Administration: Notre Equipe

Joe Rivlin
Contact: 503-296-0613 and rivlinj@hevanet.com

Retired in 2000 after 43 years in the Semiconductor Equipment part of the High Tech world, as a Manager in large public companies and then President of his own Venture Capital backed startup, in Boston, that was bought by a company here in Portland in 1994. Family has lived in Los Angeles, Boston and now Portland.

Born in New York City, received Engineering and Business Administration degrees at City University of New York. Married to Nicole with a son Mason, a granddaughter, Zoe and Daughter-in-Law Jennifer, all living here in the Portland area. Joe also has two daughters, Chris and Leslie, from a previous marriage, both of whom live in Northern California.

Nicole Rivlin is a former Alliance Board Member and Joe succeeded Gerard Phillipon as Alliance President in 2003, serving two+ terms, through 2007.

Sarah Curtin
Contact: 503-296-7953 and srcurtin@comcast.net

Sarah Curtin has over ten years experience in volunteer and board positions with several major non-profit organizations in Michigan, Illinois and Georgia. Her professional experience includes six years in University administration and nine years in aerospace finance. Sarah and her husband Ken, a neuroradiologist with EPIC, relocated to Portland in 2006. They share a passion for the culture and language of France. Sarah enjoys a variety of outdoor sports, and travel.

Leslie Averill
Contact: 503-697-7310 ljaverill2003@juno.com

Native-born Oregonian with heart left in France after first visiting the country in 1981.

Extensive stays in France only increased my appetite to learn more about french culture and other French experiences available to me in my native U.S. country. At the AFdP I met Madame Sabine de Carbonnel (one of it's founders)who helped inspire me and understand the "Vrai Francaise"; whose stories and language classes continue to enlighten and educate me to this day.

I will forever be a student of the french language and lifestyle and hope to eventually live part time in the South of France.

Marie-Pierre Wolfe
Contact: mariepwolfe@yahoo.fr

I was born in France near the city of Lyon, and I grew up in the wonderful Vercors National Park in the pre-alps mountains overlooking the city of Grenoble. In July 1964, at the University of Grenoble Cafetaria, I met a very charming American boy from Boston who was spending the summer studying French in the program for foreign students. Beginning with this first meeting, we spent a long life together, that took us studying , teaching and travelling from Europe to Japan, where we got married in Kyoto , then to New York City, Paris, and Cornell University in Ithaca New York and we finally settled down in Eugene Oregon, from 1981 to 1999 , where both my husband and I were teachers, him in the Asian Studies department at the U of O and I as a one of the founders of the French Elementary School program of the Eugene 4-j public school district. Eugene was the place where we also raised our two children, Mikael and Marika. After my husband passed away in 1998, I went back to France where I was a school principal and a teacher for the past nine years until I very recently decided to come back near my children and to retire in Portland after a long career as a teacher of French as a Foreign language, as well as of French Litterature, in France, Japan and the United States.

Gilles Faure
Contact: gfaure@faispdx.org

Gilles Faure resides in Portland with his wife and three children since 9 years. He is a Teacher at the French American International School where he is also the Summer Camp Director. He holds a Bachelor's Degree of French literature. He traveled extensively in Europe and spent two years as a lecturer in the University of Port-Harcourt (Nigeria) as well as a teacher and cultural events organizer at the local Alliance Francaise. Gilles also holds a sport degree (French Boxing) which gave him the opportunity to travel and work in different countries and French region. Beside sport, he likes arts and any kind of music.

Ellen Agee
Contact: ellenleighagee@yahoo.com

Ellen Agee returned to Portland from Seattle after completing her JD at Seattle University School of Law in 2006. She is a member of the Oregon State Bar. Prior to moving to Seattle, Ellen studied French under Claudine Fisher, at Portland State University, and received her Masters in 1995. She wrote her thesis on two Alain Resnais films, Hiroshima mon amour and L'Année dernière à Marienbad. After graduating, Ellen worked in an administrative capacity at FAIS. Ellen, a practicing artist, with a MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has just reopened her studio and plans to complete and exhibit her current body of work within the next two years.

Linda Witt
Contact: linda.witt@comcast.net

Linda Witt has worked for fourteen years in Marketing and Development with independent language schools in Seattle and Portland as well as ten years in International Marketing for the high-tech industry in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. In addition to her board membership at the Alliance she works with the French American International School and other nonprofit organizations to provide professional consulting services for fundraising and public relations. Linda serves on the Board of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest. She has a BA from UT Austin and language competency certification from the French National Ministry of Education and the Chambre de Commerce de Paris.

