Quick Links
Governance

Founding Members
Katharine Allen is the Language Access Training Specialist at Boostlingo, an interpretation software company. She is a community and conference-trained interpreter with over three decades of experience interpreting, training, and designing curricula. She is a licensed trainer and co-author for The Indigenous Interpreter®, The Community Interpreter® International, and the upcoming The Remote Interpreter® textbooks and training programs. She worked for 10 years to raise the profile of interpreting as co-President of InterpretAmerica. Katharine is a founding member of the American Association of Interpreting and Translation in Education (AAITE). Katharine has an MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Carla Fogaren, RN, Certified ADA Coordinator, has served as the System Director of Diversity Initiatives, Interpreter Services and ADA/504 and Section 1557 Coordinator for a large health care system with 42 hospitals, 6,000 providers in eleven states. Carla is a national consultant on language access, health disparities, disabilities, and regulatory requirements for hospitals. She had created and implemented bilingual clinical staff language assessment to comply with Section 1557. Carla has performed over sixty gap analyses for hospitals and clinics to assess compliance with The Joint Commission, DNV, ADA and other federal and state requirements. She participated in the creation of the International Medical Interpreters Association’s Standards of Practice and helped to promulgate the Interpreter Law in MA. Carla served as Vice President of the IMIA and was a founding member of FOCIS. She is currently the Vice-President of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care.
Cody Francisco holds the position as MasterWord’s Director of Interpreting Services, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and is the only Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) in the Houston, Texas area. He attended Oklahoma State University for his Bachelor’s in Human Resource: Organizational Development. He also attended Rochester Institute of Technology and obtained his Bachelors of Social Work and Master’s in Multidisciplinary Studies with a focus in Deaf Studies and Counseling.
Prior to joining MasterWord, he held leadership positions for a large Video Relay Service provider, Interpreting Agencies, and was a former representative for Region IV of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Cody carries over 18 years of experience in the industry as well as being an adjunct professor for several Interpreter Training Programs in Oklahoma and Texas. He has provided numerous of educational training for legal advocacy and solutions for effective communication, including in Emergency Management Training and Medical Interpreting. Cody has been awarded as a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID – Certification #49098).
Ludmila Golovine is the President and CEO of MasterWord Services, Inc., a top-ranked LSP globally. She has dedicated over 30 years to the language services industry, and for the past 15 years has been an international speaker/advocate for language rights and social justice. She is the Strategic Partnerships Manager for the Global Community Programs of Women in Localization, a founding member of the Global Coalition of Language Rights, member of TBAT (Texas Business Against Human Trafficking), active participant in the UN Global Compact Initiative, and chairs the Advisory Subcommittee for the Translation and Interpretation Program at the Houston Community College. Her work has been recognized by numerous awards, including California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) Trainer of the Year Award 2021, Houston Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business Award, and Congressional Recognition G7 “Excellence in International Service” award.
Winnie Heh has worn many different hats in the language industry – language instructor, translator, interpreter, professor of interpretation, senior executive and consultant. She is currently a Career Advisor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. In her business career, she has established and managed businesses in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, U.K. and China. As an educator, she aims to connect language students with the abundance of career opportunities in the language industry and to advocate for curriculum innovation in line with future talent needs. She earned her Master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She is a Board Member and the Secretary of the Board for California Health Care Interpreting Association as well as Women in Localization.
Eliana Lobo is a Portuguese court and healthcare interpreter, a trainer of trainers for language access professionals in healthcare and human services, and an adjunct professor of healthcare interpreting at Highline College. Nationally certified as a CoreCHI-Performance™ healthcare interpreter, Washington State DSHS medical interpreter, and Certified Trainer of Trainers (ToT) of medical interpreters. Formerly a Spanish/Portuguese translation supervisor, medical trauma center interpreter services Supervisor and Trainer, National Director of interpreter quality for a Language Service Provider, and a Portuguese and TEFL certified language teacher. CCHI Commissioner from 2015-2021. Currently serving a second term as an NCIHC Board member, Chairing the Standards & Training Committee, and voice hosting the STC podcast, “Interpreting in Healthcare”, and the “Home for Trainers” webinar series of the NCIHC.
