Class IX (2011-2012)

Sponsor Club: Dublin, Texas, District 5790

Cody originally hails from rural Texas ranching country – and is living proof that sometimes, the stereotypes really are true. Yes, he can ride a horse, he does own a pair of cowboy boots, and he may have once received a shotgun as a birthday gift. Nonetheless, Cody also has an undergraduate degree in English literature from Princeton, a career spent in the Far East rather than the Wild West, and soon enough, a master’s degree in peace – because sometimes, stereotypes just beg to be broken.

Cody has lived and worked in Thailand for 10 years, where he most recently served as the Director of Advocacy for Quo Global, a Bangkok-based firm working with UN agencies, NGOs and governments to develop campaigns on issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness, decent work standards, rights for stateless and marginalized populations, and disaster preparedness. He has also worked with the Thailand country office of Ashoka, a global organization that identifies and promotes social entrepreneurs with ideas for change, as well as serving as a consultant to the Royal Thai government on maximizing national competitiveness. He began his career as a Princeton-in-Asia fellow teaching English literature at a university in northern Thailand in 2001.

Cody’s applied field experience took him to Singapore to work with the Asia regional office of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based organization that mediates privately between warring parties – most notably in the lead-up to the Aceh peace agreement and currently in the southern Philippines, among other confidential processes ongoing across the globe. While there, he worked principally with ‘Women at the Peace Table’ project team, which is working to expand the space for women’s vital contributions to such negotiations. Cody’s work on the project will appear in the forthcoming HD Centre publication, From Clause to Effect: Practical Guidance on Including Gender in Peace Agreements. After graduation, Cody aims to make his way back ‘home’ to Southeast Asia and find a role that allows him to put to good use these new skills that Rotary has so generously supported him to develop.