The Atheist Alliance International Board consists of 4 - 13 Directors elected by the AAI Affiliate Members for two-year staggered terms. No more than one nominee from any Affiliate/Associate Member may be a Director at any time and no more than three Directors may be from any one country. The AAI Board has responsibility and full executive authority for the operations and activities of Atheist Alliance International, subject only to compliance at all times with the provisions of relevant laws, AAI's Bylaws and any policies passed at Board meetings.

All AAI Directors are volunteers.

At present, there is one vacancy on the AAI Board.  Interested candidates should contact AAI President This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for information on appropriate qualifications and the application process.

Officers

President: Tanya Smith (Australia, term: 2012) - president [at] atheistalliance [dot] org

Tanya Smith joined the board of (the former) Atheist Alliance International in 2010 and was part of the transition team to establish Atheist Alliance International and Atheist Alliance of America as separate organisations through 2011.  Tanya was one of the principal co-ordinators of the 2010 Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne and has been a member of the Atheist Foundation of Australia’s public relations team since 2009.  By profession Tanya is an investment banker specialising in mergers & acquisitions, and she has worked at a number of global investment banks in Australia and Europe.  

Tanya is also AAI's General Manager.

Languages:  English

Vice President: Bill Ligertwood (Canada, Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought, term: 2013) - vicepresident [at] atheistalliance [dot] org

Bill Ligertwood has been actively involved in atheism since 2009 when he and his wife attended the AAI convention in Burbank.  That marked a turning point for both of them.  They went from passive to activist and on return to Kamloops started the Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought.  From a small core group of just a few members the group has grown to over 100 members.  The group has been sponsoring lectures and films and hosted a major conference on 7 May 2011.  The "Imagine no Religion" conference was the first atheist convention held in BC and was a huge success.  The group has also sponsored a bus ad campaign and has two buses with the "Probably No God" billboard on them in Kamloops.  Needless to say they have created a great deal of controversy and it's safe to say that there are many people now praying for Bill’s soul.  

Languages:  English

Treasurer: Stuart Bechman (US, term: 2013) - treasurer [at] atheistalliance [dot] org

Stuart Bechman has been active in the US freethought community for 15 years.  He holds an accounting degree and has served as treasurer for a number of not-for-profit organizations over the course of his career.  Stuart has served on the boards of the Secular Coalition for America, Americans United for Separation of Church & State and his local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.  He has also worked with the (US) Institute of Humanist Studies, and is a past president of (the former) Atheist Alliance International (2008-2010).  

Languages:  English, Spanish

Secretary: Shelley Mountjoy (US, Atheist Alliance of America, term: 2012) - secretary [at] atheistalliance [dot] org

Shelley Mountjoy teaches Information Technology courses to college students and is a graduate student herself, studying nonprofit management.  Shelley became involved in the secular movement in 2005 through the Rational Response Squad and has subsequently organized over 400 educational, activist, community service, and social events through a variety of organisations.  In 2007, she founded the Secular Student Alliance (GMU).  Since 2008, she has served as Vice President of Virginia Freethought Renaissance (VFR) and in 2009 Shelley co-founded District of Columbia Atheists, Inc (DCA); she is currently a President of the organisation.  During 2010 Shelley re-established the Northern Virginia Chapter of Washington Area Secular Humanists.  Shelley is also the Coordinator of the Washington DC Coalition of Reason.  However, locally, Shelley is best known as the Organiser of Capital Beltway Atheists – the largest and most active atheist community in DC.  Nationally, Shelley is on the advisory board of Atheist Nexus, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Secular Student Alliance in May 2009, and was elected to the Board of Directors of (the former) Atheist Alliance International in 2010.  

Languages:  English

Individual Member Representative: Victor Franco (Australia, term: 2013) - membership [at] atheistalliance [dot] org

Victor Franco has always been atheist and committed to promoting secularism and stemming the influence of religion on public policy.  He had a resolutely atheistic and irreligious upbringing thanks to the influence of his father, who came to Australia as a refugee having fled his native Spain in the 1940s to avoid further imprisonment for his libertarian and secular activism.  Victor joined AAI and the Atheist Foundation of Australia in 2010 shortly after attending the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne.  Victor has held executive and general management positions in the Australian public sector and has been chief of staff and senior adviser to various elected representatives.  Victor has also worked in academia and held various positions on boards in the not-for-profit sector.  He has an MBA and degrees in History and Philosophy of Science and Economics.  He is currently a stay-at-home dad caring for his one-year old twin boys.  Victor is AAI’s Membership Director and Individual Member Representative.  

