About
Meet SAFE
Here are some of our volunteer members who support SAFE's day-to-day activities:
Marc Balcells Magrans is a a Fulbright scholar, a Spanish criminologist, and a criminal lawyer. He currently lives in New York where he is completing a PhD in Criminal Justice. His research focuses on art crime and its relationship to terrorism and organized crime, as well as museum security and its connection to art crimes and theoretical criminology. He has taught several courses on International Criminal Law and Spanish Criminal Law and Criminology, he has published internationally, and he has served as a media consultant for art crime issues. Marc joined SAFE in 2010 and has been actively involved since then in what he considers a very fulfilling cause.
Cynthia Bates brings an unusual combination of perspectives to SAFE as both an advertising planning (consumer insight) director and a doctoral student in the archaeology of ancient Iraq. She was educated in Near Eastern languages, archaeology and anthropology at Harvard, Cambridge and the University of Chicago. She earned her MBA later at the Harvard Business School in 1988 and entered advertising. In New York, she worked in strategic planning agencies like FCB, JWT and Bates, establishing her reputation as an expert in consumer trends and behavior. She moved to Chicago in 1997 to become chief planner of the Sears account at Ogilvy, inspiring award-winning creative material. As director of planning at Publicis & Hal Riney in Chicago, she established an impressive new business record. She is currently Senior Director of Strategic Planning at Launch Creative Marketing in Chicago.
Cynthia reconnected with the University of Chicago in 2001 to resume her doctoral studies in anthropology. As a student at the Oriental Institute, she followed the dedicated efforts of its professors to brief the Pentagon on the need to safeguard Iraqi cultural heritage from looting, and became involved with SAFE in its very earliest days, as Cindy Ho reached out with her vision. Through SAFE, Cynthia hopes to create public awareness of the incalculable value of endangered cultural heritages--of ancient Mesopotamia and globally--and the need to protect them.
Claudia Brose a German native, holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Marketing from the University of Cologne in Germany. She also studied Japanese Management and Philosophy at Sophia University and worked for the Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo, where she began her career in advertising. Upon her return to Germany, she was an account director for various ad agencies.
Claudia lives in San Francisco where she is now pursuing her second career as a marketing consultant promoting the preservation of cultural heritage. Her particular interests are the Himalayan and South East Asian (Cambodia) cultures. Besides volunteering with SAFE and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco she is a member of the Society for Asian Art serving in the special events committee.
In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, studying Asian art, martial arts and loves traveling. She keeps fit navigating the hills of San Francisco on her mountain bike for most of her daily comings and goings.
Megan Gannon earned her B.A. in English and Art History from NYU and works as a writer for a global news wire service in New York. A Long Island native, her interest in the stewardship of historical artifacts was sparked during an internship at the Walt Whitman Birthplace. Her concerns about looting and the illicit antiquities trade grew after participating in the Yeronisos Island Expedition, an archaeological field school in Western Cyprus. She returned to the dig for two more seasons and joined SAFE in 2009. Megan is thrilled to be part of this unique organization.
Senta German whose fields of specialty are the Greek Bronze and Iron Ages, received her PhD from Columbia University. She has over 10 years of excavation experience in Greece, Israel, the American East Coast and Alaska and presently teaches Classical Archaeology and Ancient Art at Montclair State University. She recently authored Performance, Power and the Art of the Aegean Bronze Age which was published in 2005. In addition to her academic career, she consults extensively for the Department of Communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Elizabeth Gilgan graduated from Sweet Briar College in anthropology and biology and earned an MA in Archaeological Heritage Management from Boston University. She worked as an archaeologist in Belize and developed a heritage management plan with the Belizean Government. She devotes her time to raising her two children, but finds time to volunteer for SAFE, to which she has been a part of since 2005. Liz also loves to travel, scuba dive, and live music.
Cindy Ho Born in Hong Kong, Cindy Ho founded SAFE in 2003 in response to the looting of the National Museum of Iraq. She is a graphic designer and advertising art director in New York City. Although her professional work has won accolades, it is her personal work that best shows her power of persuasion.
Her passion for the preservation of cultural heritage dates back many years. Before starting SAFE she received Asian Cultural Council and Arts International grants for her efforts to bring awareness to the art and artifacts of the Naxi people in China through a traveling exhibition. As a Sponsored Artist of the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) and with a grant from the Puffin Foundation, she produced a series of exhibitions entitled Trailing the Written Word: The Art of Writing Among China’s Ethnic Minorities. Her work has been featured in World Health Organization’s publication of Tobacco & the Rights of the Child. She also completed West of the East—A Journey Through Macau, Asia’s First and Last Colony, a photodocumentary with the support of NYFA and the Fundaçao Oriente (Lisbon). She considers devoting herself to SAFE a privilege.
