Round the World with Us

Teresa Keller has always had a passion for education and learning about other cultures.

However, as a young adult, Teresa chose the pragmatic route and chose to major in the field of accounting as a way to insure success in the job market and in the ability to support her family.  She began her career as an accountant for a non-profit health care organization.  But she soon discovered that the down side of having a steady accounting job is that it proved to be less than fascinating.

She went on to become the CFO of a private secondary school in upstate New York, where she could also teach and therefore have an impact on the lives of young people.  At Kent School, in Kent, CT, Teresa formed the first Kent School Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America and witnessed the incredible capability and creativity of students who are provided with high expectations and opportunities use their talents.

When relocating to Boston, she found the perfect opportunity to combine her business and strategic management skills, passion for education and raising cultural awareness, and desire to help others.  Six years ago, she became CFO of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).  AIA has over 200,000 members, 107 chapters across North America and abroad, and a magazine with a readership of approximately 750,000.  As Teresa took on responsibility for many of the AIA’s outreach programs she moved into the role of Chief Operating Officer, and in 2008 she was elected Executive Director.

In spite of her making the safe choice of majoring in Accounting, Teresa now sees the value of taking some risks to achieve greatness.  A few years ago, she and her staff, along with the Board of Trustees of the AIA made the bold choice to continue to invest in the future of the AIA in spite of the recession.  The risk has paid off – they have greatly increased their fundraising, began hosting extremely successful fundraising galas, implemented a strong Site Preservation Program, and greatly expanded their outreach and education efforts – reaching over 50,000 children with face-to-face programs last year alone.

In an effort to spend time with her children exploring and learning more about the world first hand, and apply her skills and experience in education, strategic management, publishing and fundraising to more humanitarian efforts, Teresa and her family gave up their home, car and most of their material possessions, downsized to save money for travel and will now focus their efforts on Round the World with Us.

Teresa is funding the travel herself out of savings, proceeds from the sale of her family’s things and a 401(k) loan.  100% of all donations go toward the projects themselves.