Dr. Alan Melby
Raised in Indiana. Still identifies as a Hoosier (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier). Became fascinated with translation in the mid-1960s, while on study abroad in St Brieuc, France, as a high school student. Joined a machine translation project in 1970 while working on a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. By 1978, after obtaining a PhD in computational linguistics, experienced an intellectual crisis regarding the nature of language while an assistant professor of linguistics at Brigham Young University, concluding that unambiguous general language would be the ultimate prison but domain-specific language can and should be unambiguous. In 1979, shifted focus toward tools for human translators. In the 1980s, studied translation and became an ATA-certified French-to-English translator. In the 1990s, got into philosophy of language and wrote a book about human and machine translation (The possibility of Language) with a philosopher, Terry Warner.
In the 21st century, has focused on service to the translation profession, previously serving on the governing boards of ATA (www.antanet.org), then FIT (www.fit-ift.org), and currently (2022) serving as president of LTAC Global, a small non-profit, and collaborating on the development of translation-related standards, initially TBX (ISO 30042) for the exchange of information between terminological databases. In 2014, retired from full-time teaching and became an emeritus full professor. Since 2015, standards work has expanded to translation quality evaluation within the MQM framework (Multidimensional Quality Metrics for Translation Quality Evaluation) under the umbrella of ASTM International (www.astm.org), a standards body.
Natalya Mytareva is Executive Director of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, overseeing both organizational and test development aspects of CCHI since 2013, and a Commissioner of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. In 2000-2013, Natalya was Communications Director at the International Institute of Akron, a refugee resettlement agency in Ohio. She developed and taught several courses for healthcare and court interpreters, with the focus on languages of lesser diffusion. Natalya is a Russian interpreter/translator and started her career as instructor of interpretation/translation courses at Volgograd State University (Russia) in 1991. She holds a combined BA/MA degree from VSU in Philology & Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
Barry Slaughter Olsen is a language and technology consultant and a veteran conference interpreter and technophile with over 30 years of experience interpreting, training interpreters, and organizing language services. He built the Client Success team at the RSI and AI company KUDO from the ground up during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) from 2007 to 2022, and co-president of InterpretAmerica from 2009 to 2020. He is a member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC). Barry has been interviewed by international media (CNN, CBC, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS) about interpreting and translation. For updates on interpreting, technology, and training, follow him on Twitter @ProfessorOlsen or visit his website www.whataboutlanguage.com.
Hélène Pielmeier is a Senior Analyst at CSA Research. She focuses on LSP business management, strategic planning, sales and marketing strategy and execution, project and vendor management, quality process development, and interpreting technologies. Before joining CSA Research, Hélène was division president at Iverson Language Associates, a TransPerfect company.
Dr. Bill Rivers is Principal at WP Rivers & Associates. A former Russian/English translator and interpreter, Russian teacher, academic researcher and administrator, and for-profit and non-profit executive, he has more than 30 years’ experience in language advocacy and capacity at the national level, with significant experience in culture and language for economic development and national security in the Intelligence Community, private and academic sectors, and publications in second and third language acquisition research, proficiency assessment, program evaluation, and language policy development and advocacy. His company is contracted by the ALC for advocacy support.
Stakeholder Assembly Members
Katharine Allen
Language Access Training Specialist at Boostlingo
Katharine Allen is the Language Access Training Specialist at Boostlingo, an interpretation software company. She is a community and conference-trained interpreter with over three decades of experience interpreting, training, and designing curricula. She is a licensed trainer and co-author for The Indigenous Interpreter®, The Community Interpreter® International, and the upcoming The Remote Interpreter® textbooks and training programs. She worked for 10 years to raise the profile of interpreting as co-President of InterpretAmerica. Katharine is a founding member of the American Association of Interpreting and Translation in Education (AAITE). Katharine has an MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Patricia A Alonzo
CHI, CMI, M.Ed.
