Armenian General Benevolent Union informs that Arpi Vardanyan is the new general-director of the union in Armenia.
Vartanian, a Michigan native and alumna of the AGBU Alex and Manoogian School in Southfield, comes full circle by joining the AGBU Yerevan staff.
She obtained her graduate degree at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), and went on to pursue her career in Armenia. She brings to AGBU nearly two decades of experience supporting NGO’s on the ground in Armenia and raising public awareness of Armenian issues from Washington, D.C.
She has served the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) extensively as Director of its both NGO Training and Resource Center and its Internship Program, as well as acting as the Assembly’s Acting Executive Director, Yerevan Office Director and the Country Director for the Armenia and Karabakh Offices. In each role, she has spearheaded countless programs and built the capacity of Armenian NGO’s.
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) was founded on April 15, 1906, in Cairo, Egypt, by the initiative of renowned national figure Boghos Nubar and other prominent representatives of Egyptian-Armenian community to contribute to the spiritual and cultural development of the Armenian people.
The goal was to establish a union that would in every way assist the Armenian people, the future of which, as a minority in the Ottoman Empire, was endangered.
