World Learning welcomes three new board members

Publication Date: October 20, 2022
Publication Location: Washington, DC
Contact: Kate Casa  |  [email protected]

Left to right: Virgil Miller, Nicole Isaac, Mahesh Daas

World Learning is pleased to announce the addition of three new board members to its board of trustees: Dr. Mahesh Daas, Nicole Isaac, and Virgil Miller. The cohort brings unique viewpoints and valued expertise in their respective fields of higher education leadership and management, law, communications, strategic planning, and public policy.

World Learning’s Board of Trustees represents The Experiment in International Living, School for International Training, and World Learning’s global development and exchange programs.

“It is a privilege to welcome these accomplished individuals to our board,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “Each has a strong track record of leadership and an array of skills that will help strengthen the organization. We greatly appreciate their commitment to World Learning and our mission to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world.”

Dr. Mahesh Daas serves as the eighth president of the Boston Architectural College. His career as an academic leader spans positions at diverse institutions including an Association of American Universities flagship university; two public, first-tier research universities; and an independent institution. In 2011, Daas became the youngest educator to be named an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor and served as the 2021-22 chancellor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture College of Distinguished Professors. He serves on the editorial board of the Construction Robotics Journal and has authored several books.

Daas earned a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania; a master’s degree in urban design from Kansas State University; and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India. He also received executive certificates in business and nonprofit management from the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University.

Nicole Isaac leads the content safety domain for the Strategic Response for Emerging Regulations in

Knowledge and Information at Google. Before Google, she managed the International Strategic Response team in the office of the CEO at Meta, focusing on global risk mitigation, and served as senior director of North America policy at LinkedIn. Isaac also served in the White House as special assistant to the president for Legislative Affairs and as deputy director of Legislative Affairs for then Vice President Biden. Isaac founded Code the Streets, a social impact accelerator, to increase technology in inner-city communities and serves on the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. 

She has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She completed a master of studies degree in international human rights law at Oxford University and has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Virgil Miller is senior policy advisor for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He has managed a coalition of advocacy organizations for independent workers and provided pro bono counsel to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. He serves as the representative of his firm’s African American General Counsel program, which strengthens relationships between the firm, general counsels, and other corporate leaders from Fortune 500 companies. Previously, Miller served in several congressional positions, most recently as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Cedric L. Richmond. There, he approved strategies and tactics on legislative issues and advised members on compliance requirements and applicable federal laws.

Miller is a 2020 recipient of the National Minority Quality Forum 40 Under 40 Leaders in Health Award and a recipient of the 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust Staff Leadership Award. He is a current member of the Corporate Advisory Council, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s 21st Century Council. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s of public health degree in epidemiology from Florida A&M University.

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. For more than 90 years, the organization has delivered international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.