A trilingual Interpreter with twenty-five years in the field of interpreting. Her interpreting experience and background are working with Spanish LEP’s and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. She holds a BA Degree in ASL Interpreting a MA in Education, and currently a doctoral candidate with a research focus on LEP health outcomes in the clinical setting. Formerly, she worked for Stratus Video, in Language Operations and as VP of Language Operations for Universal Language Service. Her focus is in growing the field of medical interpreting and ensuring all individuals have the power and dignity to make healthcare decisions in their language.
Margarita Bekker
Assistant Manager at Stanford Health Care
Margarita Bekker, after relocating to the U.S., pursued her education at UC Berkeley. She has been with Stanford University Medical Center since 2002, rising from Russian interpreter to Assistant Manager. Additionally, Bekker has taught at the Glendon School of Translation and served as a language coach at CCSF. Her leadership roles include chairing the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters and presiding over the California Healthcare Interpreting Association.
In 2016, Margarita received the CCHI Interpreter of the Year award.
Viviana Bernabe
Director, Global Interpretation Services at Welocalize
Viviana Bernabe is the Director of Global Interpretation Services at Welocalize. She has over 13 years in various aspects of language services including, Globalization, Localization, AI, and Interpreting with background in Project Management and Program Management. With the ever-changing landscape of live events and services, including increased integrations of multilingual meeting and event technologies over the last couple of years, Vivi is combining her expertise across different language services to promote a more well-rounded event globalization focus for an elevated end-to-end user experience.
Lyn Bongiovanni
Manager of Language Services at Western Health, Melbourne Australia
My name is Lyn Bongiovanni and I am the Manager of Language Services at Western Health in Melbourne, Australia. I have been a Manager of Language Services for over 30 years at two different health services. My current employment is at one of the largest and busiest Health Service in Melbourne. We are located in the West of Melbourne which has a huge population of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse patients. I have a degree in Interpreting and Translating and I am a NAATI Certified Italian interpreter and Translator, both directions. I have a keen interest in AI and how AI will influence the future of interpreting services.
Antje Bormann
Conference Interpreter DE(A), EN(B), ES(C)
Having invented ‘shadowing’ the radio news as a game to entertain myself at pre-school age was probably the clearest indication of where I would go professionally. I finished my studies in linguistics at Leipzig University, Germany, with a diploma as Sprachmittler for EN and ES. I spent the next 26 years as a free-market interpreter, immersing myself in the English language, mentality, culture and politics, now doing the same in France. Having observed the ‘uberisation’ of interpreting before the word even existed and seeing interpreters being denied the benefits of AI while being threatened to be displaced by it, I decided I had to act.
Kirsten Brecht
CEO at Jeenie
Kirsten Brecht Baker is a tech entrepreneur with 15+ years of experience building companies that leverage innovative technology to solve everyday problems. Currently, she is CEO & Co-Founder of Jeenie – a mobile, multilingual communication platform. Under her leadership, Jeenie has been recognized as a Top Innovative Company by Fast Company, a Best in Business company by Inc. Magazine. Prior to Jeenie, she co-founded four other companies focused on online digital marketplaces, tech-enabled platforms, and cross-cultural market development. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at Univ of Penn, BA in Political Science & Russian from UPenn.
Tatiana Cestari
Director of Language Service Advocacy at UpHealth
Tatiana González-Cestari, PhD, CHI-Spanish has 23 years of combined experience in pharmacy, pharmacology, research, management, and remote interpreting. Tatiana’s passions are quality, research, innovation, and cultures. She is Director of Language Service Advocacy at UpHealth; part of the NCIHC Policy, Education and Research committee; and co-author of The Remote Interpreter textbook. Tatiana has mentored, developed training, presented at national and international events, published peer-reviewed articles, and lectured at universities. Tatiana obtained her pharmacy degree and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Ivannia Charpentier
Project Manager at AMN Healthcare Language Services
Ivannia Charpentier currently contributes at AMN Healthcare as a Project Manager developing and implementing fully compliant Language Access Plans at Health Systems. As a project manager, she also leads project efforts through collaboration with internal teams to operationalize new products or services. At AMN Healthcare, she has also served as a Language Manager for a large Spanish Interpreting team. Ivannia is also a Spanish Interpreter with over 18 years of experience facilitating effective communication.
