Board of Directors

William Yontz, Chairman
McLean, VA
Mr. Yontz is Chair of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. He recently retired as the Vice President of Real Estate for Capital One. His career in managing corporate real estate has allowed him to live in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. He has traveled throughout the United States as well as parts of Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He earned his B.S. in Marketing from the University of Illinois and his M.B.A. from St. John’s University. Along with his wife Carolyn, he serves as Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at St. John the Beloved Parish, and is active in supporting Christendom College and various Pro-Life organizations. Also, with Carolyn, he is co-author of Living Under Fire: Christian Clergy and Congregations in the Holy Land.

Rateb Y. Rabie, KCHS, President/CEO
Silver Spring, MD
Sir Rabie, KCHS is co-founder and President of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. He was born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian parents. He came to the United States in 1976, became a citizen, and obtained a degree in business management. From 1981 to 1986, he was Director of Operations for Saudi Support Services, Ltd. In 1988, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he managed and owned several businesses. He is currently an international consultant for business development. Sir Rabie is a past national president and current board member of the Birzeit Society; Vice President and Treasure and Co-founder of the Institute for Health, Development, and Research in Palestine. He is committed to ameliorating living conditions in the Holy Land and preserving its Christian heritage, and is a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and a Knight of Columbus.

Donald A. Kruse, Vice President Emeritus
Chicago, IL
Mr. Kruse is Vice President Emeritus of HCEF. He has a BA from Wheaton College, IL and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. He entered the Western Foreign Service in 1957. He has been assigned to Toronto, Luxembourg, Paris, Brussels, the Sinai, Naples, London, and Jerusalem. He was Western Consul in Jerusalem for four years. He currently serves on the boards of many charitable organizations and leads annual pilgrimages to the Holy Land. He is the author of numerous articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict and on the subject of the Palestinian people.

Marilyn Doria Shaw, Treasurer
Bethesda, MD
A Boston native, Ms. Doria is a graduate of Brandeis University. She holds a Master’s degree in International Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, which included an internship in New Delhi at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Information Service. She earned a law degree from James E. Beasley School of Law at Temple University. She is married to Steve Shaw, and they have a daughter. Her early career was in housing and urban renewal, working for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and Philadelphia Public Housing Authority, and as Executive Director of an urban renewal citizens’ project committee. As an attorney, she has worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, heading the agency’s enforcement office and later serving as deputy general counsel. She eventually moved to private practice, and has been a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld for over 18 years, specializing in energy law and concentrating on oil and gas litigation. Ms. Doria has participated in a Just Faith course through the Catholic Church, which has challenged her to discern her calling to a ministry in the areas of social and economic justice and peace. Through this program, Ms. Doria attended the October 2005 HCEF 7th International Conference, which initiated her interest in HCEF. She is now seeking to fulfill her calling through her volunteer work with HCEF in support of the Holy Land Christians.

Dr. Saliba Sarsar, Secretary
Tinton Falls, NJ
Dr. Sarsar, born and raised in Jerusalem, is Associate Vice President for Academic Program Initiatives and Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University. He received his elementary and secondary education at Collège de Frères and St. Joseph’s College in the Old City. He completed a B.A. in political science and history interdisciplinary, with summa cum laude, from Monmouth College in 1978. In 1984, he earned his doctoral degree from Rutgers University in political science, with specialization in international relations and Middle Eastern affairs. Sarsar is a Middle East scholar and commentator on Middle East affairs and the author of several books and articles on this and other subjects. Sarsar received and/or directed several grants, including Fulbright, Kellogg, Dodge, and Peace Development Fund. Among his awards are the Global Visionary Award from Monmouth University in 2007, the Stafford Presidential Award of Excellence from Monmouth University in 2006, and the Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice in 2001. In April 2003, Sarsar was featured in The New York Times, “His Mission: Finding Why People Fight—A Witness to Mideast Conflict Turns to Dialogue and Peace.”

Philip Davies
Washington, DC
Mr. Davies is former Secretary of HCEF’s Board of Directors. He has had a long association with non-governmental organizations and the Middle East. He attended the American Community School in Beirut, where his parents were fraternal workers with the Presbyterian Church, and the American University of Beirut as a Junior Year Abroad student. During 1974-77, he taught Sociology and Anthropology at Birzeit University. He was Field Office Director in the West Bank and Gaza for Save the Children during 1981-87. Philip helped establish Save the Children’s programs in Egypt in 1980 and in Jordan in 1984, and worked as a Program Advisor with Save the Children’s field offices in Lebanon and Tunisia, both in 1980. He was Save the Children’s Program Evaluation Specialist from 1987 to 1992. He served as Feed the Children’s Director in Washington from 1993 to 1996. Since 1997, he has been Vice President at the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), where he oversees the medical in-kind program and provides technical assistance and support for ANERA’s economic development and humanitarian assistance projects. He teaches courses on the Middle East as part of Howard County Community College’s Program of Continuing Education.

