Board of Directors

Edele Hovnanian, Founder, has been making trips to the homeland once or twice a year since the late 70s, personally experiencing many of the youth oriented educational, cultural and volunteer service programs in Armenia. Her participation in such programs lead her to assume strong leadership positions within two organizations, serving currently as President of the Land and Culture Organization (LCO-USA) and Board member of its international umbrella organization, Union de Organization Terre et Culture (UIOTC) in France since 1993, as well as serving as a member of the Board of Directors with the Armenian Assembly of America since 1991, with the position of Treasurer from 1992-2002.

She is currently the Senior Vice President of Operations for Hovsons, Inc. a diversified real estate development corporation in Tinton Falls, NJ, and President of Hovnanian Senior Housing Services, Inc. and Hovnanian Property Management, Inc., where she manages and oversees the operations of the health care and commercial divisions.

Hovnanian holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, and joint B.S. degrees in Finance and Civil Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. However, it was her study abroad program at the University of Yerevan from 1982-1983 that proved to be the educational experience that was the most life changing for her. Hovnanian resides in New Jersey.

Linda Yepoyan, Executive Director, has 25 years of diverse project management experience, the last 17 having been within the non-profit sector. Since living in Armenia from 1989-1992, she has maintained many homeland ties and relationships that take her back regularly. Among her many accomplishments, the 1993 creation of the NGO Training and Resource Center in Armenia remains high on her list of initiatives that contributed to Armenia's development and strengthened the lives of many people globally.

Yepoyan is a graduate of The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She resides in Wynnewood, PA with her husband, artist Armen Yepoyan, and their three children, Soseh, Sevag and Serop.

Anoush Rima Tatevossian, Alumni, was among the very first Birthright Armenia participants in the summer and fall of 2004. 

Tatevossian later lived and worked in Armenia as the Director of the Armenian Volunteer Corps between 2006 and 2007. She is currently based in New York as the Strategic Communications Officer for UN Global Pulse, an innovation initiative out of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.  

Tatevossian holds a B.A. in Political Science from The College of William & Mary, and a Master's in Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California. She is currently a non-resident research fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.