Staff

QUNO has fully-staffed offices in Geneva and New York.

Geneva

Jonathan Woolley

Director

Jonathan Woolley holds an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Applied Biology from the University of Cambridge, UK. He joined QUNO in 2011, bringing more than thirty years’ professional experience of agricultural research, development and capacity building in some fifty countries. Starting as a volunteer teacher in Kenya, he then worked directly with poor farmers in Nigeria, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico. From 1999 to 2009, he led two research networks directed at institutional reform, building cohesive small teams and strengthening innovative partnerships: a ground-breaking agricultural research fund in Ecuador, and the first phase of the "CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food" based in Sri Lanka and active in nine river basins around the world.  He originally joined Friends in the UK some forty years ago, and is a member of Mexico City Monthly Quaker Meeting.

Lindsey Fielder Cook

Representative for Climate Change

Lindsey holds a BA in Politics from the Durham University, an MA in Literature of Conflict from York University, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from DeMontfort University. She joined QUNO in 2013, following a career in conflict areas, initially as a volunteer in reconciliation youth work in Northern Ireland and as a teacher in the Israeli Occupied West Bank.  She has worked with UNRWA on refugee protection in the West Bank, with OHCHR (formerly UNCHR) during the war in the Former Yugoslavia, with UNOSOM in Somalia to help coordinate humanitarian efforts, with UNSCO in Gaza on donor coordination to implement of the Oslo Peace Accords, and in Bonn with UNV on communication of development efforts. Lindsey’s work at QUNO focuses on climate change and environmental degradation as a peace and justice concern, engaging at a international level with the climate change negotiations, climate science, human rights efforts, while seeking to connect international progress with grassroots efforts.  Lindsey is a Member of German Yearly Meeting and lives with her family in Bonn, where QUNO has an office space.

Florence Foster

Representative for Peace and Disarmament

Florence holds an MA in International Relations from Bristol University, UK, and has since specialized in displacement and conflict analysis, with an increasing emphasis on disarmament, mediation and conflict transformation. She began her career as an intern at the Global Protection Cluster and the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, before moving on to focus on West African conflict dynamics at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, with work in Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. Through her latest roles as Programme Manager at the Fondation Suisse de Déminage and Finn Church Aid, Florence led mediation and armed violence reduction initiatives in the Central African Republic.

Joachim Monkelbaan

Representative for Sustainable and Just Economic Systems

Joachim Monkelbaan joined QUNO in March 2019 as Representative for our Sustainable and Just Economic Systems programme, which seeks to foster economic systems that deliver prosperity for all. Joachim holds a Masters degree in International Law and Economics (World Trade Institute, Berne), an LL.M. in European Law and Languages (Maastricht University and University of Westminster), and a PhD in sustainability governance (University of Geneva). He brings 15 years of professional experience with organizations such as UN Environment, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), World Health Organization (WHO), Institute for Developing Economies (Tokyo, Japan), and Climate-KIC (Brussels) and with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Joachim directed several Sustainability Impact Assessments of trade and investment agreements for the European Commission. He is co-founder of the Sustainability Leadership Lab, a training institute focused on raised awareness of complex adaptive systems, group dynamics, and leadership competencies.

Laurel Townhead

Representative for Human Rights and Refugees

Laurel Townhead has a Bachelors Degree in Law & Politics from the University of Manchester and a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. Laurel previously worked with QUNO as a Human Rights and Refugees Programme Assistant and Project Officer (2005-2007) and returns to QUNO Geneva after working on human rights protection in the UK, with a particular focus on people in the criminal justice system. Prior to joining QUNO, Laurel worked for 5 years as Policy and Campaigns Manager for Women in Prison. This role included pursuing the domestic implementation of the Bangkok Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners, which Laurel contributed to drafting. Laurel has also worked on a wide range of human rights and refugee protection issues, including contributing to international litigation on the right to conscientious objection to military service. Laurel has been an attender of Peckham Quaker Meeting in London for several years.

Lucy Halton

Programme Assistant, Human Rights and Refugees

Lucy grew up near Liverpool, in the north of England, and obtained her BA in Classics and French from the University of Oxford. During her time there, she worked with refugee and migrant communities and developed an interest in the rights of displaced people. She has volunteered in the Northern French camps, and co-founded a solidarity organisation when she returned to the UK. She has worked in detainee support with Asylum Welcome, and more recently as a Bail Hearing Observer with the Bail Observation Project in London. Lucy's interest in refugee rights, along with a long commitment to children's rights, led to her completing her MA in Human Rights Law at SOAS in 2019, where she wrote her dissertation on the rights of intersex children. Lucy has also worked at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where she developed an interest in maternal health rights. Excited to be in Geneva for the first time, and to put her learning and beliefs into practice at QUNO, Lucy is also looking forward to hiking in the mountains and brushing off her French! 

Detmer Yens Kremer

Programme Assistant, Human Impacts of Climate Change

Originally from the Frisian part of the Netherlands, Detmer came to Geneva by way of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States, Samoa, and Singapore. He holds a BA in anthropology and gender studies from Bates College in the United States, and a MA in Human Rights from University College London. His MA dissertation analyzed how international law understands and acts upon indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation and initial contact. Previously Detmer has served as a Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow in Atlanta focusing on housing justice and community organizing, and as a Dean's Fellow at Yale-NUS College in Singapore working on student well-being, sexual misconduct policy, and academic speaking and writing support. Detmer also has worked with indigenous and minority rights organizations Cultural Survival, Traditional Arts and Ethnicity Centre, and Amazon Watch. Detmer is a Quaker and calls Atlanta Friends Meeting his spiritual home.