Gabriel Habib
Alexandria, VA
Mr. Habib was born in Lebanon. He studied law at St. Joseph University in Beirut. In 1961, he volunteered through the World Council of Churches (WCC) to serve the Algerian refugees in Tunisia. He also worked for the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) and World Council of Churches as the Joint Youth and Student Secretary for the Middle East between 1962 and 1974. He was voluntary General Secretary for the World Conference of Christians for Palestine (WCCP). In 1974, he worked as Director of the Near East Ecumenical Bureau of Information and Interpretation. He was Assistant General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches from 1977 to 1994. Mr. Habib participated in the creation of the Middle East Council of Churches. He was the International Affairs Consultant for the National Council of Churches in the United States between 1977 and 2002. He was recently appointed to the Board of Policy Institute for Religion and State.

Dr Hanna Hanania
Woodbridge, VA
Dr. Hanania is a family dentist. In 2002, he graduated from the MISCH International Implant Institute (MISCH) and was awarded a fellowship in the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. Since graduation, Dr. Hanania has been in step with the latest advances in the dental field by completing over 200 continuing education credit hours in less than 4 years. In 2001, he graduated from University of Maryland with a Doctor of Dental Surgery and in 1997 he completed his BS, majoring in Biochemistry and Political Science. Dr Hanania is a member in the American Dental Society and its local branch organizations: Virginia Dental Society, Northern Virginia Dental Society, and the Woodbridge Dental Society. He has been involved in several community service projects. In 2000, he dedicated six weeks in 2000 to making free denture program for the Native Indians in New Mexico. In 2007, he spent three weeks providing much needed, free dental services to patients in Jerusalem. When Dr. Hanania is not practicing dentistry he dedicates his time to important causes. He is a board member of a human rights organization called Imagine-life. He is the founder of the Network of Arab-American Professionals (www.naaponline.org). He is also a previous Chairman of Al-Awda and Arab-American Leadership Council in Virginia. As the founder and Chairman of the UASA, Dr. Hanania has enabled local and national schools to take stronger initiatives to integrate the issues that pertain to Arab-Americans and convey them in a very positive light.

Kenneth Insley
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Insley is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Business Marketing. Upon graduation, he decided to enter the world of teaching high school civics in 1997. After spending three years working with thousands of American students for the Close Up Foundation, he then worked with the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. to introduce diplomatic children to the American political system and culture. Mr. Insley then served as Senior Program Officer for the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), an international exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State, which brings together political leaders ages 25-40 from all across the world to learn more about the U.S. political system. ACYPL, which was formed in 1966, also sends young American leaders from across the country to various countries around the globe. In fact, Ken has traveled or worked with young leaders from over 90 different countries. Since 2004, Mr. Insley has served the Director of Public Diplomacy at Capital Communications Group, an international consulting firm that works with the federal government and coordinates visits for international delegations with various think-tanks, Congressional leaders, White House, and other administration officials. He helped to produce 90-second segments for Alhurra Television, an Arabic language satellite channel funded by the U.S government with an audience of 40 million. The "Ask Alhurra" segments answered viewer emails and covered a wide range of topics; segments were broadcast in every Arab country from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. This past summer, Ken helped to organize a conference in Europe with over 400 young leaders from 46 countries.

Rev. Monsignor W. Ronald Jameson, KHS
Washington, DC
Since 1995, Monsignor Jameson has been the Rector at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, in Washington, DC. Prior to this position, Monsignor Jameson has had clergy positions with at least six other parishes within the Washington Archdiocese. He has served on numerous boards and other national and archdiocesan positions, including the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities, the Spiritual Advisor for the Montgomery County Catholic Business Network, and the National Advisory Board of the US Council of Catholic Bishops. In 1999, he became a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. He joined HCEF’s Board of Directors in 2004.

Thomas F. O’Herron
Silver Spring, MD
Mr. O’Herron, a retired United States diplomat, served in American Foreign Service posts in Africa and Europe. A specialist in international trade and finance, he is the author of Terms of Trade, the Language of International Trade Policy, Law and Diplomacy. Mr. O’Herron is an attorney and a former President of Maryland Right to Life.

François Quinson, KCHS
Gaithersburg, MD
Mr. Quinson is former chair of HCEF’s Board of Directors. He was educated in France and the United States. He has a Baccalauréat ès Lettres in Philosophy, a B.A. in Chemistry from Williams College, and an M.B.A. in Accounting from Cornell University. He began his business career with American Cyanamid Company and Smith Kline and French Laboratories. After a 25-year consulting career with a number of firms, including the Hay Group and Mercer, he is now an independent consultant to a wide variety of organizations in the United States and abroad with primary emphasis on performance management, strategic organization design, and compensation strategies. Over the years, François has conducted seminars on these topics in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.