Rick Bishop, US Chair, is a CPA and Tax Executive with United Parcel Service. Rick grew up in Georgia and has lived in the Atlanta area for over 30 years. Rick met his wife, Leigh Ann, while at his first job out of college. Rick and Leigh Ann have 3 children (Lawson – 13, Parker – 10, and Chase – 6). They attend North Point Community Church and live in Alpharetta, Georgia. Rick also serves on the Board of Directors for Christian Youth Theatre – Atlanta.

Rick and Leigh Ann were on one of the initial Dream for Africa trips to Durban in 2004, where Never Ending Gardens were planted in the community. Since then the entire family has traveled to Swaziland to serve at El Shaddai, and Leigh Ann has served in Kenya at Tumaini as well as Merciful Redeemer (with Lawson). Rick most recently traveled on the fall, 2008 J-9 trip to Kenya. The Bishop family definitely has a heart for Africa, and we look forward to seeing where the Lord takes us.

Ian Maxwell works at Heart for Africa. Ian’s vision for self-sustainable food security for all people is at the core of community transformation. Ian successfully unites and partners people from many nations to work together for comprehensive and lasting solutions.

Ian has a degree in economics from Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec and is the former vice-president of operations for Onyx Marketing Group in Toronto, Canada.

Jimmy Wilferth lives in Cape Girardeau, MO where he was born and raised. He has been married to Chrisy for 20 years and has two children, Bo age 16 and Anne age 13.  Second only to his love for the Lord, they rank at the top of his list!  Jimmy came to Heart for Africa in 2011 from another not-for-profit ministry named Men at the Cross, where he served for 5-years as Vice President of National Operations.  Prior to that, Jimmy served as the COO of a major Stihl power equipment distributorship in the US and as the President of United Oil Company.  His full-time service with Heart for Africa began at the beginning of 2012.  Jimmy has served in the short-term mission field since 1982 and is committed to the calling on his life to serve those who cannot serve themselves. Please contact Jimmy at jimmy@heartforafrica.org.

Howard Hodel is a financial, investment and risk management consultant living in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Prior to establishing his firm in 2006, he had over 25 years of experience in finance, investments, analytics, risk management and planning with Bank of Hawaii, Bank of America and British Petroleum. He currently serves on the boards of Heart for Africa, Hawaiian Islands Ministries, the Akamai Foundation, the Dartmouth Club of Hawaii, and the Sierra Club of Hawaii (Honorary), and is a member of the investment committees at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii Pacific Health, and Chaminade University.

Howard is married to Patty Chan, his graduate school sweetheart, and they have three teenage children.  He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu, where he serves on the Men’s Ministry Team.  He has traveled on an Heart for Africa mission trip with each of his children individually to Malawi, Kenya and Swaziland beginning in 2006.  In the summer of 2010 Howard, Patty and their daughter, Lindsey, traveled to Swaziland with Heart for Africa to participate in Litsemba and serve with a team at an Heart for Africa partner church.  Howard has a deep interest in agriculture, which stems from growing up working on his family’s farm in central Illinois, and believes that his involvement in Project Canaan is part of God’s plan for him.  Howard is currently chair of the Project Canaan Agricultural Council and is focusing his efforts on getting the Canaan Coffee Company started for Heart for Africa.  Both Patty and Howard previously served as elders at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church in California.

Mr. Hodel received an A.B. Magna Cum Laude with High Distinction in Economics from Dartmouth College, as well as an M.B.A with Distinction in Statistics and International Business Management from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium while on fellowship from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he earned an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting.  He received his CFA Charter designation in October 2006.

Ann Williams is a new member to the Heart for Africa board of directors. She first travelled to Swaziland with HFA in 2008 with her husband, Doug and 3 children Blake (21), Grant (20), and Lainey (18).  They served at Emmanuel Khayalethu working on construction of the new children’s home. They returned in 2009 to serve at El Shaddai and participate in Litsemba 2009.  Ann and the kids returned in 2010 to be a part of the medical team that served in the communities with our partner churches.

Ann was graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Biology.  She then attended Northwestern University Medical School and completed a residency in Ophthalmology.  She is currently in private practice with her husband, Doug, in Northwest Indiana. They specialize in general ophthalmology and cataract surgery.Ann is an active member of Westminster Presbyterian church in Munster, Indiana and currently is the President of the church session. In addition, she is a member of the Munster Civic Foundation and sits on the board of the McAuley Health Clinic. She and Doug provide eye care at no cost to the medically uninsured of Northwest Indiana through the McAuley clinic.The family looks forward to returning to Swaziland and being a part of God’s amazing plan for Project Canaan.

Tom Finucane is a Vice President for Health Systems for Cardinal Health, Inc., a Fortune 15 diversified Medical, Surgical and Pharmaceutical company. Tom grew up in Chicago and is proud father of 3 daughters (Meagan-15, Teresa-13 and Moira-6) and husband to Linda Ann for 16 years. He has held a variety of professional positions while employed with Cardinal Health and other companies such as American Hospital Supply, B. Braun and CVS/Caremark that includes international responsibility and assignments. He is an undergraduate with a B.B.A. at University of San Diego and post-graduate work and M.B.A. at the American Graduate School of International Management.  Both personally and spiritual experiences include a three year term as Chairman of the St. Cletus Parish Pastoral Council, Chairman of the Development Committee, Big Brother/Big Sister Program Volunteer and the Les Turner ALS Foundation (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Volunteer.

