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Corporate Officers & Executive Staff
The following is a list of the executive staff members of the National Youth Rights Association. It will grow as the organization grows. The board of directors elects the corporate officers, and the executive director normally hires the executive staff.
Stefan Muller President
Stefan lives and attends high school on Long Island, New York. He has been involved in the youth rights movement for several years, working with a local village to amend a curfew law, and writing a number of letters to newspapers and elected officials. For NYRA, he helped write the Student Rights Handbook and currently designs chapter websites. Stefan was elected to the Board in 2007.
Alex Koroknay-Palicz Executive Director
Alex Koroknay-Palicz, originally from Michigan, moved to the DC area after attending American University. During his senior year in high school, Alex successfully changed the policy of several age-discriminatory stores in his hometown of Holland, MI. Since then Alex has become actively involved in all levels of the Youth Rights Movement. In his capacity as NYRA's Executive Director, Alex has appeared on CNN and Fox News several times and has spoken at numerous conferences about youth rights and NYRA. Alex was voted into office in 1999.
Chip Sinton Vice President
Chip was appointed vice president in 2007.
Yonaton Yares Treasurer
Yonaton Yares is currently a sophomore at Rutgers University – New Brunswick where he serves as Treasurer of the Rutgers University Student Assembly he is also a University Senator. He has been active within NYRA since 2005. Yonaton recently appeared on RNN TV and NBC’s Philadelphia affiliate to talk about why NYRA believes the Drinking Age should be lowered. He was elected to the Board in 2007.
Katrina Moncure Secretary
Katrina has been invovled with NYRA for nearly three years. She has helped table at a couple of events including a SSDP conference and a Youth Pride Day with NYRA's Washington, D.C. chapter. She attended a teen driving town hall in December 2004. Among her normal duties, she serves as a Chapter Formation Representative, and she moderates the NYRA forums. Katrina is 24, and she has lived in Montgomery County, MD, her entire life. She graduated from Salisbury State University in 2003, and currently, she is working as a biotech lab temp. Katrina joined the Board in 2005.
Alex Hull-Richter Chief of Western Affairs
Alex Hull-Richter is an actor, writer, and artist. Admitted to the Gifted and Talented Education Program at the age of six, Alex learned first hand about the dumbing-down strategy of the educational system. Since 2000, he has organized civil rights, voting rights and peace rallies and marches and has actively worked to restore democracy to America. Alex joined the Board in 2006.
Keith Mandell Chapter Formation Director
Keith Mandell has had an interest in youth rights since he drafted a "Students' Bill of Rights" at age 10. At 14, he convinced his elementary school's student council to approve a student court where teachers could be judged by students for improper conduct (unfortunately it never materialized). At age 23, Keith ran for mayor of Columbia, Missouri, focusing on job growth and transportation issues. Keith became involved in youth voting rights in the late 1990's, working with YouthSpeak to organize to voting age protests and drafting a proposal to lower the voting age in Washington D.C. Keith is now an attorney in the Chicago area and especially interested in voting rights and youth political empowerment. Keith joined the Board in 2004.
Chris Batchelor Student Defense Coordinator
Chris Batchelor, who resides in central Georgia, was born in September of 1978. Since 1994, he has worked with young people in a variety of fields, both recreational and educational. He is currently working as an elementary school Technology Teacher. He has been with NYRA since May of 2004.
Rich Jahn Member Services Director
Rich Jahn, originally from Dubuque, Iowa, is a graduate from Iowa State University with a Bachelor's Degree in electrical engineering. Rich has a modest background in Information Technology working at Eagle Point Software in Dubuque. He's passed the CompTIA A+ Certification exam, which is for computer hardware. He has background in programming C++ and SQL. Starting June 1, 2006, Rich began working at Open Systems Internation in Minnesota. Rich was elected to the board in 2001, but took a year off for school in 2005. He served as secretary again from 2006-2007.
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