British Embassy

Julia Crouch moved to Moscow in July 2020 as Minister Counsellor for Economics, Science and Trade at the British Embassy. She has worked in senior positions in a wide range of Government departments in the UK, most recently advising on the international response to the COVID outbreak. She was co-chair of a large multi-cultural school in the UK and has three grown up children.

American Embassy Representative

Senior Commercial Officer and Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Moscow

Prior to arriving in Moscow, James was the Executive Director for Asian Affairs at the United States Department of Commerce.   He has held previous diplomatic postings in India, Myanmar, Thailand and China.   James has previously served on international school boards in India and Myanmar.   He is married to Erin Golsen and has four children, his eldest child attends Wake Forest University in the United States and the other three attend the Anglo-American School.

Canadian Embassy Representative

Minister-Counselor / Deputy Head of Mission, Canadian Embassy
Board Treasurer 

PTO Representative

PTO President

Kristina is from Croatia and she moved from Santiago de Chile to Moscow in 2012. She is married to Koppany Berkes, who is Vice President at Oriflame Cosmetics S.A. Together, they have 3 daughters, Helena in 9^th grade and Eva in Kindergarten at AAS, while the youngest, Matilda hopefully joining her sisters at AAS next year.

Lawyer by education, Kristina has a long and successful international career behind her in FMCG companies, first at Oriflame Cosmetics as Sales and Marketing Director for Croatia and later at Tiens Group as Regional Director for Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. She is fluent in Croatian, English and Russian.

Kristina has been very active within the AAS community ever since moving to Moscow. She joined the PTO Executive Committee in 2013 as the PTO Shop Manager, later working as a substitute teacher and Schoolwear uniform representative. Toward the end of 2018, Kristina joined PTO Executive Committee again, this time as the PTO VP Internal.

This year, Kristina got elected as the PTO President and is serving her first year in this role.

American Embassy Representative

Board Chair
First Secretary, U.S. Embassy Moscow

Sonata Coulter is a First Secretary in the Political Section at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.  She returned to Moscow in September 2018 with her family, after having earlier served in Russia from 2005-2007 (Moscow and Yekaterinburg).  Since joining the State Department’s Foreign Service in 2003, Sonata’s previous postings include tours in the Kyrgyz Republic and Liberia, as well as a variety of assignments in Washington, DC.  Originally from California, she received her B.A. (French, Art History) from Columbia University and MA (International Affairs) from George Washington University.

British Embassy Representative

Andrew is relatively new to the Diplomatic Service, having joined the FCO only in 2016.  Previously he was a British Army Officer and served in various countries, with the focus of his experience being infantry service in Afghanistan.  He also worked for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Ukraine.  He has a long-held interest in educational matters and is a qualified teacher.  He has a personal interest in the AAS as his wife attended the school from 1991 – 1993 and he plans for his young children to attend in the future.

Community-At-Large Representative

Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright (Central Europe) LLP

Julian is a partner of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, an international law firm. He advises foreign and Russian corporates and financial investors on M&A and joint ventures in Russia. Based in Moscow since 2008, Julian has worked with clients spread across various sectors including the energy, mining, banking, insurance, infrastructure, food and beverage, agriculture, retail, transport, pharmaceuticals and technology and innovation sectors. Julian joined the AAS Board in January 2017. He chairs the Board's Policy & Governance Committee. Julian is an Australian national.  Julian is married to Amanda and their two daughters have been Elementary School students at AAS.

Community-At-Large Representative

President, Credit Europe Bank (Russia) Ltd.

Mr. Haluk Aydinoglu came to Russia in 2004 and immediately joined Credit Europe Bank (Russia) Ltd as Vice-President responsible for retail banking. In 2010 he was appointed to the role of President at Credit Europe Bank (Russia) Ltd. 

Before joining Credit Europe Bank, Mr. Aydinoglu  worked at McKinsey for more than 4 years in many countries, including the US, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, and most of the Middle East, mainly in consumer finance and sales force management projects. While at McKinsey, he was an active member of the Financial Institutions Group.

Prior to McKinsey, he was a product manager at Retek, a startup B2B software company currently acquired by Oracle in Atlanta, US.

Dr. Aydinoglu holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and BS in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Bosphorus University, Turkey. 

Mr. Aydinoglu  is married with two daughters both attending AAS.

Community-At-Large Representative

SVP General Manager, COO PepsiCo Russia Food and Beverages

Otakar works for PepsiCo for more than 22 years. For the last 10 years he worked in several General Management positions in East Europe/Sub-Sahara region and in Russia. He arrived to Russia with his wife Michaela and their two sons in 2007, following assignments in Miami, Frankfurt and Budapest. Both sons are still attending AAS. Outside of work, Otakar is a member of the board of several global technological start-ups and enjoys practicing sports, especially golf, cycling, squash and alpine skiing.

American Embassy Representative -U.S. Embassy Alternate Board Member

Minister Counselor for Management Affairs

Dave Simons is a newcomer to Moscow, having arrived in August 2020 on the OPMED flight.  Yes.  That OPMED flight.  A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Dave has also been posted to Spain, Iraq, Israel, Germany, Belgium, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Washington DC.  He previously served on the school board of the American International School of Israel.  Dave graduated from the University of Utah with bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Political Science.  He has master’s degrees from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the National War College. He is married to Mandy Simons and they have three adult children, who all graduated from international schools.

British Embassy Alternate Representative

Tom Oppenheim, Head of Press, Public Diplomacy and Programmes at the British Embassy in Moscow, and Senior Regional Communicator for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Tom joined the British Diplomatic Service in 2006. He served as Alternate Chair of the AAS Board during a prior posting between 2012 and 2015. Tom returned to Moscow in January 2019 and has three children, all of whom attend AAS. In addition to his two Moscow postings, Tom has also served in Solomon Islands and Zimbabwe.