Brad Bertram - 3B Web Creations
Contact: webmaster@3bwebcreations.com

3B Web Creations was established in 1996 by Brad Bertram. His company provides personalized Web Design & Maintenance services.

Jean-Claude Balland
Contact: jcballandassociates@jcb.com

Jean-Claude Balland spent half his career in France and half in the US, where he and his wife Mireille, reside since 1984. He's a business consultant, professor, and lecturer with experience in marketing management in Europe, the United States, and Japan for technology products. After a long career in the corporate world, Jean-Claude is now an adjunct professor at OHSU School of Science and Engineering and at Portland State University where he teaches master courses in technology marketing and innovation. Jean-Claude is the president of Cercle français, whose mission is to allow people to practice French language while learning about interesting events, people or places.

Jean-Claude holds a EE from INSA, in Lyon, France and is a Doctor in Physics from University of Lyon, France.

Bev Voytko
Contact: bevoytko@gmail.com

Bev Voytko worked as a group insurance underwriter in Seattle and Boston before deciding to stay home to raise her two children in Ramsey, New Jersey, just across the river from New York City. Looking for a challenge, beyond that of parenting, she took on a series projects in the Ramsey school district, at the request of the Superintendent, ranging from directing the Junior Great Books program, to chairing the Parents Advisory Committee to the Gifted and Talented Program, to spending two years as Vice President and three years as President of the Ramsey Public Education Foundation. Having moved to Portland in 2002, she searched for ways to connect with fellow Francophiles and discovered the local chapter of the Alliance Francaise. As she became increasingly involved in Alliance activities, she was honored to be invited to join the Board and in January 2008, to be elected its president.

Claire Evans
Contact: eclaire56@comcast.net

Daughter of a Bruxellois papa and Nebraskan maman, Claire was raised in the Portland area and has returned after 30 years on the East Coast and abroad. Her 20-year career in museums and nonprofits included postings at the Smithsonian and the Getty Trust, organizing international conferences and partnerships with many cultural institutions, including the Louvre. She serves on a museum advisory council at her alma mater Wellesley College, where she majored in French and Political Science. She is married to Gene Evans, Communications Director to State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo, after they met at their 30th high school reunion in 2004. Claire’s passions embrace many sports, travel, literature, and her tri-color collie, Zeus.

Kimberly Shute
Contact: kimberly@lookinportland.com

Kimberly, whose British parents inspired her to travel, was raised in Corvallis. Having lived overseas in Trinidad and Tobago and then as an au pair in the countryside of Marseille, the desire to travel was secured. Kimberly has worked as an Event Planner organizing events; such as Sales Kick Off's for the hi-tech industry, meetings with the Committee of the President of the United State's Department of the Arts and the Humanities, fundraisers and weddings. Enjoying the freedom of working for herself, she has renewed her real estate license within the past few years. She loves outdoor sports and has participated on two occasions in Cycle Oregon.

Gérard Philippon
Contact: gerardinthepearl.com

A native of Le Mans, France, Gérard Philippon came to the United States in 1975 and moved to Portland in 1997. He is the proprietor of Versailles in the Pearl.

Sherry Charles
Contact: mcxerez@gmail.com

Sherry Charles is an Alliance student and avid Francophile who has enjoyed an active career in corporate advertising.

Sylvain Frémaux
Contact: sfremaux@comcast.net

Sylvain Frémaux was born in Paris and has taught the language and culture of his native France to Oregonians of all ages since 1990. He has served on the French and music faculties of Linfield College, Lewis & Clark College, Pacific University, Portland Community College and Western Oregon University, where he designed and taught a variety of interdisciplinary courses in both French and English. He also taught French at University of Southern California, Alliance française of Los Angeles, and Yale University. As a scholar and translator, his publications include: Diary of a Twentieth-Century Composer: Alexandre Tansman, 1897-1986 (winner of the 1998 USC Stefan and Wanda Wilk Prize); Life of Father Croquet, Missionary in Oregon (Portland, 1997, translated from French); French Music from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, 1789-1830 (Amadeus Press, Portland, 1996) by Jean Mongrédien (translated from the French); and The Compositional Process in Robert Schumann's First Symphony: Draft, Score, Revisions, and Publication, 1841-1853 (New Haven, Yale School of Music, 1983). Sylvain is the founding director of FranceTours, LLC and has led annual tours and travel courses throughout his native France since 1997. His thematic tours have included Retracing the Steps of Joan of Arc; Touraine-Garden of France; Explore the Valley of the French Kings; and The City of Lights. Sylvain holds a Bachelor's degree from USC and a Master's degree from Yale.