Jody K. Olsen, PhD
Co-President
Josephine (Jody) Olsen served as Peace Corps Director, 2018 – 2021. In March, 2020, because of the COVID outbreak, she led the nine day evacuation of all 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers from 61 countries. Jody was a Peace Corps Volunteer, Tunisia, 1966-1968, and has served the agency in five other senior positions, including Deputy Director. Her memoir about her decades of Peace Corps service, A Million Miles, My Peace Corps Journey, was published Oct., 2024.For a decade, Jody was Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore and director of the Center for Global Education. In the 90’s, she was Director of the organization that manages the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program. Today she co-chairs Women of Peace Corps Legacy (WPCL), and is chair of the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation Park Advisory Committee and the Univ. of MD, College of Education Board of Visitors. Jody received a BS from the University of Utah, and a Master’s and PhD from the University of Maryland. Her many awards include University of Maryland President’s Award, University of Utah’s alumni of the year award, and two honorary doctorates. She has also been a Resident Fellow at the IOP Harvard Kennedy School.
Kimberly Murphy
Co-President
Kimberly Murphy, a seasoned Professional Certified Coach specializing in career transitions, recently concluded a 33-year tenure in federal service, retiring from the Department of State’s Foreign Service in November 2023. Her journey began in 1990 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka, setting the stage for a career dedicated to service and impact. Building on this foundation, she advanced her commitment to international development while pursuing graduate studies at George Washington University. In May 2000, Kimberly embarked on a new chapter in her career by joining the Foreign Service as a Management Generalist. Over the ensuing fifteen years, she served in various management and consular capacities across diverse locations, including Guyana, Colombia, Uganda, Eswatini, Iraq, and Bosnia. In 2015, while on a domestic assignment in Washington, DC, Kimberly enhanced her professional toolkit by undertaking coaching certification. This decision marked a pivotal moment, as she dedicated much of the following eight years at the Foreign Service Institute coaching and training colleagues in navigating career transitions with confidence and resilience. Today, Kimberly remains deeply committed to empowering individuals in their professional journeys as they navigate their own paths toward success and fulfillment. Her current endeavors include providing tailored career coaching, facilitating impactful training sessions, actively engaging in Rotary Club membership, and contributing her time and expertise to various volunteer initiatives.
Erin Gibbs
Treasurer
Erin Gibbs is the Director of the Habitat AmeriCorps program at Habitat for Humanity International. Previously, Erin spent a decade working for Peace Corps in various roles both at headquarters and country offices in Romania and Cambodia.
Erin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Macedonia (2007-2009), working in the Community Development sector to increase efficiencies and productivity for a local municipality. While in Macedonia, Erin also worked with marginalized Roma youth furthering their education and leadership skills and opportunities.
Carol Barrick-Murillo
Mentorship Committee Co-Chair
Carol has had the honor of serving with the Peace Corps in the IAP region across three decades. Carol started as a graduate intern (SIT) then as a contract trainer with the Peace Corps Latin American Ag Training Center in the 80’s. Then as DPT in Costa Rica in the 90’s, and as DPT & CD with Peace Corps Nicaragua, 2007-2013. Her final Peace Corps tour was as CD with Peace Corps Costa Rica 2013-2015. Between Peace Corps tours, she worked as Career Planning Director & in employment training programs with colleges In Oregon, Pennsylvania & California. Carol is currently a Life & Career Coach, living in Costa Rica. Her passion is Empowering Idealists to Make a Difference!
Susan Olson
Fundraising Committee
Susan Olson currently serves on WPCL’s Fundraising Committee. She is an experienced foreign affairs specialist who worked to advance women’s health and rights for most of her career with the federal government. She spent 10 years serving as the Senior Population Policy Advisor for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration where she represented the USG at the United Nations in multilateral negotiations to reduce maternal mortality and address gender-based violence, particularly in humanitarian settings. Before joining the State Department, she worked as an APCD/Health supportingVolunteers assigned to an HIV&AIDS Mitigation project in eSwatini. Prior to this, she served as a Country Desk Officer for several countries in Africa. Susan earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Health and Human Services Management from The Pennsylvania State University and a BA in Political Science and French. She served as an agriculture/nutrition volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa.
Kathleen M. Corey
Podcast Committee Co-Chair
Kathleen Corey, who goes by “Corey”, facilitates leadership and orientation courses at FSI. She is a public diplomacy-coned retired Foreign Service Officer working in Honduras, Argentina, and Mexico. Corey worked on the Afghan Task Force designing a training a cross-cultural curriculum for Afghans resettling in the US. She has extensive experience with Peace Corps serving as Country Director in both Sri Lanka and North Macedonia, as well as the Asia-Pacific Regional Director. She negotiated bilateral Peace Corps country agreements for China and Cambodia and led the establishment of 15 Peace Corps programs in the former Soviet Union states and China. Corey held leadership positions as the President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Seattle where she served on the National World Affairs Council board and as the Executive Director of World Vision Seattle and Tacoma, where she was part of a thirteen-person leadership team of World Vision USA. Corey also taught a graduate-level applied linguistics course at George Mason University.Corey was a cross-cultural and ESL trainer for nine years after the Vietnam war in refugee camps in Southeast Asia and Africa, preparing Lao, Cambodian,Vietnamese, and Ethiopian refugees for resettlement in the U.S. Corey was a Peace Corps Volunteer and Volunteer Leader in Liberia, West Africa.
Maryann Minutillo
Committee Member
Maryann has an extensive career in international development and public service. She was Peace Corps Country Director in Bolivia, Acting Regional Director and Chief of Operations for the Inter-America and Pacific Region and Senior Advisor to six Directors of Peace Corps.Prior to her work at Peace Corps, Maryann was Director of the Department of State’s Family Liaison Office where she oversaw community, education and family support programs at the State Department and United States Embassies throughout the world. She lived and worked in Bahrain as a teacher trainer for nurses and midwives at the faculty of the College of Health Sciences and spearheaded a United Nations funded project aimed at improving pre-natal care and reducing infant mortality through work with trained midwives and traditional birth attendants in rural communities. Maryann is a founding member of Women of Peace Corps Legacy and has served as a mentor for mid-level professionals at Peace Corps for WPCL since the program began. Throughout her life, Maryann has had a strong interest in cultural adaptation and the impact of international transition and crisis situations on families and particularly on women’s careers.