about best delegate

WHO WE ARE

Our Mission

Train today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders through Model United Nations.

We believe Model United Nations is the single best activity for preparing today’s students to be leaders in the world. Model United Nations introduces young people to the world’s biggest problems in peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development — and inspires them to find global solutions. Model UN gives students a chance to learn about different countries, foreign policies, and most importantly to critically think about issues from multiple perspectives and points of view different than their own.

Model UN teaches students critical 21st century leadership skills that are valuable for college, careers, and lifelong learning. Students develop their public speaking, negotiation, research, and teamwork skills while debating about global issues in Model UN. These are skills that students will use throughout their lives as they grow into positions of leadership. We believe that the students who do Model UN today will be the leaders changing the world tomorrow.

Best Delegate is a rapidly growing education company with a goal of Model UN For All. We’re on a journey to create what Model United Nations needs to be worldwide so that this generation of students can lead the world to a better, more peaceful, just, and sustainable future.

Best Delegate Impact by the Numbers

10 Millon

Views of Our

MUN Resource Articles

 

795,000

Views on Our

MUN Training Videos

6,000

Students Completed Our

MUN Institute

What We Do

Best Delegate provides in-person programs that directly impact over 3,700 students and teachers worldwide every year. Its website, BestDelegate.com, is used by over 750,000 Model UN participants from around the world every year and is the thought leader in the development of the global Model United Nations community. Best Delegate has consulted for the United Nations and its work has been featured in the New York Times.

Our flagship program is the Model United Nations Institute, which is the world’s largest Model United Nations summer program, held at top universities including Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, Berkeley, and UCLA. The MUN Institute has trained thousands of students and teachers at the high school and middle school levels.

Our organization has innovative partnerships that has helped a diverse set of organizations develop their Model UN programs, including organizing conferences at the United Nations Headquarters. This includes partnerships with the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), the World Federation of the United Nations Associations (WFUNA), the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, IDEA Public Schools, the US Embassy in Mexico City, and various school districts and nonprofits.

And Best Delegate has provided Model UN workshops for students and advisors held in over twenty countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

This includes the Directors Training Institute, a professional development program for teachers in partnership with the THIMUN Foundation and THIMUN Qatar.

Best Delegate was co-founded in 2011 by Ryan Villanueva and Kevin Felix Chan, who met while doing Model UN at a high school conference in Southern California.

The two kept in touch as Secretaries-General of the Model UN conferences at Yale and UCLA, respectively, and by volunteering for UNA-USA’s Global Classrooms.

They both wanted to give back their Model UN experiences to the community after graduation, and eventually decided to quit their jobs at Goldman Sachs and AT&T, respectively, to turn a blog that Ryan had started at his dorm room at Yale into a global education organization dedicated to helping others succeed through Model United Nations.

Meet the Team

Ryan Villanueva

CO-FOUNDER

Kevin Felix Chan

CO-FOUNDER

Laurabeth Goldsmith

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Toni Lawrence

SENIOR MARKETING & SALES MANAGER

Logan Smith

Senior Programming Manager

Anya Chew

MUN Teams Program Manager

Julia Cole

Data and Roster Manager

Georgina Kenchington

Community Manager

Monica Gonzales

Director of Human Resources

Joyce Calixton

Customer Service Representative

Jill Bendlak

BDMUNC Program Manager

Maggie So

Fractional CFO

Global Media Team

The Global Media Team is responsible for writing resources, advice, and news on the Best Delegate website, MUN Institute website, and MUN Education website. The team includes:

Senior Leadership Team

Editor-in-Chief: Toni Lawrence (toni@bestdelegate.com

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Conference Database Manager: Anish Vedantham

Media Associates of Best Delegate Content
Anish Vedantham
Annabelle Mackey 
 
Media Associates of MUN Institute Content
Annabelle Mackey 
Anish Vedantham

Contact Us

Model UN Private Training Workshops: support@bestdelegate.com
Model United Nations Institute: support@bestdelegate.com
Media Team and Publicity: toni@bestdelegate.com

Phone: (646) 308-1411

Best Delegate, LLC.
One Mifflin Place
Suite 400 – #3456
Cambridge, MA 02138

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