Alessandra Checcarelli
Freelance Conference Interpreter
Professional conference interpreter, translator and live subtitler with respeaking since 2010, after obtaining a BA degree in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation and a MA degree in Conference Interpreting in Rome. Since 2013 former board member and currently member of the International Association of Respeaking onA.I.R.-Intersteno Italy.
Kathleen K. Diamond
Principal Consultant at Kathleen Diamond & Co.
Kathleen Diamond is a consultant, entrepreneur, and business leader in the language services industry. She volunteers her time advocating for the importance, and relevance of language services as a Charter Member of the Association of Language Companies (ALC) and Chair, ASTM F43 Language Services and Products. She is a member in good standing of ATA. She is the Founding Chair of ALC Bridge. She completed a six-year term as a Founding Commissioner on the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) Kathleen has served Board of Director Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Company in Alexandria, VA. She is a Stakeholder, SAFE-AI.
Mickaël Dimon ADIMI
Interpreter-Translator and EFL Teacher at Mountain Top Vision Li language institute
Passionate about languages, I studied English at the university of Abomey-Calavi and graduated with a Master’s degree. I worked at LDP Communication language institute from 2015 to 2020 as EFL Teacher, Translator and interpreter before starting own language institute in 2022 where we teach English, French and Fon, translate documents and provide interpretation services. I have been working with several organizations as interpreter including SOS Children’s village international office, PLACE for Africa NGO. I am about to start a Master conference Interprétation to specialize to learn more about the field.
Tamas Farkas
Director of Language Access Programs at Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP)
Tamas is the Director of Language Access Programs for CCHCP: Bridging the Gap medical interpreting training and Connecting to Care: Patient Guide training. Tamas is a linguist, trainer and interpreter, with fluency in five languages. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he attended the Metropolitan State University of Denver, spending one year abroad in Switzerland studying at the University of Fribourg. After graduating with a B.A. in German and French, he spent a year in San Juan, Puerto Rico learning Spanish. He worked as a medical interpreter before becoming a manager, trainer, and director.
Deborah Giustini
Doctor at HBKU; KU Leuven
Deborah Giustini, Ph.D (University of Manchester) is Assistant Professor at HBKU and Research Fellow in Interpreting Studies at KU Leuven. She is also a conference and community-trained interpreter, member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) and Executive Council member of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS), with over a decade of experience in interpreting and intercultural communication consulting for corporate and institutional organizations. Bridging academic and professional practice, she has conducted multiple international projects on the digitalization of the language industry.
Ludmila Golovine
President & CEO at MasterWord Services, Inc.
Ludmila Golovineis the President and CEO of MasterWord Services, Inc., a top-ranked LSP globally. She has dedicated over 30 years to the language services industry, and for the past 15 years has been an international speaker/advocate for language rights and social justice. She is the Strategic Partnerships Manager for the Global Community Programs of Women in Localization, a founding member of the Global Coalition of Language Rights, member of TBAT (Texas Business Against Human Trafficking), active participant in the UN Global Compact Initiative, and chairs the Advisory Subcommittee for the Translation and Interpretation Program at the Houston Community College. Her work has been recognized by numerous awards, including California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) Trainer of the Year Award 2021, Houston Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business Award, and Congressional Recognition G7 “Excellence in International Service” award.
Elizabeth González Soto
Language Justice/Language Access Practitioner
Elizabeth is a Transformative Justice leader and consultant specializing in language justice and access, cultural proficiency, and organizational development. They created the first Cultural Navigation & Language Access programs for an Early Support For Infants and Toddlers service agency in Washington State. Elizabeth holds an MA in Human Resources Development & is also an experienced, certified medical interpreter (CMI-Spanish and WA DSHS). They are also a dynamic and engaging professional trainer/facilitator and award-winning intercultural mediator who transforms organizations into compassionate, empathetic, learning, and growing spaces.
