Parul was born in Gujurat, India and immigrated to the United States when she was two years old. She called small town North Carolina home for most of her life before moving to Raleigh in 2002. It was during college that she became in touch with my heritage and learned to appreciate diversity. She has a BA in Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill, an MA in Family Counseling from the University of Akron and holds a certificate as an ESL instructor. Working with a non-profit, Asian Services in Action, she helped provide services to refugees in Akron. In Raleigh, she currently volunteers with USCRI as an ESL instructor. She served as PTAA president at Cary Academy and held various other leadership roles there including serving on the DEI committee. Parul believes it is important to find the common humanity we all share across the globe but also to celebrate our differences.

Patricia Sasser is currently the Assistant Head of School at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, NC.  Originally from Washington D.C. as the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service mom and Nigerian dad, Patricia spent her elementary and middle school years living overseas in Nigeria, Haiti, and Niger. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature and in African-American Studies. Patricia also earned a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Leadership & Administration from The George Washington University. Recently, Patricia was named a Fulbright Specialist for a tenure of three years (2023-2026) by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning. 

Before joining Saint Mary's School, Patricia served as the Head of the Upper School at Ransom Everglades School. Patricia also worked at the Loomis Chaffee School as a Dean of Students and was heavily involved in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at the school. Prior to Loomis Chaffee, Patricia worked at her alma mater The Madeira School in several roles, including as a Major Gifts Officer, Director of Student Activities, Special Assistant to the Head of School on Diversity, and the Assistant Dean of Students for Residential Life. Before transitioning into education, Patricia worked at ESPN in Bristol, CT as an Associate Producer where she was a two-time Emmy® nominee and a 2006 Emmy® award winner. 

Being actively involved in and of service to her community is extremely important to Patricia. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Jack & Jill of America, Inc. and the Junior League of Raleigh. 

One of her favorite quotes that inspires the way she lives her life is "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." by Maya Angelou.

Patricia enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, reading, and going to the movies. She currently lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and son. 

Alison is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and has lived throughout the world, including stints in Spain, Luxembourg, and Romania. She has lived in the Raleigh-Durham area since 2000.

Alison Rimsky Vernon has been a senior research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) for 22 years. During her time at CNA, she has conducted studies ranging from an overview of military operations in the 1990s; U.S. civil-military relations; the issue of interagency cooperation during military operations; the role of humanitarian operations in the War on Terror, Navy strategic laydown and global posture and cost-imposing strategies. She has also done a number of organizational studies that have helped large military organizations identify issues and structural answers to those issues for both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

As part of these efforts she has traveled extensively in Asia, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Africa, speaking to national leadership about their perceptions of these operations and the role of the US military as part of an overall US foreign policy designed toward creating partnerships. 

She did her doctoral research in political science at Ohio State University where she specialized in civil-military relations in democratizing nations.  She was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in Romania and she speaks Spanish and Romanian proficiently. She enjoys ballroom dancing, great dinner parties, and swimming.

She has been involved with International Focus (and its predecessor, International Affairs) since 2006. The effect on her two daughters of growing up seated around dinner tables with guests from all over the world has been enormous; her oldest daughter is currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy after a semester in Cape Town, South Africa.

Shannon Vickery is director of corporate engagement for PBS North Carolina. She has been working for PBS North Carolina since October 1995 following several years working in commercial television news as a reporter, producer and anchor. For more than two decades Shannon has served in a variety of different content roles including as a reporter/producer, senior correspondent, executive producer for content, and director of production and production partnerships.

In 2019, Shannon joined PBS NC’s Development Division as director of corporate engagement where she leads revenue growth by connecting corporate partners to the best opportunities available on the PBS North Carolina platform to achieve marketing and corporate social impact goals. During her time at PBS NC, Shannon has been honored to welcome a number of International Focus delegations to the statewide public media network and is excited to continue supporting International Focus as a member of its board of directors.

Shannon is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. She has a Master of Art’s degree from Duke University.

About PBS North Carolina:

PBS North Carolina is more than quality television! The statewide network creates multimedia content to light up every screen in your home. Our technology provides public safety messages available to every citizen in NC. We make North Carolinians safer, smarter and stronger by providing educational services, resources and convenings that lead to brighter futures.

PBS North Carolina Vision: To spark lifelong curiosity and wonder, empower our communities and enrich the lives of all North Carolinians. PBS North Carolina Mission: Provide transformational experiences and trusted content to educate, inform, entertain and inspire the people of North Carolina.

While originally from Alabama, by way of Georgia, Texas and Indiana, Ann has been a resident of Cary North Carolina for over 30 years. Ann became involved in international business when working at Boehringer Mannheim Corporation in Indiana where she coordinated R&D activities with counterparts in Germany. It was her first lesson in cultural differences, and she became a believer in the need to understand the culture of the people you work with.

Ann has worked in the in vitro diagnostic field for over 35 years, developing antibodies for use in diagnostic assays. In 2006, Ann started ImmunoReagents, Inc. whose mission was to provide customers with a resource not only for antibodies, but also to share her knowledge to help them obtain the antibodies they needed, whether from ImmunoReagents, or another company she recommended. Her company continues to grow and support the in vitro diagnostic market worldwide. Ann’s company has received numerous awards from the State and Federal level for export growth and initiatives. Her company provides products throughout the world, in over 30 different countries.

Ann began working the International Focus, specifically with hosting international visitors through the International Visitors Leadership Program in 2017. We have hosted several groups from various countries and backgrounds. ImmunoReagents employees have benefited from these programs as well, through meeting and discussing their roles in the Company along with their individual backgrounds. Ann has also participated in multiple roundtable discussions with other groups, sharing experiences and how best to achieve success in the workplace.

Ann received her Master of Science degree in 1974 from Samford University in Birmingham Al in 1974 and her Ph.D. from The Medical College of George in Augusta GA in 1985.