© 2025 United Nations Association - Minnesota Chapter
United Nations Association
of Minnesota
Dedicated to educating, inspiring and mobilizing Minnesotans to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations and its Agencies.
UNA Board Officers,
Board, and Advisory Committee Members
Pictured here are those dedicated Minnesota residents, and UNA members, who guide the activities of your local UNA chapter.
Fred Badiyan
President
Liz Klages
Vice President
Dale Snyder
Treasurer
Silvia Ontaneda
Secretary
Liz Klages currently serves in the position of Vice President of the United Nations Association of Minnesota. She earned her PhD in Political Science at the University of Minnesota in 2002 in American and Comparative Politics, after completing her Master’s in International Affairs at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in European Politics and International Economics, and her BA from Carleton College. Liz has been teaching Political Science in the Twin cities for the past 29 years. Prior to teaching, she worked for the International Trade Administration at the US Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. For 23 summers, she worked at the Danish language village of Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, MN, where she was dean for 13 years, and promoted youth global citizenship. Model United Nations has been Liz's passion since high school, though college, and now as a faculty advisor at Normandale Community College, where she currently teaches.
Dale Snyder is the Treasurer of UNA-MN and has been a member and board member for several years. While he was a former business owner and worked in the private sector for half of his adult life, he and some friends started a nonprofit organization in 1990 initially to provide school lunches for a school in Haiti. This organization has grown into be a small but innovative non-profit creating clean water wells and water systems (UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #6) and is also managed and maintained by the people of Haiti, thus providing development and not simple relief. He was the full-time executive director of Haiti Outreach for 21 years. Dale lives in SW Minneapolis for the past 21 years, has 2 grown children and two grandchildren. He is also a member and past president of the Minneapolis Uptown Rotary Club.
Silvia Ontaneda, is UNA-MN chapter Secretary. She is an international human rights attorney, a retired diplomat, international trade and foreign policy consultant, and entrepreneur passionately advocating for the implementation of human rights policies and ethical sourcing in international trade. After a distinguished 20-year career with the Ecuadorian Foreign Service, she founded the Trade Center of the Americas, an organization committed to fostering sustainable economic growth through fair trade and ethical sourcing practices. Silvia holds degrees from the University of Minnesota Law School, the Carlson School of Management, and the Ecuadorian Catholic University. She serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, ACLU-MN, Legal Rights Center, and the Center for Women in Leadership and Diplomacy, and the Minnesota Consular Corp. Additionally, Silvia is the founder and chair of the FBI Citizens Academy Human Trafficking and Opioid Crisis Task Force, continuing her commitment to social justice and public service.
Fred Badiyan serves as UNA-MN Chapter Board President. Fred Badiyan came to the United States in 1966 by invitation from the US Embassy. He worked in the motion picture industry in New York and Hollywood. In 1969, he moved to Minneapolis and opened Badiyan, Inc., providing marketing, training and computer technology services for corporations. He received over 300 major creative awards for his work. Fred has produced several international projects in Chile, India, Israel, and Zambia. Fred has served on the board of the UNA-MN for the past 26 years. He is married to Lorie Badiyan and has two children, Chad and Shireen, and five grandchildren. Fred is a believer in world unity, the essential commonality of all religions, world peace, universal education, and the elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth.
