Executive Board
President: Katie Higgs
Katie Higgs is a senior studying Comparative Cultures and Politics at Michigan State, with minors in Muslim Studies and French. She is also currently the Under-Secretary General of Internal Affairs for MSUMUN, IRO's sister organization. When Katie is not doing Model UN, she keeps herself busy watching Netflix, playing guitar, and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Her favorite committees she has been in as a delegate include the World War Z committee at MUNE and the UN Women committee at McMUN.
Vice President of Finance: Veronica Buschhaus
Veronica is a junior majoring in World Politics with a minor in African Studies. Although, she is from Ann Arbor, but is a Spartan fan through and through. She is also a chair for MSUMUN. When not doing all this MUN related, Veronica likes to watch soccer, Game of Thrones, and bake all sorts of desserts.
Vice President of Membership: Karan Dhillon
Karan Dhillon is a junior studying Supply Chain Management and World Politics. He has been doing Model UN since his freshman year of high school and has come to love it more every year since. He is currently the chair of the African Union committee for MSUMUN XVII, and has loved every moment of his college Model UN experience participating in exciting committees such as “Bad Boy Records” and the “Syrian National Congress of 1919”. Other than Model UN he enjoys watching sports, playing FIFA, and trying all sorts of food.
Vice President of Conference Preparation: Timothy Faass
Tim Faass is in fourth year at MSU and is majoring in Environmental Science and Management with a STEPP minor. He grew up in the small, rural, southern farm town of Damascus Maryland where he spent his summers catching Crawdads and playing with his pups. Tim has been in IRO since he was a wee little freshman and has found some success as a member of the club. Through three years Tim has won 7 awards and has served as the Vice President of Conference Preparations since February of 2016. His passions are traveling, yelling at his favorite professional sports teams, and constantly trying to convince his colleagues that he is more southern than he actually is. Tim looks forward to another year* as Con Prep and has high hopes for the star children of MSU IRO.
Vice President of Technology and Operations: Michael Downs
Michael Downs is a junior studying International Relations and Comparative Cultures and Politics with minors in Russian and Eurasian Studies and Russian Language. Michael is from Livonia, MI where he often enjoys going to downtown Detroit to enjoy the Detroit Institute of Arts, Tigers, and Red Wings games. He has been in MUN since his sophomore year of high school and has loved it ever since. Outside of Model UN, Michael has recently taken up Judo and can often be found at the nearest source of coffee, or taking a nap.
