BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2026-2027
The AFC is fortunate to have a talented and eclectic group of dedicated Board Members, each of them bringing something unique to the table. They generously give their time, expertise, and money for the benefit of our organization. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication!
Alison Trimpe
President
Alison was born in Australia and moved to Charlottesville in 2002. She holds a master’s degree in education and taught elementary school for 20 years in Australia, the UK, and the USA. Alison now operates her own preschool complete with chickens and a vegetable garden and continues to enjoy teaching. Alison first fell in love with everything French when she spent a week in Paris at the age of 17 with her pen pal. Other pen pals led to stays in Ferney-Voltaire and Aix-en-Provence and Paris. Alison studied at the Alliance Française in Perth off and on and finally joined the AFC 7 years ago to finally improve her fluency and grammar once and for all.
Lucy Johnson, Ph.D.
Vice President
Lucy Johnson is a retired educator who was born and raised outside of Baltimore, Maryland. She is the founding Vice-President of the Alliance Française of Charlottesville, Virginia and served on its first board of directors under Andrée King, President. Lucy’s love for France and the French language began at 17 when she participated in a summer exchange program in Lille, France. She studied for three semesters in Paris at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and Sciences Po and earned a B.S. in French from Georgetown University. She received an M.A.T. in French from the University of California, Berkeley and ultimately earned a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia. Lucy taught French and Spanish on the high school level in Massachusetts and Virginia. She also taught French for the after-school program for the AFC. Lucy has served on several boards of local nonprofit organizations in addition to volunteering extensively. Lucy shared her love of travel with her husband and children and continues to travel with friends, her children, and grandchildren.
Melinda Caldwell
Treasurer
Melinda and her husband Jeff moved to Charlottesville in 2016, drawn by the mountains, family, and the presence of an active Alliance Française. She grew up near Staunton, attended Duke University, spent a junior year in Paris, and received a B.A. in French with a minor in History. That somehow led to a stint with a non-profit production company, which led to CNN and then to HD Cinema, a bicoastal video production company founded with her husband while living in Atlanta. For work and for vacation, the two of them, sometimes with their two children, have visited France as often as possible, and Melinda spent another year there while her daughter was enrolled at a bilingual high school in Paris. Along the way, she’s tried to maintain some semblance of her college French through reading, films, and classes at the Alliances Françaises in Atlanta, Connecticut, Paris, Los Angeles and now Virginia. Melinda is also serving as a member of the AFC Events Committee.
Brenda Twine Gersbach
Secretary
A native Virginian, with a maiden middle name of Bernadette, after St. Bernadette Soubirous of France, Brenda developed a love of French and followed the rest of her family in French study. Beginning with 3 years of formal courses at the University of Virginia where she earned a degree in Asian Studies with a concentration in Chinese, she received in later years a Certificat de Langue Française, Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne and a Certificate of Proficiency in Written French – Workplace Communication at the McGill University School of Continuing Studies. She continued her commitment to linguistic and cultural immersion with week-long programs in Québec, Saint‑Barthélemy, and Sancerre, in addition to taking Alliance courses in Paris and now Charlottesville. In addition, she was a former member of the Club de Lecture in Washington, DC. Professionally a Program Manager, with an MBA from William and Mary, she has traveled extensively throughout France and other francophone regions, cultivating a deep and enduring engagement with francophone language, culture, and history.
Edward Herring
Edward is Chairman of the Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission and a former Member of the US District Export Council, US Department of Commerce. He is also Co-Director the German American Association of Central Virginia
Edward lived and worked throughout Europe during his career in Engineering, Consulting and Business Development. In addition to French, he is fluent in German and Spanish. Since his initial retirement, he has taught languages in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools.
Michelle Heuschen-Liégeois
Michelle Heuschen-Liégeois was born in the Belgian Congo, where she spent most of her childhood. She and her parents then moved to Belgium, where she studied Greco-Latin Humanities. She worked as an assistant in medical biology at the University of Liège, focusing on immunology at the Experimental Surgery Laboratory in charge of cell culture and radioactive elements. After their marriage, she and her husband, who worked at General Electric, moved to the United States, where they spent time in Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Florida. Her husband’s career also took them to the Netherlands and the south of India. Throughout her life, she has remained very active in the communities where she lived. She founded an International Women’s Club, taught French in Holland and at the American Women’s Club in Antwerp, Belgium, and studied Spanish. While living in Naples, Florida, she became an Ikebana teacher. She and her late husband had two children. In March 2023, she moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to be near her two children and their families
Barry Keith
Barry Keith has taught students in French (levels 1-AP) and Spanish (levels 1-3) at Monticello High School since 1998 and holds a B.A. in French from the College of William and Mary and a M.Ed. from Virginia Tech. Barry has served with the College Board as a reader for the AP French Language and Culture exam since 2005. He taught a course in phonetics and linguistic discovery at the Académie Française, a three-week residential immersion summer program for high school students, from 2010 through 2020. He has also organized a homestay exchange program between Monticello High School and Lycée Claude Nicolas Ledoux in Besançon. Barry has been a member of the AFC for more than a dozen years.
Charlotte B. Odom
Charlotte joined the AFC in 2018 when she moved to the Charlottesville area from Louisiana where she lived for most of her life. Before retiring in 2025, Charlotte served in a variety of positions in office administration, marketing communications, and fundraising. Her love of French began in elementary school through classes promoted through the Council of the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL, which revived the French language in the state). Charlotte continued her studies at LSU earning a Bachelor’s in French, then acquiring a Master’s in Marketing. She currently enjoys studying French, traveling, playing tennis, and visiting her three married adult children and their families including three grandchildren; as well as playing with her two cats and her standard poodle.
Taylor R. Odom, J.D.
Taylor Odom is an attorney based in Charlottesville. Taylor was born and raised in Louisiana where he began to study French. He received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University and law degree from Loyola University New Orleans. Before attending law school, Taylor spent a year in Metz, France, teaching English through the Teaching Assistants Program in France (TAPIF). While in France, Taylor developed a strong appreciation for the French language and culture which has brought him back to Europe and other francophone countries over the years. Taylor met his wife, who is a Virginia native, while in law school. Taylor relocated to Charlottesville with his wife in 2013 and has been involved with the Alliance Française since becoming a Virginian.