Christina Green
President at Green Linguistics LLC
Christina is a translator and interpreter with a BA in Modern Languages and linguistics from Universidad Central de Venezuela. She is the owner of a small WBE in Wisconsin and has over 25 years of experience in the medical, judicial, community and conference fields. She is a certified state court interpreter, and an ATA certified translator. She is a member of the Committee to Improve Court Interpreting in Wisconsin. She is also the current Administrator of ATA’s Interpreter Division, and a Member of ATA’s Interpreter Policy Advisory Council. She is serving as a Board Member of the American Translators Association (Term 2022-2025).
Star Grieser
Chief Executive Officer at Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.
From South Florida, Star graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with her B.S. and McDaniel College with her Master’s. (2001). Star has always been active in the Deaf community and has worked among the Deaf and interpreting communities in mental health care, Deaf education, and ASL/interpreter education. Star became the Director of Testing for CASLI in 2017, and the CEO of RID in 2021. She currently holds a RID certification as a Certified Deaf Interpreter, as well as, the ICE-CCP, a Certified Certification Professional by the Institute of Credentialing Excellence.
Olena Hart
Certified Associate in Project Management and Core Certified Healthcare Interpreter
Olena is a Ukrainian Core Certified Healthcare and Community Interpreter with over 12 years of experience. She got her Master’s degree in Arts from the Kyiv National Linguistic University (Kyiv, Ukraine) in 2008. She is the Head of the Communication Workgroup in the NCIHC. In February 2021, she founded Immigrant Platform, a nonprofit organization supporting immigrants to the United States. Honoree of 2022 Al Día 40 Under 40 Award for serving the immigrant community in Greater Philadelphia. Olena has earned a CAPM Certification in 2023. She is a passionate advocate of language access for LEP people and the interpreting profession.
Aki Hayashi
Sr. Manager, Globalization Program Management at Dell Technologies
Aki Hayashi is a leader in Globalization PMO with over 20 years of experience in the localization industry. At Dell Technologies, Aki leads the localization program management team and strategically steers the globalization aspects of Marketing, Digital, and Event programs with a commitment to language inclusion and accessibility. Aki passionately drives the concept of Event Globalization to ensure comprehensive language experiences for diverse global audiences at events. Aki holds an MS in International Relations from Northeastern University. She is based in Boston, MA, and has lived in Japan and Russia.
Winnie Heh
Career Advisor at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Winnie Heh has worn many different hats – language instructor, translator, interpreter, professor of interpretation, senior executive and consultant. In her business career, she has run businesses in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, U.K. and China. As an educator, she connects students with the diverse career opportunities in the language industry and advocates for curriculum innovation in line with future talent needs. She earned her MA degree in Translation and Interpretation from MIIS. She serves as Board Member and Board Secretary of CHIA and Women in Localization. She is a Founding Member of Interpreter SAFE-AI Task Force.
Manuel Higginbotham
Director, Language Access Services at MD Anderson Cancer Center
Manuel Higginbotham, LBBP, CHI™-Spanish, is a nationally recognized leader in Language Access with more than 25 years of industry experience. He is passionate about improving the lives of Limited English Proficient individuals by developing creative equal-access initiatives in our communities. He has leadership experience at both LSPs and hospitals, as well as having owned his own language consulting and training company. More than 140 hospitals across the US have relied on his expertise in developing language access plans, training interpreters, and assessing bilingual proficiency. His working languages are English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Enrica Julia Ardemagni, PhD
Professor Emerita, Certified Court and Healthcare Interpreter
Enrica J. Ardemagni, Ph.D. (U. of Wisconsin) is Professor Emerita at Indiana University Indianapolis where she taught all levels of language and literature and Spanish for the Professions (business, legal, medical). At IUI she received sixteen teaching awards. Professor Ardemagni has served on numerous boards on language access, including six years as President of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. She holds a Certificate in Online Teaching, she is a state Court Certified Interpreter, and a Certified Healthcare Interpreter™-Spanish, and a Lifetime Member of the American Translators Association.
