Why book with us

Karen Ong

Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder

Her passion for languages and different cultures led her to start Language International. Karen is a language and travel enthusiast, speaks 6 languages and has traveled to over 100 cities in 6 continents.

Language International is a continuation of Karen's interest in facilitating language and cultural exchange. Before starting Language International, she founded MyHappyPlanet.com, a peer-to-peer language exchange website that grew to 350,000 members in just over a year. She is also a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, an organization promoting international education.

Karen was born in the Philippines and now lives in Boston, USA. She holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School where she received the prestigious Robert F. Jasse Award honoring the student with the most outstanding entrepreneurship and leadership skills.

Michael Reich

Co-founder and VP of Sales and Finance

He oversees the sales and finance functions at Language International. He was born in Germany, studied in France, Germany, and USA, and currently resides in Boston. He speaks English, German, and French fluently, and is now learning Chinese.

Before joining Language International, Michael was the Chief Executive Officer of UpDown, the leading social platform for virtual investing. In 2002, he was one of four owners at German IT consulting firm Spirit Link GmbH. During his tenure Spirit Link, he was responsible for building its marketing and sales initiatives, helping the company to grow to 70 people in four years.

Michael is an MBA candidate at the Harvard Business School and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration from the University of Reutlingen in Germany and the Reims Management School in France. Michael was co-founder of the Internet Association at the Reims Management School and he served as a member of the student board at The University of Reutlingen.

Andrea Astheimer

Student Advisor to German and English speakers

She was born in Germany, is a native German speaker, and also speaks English fluently.

Andrea holds a Business Management degree from the College for Economics and Tourism in Düsseldorf, Germany. Before moving to Boston, she worked for over five years in the travel agent industry and was most recently a project manager at Lufthansa City Center Headquarters in Frankfurt.

Natalia Berdnikova

Student Advisor to Russian and English speakers

She is a native Russian speaker and also speaks English fluently.

Natalia holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from St. Petersburg State University in Russia. Before joining Language International, she was business development manager at BusinessLink Personnel and worked in the American Councils for International Education, a non-profit organization that administers cultural and educational exchange between Russia and the USA.

Lucas Cady

Student Advisor to German, Thai and English speakers

Lucas holds a Master’s Degree in German Studies from Middlebury College and a Bachelor’s degree in German and Health Science from Gettysburg College. He speaks German and English fluently and is conversant in Thai.

Advising students at Language International is an extension of Lucas' passion for teaching languages. Prior to joining Language International, he lived in Thailand for a year and was an English teacher at EducationUSA, a center supported by the U.S. Department of State. Before that, he was a German teacher at Rice High School and Stern Center for Language and Learning.

Leslie del Angel

Student Advisor to Spanish and French speakers

She lived in Mexico until she was ten. She is a native Spanish and English speaker, and also speaks French fluently.

Leslie holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics and a minor in French from Boston University. While a student, she spent one year in France, studied at Université Stendhal in Grenoble, and worked at Robin des Bois in Paris. Prior to joining Language International, Leslie worked at the United Nations Association of Greater Boston and at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, Arizona.

Katherine Hannula Hill

Student Advisor to French and Spanish speakers

Katherine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and French Language and Literature. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston University and received the “Isabelle Leen Award” for excellence in French. While a student, she spent one year in Spain and France, where she studied at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Université Stendhal in Grenoble.

Prior to joining Language International, Katherine worked as Resident Counselor at the The English Language Center where she organized activities and tours for students from all over the world studying English in Boston.

Hannah Riviere-Platt

School relationship manager

She lived in France until she was ten. She is a native French and English speaker, and also speaks Spanish fluently.

Hannah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and a minor in Hispanic Studies from Hamilton College in New York. While a student at Hamilton, she spent 6 months learning Spanish in Granada, Spain, and knows first-hand how difficult it is to find the perfect language program abroad.

Anthony Vespa

Director of Engineering

Anthony heads up all things technical at Language International. He has held senior engineering positions at various Internet consulting firms (iXL, Agency.com, Razorfish) and was the Lead Web Developer at Picasa.com prior to its acquisition by Google. More recently, Anthony was the Lead Architect of web development at Gather.com, and a team leader at CBS Interactive before joining Language International.

Tony lives in Boston, USA, with his lovely wife Owen and his adorable son Patrick. He speaks English, a little Italian (thanks to his Italian roots), and a little Filipino (thanks to his wife who’s from the Philippines).

Michael Tolan

Senior Software Engineer

Mike likes to write mean code. He was formerly Software Engineer at CBS Interactive and Software Architect at Gather.com. Mike graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mike speaks English and is currently learning Russian from his lovely wife Yevgenya.

Benjamin Spiegel

Web Developer

Before joining Language International, he was web designer at UpDown, the leading social platform for virtual investing. From 2001 to 2008, he was web designer at NXFX, Boston's premier web design firm specializing in web design, SEO / SEM and e-commerce solutions including Online and Viral Marketing.

Ben was born in Kiel, Germany, and speaks English and German fluently.