President Gretchen Hobbs Donaldson is an executive with extensive experience in the fields of international education, development (grassroots and grasstops), student exchange, university relations and faculty development, study abroad, internship identification and development, non-profit and corporate management. She received her Master’s degree in International Education from American University and her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In addition to being an employee of International Education Associates, Inc., Ms. Hobbs Donaldson has been among other things the Director of Institutional Relations at Passport Career in Washington, DC. A Consultant for Faculty Development, Office of Diversity Education and Compliance (ODEC), International Education Faculty Initiatives, University of Maryland, College Park, MD and the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Japan-America Student Conference, Inc. (JASC), Washington, DC.

International Education Associates, Inc. (IEA) was founded by Dr. France J. Pruitt . Dr. Pruitt founded and served as the President until 2016. Dr. Pruitt remains as Chair Emeritus of IEA and has been involved in International Education for the past 50 years. She received a Bachelors' degree from Swarthmore College, a Master's degree from State University of New York at Buffalo, and a doctorate degree from l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, France. She has been a university administrator in Illinois, Delaware, New York, and finally Virginia where she opened and administered the office of International Student Services, which finally included most aspects of international education from credential evaluation, to overseeing the foreign students and scholars, running an English Language Institute and internationalizing the curriculum.