Dr. James E. Jennings, Founder and President

For much of the last three decades, based on a belief that acting on conscience is central to our humanity, Dr. James Jennings has responded to wars and natural disasters throughout the world and worked to improve health care and food delivery, shelter, and refugee aid in some of the neediest and most hazardous places on earth. 

He has worked throughout the greater Middle East for more than 40 years, first as an archaeologist conducting excavations and surveys in Egypt, Palestine, and Iraq, and later teaching Middle Eastern history and archaeology at four universities.  He studied at Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute and holds degrees from Wheaton College and the University of Illinois where he earned his PhD in history.  He has been a guest lecturer at some 30 universities and taught the first course on Islamic Civilization at the American Islamic College in Chicago.

He has appeared on CNN, NBC, FOX, AND PBS and has been interviewed by many other TV and Press organizations around the world for his knowledge of the Middle East and for commentary on current headline issues wherever Conscience International sends teams.

Beginning during the siege of Beirut in 1982, and especially after Conscience International was founded in 1991, Dr. Jennings has organized and led delivery of medical aid and helped staff medical clinics following wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan, and Gaza, among other places.  He has led rapid emergency response teams to numerous countries in the wake of natural disasters, including Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, India, Haiti, Peru, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

Dr. Jennings has also organized and led major US Academics for Peace conferences in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Sudan, meeting for dialogue at leading universities throughout the Muslim world. He has also dialogued with political and religious leaders, including presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and heads of parliament. US Academics for Peace is a division of Conscience International.  It engages in peacemaking efforts in regions of conflict, particularly in the Middle East. 

Dr. Jennings was nominated for the King Hussein Humanitarian Prize and has received awards from Russia, China, Lithuania, South Africa, Iraq and Sudan.  In 2013 he received the University of Illinois Alumni Humanitarian Award. He continues to advocate for greater understanding of other cultures and increased humanitarian involvement in the developing world.   

Carol Carman—Corporate Administrator

In addition to daily responsibilities as Conscience International Corporate Administrator, Carol Carman also serves as Director of Communications and Donor Relations. Her career as both a journalist and a marketing executive has spanned the globe, taking her to more than 37 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Far East.

She has written for the Miami Herald, the Miami News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Fairchild Publications and held the position of editor-in-chief of the leading technical business publication in its field, producing American, Asia, African, and Spanish-language editions.  She has contributed to numerous consumer and city magazines in addition to writing for business publications in Europe and the Far East.

In Chicago, she launched an international marketing research and advertising firm serving Fortune 500 clients, small business corporations, and international trade shows.   

In 2006 she became a Conscience International volunteer and joined the Atlanta-based organization in 2014 as Director of Communications, later adding Donor Relations and Executive Assistant to the President to her duties.  In 2018 she was named to the Conscience International Board of Directors, where she serves as Board Secretary

She has been a team leader/point person for programs in Paris, France, Berlin, Germany, and Beirut, Lebanon.

A native of Ohio, Carol is a graduate of the University of Miami, Florida with a degree in journalism and Spanish, and completed a post-graduate year in French at The Sorbonne, Paris, France.   She is currently finalizing the biography of a former Vietnamese Bonze Buddhist Monk, told from the other side of the Vietnam War.

Gail Anderson, Medical Program Director

Gail Anderson, MD, MBA, has served as the chief medical officer at two major US public teaching hospitals-Grady Memorial in Atlanta and Harbor-UCLA in Los Angeles. He has served as Associate Dean of the Emory University and UCLA schools of medicine and has twice served as interim Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Health Services for the County of Los Angeles. He has degrees from Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, and Emory University.

Dr. Anderson has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Following medical school rotations in New Zealand and Australia, he developed a strong interest in international medical care. He has participated on relief teams to disasters in Mexico, Armenia, Turkey, and Pakistan, served as a hospital emergency physician in Saudi Arabia, and lectured at Alexandria University in Egypt.

A member of the Medical Advisor Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he served as Grady's spokesman regarding the care of the bombing victims in Centennial Park. During the 1990's he helped to coordinate a hospital to hospital partnership between Emory and Grady and the Republic of Georgia in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. As Medical Director for Conscience International, he has participated in medical relief projects in Turkey, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Richard Sarker, Vice President for Programs 

Richard Sarker has extensive experience in administering aid and development programs in the Asia-Pacific region. From 1976-1985 he served as a field officer for the UNDP / World Food Program in Bangladesh. Earlier he served for three years as senior office manager for the Ford Foundation. From 1985-1993 he served as program administrator/Director for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Bangladesh. From 2008-2010 he was the Regional Representative for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Global Mission for Southeast Asia with responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of Health, Education and Community development programs. He was based in Chennai, India, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and extensively travelled around the region. He has extensive training in management, community development and emergency relief operation from UNDP/WFP, ELCA and World Vision. He was educated in Dhaka University (BA) in Bangladesh and an MBA from London International College, UK. Sarker speaks his native Bengali and is conversant in Hindi and Urdu. He has travelled and worked in Europe and North America. He is widely travelled around the world to more than thirty different countries including Australia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Turkey, France, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada, Myanmar, Germany and Sweden.

Kurt Giebel, Vice President, Finance

Kurt Giebel has been with Conscience International since late 2010, initially serving as a consultant providing accounting and tax services in an advisory role. He joined the staff as Comptroller at the beginning of 2013 taking a more active leadership role in financial support of leadership as well as providing support to program directors actively working on implementing programs with Conscience International.

Giebel has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Eastern Kentucky University. He has a wide realm of experience in both corporate and manufacturing/process accounting for a variety of large companies. He also has experience in working with smaller companies and startup organizations providing finance, accounting and tax support for companies just getting started as well as those companies working to turn operating results into profitable operations.

He has made significant contributions by introducing budgeting processes and financial reporting working with other leadership team members and program directors in working to help manage program expenses within budgeted levels as well as working to continue the effective and efficient utilization of donor contributions to accomplish the overall goals of Conscience International.