of the Mathematics Department, 2000–2002, and visiting Assistant Professor, 1995–2000. Dr. Muñoz received two Distinguished Teaching awards during her career at UCLA. She also has taught Mathematics at State University of New York at Stony Brook, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Mathematics from Université Paris XI, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Universidad de Salamanca. Her considerable experience abroad also includes work and study in Germany, Sweden, and Brazil.

John brings over 25 years of experience with IES Abroad, including seven years with IES Abroad Milan and nearly three years with IES Abroad Siena before coming to IES Abroad London. Here, he oversees all programs in London and Oxford. During his time in Siena, John developed and implemented a banner program with a strong focus on cultural immersion and academic rigor. In Milan, he played a key role in improving and developing the Milan program, notably in the areas of student housing, student activities, orientation, and supervision of the student services staff. Prior to working for IES Abroad, John received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Italian Literature and Art History from Brigham Young University and worked in Geneva for the United Nations.

Merle Peitsmeyer has worked in multiple capacities at IES Abroad since 2002. Among her many accomplishments, Merle was instrumental in designing our Environment Studies & Science academic program, in addition to managing IES Abroad’s relationship with Universität Freiburg, which allows our students the opportunity to enroll in courses with local students in a variety of disciplines. She studied abroad at a young age in Brazil and Southern California, and carried out various internships in the US, which ignited her passion for international education. Merle is an alumna of the University of Freiburg with a degree in Political Science and English.

Megan Markey earned an MBA in Education Management from the Institute of Education, University of London and a Masters in Sociology from University College Dublin. Employed by IES Abroad since 2004, Megan teaches our community-based learning seminar, Service Learning: Youth Engagement and Education in Ireland. She has also taught qualitative research for the Sociology Department at University College Dublin. Megan was the Assistant Director of the Dublin Center from 2010-2014 and became the Center Director in 2015. 

Leona Harris is the Center Director in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her Ph.D. in Education from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury was on the linguistic landscapes of educational settings. She is an advocate for enhancing the presence of te reo Māori and linguistic diversity in physical and virtual spaces. Leona has over two decades of experience in national and international education, research, and development. She values whanaungatanga sense of belonging, manaakitanga kindness, and whakamana empowerment.  

David Reiersgord is the Center Director and Academic Manager at IES Abroad Cape Town. He holds a Master of Arts in English Literature from Stellenbosch University, where his thesis focused on metaphors of narrative in South African author Marlene van Niekerk’s novels Triomf (1995) and Agaat (2004). He has taught in the English and Linguistics Departments at the University of Stellenbosch, as part of the Extended Degree Programme, and worked as the Assistant Director of AIFS – Stellenbosch, with American exchange students. His research interests are in South African politics, fiction, narrative form, narrative temporalities, non-human histories and the relationship between the individual and the nation. He writes political commentary in South Africa’s online publication Daily Maverick, and reviews books in South Africa’s print newspaper Business Day.