René Lejeune

Finance Officer

René studied at the International School of Geneva before starting his career in international banking in Geneva and Johannesburg. He has worked as management consultant for an American company, as a coffee and cocoa trader in Africa and Madagascar, and in administration and finance with international companies in Geneva. He completed his studies as Swiss specialist in finance and accounting in 2006 and is now member of the Board of a dozen SMEs. He also works as a consultant in finance, human resources, fiscal issues and organization with both small and large companies.

Stephen Schenck

Communications Consultant

Stephen Schenck brings 20+ years of marketing and communications experience in the private and public sectors. Previously, Stephen held international leadership and client service roles with The Nielsen Company, a leading global information and market research company. In 2006, he joined Nielsen's fledgling social media division in New York, consulting major global brands on social media research and marketing best practices, and eventually relocating to Europe in 2010 to help lead its business there. Stephen earned his Bachelors of Journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin and began his career working in public relations and communications for non-profit and public organizations in Texas.

Susan Sprague Parachini

Office Manager

Susan, a Canadian with a B.A. in Geography from the University of British Colombia in Vancouver, joined QUNO in March 2014. She traveled the world extensively as an administrative manager of different resorts of a well-known hotel chain before settling in Geneva to work as office manager and assistant to the ambassador of the Colombian Mission to the World Trade Organization. Susan then worked as project finance officer for the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF), running educational projects on health and safety in the workplace for IUF members worldwide. Most recently Susan and her husband created and ran a restaurant in Burgundy, France, before returning to Geneva in autumn 2013.

New York

Andrew Tomlinson

Director & Quaker UN Representative

Andrew Tomlinson is Director of the Quaker UN Office (QUNO) in New York. He holds Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in South Asia and the Middle East. Andrew joined QUNO in 2008 after working in international finance and socially responsible investing in London and New York. Andrew’s programmatic focus includes the integration of peacebuilding and prevention perspectives across the UN system, and upholding the role of peaceful, just and inclusive societies within development frameworks and beyond. A Quaker since he came to Philadelphia from the UK on an exchange scholarship, Andrew is now a member of Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting in New Jersey.

Rachel Madenyika

Quaker UN Representative

Rachel F. Madenyika joins QUNO with a broad range of experience in economic and social development, financial and nonprofit management. A former QUNO Programme Assistant in 2000, Rachel is glad to return and continue Quaker work at the UN. In the intervening years, Rachel has also worked in various capacities with organizations such as the International Center for Transitional Justice, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars – Kennan Institute, and WITNESS Inc. She has consulted with Save the Children, the European Commission and the UN. Rachel comes to us from HealthRight International where she served as the CFO for 6 years. She holds an M.A. in Economics from the New School for Social Research and a M.Sc. in Nonprofit Management & Urban Policy from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy. Born in Zimbabwe, Rachel was raised following the tenets of Quakerism.

Megan Schmidt

Quaker UN Representative

Megan joins QUNO with knowledge and experience in the fields of human rights and atrocities prevention, and holds Masters degrees in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University and in Human Rights and Genocide Studies from Kingston University. Having worked with the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect, the Wiener Library, and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Megan has conducted comparative genocide research, worked to advance the Responsibility to Protect at the UN and globally, and implemented a diverse range of atrocity prevention programs throughout the world. She has a range of materials focusing on the Responsibility to Protect, women’s rights and participation, among other issues related to the field of atrocity prevention. Megan is excited to work with QUNO to represent and uphold Quaker values, which mirror those instilled in her through her upbringing in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Outside of QUNO, Megan is also an avid runner, and spends time with her husband, dog and two cats.

Stephen Murray

Programme Assistant

Stephen is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland where he holds a BA in International Politics and Conflict Studies, and an MA in Violence, Terrorism and Security from Queen’s University Belfast. 

Throughout his time at university Stephen developed a particularly interest in the specific pathways individuals and communities take out of armed conflict and the myriad factors affecting them.His previous research and experience has explored this alongside the role that concepts of masculinity play within violent political organisation’s recruitment and how it can be reimagined to benefit deradicalization and peacebuilding efforts. 

Stephen’s current areas of interest include the role of China on the international stage, pathways out of armed violence and how post-conflict societies can build resilience against future strife. 

When not at QUNO, Stephen can be found in any decent park with a book in his hand. He hopes that the experience of working at QUNO will offer him the opportunity to interact with voices and opinions challenging his own and that he can apply the knowledge he has learnt towards common goals.

Andrew McKenna

Office Coordinator

Andrew joined QUNO after completing 2 years of volunteering with the Peace Corps. Serving as a community agribusiness specialist, Andrew lived in Uganda for 2 years, working with a local community-based organization on reducing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS, and trying to help women and families improve their economic and nutritional security. Before that, he worked in the Office of Student Life at Northern Virginia Community College. Andrew graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.B.A. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. After college, he worked for a few years as a restaurant manager before transitioning into administrative management and support roles.

He misses the beautiful starry nights from Uganda, and loves talking about news in astronomy. Andrew is excited to try and support the work QUNO does in promoting global nonviolence and human rights.