Our people
Mary Wald, Founder
Mary is the Chairman and Founder of TheCommunity.com, which has worked with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates on projects for more than eight years.
Prior to TheCommunity.com, Mary worked in marketing, promotions and public relations for the publishing and graphic design industries for fourteen years. She worked on promotional and marketing campaigns for four New York Times best sellers and acted as Account Executive and/or Art Director on promotional projects for clients that have included Pepsi, Sprint, Warner Records, and more.
Mary owned New West Media, a San Francisco Bay Area web development firm, for three years, simultaneously running the Tibetan Students Project, a non-profit project which generated resources for Tibetan children in exile. She sold the firm in 2000 to work on TheCommunity.com full time.
Jose Ramos-Horta, Chairman of the Advisory Board
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of East Timor has been a chief advisor to The Community.com, and now The Peace Kids, for more than seven years. In addition to being an invaluable advisor, friend and strategist, he has been a personal role model and mentor for our Senior Youth Ambassador, Larissa.
We would all agree that The Peace Kids would not have happened without President Ramos-Horta's positive influence on us all.
Jesse Kornbluth, Director
If his name sounds familiar, it is probably from a Vanity Fair cover article, or something in the New Yorker, Esquire, the New York Times or another national publication. Jesse was Editorial Director of America Online from 1996-2003 and has authored six books.
Bonnie Abaunza, Director
Bonnie has been an Officer in TheCommunity.com since it's founding. The founder of the Artists for Amnesty International program, Bonnie was one of the pioneers in aligning celebrities to causes and producing celebrity-based events. Today she is Vice President for Social Action at Participant Media in Los Angeles, where she runs advocacy campaigns linked to Participant's films.
Bobbi Dunphy, Senior Vice President Media
Bobbi arrived in California from Austrlaia in 2008, bringing with her a great passion for getting vital social issues on screen and creating awareness about the forces that shape our lives. She has a wealth of experience in both feature and documentary filmmaking, having worked for over 15 years in the film industry as a Producer, Line Producer and Researcher. She is well-versed in contemporary humanitarian issues and has served on the boards of a range of non profit organisations.
Bobbi is one of the founding members of the Global Peace Index (GPi) initiative and worked as its Project Manager from its inception.
She made the move to California from her home in Sydney, Australia to assume the role as Senior VP Media for TheCommunity.com and The Peace Kids. She is looking forward to furthering her research on the links between Peace, Human Rights and Sustainability and believes that TheCommunity.com and The Peace Kids is the perfect arena for her current focus in this exciting new area.
Pat Boutin, Education Coordinator
A lifelong human rights activist, Pat served for seven years as Tibetan Coordinator for Amnesty International.
Already holding a Master's Degree in Fine Arts, she then went back to school for her teaching credential. A long time Artist in Residence for the school systems in the State of Washington, Pat was then contracted to develop Learning Essential curricula for the Washington school systems.
She has worked for six years as the Education Coordinator for the Hands on Children's Museum in Olympia, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she is recognized for innovative breakthroughs in educational programs for children.