Cherkea Howery is currently pursuing her PhD at Stanford University in the Department of Anthropology. She is a graduate of New York University with an M.A. in Museum Studies. Her thesis, "Informing Audiences: Public Perceptions of Illicit Antiquities in Art Museums" reflects her interest in exposing inconsistencies in ethical practices in museums, questioning acquisition policies, and analyzing antiquities exhibitions. Cherkea previously earned an M.A. in Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Bristol and has worked on archaeological projects worldwide. She worked at the Agora Museum in Athens, Greece and at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Her current research focuses on sustainable development initiatives for archaeological site museums and the impact of heritage tourism on local communities. For questions, comments, or lively discussion please feel free to contact her at chowery@savingantiquities.org.
Paul Kunkel holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of New Mexico. A published author of six books and more than 60 magazine and newspaper articles (for The New York Times, Business Week, Wired, Architectural Digest, Connoisseur, Elle, Harper's Bazaar and other publications), Paul currently works as a Business Development specialist and is principal author and developer of the web-based In-Theater Cultural Heritage Training Resource for Iraq and Afghanistan, funded by the Undersecretary of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program.
Rachel Moland is a Seattle native. She graduated with a BA in Anthropology and Classical Civilization from New York University in 2007 and has been a SAFE volunteer since 2005, when she attended an NYU colloquium on the illicit antiquities trade. Her interest in antiquity grew during an intensive semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. In 2006, she participated in the Villa delle Vignacce excavation in Rome and traveled to Cyprus on an undergraduate research grant. She hopes to continue studying Classics, archaeology, and cultural property (as well as help with SAFE projects) in the years to come.
Sarah Pickman is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, working towards a B.A. in anthropology with a minor in art history. A native of the New York area, she first became involved with SAFE as an intern during the summer of 2005, working on the Italian MOU renewal campaign. After college, she hopes to attain a Master’s degree in cultural resource management or public history, and pursue a career in museum work. Sarah is thrilled to be associated with SAFE as it continues to grow.
Margaret Rivera is a native New Yorker. She graduated from Hunter College in 2006 with a Major in Anthropology and a Minor in Archaeology. A volunteer since 2009, she lends her skills and experience as an Administrative Assistant in higher education and non-profit grant-making to the organization. In 2004, her interest in historic preservation was sparked when the Mesopotamian artifacts she was studying in her Classical Archaeology class were no longer available for public viewing due to the looting at the Iraq Museum. Margaret enjoys reading about early man and prehistoric humans and would one day like to visit the Lascaux caves in France. She hopes to continue supporting SAFE in its mission and to communicate its purpose to family, friends and co-workers.
Lawrence Rothfield is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, where he co-founded the Cultural Policy Center. Trained as a cultural theorist, Rothfield moved into the still-emerging field of cultural policy studies in the late 1990s, partly in response to the demand from defenders of the arts, heritage, and humanities for better academic research to counter right-wing attacks in the culture wars. Rothfield's previous publications in cultural policy include an important edited volume of essays, "Unsettling 'Sensation': Arts-Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum Art Controversy". His new book, “The Rape of Mesopotamia” (University of Chicago Press, 2009) offers a behind-the-scenes look at the causes for the failure of US forces to secure the Iraq National Museum and the country's archaeological sites from looters in the wake of the 2003 invasion. Rothfield also edited a volume of essays on this topic, "Antiquities Under Siege: Cultural Heritage Protection after the Iraq War" (Altamira Press, 2008), focusing on the policy changes that need to be made by various stakeholders -- ranging from war-planners and State Department bureaucrats to cultural heritage NGOs -- to ensure that the disaster suffered by Iraq is not repeated ever again. The theft of antiquities in time of war is a special case of the problem of market-driven looting, and Rothfield's new project seeks better policy options for bringing looting under control, based on a clearer understanding of the complicated economic incentives involved.
Rebecca Anne Rushfield received an MA in art history and a diploma in art conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Currently a consultant specializing in research, writing, and editing in the field of art conservation, she has worked on projects for the Getty Conservation Institute, the Sherman Fairchild Center for Object Conservation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Intermuseum Conservation Association. She is on several committees of the American Institute for Conservation, the chair of the Textile Conservation Group, and active in the College Art Association.
Irina Tarsis holds a JD from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, a Masters Degree in Art History and a B.S. in International Business. She is particularly interested in art and cultural heritage law with a focus on ownership rights and provenance. As a member of SAFE, Irina organized two symposia, one in Boston, MA and one in New York, NY, on book theft and recovery. Besides volunteering with SAFE, Irina is a member of the American Society of International Law, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Section of the New York State Bar Association, and the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association.
Brooke Todsen is a Florida native. She holds a BA in Humanities focusing in Classical Languages and Civilizations from Florida State University and recently earned her MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. A professional background in education feeds her passion for increasing public awareness of cultural preservation issues. After completing her Masters thesis on the online illicit antiquities trade, Brooke began searching for opportunities to use her skills and knowledge in order to help put a stop to looting and the destruction of cultural heritage. She looks forward to pursuing this goal through her volunteer work with SAFE and through her future professional endeavors. In her free time she loves to read, sing, read, dance, read, and watch Ghost Hunters.
