Key Member Profiles

Judith Cunningham

Judith Cunningham is the Executive Director for the MMUN.  A Montessori teacher and administrator, Judith along with Ambassador Francis Lorenzo conceived of the MMUN six years ago.  She founded MMUN to help students find their voices, take action and build peace as a way of honoring Maria Montessori’s legacy and implementing her dream of world peace.  In addition to her responsibilities with MMUN, Judith is also Head of Oak Farm Montessori School.

Michael Jacobson

Michael serves as Chair of the MMUN Board of Directors and Business Manager. He worked in collaboration with Judith Cunningham to help craft the operational structure supporting the founding of the MMUN program in her vision. In addition to serving as Board Chair, Michael acts as the liaison with the Ambassadors and UN leadership that support MMUN during the course of the year between conference dates.

Dr. Lalit Ecka

Lalit is the Training Director of MMUN and a Montessori Secondary Educator at the School of the Woods, Houston, TX. He has national and international leadership experiences in India and the USA, is certified in Secondary and Primary Montessori Education and has a multi-disciplinary educational and professional background in the Behavioural, Health, and Social Sciences.  Lalit is passionate about empowering individuals to find peace within, recognizing that with peace from within one's mind and heart creates a peaceful surrounding and world.

Heidi Walters

Heidi, a Montessori parent, has been the Accounts Manager and Registrar for Montessori Model UN since its inception. Her role includes acting as liaison to the schools, bookkeeping, managing the online conference registration process and providing customer service to the teacher coordinators. In short, she helps make sure participants arrive, have a place to stay, participate efficiently and get back home safely.

Giacomo Forte

As MMUN’s Asia Manager, Giacomo, who lives in China, supervises and coordinates the activities of MMUN participating schools throughout Asia. He collaborates with the Asia schools in their development of MMUN Summer and After School Programs designed to prepare their students for MMUN conferences. As Montessori Education at the Elementary and Middle School levels is new to China, Giacomo also acts as liaison with the various Ministries of Education to assist them in their support of MMUN and MMUN’s Global Peace Curriculum.