Mr. Barry was the Ambassador of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and the Chairperson of the Provisional Election Commission. Mr.Barry served in a number of other positions during his foreign service career: Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State fo European Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Economic Affairs, and oversees assignment in the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Germany. Mr.Barry holds an M.A. in European History and the Certificate of the Program on the East Central Europe from Columbia University. He also studied Soviet and East European Affairs at Oxford University, and at the US Army Russian Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Prior to joining IFES, Ms. Beegun worked as a Program Officer for Freedom House’s Central and Eastern European Visiting Fellows Program and as a member of the CEE team at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. At IFES, she manages projects in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia. Ms. Beegun looks forward to supporting the AEOBiH as they make the transition to becoming an independent organization and in all of their future endeavors.

Member of the Election Commission of Poland, has attended our Conference in 2000 in Teslic, and our members also met him at the ACEEEO Conference. He is very good cooperator and he regularly informs us on all new things in the election system of Poland.

Senior Programme Officer for Europe at IFES Ltd London, previously Head of Local Government Section with the OSCE Presence in Albania. Has assisted the AEOBiH to a great extent through the promotion of the Association's work with European organizations and donors. He offers his help every day to the Association Secretariat and informs us about interesting possibilities for new projects.

Mr. Connolly began working on Bosnia and Herzegovina projects for IFES in early 1996 and continues to support these programs in his current role in operations. He was instrumental in the formation of the AEOBiH and has provided program advice throughout its development. Mr. Connolly looks forward to future collaboration with the AEOBiH and providing any support to the association that he can.

President of the Election Commission of Turkey, very important person and collaborator of the AEOBiH, has been guest at our previous Conferences since 1999, and he is again with us today.

Member of the Election Commission of Poland, he has attended our conference in 2000 in Teslic, and our members also met him at the ACEEEO Conferences. He is very good cooperator and he regularly informs us on all new things in the election system of Poland. Robert Parten will read letter of thanks.

Antonia Dolar has been involved with adult education since 1975. She holds a teachink credential from the State of Califormia to teach at the Community College level. She helped design a post-graduate certificate program for the California State University at Sonoma in 1975. She then taught the course on public policy and aging. Antonia helped develop an International Summer Institute in Gerontology at the University of Hawaii in Manoa in 1978. She also was director of a post-secondary education consortia in San Dieago, California, and taught in the Community College District there. Antonia also holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco. She has been working in election related matters in Georgia, Armenia and Bosnia for the last couple of years.

Linda Edgeworth was Deputy Chief of Mission for Elections in the OSCE Bosnia during the period of 1997-2000. During her career she was the Senior Election Administrator for the State of Alaska. Linda specialized in election laws and regulations, procedural development, and election administration. After leaving the state service, she worked as an international consultant in more than 20 countries during their transition to democratic election systems. She worked in several countries of the former Soviet Union, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Byelorussia, as well as on Caucasus, in the Middle Asia, Macedonia, Albania, several African countries, Bangladesh and Yemen.

Mr. DeGregorio is a long-time supporter of AEOBiH who strongly believes that election officials in every country of the world should develop their professional skills and learn from each other in organizations such as the AEOBiH. He has worked in 15 countries as an international technical expert in elections. As a strong promoter of election-official associations, Mr. DeGregorio was honored to speak to the AEOBiH conference in Sarajevo in 2001. He has also hosted AEOBiH leaders in Kansas City, Missouri at the 2002 Annual Conference of the International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT).

Mr. Fischer was one of the first representatives of IFES to visit BiH after Dayton was signed. He was influential in the design of the electoral system in BiH, as he served as the Director of Elections in 1996. Having been involved in elections in BiH since 1996, Mr. Fischer can attest to how far BiH has come in this area; he has seen the development of the AEOBiH since the very beginning. Beverly Hagerdon Thakur will read letter of thanks.

President of the Election Commission of Slovenia has been also proclaimed for the honorary member of the Association due to his great support and hospitality that his commission has shown during visits of our delegations who observed elections in Slovenia. On behalf of Mr. Frantar, Mr. Robert Parten will receive certificate on honorary membership.

For eleven years, Dr. Pilon was President for Programs and then Senior Advisor for Civil Society at IFES. In this capacity, she assisted with the development of AEOBiH’s outreach projects, including the Democracy and Elections program. Dr. Pilon is now the Associate Director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management in the Office of International Affairs at American University. This new Center for Democracy and Election Management’s purpose is to educate and train undergraduate and graduate students as well as mid-career professionals in the U.S. and abroad concerning the management of elections and "best democratic practices."

Ms Hagerdon Thakur has been assisting the AEOBiH in its development since December 1998, which marked the beginning of the project at the First Congress of Local Election Commissions. The AEOBiH was initiated under the auspices of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Ms Hagerdon Thakur worked in the Elections Department from March 1997 through December 1999.

Mr.Keith Hathaway holds a GCE 0 Level-HNS in Public Administration. He is one of the funding members of the Association for Electoral Administrators (AEA), where he performed various duties, among which Chairman of the AEA. Since entering local government in 1961, he dealt with all aspects of the registration process, campaigns, advertising, increasing awareness via posters, brochures, discussions with community groups, in schools. He addressed forums locally, nationally and internationally on electoral matters and possible reforms to current processes. Mr. Keith presented on various election related topics at a number of international conferences including: the 1994, 1995, 1997 conferences of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials, the 1885 Russian Election commission Training Seminar, the 1991 American Election Center Conference, the 1997 Symposium on Asian Elections in the 21st Century in the Philippines, and the 1998 Local Election Commission Congress in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In various capacity, he was involved in missions related to elections in Namibia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, Hungary, Cambodia, Lesotho, Holland, and the US.

