EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SARA PHALEN  is based in West Chicago, Illinois. She first connected to Women on the Border in 2005 on an NIU law student delegation as part of a course on women and globalization designed by then director and professor Arriola.  She became a Board member in 2010 and as Executive Director she provides WOB with a Midwest and national presence. Sara is an Illinois lawyer with graduate degrees in Applied Anthropology, Nonprofit Management and a Certificate in Museum Studies.  Since 2006, Sara has been an organizer and nonprofit administrator working with community groups and cultural institutions to study, educate and raise awareness around issues of social justice in areas with large immigrant populations with links to the Mexican border. In 2009 Sara cofounded People Made Visible, an arts and culture nonprofit that utilizes the arts as a catalyst for social change. In association with People Made Visible and the Museum for the City of West Chicago Sara developed an exhibit funded by the History Channel on the history of Mexican labor migration in agriculture and railroad construction in Illinois leading to the creation of a lasting Mexican-American community in West Chicago.