Steph Kent
Community Interpreter, American Sign Language and English at Learning Lab for Resiliency
Stephanie Jo Kent, CI, PhD, Learning Lab for Resiliency® is a Member of the Advisory Group (AG) on AI and Sign Language Interpreting. Steph has a dual career in professional sign language interpreting and academic-activism, with an M.Ed in Social Justice Education (1996) and PhD in Communication (2014). The combination of being inside “the ivory tower” and interpreting business “in the real world” informs her/their unique perspective on action research as a social good, especially how plurilingual communication can leverage diverse lived experiences into collaborations for co-creating a humane and exhilarating future.
Raquel Lazaro-Gutierrez
Doctor and Professor at University of Alcala (UAH)
European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation (ENPSIT)
Raquel Lazaro-Gutierrez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Philology at the University of Alcala (Madrid, Spain), and teaches in the Master’s Degree in Intercultural Communication and Public Service Interpreting and Translation. She has been a member of the FITISPos-UAH Research Group since 2001, vice-president of the European Association for Public Service Interpreting, and Translation (ENPSIT), and chair of the Spanish Cluster in Language Technology (Madrid). She has been the Principal Investigator of several international research projects related to AI and interpreting, with a special focus on bilateral interpreting.
Marcia Loureiro
Portuguese Conference Interpreter & Translator at The Embassy of Brazil
Marcia C. Loureiro is a Conference Interpreter and Translator at the Brazilian Embassy, she also provides language services for several international organizations in the Washington, D.C. area. She has a MA in Linguistics from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Certificate of Proficiency in Translation from Georgetown University.
Carlos Martinez-Morales
Language Services Manager at Intermountain Health
Carlos Martinez-Morales is the Language Services and Cultural Competence Manager at Intermountain Health. Carlos completed his degree in Biology at University of Utah, and is a dual-certified medical interpreter (CMI & CHI-Spanish) and trainer. Carlos has served as a board director and Chair of NBCMI and is currently serving as President of the Utah Translators and Interpreters Association.
Dr. Alan Melby
Raised in Indiana. Still identifies as a Hoosier (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier). Became fascinated with translation in the mid-1960s, while on study abroad in St Brieuc, France, as a high school student. Joined a machine translation project in 1970 while working on a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. By 1978, after obtaining a PhD in computational linguistics, experienced an intellectual crisis regarding the nature of language while an assistant professor of linguistics at Brigham Young University, concluding that unambiguous general language would be the ultimate prison but domain-specific language can and should be unambiguous. In 1979, shifted focus toward tools for human translators. In the 1980s, studied translation and became an ATA-certified French-to-English translator. In the 1990s, got into philosophy of language and wrote a book about human and machine translation (The possibility of Language) with a philosopher, Terry Warner.
In the 21st century, has focused on service to the translation profession, previously serving on the governing boards of ATA (www.antanet.org), then FIT (www.fit-ift.org), and currently (2022) serving as president of LTAC Global, a small non-profit, and collaborating on the development of translation-related standards, initially TBX (ISO 30042) for the exchange of information between terminological databases. In 2014, retired from full-time teaching and became an emeritus full professor. Since 2015, standards work has expanded to translation quality evaluation within the MQM framework (Multidimensional Quality Metrics for Translation Quality Evaluation) under the umbrella of ASTM International (www.astm.org), a standards body.
Maria Michalczyk, MA, RN
President Emeritus at Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association
Maria Michalczyk, RN, MA has worked as a professional nurse and administrator for five decades, of which at least 31 of those years have been formally dedicated to language access. She developed and managed both the medical interpreter program at Oregon Health Sciences University and the health care interpreter training program at Portland Community College (nations first community college offering). She has been a founding member and/or has been involved in multiple national and local language access organizations and has been recognized for her work.
