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Conference Speakers

  • Mr. Abraham Lee is a Public Affairs Officer in the Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP). The G/TIP Office coordinates U.S. Government activities in the global fight against modern-day slavery, including forced labor and sexual exploitation. Mr. Lee's duties include engagement with Capitol Hill, public diplomacy with embassies abroad, and student outreach.
Prior to joining G/TIP he was director of Public Affairs for Crossing Borders, a faith-based non-governmental organization devoted to assisting North Korean refugees in northeast China. From 2002 to 2005 he lived and worked in Yanji City, approximately 30 kilometers from the China-North Korea border, where he was first exposed to the realities of human trafficking.
Mr. Lee received his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and is a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-College Park where he received his B.A. in Economics. He is happily married to his wife, Kisung, and is also the blessed father of one-year-old, Samantha.
  • Detective Sergeant Roddy Llewellyn from New Scotland Yard (NSY) is a top crime fighter who is part of the Operation Maxim Human Trafficking Team based at NSY, London, England. He will highlight the need for an international criminal justice approach to the 21st Century's most horrific spectre.
  • Ms. Andrea Saccoccio serves as Director of Student Ministries for the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
She has traveled extensively in Eastern Europe, South Asia, India and Africa, where she has seen first-hand the suffering that results from violent oppression. Compelled by the reality of violent oppression and the Christian call to respond to it, Ms. Saccoccio works to educate, equip and provide opportunities for young people to become a "Justice Generation."
  • Miss Bonnie-Marie Yager received her B.A. in Political Communications from Bryan in 2007. She then traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia, in order to assist fund raising and development for two non-profits:  Duha, a Crisis Center, and BERC, an English-speaking school. Since her return to the U.S., she has worked as the Director of Research for Worldwide Interactive Network, an education and economic firm, where she recently helped edit It's the Economy, Stupid!, a book that explores the intersection of education and economic development.  Bonnie-Marie also served as the Director of Public Relations for the The Refuge Tennessee, a ministry in Harriman for homeless women and families, and is an active member of her church.
She returned Bryan in 2008 as the Assistant Director of the Bryan College Worldview Teams. Bonnie-Marie truly has a passion for helping the global body of Christ understand the intersection between our faith and all of life.  And she becomes especially impassioned when dealing with issues of how a Christian worldview perspective of humanity should drive our understanding of everything from the atrocities of human trafficking to the desperate need for mentoring in our everyday lives.

Breakout Session Speakers

  • Colette Bercu, Co-founder of Free for Life Ministries
  • Dr. Beth Impson, Professor of English at Bryan College
  • Bill Leep, Founder of Better Way Imports
  • Andrew McPeak, President of Students Stopping the Trafficking of Persons (SSTOP) at Bryan, and a junior liberal arts major from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
  • Mr. Michael Palmer, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Bryan College
  • Erin Leigh Patterson, Founder of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee
  • Patrick Townley, Co-founder and Executive Director of Second Life of Chattanooga
  • David Villanueva, President of Lifeblood Ministries at Bryan, and a senior biology major from Siler City, North Carolina
  • Karen Warren, Student Body President of Toccoa Falls College and founder of the Toccoa Falls' Chapter of Students Stopping the Trafficking of Persons (SSTOP), and a senior cross-cultural studies major