Staff & Volunteers
Elizabeth McRae
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Elizabeth (Liz) McRae was promoted in December 2019 from Associate Director to Executive Director to lead ICF’s expanding initiatives for Iraq’s orphans, street kids, and other vulnerable children.
Liz most recently served in Hong Kong as Program Manager and Management Consultant for PricewaterhouseCooper’s New Ventures service line, which specializes in building and investing in emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.
Liz’s experience in strategy and project development spanned the globe from Singapore, Australia, Japan, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, to the US. She has served as a Management Consultant to high profile US and international companies in financial services, real estate, and retail, including Manulife Financial, Visa, Swire Properties, Twitter, and Macy’s. Her achievements include work in the area of social sustainability, carbon markets, solar energy, and environmental communications.
Liz also served as a delegate to the UN’s Interagency Sub-working Group on Youth Participation in Peacebuilding and co-led the management of the first summit for the Singapore chapter of the Nexus Global Youth Summit. The summit featured hundreds of participants, aiming to connect ultra-high net worth individuals with social and impact investment opportunities.
Her academic background includes a Masters in International Security (Climate Change and National Security, Counterterrorism) from the University of Sydney in Australia, and a Bachelors of International Studies from the University of Texas (Austin) and University of Sydney.
Liz’s portfolio at ICF includes development of corporate partners committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR) on behalf of orphans and children in Iraq, as well as management of ICF’s U.S. based initiatives. She can be reached at liz@iraqichildren.org.
Cindy Fogleman
VOLUNTEER STAFF ADVISOR
Cindy served as the Executive Director of the Iraqi Children Foundation (ICF) for more than a decade and now serves as volunteer staff. She was an Associate Financial Advisor for Ameriprise Financial for five years, following a career on Capitol Hill as legislative staff for the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives. She has a Master’s Degree in Asian Studies from the University of Michigan.
Farah Al Najar
MENTAL HEALTH & TRAUMA CONSULTANT
Farah was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Microbiology from the University of Baghdad and received her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She has extensive experience in substance abuse treatment, multicultural approaches, and trauma informed interventions.
As a certified clinical trauma professional (CCTP), Farah specializes in trauma informed therapy that integrates mind and body interventions to achieve optimal results. As a mental health and trauma consultant for ICF, Farah is passionate about delivering culturally specific and evidence-based interventions and trainings to social workers affiliated with ICF. Farah believes that trauma based interventions will help Iraqi children to not only survive but thrive.
Sara Alwash Morse
WEB DEVELOPER
Sara works as a volunteer to maintain and update ICF's main website. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of San Francisco, an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. As an Iraqi-American, Sara is proud to have a part in furthering ICF’s mission. She values that ICF gives her the opportunity to see first hand how an organization can work to provide essential services to children in a country close to her heart.
Nichola Stones
CREATIVE CONSULTANT
Nichola (“Nikki”) is a freelance brand strategist and designer based in Abu Dhabi, and has over 15 years’ experience as a branding and design expert. Having worked within both the agency and consulting models she has gained a significant understanding of what it takes to create and deliver business value through design. She has been instrumental in leading ICF to develop their strategy and to deliver their new brand refresh, using insights to inform the new identity and targeted communication tools for our organisation.
By working in collaboration with our team she has produced meaningful value in the work she has delivered and has created an identity we can be proud of and sustain into the future.
Nikki continues to contribute her skills on a volunteer basis.
Find Nikki on LinkedIn.
John Opladen, LTC, USA (Ret.)
VETERAN OUTREACH DIRECTOR
John Opladen was commissioned in 2000 from Hofstra University’s Army ROTC program as a 2LT of Infantry. He led three platoons in Korea, Fort Drum and Paktika Province Afghanistan. Upon promotion to Captain, he completed the Infantry Officer’s Career Course and re-located to Germany where he commanded two Troops in 1-91 Cavalry (ABN) and deployed to Iraq as a Combat Advisor, serving as the operations mentor for an Iraqi mechanized infantry battalion during the early days of the surge in both Baghdad and Tarmiyah.
Promoted to Major in 2010, John transitioned to functional area 59 (Strategic Plans and Policy). He has worked as a planner in a variety of billets in Headquarters, Department of the Army, U.S. Army Pacific and as the Chief of Plans for the Eighth Theater Sustainment Command in Fort Shafter, Hawaii. John finished out his Army career in the unlikeliest of places, the United States Naval Academy, where he taught introduction to American Government and Constitutional Development and an elective focused on Counterinsurgency, Irregular War and Terrorism.
When not absorbed in any of these pursuits, you can find him board in hand, looking for surf breaks, on the Squash court or hanging with his wife, two lovely daughters and a motley Hawaiian Poi dog named Jango Fett.
Aidan Fredericks
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Aidan is excited to support ICF as a volunteer designer. She is passionate about global sustainable development, which stems from supporting children in underserved communities or displacement. Her academic background includes a Masters in Exhibition Design from The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at The George Washington University and a Bachelors in Architecture at The Catholic University of America. In her career, she has chosen to design for socially responsible companies, helping them share their stories and contribute towards building healthy communities.