Our Center for Refugee Services is proud to have these amazing board and staff members. They selflessly volunteer their time and services to benefit the community.
We are happy to have them be a part of the team.
Margaret Costantino, MA, LPC
Executive Director and Board Member
Bio
Margaret is a lifelong resident of San Antonio and has spent more than 20 years as a career counselor in higher educational settings.
She has three years of experience working in a community mental health program that she co-founded in San Antonio, Texas.
She has worked with the resettled refugee population in San Antonio since 2008, teaching ESL, citizenship classes, and addressing their psychosocial needs.
She earned her Master’s in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a licensed professional counselor.
She also has six years’ experience teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Jean Sherrill
Board President and Assistant Director
Bio
Jean is a retired pharmacist who earned her BS in Pharmacy at the University of South Carolina while husband Jody was assigned at Fort Jackson, S.C.
During Jody’s 20 years as an Army officer, Jean was active as a per diem pharmacist, a Red Cross volunteer at military bases, and a community and chapel activities volunteer. The Sherrills retired to San Antonio in July 1993, where Jean began her 18-year career as a pharmacist with CVS Caremark Mail Order Division.
She retired again in April 2011. In 2008, Jean became aware of the significant refugee influx into San Antonio and began to serve at the Center for Refugee Services as ESL teacher, transportation provider, and addressing other needs of the community.
In July 2014, Jean organized the all-volunteer craft shop, World Mosaic Market, at CRS to provide a sales outlet as well as work experience for our many talented local refugee artisans.
Ayad Kaisi
CRS Board Member
Bio
Ayad Kaisi is a refugee from Iraq. He has a college degree specializing in the petroleum industry. Mr. Kaisi is the former owner and CEO of Ayad Al Kaisi Bureau – Hospital Supplies and Contracting.
Ayad has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade. He has taught the Arabic language and culture to many organizations that have sent missionaries to the Middle East.
Mr. Kaisi suggested teaching the Arabic language as a class with Bible Study Fellowship International. He started such a class as a Group Leader in 2018 in San Antonio.
Veena Prasad
Board Treasurer
Bio
Dr. Veena Prasad, Ph.D., is a long-time resident of San Antonio. She was a researcher at the UT Health Science Center. During her tenure at UTHSCSA, she was on the board of the International Alliance, an organization that helped settle researchers who visited the University for training.
She has organized several fundraisers for United Way, the India Association, and the Bexar County Justice Center along with her daughter, Miss Sapna Prasad.
She teaches music and is very involved in local charitable organizations.
She also conducts religious Hindu ceremonies such as weddings, naming ceremonies, and the like.
She enjoys singing and playing the Veena, which is a musical instrument.
Howaida M. Werfelli, DrPH, MPH, CHES
CRS Board Member
Bio
Howaida M. Werfelli, DrPH, MPH, CHES, serves as the Founding Executive Director of SALVERE. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Middle Eastern Studies from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s degree in Public Health from The University of Texas School of Public Health.
She received a DrPH in Management, Policy and Community Health Practice from The University of Texas School of Public Health.
She has seven years’ experience working on federal grants, including SAMHSA/CSAP and U.S. Department of Education. She has served as the principal investigator on several grant-funded projects.
She has management experience and has led several teams to successful completion of grant-funded projects. She also has focused experience conducting HIV-related epidemiologic studies. She has authored two papers and has presented her work at local, state, and national conferences.
Jill Rips
Program Manager
Bio
Jill Rips began volunteering at CRS in 2017 as an ESL teacher and grant writer. She became a full-time staff member, one of two Program Support Managers, in 2018 and continues to serve in that position, with principal oversight of maternity and public health-related programs, grant writing and program evaluation.
Prior to CRS, Jill served in a variety of Public Health research and service delivery programs for most of her career. Jill has a BA in Anthropology from Wesleyan University, an MA in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research (NY, NY) and a MPhil in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University (NY, NY).
A native San Antonian, prior to moving home in 1999, Jill had more than 15 years of experience in HIV/AIDS, reproductive, and general public health work, both domestically (New York City) and internationally, including the publication of articles in scholarly journals and books. Additionally, Jill oversaw federally funded asthma health education and childhood obesity prevention programs among Dominicans living in NYC. She taught Cross Cultural Perspectives on Health and Illness and The Social Construction of Women’s Health at Columbia University’s School of Public Health and Teacher’s College in New York City.
In San Antonio, Jill was the Deputy Executive Director of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation for 16 years, where she also served as Director of Development, had program development, evaluation, and oversight, as well as general agency operational duties. Jill has been involved in establishing syringe exchange as a public health intervention in San Antonio and served on the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District’s Advisory Board of Health and the HIV/Syphilis Task Force.
Chinar Gul Sedeqi
Community Health Worker
Bio
Naqibullah Ehasas
Client Case Manager
Bio
Naqibullah Ehasas is Senior Case Manager at the Center for Refugee Services. He and his family arrived in the US following the fall of the Afghanistan government in August 2021 and was hired at CRS in 2022.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations. In his former career, Naqibullah was a member of the diplomatic corps in the Afghan department of the foreign ministry and traveled throughout the world.
At CRS, Naqibullah is responsible for client case management, especially with newly arriving refugees from all countries, especially Humanitarian Parolees and SIV’s from Afghanistan. He speaks 4 languages.