NATIONAL OFFICE STAFF
Michael T. McPhearson
Executive Director
Michael T. McPhearson, a native of Fayetteville North Carolina was a field artillery officer in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, also known as Gulf War I. Michael joined the Army Reserve 1981 as an enlisted soldier at the age of 17 and attended basic training the summer between his junior and senior high school years. He is a ROTC graduate of Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. His military career includes 6 years of reserve service and 5 years active duty service. He separated from active duty in 1992 as a Captain.
Now living in Saint Louis Missouri, Michael is currently the Executive Director of Veterans For Peace.
His volunteer social and economic justice activist work include membership in Military Families Speak Out, as a coordinating committee member for the Bring Them Home Now campaign against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and as a steering committee member of United For Peace and Justice. Michael is the publisher of Cpeace.com.
In December of 2003 Michael returned to Iraq as part of a peace delegation to examine the state of the occupation first hand. He has also traveled to Istanbul Turkey and Bologna Italy as a speaker on the U.S. peace movement and world peace.
He is the father of a son who has served one tour in Iraq and has since separated from the military.
Doug Zachary
Fund Raiser
A Conscientious Objector dischargee from the USMC in 1970, earned a B.S. in Political Science at the University of Texas/Arlington in 1975 and a M.A. in Culture and Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland in 2003. As a member of the Neil Bischoff Chapter of VFP and the Director of the Austin Peace and Justice Coalition, Doug traveled to Mexico and to the Mideast Doug is building a grassroots fundraising system within Veterans For Peace; you may receive a phone call soon regarding our "Development and Action Fund."!
Virginia Druhe
Office Manager
Virginia Druhe is a native St. Louisan. She has worked with the Catholic Worker community there, the American Friends Service Committee, the National Farm Worker Ministry and her local public elementary school. She lived and worked in Nicaragua for a year and a half with Witness for Peace during the mid-1980's. Anti-war work has been a fundamental commitment in her life.
Gabriela Inderwies
Development Director
Gabriela was educated in Germany as a Political Scientist, and earned her MA in 1997. She has done NGO media work in Germany and Great Britain (www.mediatenor.com.) In 2009 she will earn a second degree in Non-Profit Management. Currently she guides VFP media efforts, is in charge of newsletter production, and oversees membership development. She also assists E.D. and Board with grant writing and fundraising.
In her free time Gabriela serves as a reviewer for congressionally funded medical research grant proposals, and is an active breast cancer advocate.
Betsy Reznicek
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Betsy comes with both a background in education and local community organizing. She has been involved with a number of peace and justice groups in the St. Louis area throughout the last few years, including Instead of War, Coalition of Police Crimes and Repression, and the Community Arts and Media Project, as well as the Independent Media Center. She spent the summer of 2004 marching between Boston and New York with 40 others from across the country in the DNC2RNC march. She also co-organized the October 8th Presidential Debate Protest, 2004.
She recieved her BA in History and Secondary Education in 2002. Betsy serves as the webmaster for the new website, helps regulate list serves, and works with membership to promote VFP.
Chrissie Brooks
Administrative Assistant
Before beginning her work with Veterans For Peace, Chrissie served as an organizer for a variety of political campaigns, including Asst. Director of Special Programs for America Coming Together, Field Organizer for the MoveOn "Call for Change" campaign during the 2006 Congressional elections and Field Director for MO State Senator Jeff Smith. A native of the St. Louis area, she has had the good fortune to dedicate herself to progressive political and social advocacy in one of the most highly contested swing states in the nation. Chrissie would like to personally thank President Bush for providing her with the opportunity to work with an astounding number of highly energized progressive campaigns during the course of his tenure. She is eagerly awaiting the premiere of the administration's reunion tour (TBA), to be held at the Peace Palace located in the South Holland provincial capital, The Hague, Netherlands.
Woody Powell
Membership Coordinator
Served in the USAF, 1950-54, in Korea 1952-53. Air Police, K-9 Corps. Air Base Defense. Educated at U. of California, Berkeley and U. of Connecticut, Storrs. Pursued careers in publishing, construction and steel industry sales, and hazardous materials management. President/founder of Gateway Society of Hazardous Materials Managers, 1990. Fellow of the Institute of Hazardous materials Management. Most recent full-time employment was as Executive Director of VFP, 2001 - 2005.
A Veteran For Peace since Gulf War I. Human rights observer in Chiapas and Oaxaca in 1998. Delegate for VFP with the Colombia Support Network to the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia in 2000. Returned to Korea in 2000 - 2001 as part of Korean Truth Tribunal activities, and in 2006 with Veterans For peace delegation in support of Korean farmers fighting to keep their land out of the hands of the U.S. military. Co-Author of book: "Two Walk the Golden Road" , with Zhou Ming-fu (a Chinese who fought with the Chinese People Army in Korea) ; the lives of two Korean War vets from two different cultures who come to the same conclusions about the waste and uselessness of war. website: http://www.goldnroad.com/.