Dora Murgu
Global Head of Operations and Client Discovery at Interprefy
Dora Murgu is a language services professional with a unique journey from being a conference interpreter to her current role as Global Head of Operations and Client Delivery at Interprefy. Hailing from Romania and honing her skills in Spain, she has over 16 years of experience in the language service industry, working with major LSPs and RSI providers. Dora now spearheads Interprefy’s Operations, solidifying her reputation in the fast-evolving world of interpretation and language solutions.
Natalya Mytareva
Executive Director at Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI)
Natalya Mytareva is Executive Director of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters since 2013, and a Commissioner of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. In 2000-2013, Natalya was Communications Director at the International Institute of Akron, a refugee resettlement agency in Ohio. Natalya is a Russian interpreter/translator and started her career as instructor of interpretation/translation courses at Volgograd State University (Russia) in 1991. She holds a combined BA/MA degree from VSU in Philology & Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
Tsukumo Niwa Sattler
Conference Interpreter and Intercultural Communicator
Tsukumo Niwa Sattler (she/her) is a freelance interpreter and translator working in Japanese-English language combination. Growing up bilingual and bicultural in Japan and the United States, she first interpreted and translated for her Japanese parents as a teenager and then grew up to become fully trained and certified, including CoreCHI-P™ and Arizona Court Tier A certifications. As a conference interpreter, she continues to increase clientele from diverse sectors across the globe. She uses her skills in intercultural communications to promote a world where people can collaborate across cultures and empower each other.
Shawn Norris
President at Hello Interpreters
Shawn Norris, Ed K-12 | NIC | CoreCHI-P, holds multiple key positions including the President of the Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (FRID) and the Coordinator of Interpreting Services at UF Health St. Johns in St. Augustine, Florida. With a background enriched by his Deaf parents, Shawn is an active advocate in the Deaf community. He’s spent over a decade in the interpreting field, mentoring emerging interpreters and initiating a local agency to enhance language accessibility in Jacksonville. Currently, he’s developing an online community for interpreters and translators. He also serves as a Commissioner for CCHI.
Mireya Perez
Language Access in Schools Advocate at Brand the Interpreter
Mireya Pérez honed her abilities as a certified medical interpreter in healthcare. With nearly a decade as a staffed interpreter in a K-12 public education school district, she played a vital role in ensuring equitable communication for students, parents, and educators. Armed with a Master’s in Communications, Mireya is the creator and host of the Brand the Interpreter podcast. This platform serves as a conduit for the stories and perspectives of language professionals worldwide, reflecting her commitment to amplifying their voices. In addition, Mireya passionately advocates for language access policies in public education.
Félix Ramos Jr
Spanish Educational Interpreter at The Rio Spanish Interpreter Services
I’m a UTRGV graduate with BA in Spanish and a Minor in Spanish Interpreting and Translating. I consider my vocation and hope to become very successful Spanish, Court, Medical and Educational Interpreter. My language combination is in English and Spanish and gives me the knowledge to help others in any subject area. My goal is to help others in becoming a Bridge in communication. Also, as a recent graduate born and raised in the US- Mexican border it’s my passion to continue my education and to Interpret in the Spanish settings. My exceptional strengths are in written and verbal communication which comes with an eye of accuracy in meaning.
Rosabelle Rice
Federally Certified Spanish Interpreter at Language Solutions
Born in Ecuador to an American father and Ecuadorean mom and raised in Ecuador, Minnesota, Mexico, Indiana, Tennessee, London and living in Colorado since 1998, Rosabelle Rice exemplifies an autodidact who passed the Federal exam at 28 in 1995 studying and practicing her skills in the evenings while finishing her MA in Romance Languages. In 2001, as director of INoC, she led the first in training of BTG the gap interpreters for CRSP. She has served on the boards of the Colorado Translators Association, the Colorado Association of Professional Interpreter and currently is a Director of the Colorado Interpreter and Translators Association.
