The Board — Goals Armenia

Andrea Montalbano

Andrea Montalbano is a writer, journalist, and advocate. She is author of the Soccer Sisters Book series, dedicated to featuring female athlete protagonists and supporting girls and women on and off the field. She is the co-founder and Board Chair of GOALS Armenia, the 2019 Beyond Sport winner for NGO of the Year for Gender Equality. Most recently, she traveled to Zanzibar with GOALS partner, Coaches Across Continents, to produce several mini-films about their work there using sport for social impact. Prior to authoring the Soccer Sisters books, Andrea worked as a journalist at NBC News and was Supervising Producer at the TODAY show. She is currently an assistant adjunct Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She grew up playing soccer in Miami and was a Harvard Hall of Fame co-captain defender who just wanted to be a forward.

Amb. John Heffern

Ambassador John Heffern joined Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy as a Senior State Department Fellow in September 2017. Prior to coming to Georgetown, Heffern served as Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. Previously, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia from 2011-2014, Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at USNATO in Brussels, Belgium; DCM in Jakarta, Indonesia; and Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. Heffern also served in Tokyo, Japan; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and Guangzhou, China. After a 36-year Foreign Service career, Heffern retired from the State Department in 2018. He has played a key role in the establishment of GOALS and has continued to be a supporter from day one.

Dr. Gary Assarian

He is a board-certified doctor of pathology from Michigan, US with over 40 years of experience in the field. He is a longtime philanthropist and a benefactor of social impact projects across Armenia and Artsakh. The Dr. Gary and Linda Assarian Family Foundation has sponsored numerous vocational training projects for children and women across Armenia, resulting in many families being able to take the first steps out of poverty. They have been a longtime supporter of COAF. One such project that was made possible is a newly renovated cafeteria and tooth-brushing station (brushodrome) for the village school of Odzun. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Gary and Linda Assarian, students will now have daily access to nutritious meals and proper dental hygiene at school. The Family has been generous supporters of GOALS since 2019. It is because of them that GOALS was able to launch the Assarian Relief Initiative in very tough times bringing immediate relief to children impacted by the war in Artsakh. We were able to reach over 250 children that had been displaced or affected by the war in a very short amount of time and continue to do so until today. Dr. Assarian and family have also sponsored the first GOALS professional team and made it possible for our girls to take a step towards professional athletics.

Tim March

Tim March is the founder of TCMConsulting which has been based in Sharjah, UAE, since 2001. He is an educator, teacher trainer, program writer, course developer, and sports consultant who has provided input to government and sporting entities locally, regionally, and globally. In his capacity as Task Force Chair of the Higher College of Technology’s (HCT’s) BAS in Management (Sports and Leisure Management) Tim authored a program designed to create the local expertise required to sustain professional sport in the UAE. As General Coordinator at Sharjah FC he was involved in the creation of one of the leading organic growth models in the region and subsequently designed, developed, and activated the LaLiga International Academy Development model. From a Fundacio FC Barcelona perspective, Tim’s input resulted in the evolution of FutbolNet to a highly developed, transportable program supported by a coherent
infrastructure of core protocols and processes to enable the successful activation of a global best practice model in a regional context. Tim March has more than twenty years of teaching and coaching experience and is a Cambridge University-approved DELTA teacher training tutor.

Armine Afeyan

Armine Afeyan is a first-generation American with Armenian / Swedish nationalities. She recently re-joined the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative as its Executive Director, having been previously been on the founding team based in Yerevan. In this capacity, she also represents the Afeyan Family Foundation in several non-profit initiatives. She’s spent the balance of her careers across consumer-focused tech companies, most recently Wayfair, as a general manager in their London office and Boston headquarters. Armine holds a B.A. from Yale University, where she studied Political Science and rowed on the varsity crew team.She earned her M.B.A from INSEAD.

