Staff
Michael McCarry
Executive Director
Michael McCarry has led the Alliance as its Executive Director since October 1994. Prior to joining the Alliance, he spent 18 years with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) as a Foreign Service Officer. He served as U.S. Cultural Attaché in Beijing in the years immediately following the Tiananmen Square events of 1989, and led negotiations, which resulted in the restoration of the Fulbright program after its suspension by the Chinese government. He also served as director of USIS Chiang Mai, Thailand, and as Assistant Cultural Attaché in Bangkok. He speaks Chinese and Thai.
Michael’s domestic assignments with USIA include staff director/special assistant in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, chief of Advising and Student Services, policy officer for East Asia, Voice of America branch chief for Southeast Asia, and desk officer for Southern Africa. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Michael worked as a legislative and press aide for Rep. Robert McClory (R-IL), and as a journalist in Illinois and Texas.
Michael received an M.A. from the University of Texas (Austin), a B.A. from Notre Dame, and spent a year at Melbourne University in Australia as a Rotary Graduate Fellow. He is originally from Chicago, IL.
Mark Overmann
Assistant Director and Senior Policy Specialist
Mark Overmann has served as the Assistant Director and Senior Policy Specialist at the Alliance since February 2009. Prior to joining the Alliance, Mark was as the Director of College Communications at Georgetown University, where he worked closely with the university's outreach and exchange programs to China. He also worked as a program associate for communications at the National Council for International Visitors.
Mark made his first trip abroad during college to study in Angers, France. Following his graduation with a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame, he taught English and studied Chinese in Northeast China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region. He subsequently earned his M.A. in International Communication from American University’s School of International Service. Mark is coauthor with Sherry Mueller of Working World: Careers in International Education, Exchange, and Development (Georgetown University Press, 2008) and the international career blog at http://workingworldcareers.com. He speaks French and Chinese, and originally hails from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Nuttha Ummarakoon
Administrative Intern
Tijana Milosevic
Public Policy Intern
Tijana Milosevic joined the Alliance in April 2010 and, among other public policy responsibilities, manages the Alliance's partnership with the Public Diplomacy Council. She completed her MA in Media and Public Affairs from the George Washington University in 2009. Prior to her employment with the Alliance and the Council, she did project management work at InterMedia Global Communications. Tijana holds a BA degree in journalism and political science from the American University in Bulgaria. As an exchange student, she also studied at the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Journalism. Tijana was trained at the BBC World-Serbian Service and has previously interned at Fleishman Hillard International Communications and Radio Free Europe, both in Washington, DC. She was an Open Society Institute Scholar and a Goldman Sachs Global Leader fellow.
