Board of Trustees
AFC is governed by a Board of Trustees in compliance with 501(c)3 requirements. The Trustees are charged with legal obligations to ensure that the organization’s assets serve a public benefit. All members work pro-bono.
Dominique Lallement
President
Dominique is an economist with an MPA degree from Princeton University and over forty-five years of experience in international development, primarily at the World Bank. Since 2006, works as an independent consultant and has focused her activities on issues related to gender equality, social inclusion, employment, enterprise development, energy, and climate change. As a student in France, she walked the last 40km to Chartres in the annual student pilgrimage. Dominique joined the Board of AFC in 2010 and became its president in March 2013.
Passionate about architecture, stained glass, manuscript illumination, and cultural heritage, Dominique sees in Notre-Dame de Chartres a unique haven for universal understanding, respect, and peace amongst people of all cultures, faiths, and artistic interests. Having adopted the US as her second home, joining AFC is also an avenue for Dominique to strengthen the friendship and cultural ties between the US and France.
She led the development and completion of AFC’s second and third projects: the restoration of the Bakers’ Windows (Bay 140) and the restoration of 12th and 13th C. statue columns, as well as several cultural events. She has forged a number of partnerships with US universities, Museums, and Alliances Françaises in the United States. She lives in Washington D.C.
Damien Balsan
Damien is a French citizen and Bostonian, Damien is an international businessman with information technology expertise. His career spans over continents from Mexico with France Telecom, to Eastern Europe with GEMALTO, and several countries in South America, launching mobile banking and mobile commerce applications. In the US, Damien has held positions with Nokia, PayPal, and Samsung, and co-created LoopPay.
He now is General Partner for GED Conexo ventures. Damien graduated from the Sloan School of Management of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Damien has spearheaded AFC’s cultural and fundraising activities in Massachusetts.
Helen Hilken
Acting Treasurer
Helen has retired from a career in nonprofit leadership, primarily in community public health and social services. She has more than 40 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, board development, strategic planning and community relations. Always passionate about the visual arts, she shifted her career in midlife, spending the last 12 years at the Northwestern University Block Museum of Art as director of development. Her other major interest is French art history.
After several visits to Chartres, including a 2019 trip with a group celebrating the 1944 liberation of Chartres and Lèves, she became focused on preserving Chartres Cathedral for the future. She joined the board of AFC in 2020. After spending 2019 living in Paris, Helen now resides in Evanston, Illinois and in Paris.
Craig Kuehl
Vice-President
Craig works with the President on special projects. He is a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer who served in Mexico City, Tunis, Geneva, New York City (United Nations), Durban, South Africa, Nicosia, Paris (special assignment after retirement) and Istanbul in positions ranging from Political Officer and Public Affairs Officer to Consul General and Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO. Craig is an inveterate Francophile, particularly of its churches, monasteries, cathedrals, and…cuisine. He lives in New York City and travels to France as often as he can.
David Schulz
David retired from a career in computer science and computational linguistics, mostly at Bell Laboratories and AT&T Laboratories, and five years at a successful startup, Linguistic Technologies, developing a speech recognition system for medical transcription. Research and teaching have also been at the heart of David’s career, including teaching high school in the Cameroons and 16 years as a Professor of Computer Science at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, WI. He also did research at the Center for the Advanced Study of Language CASL at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. David is fluent in French and Arabic, and well-read in German.
David values community service and served on the Board of Education of St. Peter Public Schools, in St. Peter, MN, and later as the Financial Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Granville Neighborhood Health Center (a non-profit free health clinic), Milwaukee WI. David first visited and fell in love with Notre-Dame de Chartres in 1971 while he was studying in Rennes. Passionate about France and Chartres, which he re-discovered in 2017 and again in 2019 in the context of events sponsored by AFC, David is looking forward to bring his talents and knowledge to AFC’s mission, and contribute to the preservation and vibrancy of Notre-Dame de Chartres.
restore and preserve the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres
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