Who we are

YFU's Global Governance

YFU consists of 55+ independent Member Organizations. To keep us together on international level, we have an international board with members, representing all the regions of our community, to provide strategic and governance leadership and oversight of YFU. Comprised of both National Directors and National Board members as well as independent global volunteers, the International Board has expertise from non-profit, business, international relations, law and education. Their work is conducted through regular Board meetings and through the work of several internal committees. The International Board is elected by and accountable to the global membership of YFU which meets bi-annually for the  General Assembly and International Conference.

International Board Members

Maria Fe Lazarte (Chair)

Luis Pardo (Vice Chair)

Simon Born (Treasurer)

Dana Lee

Elina Talonen-Lintunen

Hans Strijdom





Ieva Dirvonskaite

Sandy Arbelaez

Knut Möller

Patrice Birot

William Dant

YFU Global Office

The Global Office is the global structure that works to enable the YFU membership worldwide to achieve its mission by providing leadership, critical services and opportunities to grow and thrive as sustainable and quality organizations.

The Global Office is composed of two operating & staffed supra-national legal structures of the YFU membership: Youth For Understanding International Educational Services (YFU IES)and European Educational Exchanges - Youth for Understanding (EEE-YFU), which are legally independent from each other. Through the alignment and personal integration of governance, operations, and management, these two structures operate as one efficient & effective global structure, providing global service and support to the global membership in order to create synergies, maximize output and increase efficiencies.