Board of Directors
Paul G. Chandler, the President of CARAVAN, is recognized as a global leader in using the arts to using the arts to build bridges, toward fostering peace, harmony and wholeness in our world. He is an author, speaker, art curator, peacemaker, bridgebuilder, and non-profit executive. An authority on the Middle East and Africa, and on the Abrahamic spiritual traditions, he grew up in Senegal, West Africa, and has lived and worked extensively throughout the world in leadership roles within the arts, publishing, relief & development agencies, and with the Anglican Communion. He is also a sought-after guide on the all-embracing artistic spirituality of the early 20th century poet-artist Kahlil Gibran, the best-selling author of The Prophet. He writes about the arts at: paulgchandler.com/blog
President
Paul G. Chandler
Bassem A. Bejjani, MD is the Chief Medical Officer of Metis Genetics, a telegenetics counseling service company. He is also the Chair of Creative West, a US Regional Art Organization (USRAO) that supports creativity in the West and beyond. An art advocate, Dr. Bejjani has served on the boards of many art organizations including, the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA), the Spokane Symphony, the Henry Art Gallery and Northwest Folklife among others. A graduate of the American University of Beirut, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, he is a pediatrician and medical geneticist by training. Dr. Bejjani had a long career in academia, research, teaching and entrepreneurship. As an academic physician-scientist and a specialist in genetic medicine and genomic science, he mentored dozens of medical and graduate students. He received many teaching awards and has lectured extensively in the US and abroad. He holds many patents for inventions in genomics, diagnostics and software analysis of DNA abnormalities. He is co-founder of Signature Genomics, a genomics laboratory that was acquired by PerkinElmer, Inc. in 2010. His work in basic research inspired his interest in arts and science education and in the role of art in enhancing creativity, learning and critical thinking. He writes and lectures on this intersection of art and science as a commentary on the human condition and as a unifying force across the world and through the ages.
Bassem A Bejjani, MD
Sylvia Ragheb is the Co-Founder of Syra Arts, a gallerist and specialist in contemporary Arab art. Originally from the Netherlands, she is a graduate of the Schoevers Institute in Nijmegen, studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris, and has since lived in Germany, Saudi Arabia, France and Egypt. While in Egypt she became immersed in the Egyptian contemporary art scene. Following the “Egyptian Revolution” in 2011, Sylvia moved to Washington, D.C., co-founding Syra Arts, where they hosted a gallery in the Georgetown area promoting Egyptian and Middle Eastern artists in the US. Her gallery represented some of the Middle East's leading contemporary painters, sculptors, and jewelry designers. She also represented the renowned Egyptian jeweler, Azza Fahmy, in the United States. She is now primarily based in Cairo, Egypt.
Sylvia Ragheb
Jessica Wright is a specialist in contemporary Middle Eastern art and an Arabist. She has been a gallerist and curator. She obtain her B.A. in Art History and Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. She was previously the gallery director and cultural coordinator for the Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, DC, which focuses on exhibiting contemporary art from the Middle East, along with offering a full range of cultural programming She served previously as the Managing Editor at the Center for Public Justice, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Jessica curated CARAVAN’s contemporary Coptic icon exhibition in Cairo titled “The Eternal Eye." She has lived in Jordan, Egypt, and Malaysia, and is currently based in Nairobi, Kenya. She works as a freelance editor and consultant.
Jessica Wright
James Rawley is an international development professional with over thirty years of experience with the United Nations on four continents in politically complex settings. He was most recently the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Humanitarian and Development Coordinator for Palestine (headquartered in Jerusalem). Prior to his role in Jerusalem, he was based in Cairo for six years, as he headed up the UN’s work in Egypt, serving as Resident Representative for the UN Development Programme. He also previously served in a similar capacity in Yemen. Other extended assignments with the UN included: Myanmar (Burma); Nicaragua; Honduras; and El Salvador. He also served for shorter periods with UNDP in Geneva and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in New York. A native of New York, James completed his undergraduate studies at SUNY Buffalo and graduate work at Columbia University where he earned degrees in International Affairs and Urban Planning. A resident now on Long Island, NY, he teaches international peacebuilding at Columbia University.
The Hon. James W. Rawley
Vice President
Brice Tebbs
Brice Tebbs has worked in Technology and Entertainment for over 30 years. A founder in multiple companies, he has worked with many industry leading companies to build and enhance tools for content creation and management. While working as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Cyan Worlds, Inc. (the creators of the Myst and Riven series), he was the producer for the groundbreaking online game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. He more recently worked with Amazon and Google, and lives in the Seattle, WA, USA area.