Tom made his first trip to Africa last summer and spent the majority of his time not only working with the Swazi people, but mainly at Project Canaan where he gained an appreciation for the love, vision and spirit of Heart For Africa. Since his return he has been active in fundraising and campaigning efforts that have initiated a "presence" or "footprint" in the Chicago-land area.  He has also volunteered and is a member of the Heart for Africa Advisory Council for the development of the Canaan Medical/Dental Clinic.

Ned Lehman is a new member of the Board of Directors.  He is Vice President, Spend Client Management for MedAssets, a financial performance solutions company serving healthcare providers.  He previously served in a variety of sales and leadership roles at DeRoyal Industries, Medical Present Value, and Omnicell. 

During college, Ned developed a heart for serving others by traveling on several short term mission trips to Guaymas (Sonora), Mexico providing food, clothing, and sharing the Gospel to people living in some of the poorest barrios in the country.  He first learned about Heart for Africa by reading It’s Not Okay with Me.  The book made an enormous impact on his life and eventually called the Lehman family to the Litsemba service trip in Swaziland in July, 2011. 

Ned married his high school sweetheart, Pam, shortly after college.  They have four children (Cole-14, Alexandra-12, Carly-9, and Emma-6) and they reside in Parker, CO where they are active at Southeast Community Church.  Ned has also spent the last 10 years coaching youth football and has a passion for positively impacting the lives of young men through youth sports.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Fort Lewis College, received his MBA from Colorado State University and is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society.  Ned is extremely excited to see how God will use his skills to serve Heart for Africa.

Mark Anderson is Senior Pastor of Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  He and his wife, Karen (McCarty), have been married since 1981 and have four children.  Ashley is married to Kurt Lancaster, and they have two children Evy and Liam.  Liam was adopted in 2011 from South Korea.  Alyssa will graduate from Mississippi State University in 2012.  Will is attending Liberty University and will graduate in 2015, and Andrea will graduate from Cape Central High School in 2013.

Mark graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas and Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.  He has served churches in Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi and Missouri.  He has personally led several mission trips to Brazil (5), Kenya, Mexico, Scotland, and Columbia.  His churches have sent dozens of volunteer mission teams all over the world.  He has served with various non-profit charitable organizations and agencies.  He also served on the Board of Directors for LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee.  Mark has served as the football chaplain for the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida and Jackson Academy in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Ron Watts is the founding and Senior Pastor of La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he has served since 1988. He graduated from the ORU School of Theology in 1985 and is an ordained elder in the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. Ron and his wife, Linda, have been married 30 years and have four children. Stephanie lives in St. Louis with her husband, Mike. Anthony is a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, David is a freshman at Meramec Community College, and Ryan is a junior at Cape Central High School.

As senior pastor of La Croix, Ron has led the congregation to be outwardly-focused both in their community and around world. The church has been actively involved in mission work in Mexico, Russia, France, Guatemala, Haiti, and Africa. La Croix sends multiple teams around the world each year and gives 20% of its budget to mission and ministries outside the walls of the congregation. Ron has had the privilege of connecting with mission partners on trips to Mexico, Russia, and Africa. During the past three years the congregation has partnered with the organization “Feed My Starving Children” to provide food for malnourished children around the world. Ron made his first Heart for Africa trip in 2010, accompanying over 50 people from Cape Girardeau to Swaziland.
 
Ron is honored to join the Board and to be a part of an organization doing amazing things in Africa and is excited to be able to support Jimmy Wilferth as the headquarters is relocated in Cape Girardeau, MO.

Sandra Green, MBA, MHA, BSPH, currently serves as Sr. Vice President/GM Client Management, Implementation and Alternate Sales for the U.S. for MedAssets, Incorporated. For 10 years, she served as President and CEO of Shared Services Healthcare, a Regional Supply Chain Management Company. SSH was sold to MedAssets in 2006.  She has been with the company for 26 years.  MedAssets is publicly traded on NASDAQ and has been recognized this year as one of Georgia’s fastest growing companies.

At Medassets Sandra has been recognized with earning The David Holder Award in 2009, Terry Mulligan Award in 2010, President’s Award in 2011and Presidents Club Award winner 2010-2012.  Prior to her time at SSH, she served as Management Information Consultant/Health Care Industry Specialist for Arthur Anderson & Company in Miami, Florida .  Green earned a Bachelor’s in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and received both a Master’s of Business Administration with a major in marketing and a Master’s of Health Administration from Georgia State University. She completed her administrative residency at Riverside Healthcare in Newport News, Virginia and completed an undergraduate internship at Grand Strand General Hospital in N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

She is an affiliate with the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served on several industry boards. For five years she served on the UNC School of Public Health Foundation Board in Chapel Hill, NC and for many years she was active in the Healthcare Financial Management Association as an advanced member earning the Follmer Bronze Award and serving as a board member for the Georgia Chapter.  Within her community, Sandra serves on the board of Heart for Africa, an international charity serving orphaned children and widows in Swaziland, S. Africa and attends Browns Bridge Community Church.  Sandra is a founding board member of King’s Ridge Christian School in Alpharetta, Georgia and serves on the Capital Campaign Committee of Blessed Trinity Catholic High School.  She lives on Lake Lanier with her husband and three children, two of whom attend college.