Mr. Lansell has had the fortune of representing IFES on BiH projects since 1996 when he made his first trip to BiH. On this trip, he witnessed the beginning of peace and reconstruction at its earliest stages and developed a personal interest in the development of BiH. Mr. Lansell has found it rewarding to be involved in this development process in BiH. He is pleased to see an indigenous organization such as the AEOBiH taking such a leading role and hopes to see IFES continue to play a supporting role for the AEOBiH.

Lesley Israel has spent the past decade working in the international democracy field, with a specialty in election management. In 1996 she was sent to Bosnia as one of six Senior Election Officers working on the first post-Dayton election. As SEO for the Tuzla regional office she was responsible for an area covering a third of Bosnia's population and she has returned here frequently since then. She has also worked in countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Zanzibar. In fall 2004, she was part of a small OSCE team of technical experts who analyzed the Afghan Presidential election and developed recommendations for subsequent parliamentary and local elections. Lesley is also deeply involved in working with Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union and has traveled widely in Eastern Europe for this as well. She serves on the Board of Directors of IFES.

Dr. Lopez-Pintor has been a long-time IFES consultant in Bosnia and Herzegovina and throughout the world. He has more than thirty years experience in public opinion research and electoral consultancy. Dr. Lopez-Pintor has worked in this field as a Tenure Profesor at the Sociology Department of the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Senior Advisor to International IDEA for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, a founding member of the consulting firm DEMOSCOPIA, Director-General in the Prime Minister's Office (in charge of opinion surveys and electoral research for the Center of Sociological Research, CIS), in several election-related capacities with the United Nations in diverse settings, including Central Asia, El Salvador, Mosambique, Guatemala, Azerbaijan, Lesotho, Cambodia, Angola, Liberia, Albania, and Nicaragua. He has also published numerous works in Spanish and English on elections, public opinion, and political change.

Deputy Head of Mission OSCE ODIHR during elections held in October 2002 in BIH, former higher officer for elections engaged in OSCE since 1996 in offices in Travnik and Tuzla, contributed to the AEOBiH promotion with other international organizations.

Jeppe Olsen holds an MA degree in International Politics, currently working as a Project Consultant at the Development Council, Denmark. He worked in observation, election, evaluation or project missions to the following countries: Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia Herzegovina, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Croatia, Malaysia, Nepal, Poland, Russia, and Thailand. From Feb 2000 to Jul 2001, as an International Development Adviser (IFES), Jeppe Olsen helped in establishing AEOBiH in Sarajevo.

Ms. Parkinson has worked in support of the AEOBiH at IFES since August 2000. She has made several trips to BiH to support the work of the AEOBiH including participation in the Annual Conference in 2001. As an honorary member, she hopes to maintain her support to the association through continued assistance with project management and development.

Mr.Parten serves an Election Administrator in the Tarrant County Election Commission (Texas, US) since 1985.
He was an Election Observer in Albania 1997 Election, Member of the OSCE Albania Observation Mission with IFES, Election Supervisor in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 1997 Municipal Election and Republika Srpska Assembly Election, Registration Supervisor in Bosnia in 1998, and Assistant to International Instructor for Election Supervisors in Bosnia for the 1998 Election. He is also a member of the Election Center, International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers, and Texas Association of Election Administrators.

A veteran community activist, Mr. Perea came to IFES after working in rule of law programs and international development. He has worked on projects related to institutional development and strengthening in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996 for various organizations; this work has taken him to all parts of BiH.

Executive Director of the Association of Electoral Administrators in the United Kingdom, contributed to the AEOBiH development; his advisory role was very important. Irena Hadžiabdić will read letter of thanks.

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Michael Svetlik has worked in international democracy development over the past 13 years and currently serves as the Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at IFES where he oversees a broad portfolio of elections and civil society programs across Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past two years, Michael has worked intensively on IFES’ Bosnia program, namely in the areas of political finance and conflict of interest.

Michael Yard first traveled to BiH in February of 1997 to assess the Information Technology requirements for conducting elections. He later served as Associate Director of Information Technology, and as Director of Database Development. His primary responsibility was recruiting and training a team of local database developers, and leading them in the development of a department responsible for computerizing the voter registry, registration of candidates and political parties, polling station assignments, and results tabulation and reporting.
Michael is currently working on the Money and Politics (MAP) Project, which will facilitate the communication of political finance information between parties, candidates, media, and the public. He hopes to have the opportunity to return to BiH in the near future to assist with implementing this project.

Dr.Istvan Zsuffa graduated as a Doctor of Jurisprudence and Political Sciences in 1968. During his career he was Researcher at the Organizational Institute for Municipal Councils’ Administration, Chief Counselor stood by judge at the Constitutional Court, Deputy State Secretary and Administrative State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, and worked for the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. He wrote a number of studies and contributed to the preparation of several books in the subject of the public administration, local administration and public service. He is a member of the Committee for the Special Examination in Legal Affairs and the Committee for the Special Examination on Public Administration.