AFCSLS About Us

Fund Community

Our Fund members are from the United States, and the Czech and Slovak Republics. We are motivated by a common desire to contribute to a strong partnership among our countries and to see the Czech and Slovak Republics returned to their place among the most advanced industrialized countries; just as it was during the presidency of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. We trust our efforts find sponsors in the United States and the Czech and Slovak Republic.

The Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association contributes generously to our activities.

The Center for Talented Youth has generously cosponsored the start of the Young Talents Program and supports us in various other ways.

Please help us lift educational standards in the Czech and Slovak Republics. It will lift us all. Thank you.

Executive Committee

Henry Kallan, President, is one of the most generous sponsors and passionate supporters of our activities. He owns and operates several luxury hotels in New York City and is developing projects throughout the United States and the European Union. See http://www.hkhotels.com.

Joseph Balaz, Secretary, owns and operates a construction company specializing in high-end residential development in New York City. He is one of the most generous sponsors of the Fund.

Edward Chlanda, Treasurer, former president of EAC Brokerage, co-author of several specialized books on insurance issues, active member of NYC Sokol.

Jiří Kejval, Vice President, Vice President of the Czech Olympic Committee, founder of Techo, a leading supplier of office furniture and commercial interiors in Europe.

Jan Vilcek, researcher and philanthropist, donated $105 million to New York University School of Medicine, the largest monetary contribution in NYU history. See http://www.vilcek.org.

Jiří Zlatuška, Vice President, Former Czech senator (independent), President Emeritus of Masaryk University (MU) in Brno. Former Eisenhower Fellow, professor of informatics, he was instrumental in the $165 million modernization and expansion of the university campus. See http://www.zlatuska.cz.

Birgitte Rasine, producer and Chief Executive Officer of Lucita, a socially responsible design, media and communications company.

Fund Members

Freddie Botur, owner and operator of one the finest and largest semi-private tennis facilities located just minutes from Manhattan across the East River in Queens. See http://www.tennisport.com.

Martin Herman, international consultant with over 30 years of experience in business and economic development in Central and Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, and the United States. Asked by the Board of Directors, Mr. Herman has formulated and is in charge of running the Young Leaders and Young Talents Programs. Contact mherman@afcsls.org.

Jan Hladký, attorney in Brno specializing in corporate and commercial law, advising on mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, bankruptcy, litigation, arbitration, state aid, and public procurement, and laws of the European Union.

Tomáš Kára, founder of the International Center for Clinical Research (ICRC) in Brno, a collaborative project between the Mayo Clinic and St. Anne Faculty Hospital. ICRC is the European Union's largest platform for medical research.

Monika Kojdová teaches music history and music theory at the Alkana Conservatory in Bratislava, the Slovak Republic. Previously, she headed the Music Fund Publishing Company and was engaged in international trade. Ms. Kojdová graduated in Musicology and Aesthetics from the Comenius University, Bratislava.

Juraj L. Slávik, program officer of Meridian House International, Czechoslovak activist.

Michael J. Storek, scientist and project manager working on biochemical research projects for Monsanto, graduate of Charles University, Prague, School of Natural Sciences, and Harvard University, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Our History

The American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies is a successor to the American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees (AFCR) founded in 1948 to help Czechs and Slovaks escape communism and settle in the United States. The founders included Dr. Ján Papánek, the first Czechoslovak Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Valuchek, a publisher of Czech and Slovak newspapers in New York, and other brave and highly accomplished personalities that refused to accept communist rule and continued their fight against it from the United States. The Fund received generous support from many distinguished Americans including Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt and the American government.

Renamed as the American Fund for Czechoslovak Relief after the collapse of communism in 1989, the Fund has participated in a variety of projects focusing on the restoration of democratic traditions and institutions in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Evaluating its impact, Board members decided eventually to chart a more narrow course. Renamed as the American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies in 2008, the Fund promotes leadership, innovation and excellence by providing opportunities in education for exceptionally talented young Czechs and Slovaks.

You may be interested in learning more about the Fund's early years in: American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees Inc., 1948-1980. A detail account of the history of the American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees Fund since its establishment and its transformation in the early 1990s is described in "Czechoslovak Refugees during the Cold War - the History of the American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees" a book by Vojtech Jerabek, Stilus Press, Brno, 2005 (in Czech only).

Annual Reports

Please view the financial statements for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Contacts

American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies
321 East 73rd Street
Bohemian National Hall
New York, NY 10021
USA
information@afcsls.org

American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies
c/o Mr. Martin Herman
1881 North Nash Street #510
Arlington, VA 22209
USA
mherman@afcsls.org