Shan Cretin has been General Secretary – the executive head – of the American Friends Service Committee since September 2010. Before this appointment Shan served as Director of the AFSC’s Pacific Southwest Region for seven years, where she was responsible for programs in Southern California, Hawai’i, Arizona, and New Mexico.  Those programs focus on several key social issues, including immigrants’ rights, prison reform, food security, peace, and demilitarization. A member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Shan is a former clerk of Pacific Yearly Meeting, the regional body that includes Quaker meetings from California, Hawai’i, Mexico, and Guatemala. She co-founded the Los Angeles chapter of Alternatives to Violence Project and has facilitated conflict resolution workshops at the Chino Youth Correctional Facility and in the Los Angeles community. She also serves on the board of directors of The California Endowment. Shan has lived, worked, and traveled throughout the US and many locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Canada. A graduate of MIT and Yale, Shan served on the faculties of Harvard, Yale, West China Medical University and University of California at Los Angeles.