Languages:  English, Spanish

Board appointed roles

Secular World Representative: Lee Holmes (Australia, Atheist Foundation of Australia, term: 2012)

Lee Holmes has been a member of the Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) for 26 years.  In 2001, she was elected to the AFA committee and in 2005 accepted the nomination to be on the executive as Treasurer.  Lee is also the editor of The Australian Atheist, the bi-monthly magazine of the AFA.  Lee was a committee member and key organiser of the 2010 Global Atheist Convention and is now on the committee for the 2012 Global Atheist Convention. 

Languages:  English

General Board members

Carlos Diaz (Argentina, ArgAtea, term: 2013)

Carlos Diaz has been the Regional Coordinator for the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area chapter of the Argentine Atheist Association (Asociación Civil de Ateos en Argentina, better known as ArgAtea) since early 2009.  He co-hosted the first Argentine Atheist radio talk show (Nuevos Ayres Críticos), in a Country where the State still maintains an official religion, during 2009.  As Regional Coordinator he spoke at the Second Argentine Atheist Congress in April 2010.  He spoke about the Catholic Church and the Argentine State at the AAI North American Atheist Convention in Montreal in October 2010.  He currently heads the organizing Committee for the South American Atheist Convention, the first of its kind in the region.  

Languages:  Spanish, English, French, German and Portuguese

Rene Hartmann (Germany, IBKA, term: 2012)

René Hartmann has been serving different positions within IBKA since 1997.  He has been the AAI representative of IBKA since 2002. Currently, he is the first chairman of IBKA, with areas of responsibility including press work, website maintenance and social media.  He is also editor of IBKA’s newsletter.  

Languages:  German, English

Kirumira Mpagi Michael (Uganda, Atheist Association of Uganda, term: 2012)

Kirumira Mpagi Micheal is the President of the Atheist Association of Uganda and its founding Chairman.  He is also an honorary member of both the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Minnesota Atheists.  Kirumira is an atheist blogger, writer, human rights defender and political commentator.  

Languages:  English, Swahili

Robert Sacerich (US, term: 2012)

Robert Sacerich has been involved in secularist activism and the scientific skepticism communities actively for three years. He serves on the board of directors of the Greater Sacramento Humanist Association and serves as President of the Freethinkers of Sierra College. He holds a two year degree in philosophy and is currently pursuing a four year degree in Philosophy of Science. Robert's academic focus is the secular and scientific basis of human morality within the structure of society based on evolutionary pressures. He is an experienced public speaker and is passionate in educating against the harm that comes from religious and pseudoscientific belief systems.  Robert is an occasional blogger and contributor to the public discourse in atheism, scientific skepticism and rational thought.

Languages:  English

Fortunately, Rupert Young did not have a religious upbringing and, so, was not exposed to the doctrinal brainwashing from which much of the world has suffered.  As a result he has been able to cultivate an open and inquiring mind based upon rationality, reason and evidence.  He considers the dangers to individuals and society of believing things without any basis are clear and his goal is to actively challenge religious faith and its inherent invalidity.

Rupert has been interested and peripherally involved in the humanist and atheist movements for a couple of decades, though has recently taken a more active role as a co-founder and current board member of AtheismUK.  He takes great interest in human rights and the rational, scientific approach to understanding.  Currently working in Information Technology his academic background is in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Vision; in which he maintains an active interest.  

Languages:  English

Leandro Yampolsky (Argentina, term: 2012)

Leandro Yampolsky has been a member of ArgAtea (Asociación Civil de Ateos en Argentina) since December 2008.  He has volunteered in many campaigns organized by ArgAtea, such as the Atheist Picnic in Buenos Aires to support the 09/27/2009 Atheist Public Display in Mexico and the Buenos Aires 10:23 Challenge 2011 against homeopathy.  In April 2010, at the Second National Congress (Mar del Plata, Argentina), he participated in the introductory speech of ArgAtea.  He was webmaster of ArgAtea's website from June 2009 until November 2010.  Leandro was co-anchor of the first Argentine radio program on atheism, skepticism and critical thinking, Nuevos Ayres Criticos, in 2009.  He has written articles promoting scientific thought, criticizing the Catholic Church and discussing abortion, which have been published in the Argentine magazine "La Res Pública" and in ArgAtea's freethought magazine.  

Leandro is also AAI's Website Manager.

Languages:  Spanish, English and French