Alan MacDonald

 Alan MacDonald directs the Global Engagement strategy at Fairfax Community Church in Fairfax, Virginia. Mr. MacDonald served with SIL International for 32 years in government relations, international communications and program administration. SIL International is a global NGO focused on the role of language and culture in education and development. From 1997 to 2006 he served as SIL’s Director of International Relations and Principal Representative to the United Nations.

Mr. MacDonald received an M.A. from the University of Southern California School of Journalism. Mr. MacDonald is an adjunct professor of Intercultural Studies at Houghton College in New York. Mr. MacDonald was one of the founding members of the International Literacy Network in Washington, D.C.

Mr. MacDonald has lived in Mexico, the Philippines and Hong Kong. He lived in Asia for 12 years where he served as SIL’s East Asia Director. He has traveled extensively throughout the region. He studied Chinese in the Yale-in-Asia Program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mr. MacDonald produced two ethnographic documentary films: Between Two Worlds, a film about the Guahibo people of Colombia and, Nsuryi Lam – In Praise of Language, which examines the role of the mother tongue in literacy and community empowerment among the Lamso people of Northwest Cameroon.

Mr. MacDonald lives in Fairfax, VA with his wife and three children.