Bob Rhoad
President/Chairman of the Board
Bob is an ordained Elder in the Allentown Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, and a partner in the international law firm Dechert LLP, specializing in intellectual property litigation. Born and raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, he is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Audrey, […]
Liz Heinzel-Nelson
Vice President/Founder/Executive Director/Trustee
Liz received her BA in Psychology from LaSalle University and MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a mother of four, an entrepreneur and a visionary leader. Her expertise is start-up ministries and mission enterprises. She has been a stay-at-home mom, classroom teacher, consultant to classroom teachers, community developer, youth ministry director, […]
Stephen Heinzel-Nelson
Chaplain/Founder/Trustee
Stephen is the Pastor of Allentown Presbyterian Church, New Jersey and co-founder of VIP. He is the secretary of VIP, but his primary role is supporting the Executive Director. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, he graduated from Cornell University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Columbia Theological Seminary. He is married to Liz and they have four children […]
Kim Daly
Treasurer/Trustee
Kim is an ordained Elder in the Allentown Presbyterian Church, and Director of Extended Day Programs for the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education in Allentown, NJ. Originally from Locust Valley, New York, she is a graduate of Muhlenberg College. She and her husband, Kevin, have two grown sons, Matthew and Terrence. After traveling to […]
Eileen Gradwell
Secretary/Trustee
Eileen is a Senior Director at Biogen Idec, a biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, MA. She has worked in clinical operations for the past 14+ years, supporting the quality delivery of clinical research trials. She has a MS, Health Services Administration from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL and a BS in Nursing […]
Gayle Anderson
Trustee
Class of 2019
Gayle currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Administration for Dallas Zoo Management. Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a better world for animals. Previously she held the positions of Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer for Match.com, a subsidiary of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), and Vice […]
Judith Samson Haas
Trustee
Class of 2019
Judy is an ordained elder currently serving at the Presbyterian Church of Toms River, NJ, a partner congregation with V.I.P. With a lifelong heart for missions, she traveled to Malawi with V.I.P. in 2013 to represent her church and was deeply touched by the poverty, the plight of the widows and orphans, and by the […]
Stephanie Patterson
Trustee
Class of 2019
Stephanie is a working mom of three young children and lives in Hopewell, NJ. She is an Elder and Chairperson of the Human Resources Committee at Nassau Presbyterian Church, where she has also served as a Deacon. She was raised in Northeast Alabama, and lived all over the United States before moving to NJ with […]
Chris Woodard
Trustee
Class of 2019
Chris is on staff at Valley Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, AZ. His primary focus is Mission. He has traveled to Malawi for the past five years for his work with Ministry of Hope. For the past two years he has traveled with Villages in Partnership. His primary focus has been working on building a secondary […]
Tim Schuler
Trustee
Class of 2020
Tim Schuler started keeping bees as a young boy with his Dad and Brother. John P Schuler kept honey bees in Prospect Park Pennsylvania a small suburb of Philadelphia. Tim graduated in 1982 from Delaware Valley College, Doylestown Pa with a BS in Animal Husbandry. He began his career helping to manage a large cattle […]
Randa Nelson
Trustee
Class of 2020
It took just one trip to Malawi to utterly transform a suburban working mom’s impression of religion. Best reflected in her favorite Scripture, her philosophy is incorporated into VIP’s Mission statement, “Religion that is pure and faultless before God is this: to care for widows and orphans in their distress.” (James 1:27) Randa Nelson returned […]
Thomas Marrero
Trustee
Class of 2020
Tom is a veteran of the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserves. His military service brought to Haiti and Guatemala for humanitarian missions. He has worked for the U.S. Government for over 13 years and has recently become the co-owner for Wakefield Biochar. He received B.A. in Chemistry from Texas Christian University and Doctor of […]
Paul Huchro
Trustee
Class of 2020
Paul Huchro graduated from Cornell University in 1984 with a BS in Applied Economics and Business Management. He worked at Goldman Sachs & Co for 30 years and was named a Partner in 2008. After a brief retirement in 2016, he returned to the Financial Services Industry at Deutsche Bank in 2017 where he is […]
Lucy Goeke
Trustee
Class of 2021
Lucy has worked as a nurse and a Nurse Practitioner for the past 36 years and currently works at Xavier University and as a home care nurse practitioner. She became interested in VIP 9 years ago after listening to the passion Liz and Stephen have for Malawi. Lucy is Liz’s younger sister, a mother to […]
Kimberlynn Kleasen
Trustee
Class of 2021
Kim has spent her career in health care, beginning with working as a clinical music therapist in a county psychiatric hospital. Over time, she transitioned her skills into the business world, working for 25 years at Johnson & Johnson. Her expertise is in organization development and leadership development. Kim was born and raised in Cuyahoga […]
Chris Ebling
Trustee
Class of 2021
Chris Ebling holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and a Master’s in Resource Interpretation from the Arthur Templeton School of Forestry at Stephen F. Austin State University. Chris applies his formal training through a wide variety of volunteer, civic, and educational programs. […]
Tim Golden
Trustee
Class of 2021
