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James has worked for Meridian in various capacities since 1984. He began as a reception officer, meeting and assisting arriving international visitors at Washington, DC-area airports. He has also served as Meridian’s Staff Associate for Reception and Information, Staff and Volunteer Coordinator at the Washington Dulles International Airport Foreign Visitors Information Desk, Director of Hospitality and Community Services, and Manager of International Visitor Services and Inter-cultural Training. He has over 25 years of experience working with Department-sponsored Visitors. Shortly after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, he lived and worked in Czechoslovakia as a writer, documentary film maker and assistant professor of film and literature at the FAMU film school in Prague. He currently directs the Visitor Services office and Meridian’s International Airport Programs, trains Foreign Service Officers and speaks frequently about the challenges of U.S. Customs and Immigration procedures for international visitors, interpreters and escort officers. Mr. Mitchell has a B.A. in Communications (Cinema and Film Production), an M.A. in Literature and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from American University. He has traveled extensively through Northern, Western and Central Europe and Asia, is moderately proficient in German and Czech and is learning Japanese and Tagalog.