Zach Theiler.jpg — Zach Theiler

Zach Theiler cofounded GOALS with Victoria Dokken while working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia; together they opened up women's soccer leagues across the country. Since leaving Armenia in 2017, he has continued working in international development. He produced a documentary about domestic workers' rights in Ethiopia. He moved to Washington, D.C., and launched a podcast series covering the impact of counterterrorism law on humanitarian aid. Currently, he works as a freelance writer and editor and resides in D.C. with his partner Hannah, and dog, Dolma.

Anna Hakobyan.jpg — Anna Hakobyan

Anna connects the dots… People, industries, projects, skills, cultures, and experiences. Her experience spans from the USA to Canada, Russia, Latin America, and Europe. Over the past 15 years she has worked with United Nations, International Organizations such as IATA, large-scale technology companies such as SAP, governments, and non-profits. Different industries, cultures taught her how to navigate complex environments and build teams that last. She knows how to acquire and retain customers, open doors, and broker deals.
Anna strongly believes that passion leads to success and that breaking rules, not principles leads to new opportunities. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Master’s in Public Administration, State University of New York and is PMP certified.
She is heading North American operations for Pyxis, an Uruguayan technology ecosystem helping companies stay relevant in the rapidly changing world of digitalization.

Diron Jebejian.jpg — Diron Jebejian

Diron Jebejian is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking division, based in New York. He has been a member of the Financial Sponsors Group since 1996, providing a broad scope of financing and advisory services. His private equity clients span a wide range of fund sizes and strategies from large-cap growth to value oriented and turn-around investing. He has also played a formative role in the M&A Business Development Group. Mr. Jebejian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the California State University Northridge.

Alexandra Bailey.JPG — Allie Bailey

Allie Bailey is recognized as a passionate leader in the soccer world. Her dedication and talent led to many extraordinary opportunities, including playing soccer all over the world. She was a four-year letterman at Texas A&M University and studied Telecommunication Media Studies and Sports Management. At A&M, Allie and her team were Big 12 and SEC champions. Her senior season, Allie led her team to the school’s first-ever Final Four. After her successful college campaign, she played professionally in the NWSL for the Houston Dash. Allie now works in media partnerships at the NBA. She loves GOALS's mission and will help grow opportunities for young women to become leaders and play the sport that gave her so much. Allie resides in Manhattan, New York.

Lusine Mirzakhanyan.jpg — Lusine Mirzakhanyan

Lusine Mirzakhanyan is a technology leader and currently holds the position of Senior Director of Revenue Operations at SADA Systems, Google Cloud Partner based out of Los Angeles, CA. Prior to this Lusine had spent 10+ years at SAP leading the R2R Center of Excellence for SAP Cloud Operations. Lusine received her B.S. in Economics from Yerevan State University in Armenia and MBA from Scranton University, Pennsylvania, Kania School of Management, with a concentration in Finance. Lusine’s enthusiasm for women's soccer was initially inspired by her daughter Mariam’s passion as a young soccer player, leading Lusine to become a coach for her daughter’s soccer teams over the last few years both in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Lusine is a strong believer in the invaluable social impact that GOALS team makes today and the undeniable role that the program plays in empowering future female leaders for a strong and progressive Armenian society.

Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan

Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan is a political scientist, climate negotiator and published author. Irina holds a doctorate degree in political science from the University of Cambridge. Her main areas of expertise are political leadership, states in transition, climate politics, environmental management, gender and gender in conflict as well as security studies.
Her previous education includes a Masters Degree in Diplomatic Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of London and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from the University of Malta.
Dr. Ghaplanyan served as Deputy Minister of Environment for the Republic of Armenia and is currently teaching at the American University of Armenia. She has worked in a number of international organizations and think tanks around the world to include UNDP, Georgetown University, Eurasia Foundation, and Chatham House. Irina has been a catalyst for change in the field of sustainable business and social entrepreneurship in Armenia.
Dr. Ghaplanyan has a number of academic and media publications, among which the most recent is a Routledge published book titled “Post-Soviet Armenia: The New National Elite and the New National Narrative”.