Michael McCullough, Director, joined ABA ROLI in October 2008. He previously served as chief of party for a USAID-funded justice administration program in La Paz, Bolivia, as well as deputy chief of party for a similar USAID-funded program in Bogotá, Colombia. He has criminal litigation experience as an attorney with the federal public defender for the District of Columbia and as a deputy public defender for Maricopa County, Arizona. He has trained attorneys, judges and academics in Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela on issues related to trial skills and the accusatorial system. He holds a B.A. in Spanish and political science and a J.D. and from the University of Arizona. He speaks Spanish fluently. You can contact Michael McCullough at michael.mccullough@americanbar.org.

Chantal Agarwal, Program Manager, joined ABA ROLI’s Latin America and Caribbean Division in November 2010. Over the last ten years, she has worked on several U.S. government-funded programs in Latin America, covering various international development topics, including democratic governance, microfinance and international policy. Ms. Agarwal holds an M.A. degree in international affairs from the Elliott School for International Affairs of the George Washington University, and a B.A. degree from the University of Maryland at College Park. She speaks Spanish fluently. You can contact Chantal Agarwal at chantal.agarwal@americanbar.org.

Cynthia Arévalo, Administrative Assistant, Latin America and Caribbean Division, joined ABA ROLI in May 2011. She received a B.A. degree in political science from Texas Christian University, where she served as a research assistant specializing in Colombian and Venezuelan issues, and also studied at the Université de la Rochelle in France. She has previously interned at the World Association for Newspapers and News Publishers, the Center for International Policy, UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and on Capitol Hill. A native of Colombia, she is fluent in Spanish and French. You can contact Cynthia Arévalo at Cynthia.Arevalo@americanbar.org.

Jeremy Biddle, Program Officer, joined ABA ROLI’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division in July 2010. He previously worked with Mexico City-based NGOs Transparencia Mexicana-Transparency International and the Fundación Este País. In addition to Mexico, Mr. Biddle has worked and studied in Cambodia, Brazil, France and Germany. He holds a dual-degree M.P.A. in economic and political development from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Sciences Po-Paris, as well as a B.A. in history from Columbia. You can contact Jeremy Biddle at jeremy.biddle@americanbar.org.

Francisco Ciampolini, Program Officer, joined ABA ROLI’s Latin America and Caribbean Division in September 2010. He previously worked as a visiting professional at the International Criminal Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, and served as a legal assistant for the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in Geneva. He holds an LL.M. in international and comparative law from The George Washington University Law School, with additional studies in human rights law from Oxford University. Originally from Brazil, he obtained his B.A. in law from Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in Sao Paulo. Mr. Ciampolini is a native Portuguese speaker and is fluent in English and Spanish. You can contact Francisco Ciampolini at francisco.ciampolini@americanbar.org.

Melanie Penagos, Program Associate, Latin America and Caribbean Division, joined ABA ROLI in October 2011. She has previously worked with the National Endowment for Democracy, where she played a key role in organizing the 2010 Sixth Assembly of the Word Movement for Democracy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and most recently worked as a Program Assistant in support of the organization's grants administration. Her first professional experience was working as a consultant for Amnesty International USA. She has a B.A. in international studies (Latin American concentration) and Spanish from Towson University. Her family is from Guatemala, and she is fluent in Spanish. You can contact Melanie Penagos at melanie.penagos@americanbar.org.

Antoinette Moore, Country Director, Belize, has a J.D. degree and a master’s degree in international human rights law. Antoinette first practiced law as a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, the largest provider of legal services to the indigent in Cook County, Illinois. Concurrently, she was an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Northwestern University Law School and conducted a weekly “street law” program for minority high school students at Loyola University’s law school. After relocating to Belize, Antoinette went into private practice litigating human rights matters throughout the country, including landmark indigenous land rights cases, trade union cases and juvenile justice issues. Additionally, she was retained to prosecute the first major money laundering case in Belize. Antoinette co-founded the Belize Centre for Human Rights Studies and teaches their Introduction to Human Rights class each semester at the University of Belize. She has served in various capacities on the Board of Directors of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Commission of Belize. You can contact Antoinette Moore at moorelaw@btl.net.

Erik Guenther, Deputy Country Director, Belize, joined ABA ROLI in March 2011. He graduated from Carthage College with a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration and received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has been a frequent guest lecturer at both institutions. He practiced private criminal defense and constitutional law litigation with Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C., in Madison, Wisconsin, and served as the defense mentor for the Justice Sector Support Program in Afghanistan. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Guenther served on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and he was the youngest board president in the history of the organization. He is a member of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law and is licensed to practice before the International Criminal Court. You can contact Erik Guenther at eguenther@hbslawfirm.com.

Al Amado, Country Director, Ecuador, holds a J.D. and an LL.M. in international law, the resolution of conflict and interdisciplinary Latin American studies. He began his career as a trial and appellate litigation lawyer. His experience has been diverse and has included the trial of commercial, criminal, entertainment, construction and personal injury matters. He has also been active as a mediator, arbitrator, and trial and conflict consultant. He worked as a director of business affairs and Latin America to a global fitness company. He was founding director of the International Institute, director of Latin American projects for the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution and an adjunct faculty at South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas. He was the founding and executive director of the non-profit Latin American Collaborative Education Project, where he developed diverse projects related to the use of interdisciplinary methods for resolving conflicts in Latin America. Born to a Mexican mother and having lived in Mexico for several years, Al is bilingual and bicultural. You can reach Al Amado at <aamado@staff.abanet.org>

Alfonso Sierra, Country Director, Guatemala, joined ABA ROLI in July 2010. He previously served as technical advisor to the Attorney General in Guatemala and as a consultant for U.S. Agency for International Development- and United Nations Development Program-funded programs in the country. He has broad experience in the development of training courses for prosecutors, reengineering processes for prosecutor operations and litigation experience as an advisor to public attorneys. He also served as a public attorney himself, appointed to the Supreme Court of Justice. In 1998, he served as technical deputy director of the Institute of Public Defense in Guatemala. He holds postgraduate degrees from the Pontifical University of Salamanca. You can contact Alfonso Sierra at <sierrasamayoa@gmail.com>.

Alonso González-Villalobos, Country Director, Mexico, is a Mexican attorney with a LL.M. in international law from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining ABA ROLI he was the managing partner of a law firm in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he focused on human rights, constitutional law and criminal law. He has taught at the Universidad Panamericana and other Mexican institutions and served on the Steering Committee of the Jalisco Chapter of the Mexican Bar Association. You can contact Alonso González-Villalobos at <alonso@abaroli.mx>.

Thomas Cullen, Country Director, Panama, joined ABA ROLI in March 2011. He previously served as assistant attorney, senior attorney at the Gun Violence Program and as the director of the National Center for Community Prosecution in Arlington, Virginia. Before joining ABA ROLI, Mr. Cullen was a solo practitioner since 2006. Over the past 10 years, he has worked with organizations such as ABA ROLI in training programs in countries transitioning from the inquisitional to the accusatorial system. He speaks Spanish fluently. You can contact Thomas Cullen at tomcullen@tkcullenlaw.com.

Eduardo Flores-Trejo, Program Director, Panama, joined ABA ROLI in July 2011. He has more than 13 years of experience in the management of multi-million dollar initiatives to promote the rule of law and foster accountability in Latin America, Eurasia and South East Asia through regional and country-specific programs in Armenia, Timor Leste, Mexico, Panama and Guatemala. He has also served as adjunct professor and editor of the Law Journal of the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. Mr. Flores holds an M.A. degree in international relations from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the University of Guadalajara. You can contact Eduardo Flores-Trejo at eduardo.florestrejo@americanbar.org.

Waleska Hormechea de Segovia, Judicial Reform Coordinator, Panama, is a former Panamanian circuit court judge, who presided over criminal cases for more than a decade. Prior to joining ABA ROLI, she also served as the technical coordinator of the Accusatorial System Implementation Unit, where she coordinated the design of the implementation plan for sweeping judicial reforms.