Timothy Riker
Senior Lecturer in American Sign Language at Brown University
Tim Riker is a Member of the Advisory Group (AG) on AI and Sign Language Interpreting. He is a Senior Lecturer in American Sign Language at Brown University and research co-investigator with the DeafYES! Center for Deaf Empowerment and Recovery. Through his Deaf-led team’s community-engaged research, Riker has collaborated to develop linguistically and sociopolitically correct methods of inquiry when conducting Deaf qualitative research. The research team leveraged technology so they could analyze sign language data while reducing bias found in traditional methods of inquiry.
Dr. Bill Rivers
Principal at WP Rivers & Associates
Dr. Bill Rivers is Principal at WP Rivers & Associates. A former Russian/English translator and interpreter, Russian teacher, academic researcher and administrator, and for-profit and non-profit executive, he has more than 30 years’ experience in language advocacy and capacity at the national level, with significant experience in culture and language for economic development and national security in the Intelligence Community, private and academic sectors, and publications in second and third language acquisition research, proficiency assessment, program evaluation, and language policy development and advocacy. His company is contracted by the ALC for advocacy support.
Patricia de Sa Snow, PhD
Principal Consultant at Sa Snow Consulting, LLC
Dr. Patricia de Sa Snow is a Plant Pathologist specialized in molecular diagnostics, plant pest quarantine, biotechnology, and associated regulatory frameworks. She has published peer-reviewed articles and served as reviewer and editor for scientific journals in Portuguese and English.
Patricia has offered language services throughout her scientific career and is a qualified Court Interpreter for the Maryland Judiciary. She has served on scientific committees and workgroups, and is interested in facilitating communication and dissemination of information on topics in agriculture, plant pathology, biotechnology and environmental issues.
Andy Schwieter
Director of Language Access Services at Cincinnati Children’s
Andy Schwieter leads the language access team at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, helping them systematically turn language barriers into opportunities. Andy has worked as a Spanish interpreter since 2006, was certified by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 2013, and was certified by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters in 2015. He co-authored a paper published in Hospital Pediatrics on improving discharge instructions for hospitalized children with limited English proficiency.
Holly Silvestri
CEO at Linguistic Connections, LLC
Dr. Silvestri has been a community interpreter, translator, and a trainer in these domains for years. She specializes in spoken educational interpreting.
Indira Sultanić
PhD, CHI™-Spanish | Assistant Professor of Spanish Translation and Interpreting Studies, Language Access Professional at Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Indira Sultanić is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Translation and Interpreting Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a Certified Healthcare Interpreter™-Spanish, with over 15 years of professional experience in the language industry. She has authored articles on medical interpreter education, interpreting for vulnerable populations, remote interpreting in pediatric therapy settings, and simultaneous interpreting. She has developed trainings for providers on best practices for delivering culturally and linguistically appropriate care, and served as a subject matter expert on numerous projects pertaining to language access.
Amanda Wheeler-Kay
Spanish Healthcare/Community Interpreter, Educator
Amanda Wheeler-Kay is a Health Care / Community Interpreter in Spanish/English who has interpreted in the Portland area since 2007 (certification through NBCMI). Amanda previously worked as a bilingual social worker, and that experience informs her work as interpreter and educator. She prefers to work in collaboration with other language equity advocates. She currently lives in Oregon, her home state, but has formerly considered Washington DC and Buena Vista, El Salvador as home. She loves to travel with friends and family and play noncompetitive soccer.
Sam Wilson
CTO at DA Languages
Fascinated by making complex technology look simple.
Jessica Yaacoub
Director of Operations & Development at Bromberg & Associates, LLC
Jessica’s role role encompasses a diverse array of responsibilities, where she not only supervises and facilitates communication across all departments but also plays a pivotal role in steering the company toward its financial goals. Beyond financial oversight, Jessica’s expertise extends to client relations and language services. She actively engages with clients to comprehensively assess their language needs, offering insightful guidance and solutions. Jessica’s linguistic talents further enhance her capabilities, as she is a native Arabic speaker.
The following organizations support the work of the SAFE AI Taskforce:






