Two Organizations, One Mission: to share challenges, solutions and resources to equip people to lift themselves from extreme poverty. VIP and its Board of Trustees are responsible for all U.S. operations, partner development, fundraising, and strategic planning collaboratively with Villages in Partnership International, a separate NGO headquartered in Zomba, Malawi, who along with its own Board oversees program operations in Malawi, partner development in Malawi, and adherence to government regulations and procedures.
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, […]
Eileen Gradwell
Vice President
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 […]
Tim Golden
Treasurer
Tim retired in 2017 as the Tax Planning Manager for Syngenta Corporation in Wilmington DE and has shifted his focus to volunteering. Tim participated in VIP Medical Missions in 2018 and 2019, bringing an eye glasses kit on the later mission which provided custom goggles to assess and determine the correction required and a supply […]
Stephen Heinzel-Nelson
Chaplain
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 […]
Liz Heinzel-Nelson
Executive Director
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, […]
Lucy Goeke
Class of 2024
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 […]
Chris Ebling
Class of 2024
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. […]
David Shipman
Class of 2025
David retired in 2017 from a career with Firmenich North America where, among other responsibilities, he served as the President of Firmenich Charitable Foundation. He is an active member and Elder of The Presbyterian Church of Toms River, one of Villages In Partnership’s very first partner churches. He visited Malawi in 2011 and has been […]
Greg Herceg
Class of 2025
Greg is currently the Director of Missions at Swift Creek Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia and has led two trips to Haiti. He has also served as an Elder responsible for Finance/Accounting. He currently works as a fractional CFO for multiple companies in different industries. He was formerly the CEO of Kloke Group, a moving, […]
Jennie Garst
Class of 2023
Jennie Garst is a mom living in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband Jim and their two school-aged children. She will be the first to tell you that she was one of the least likely people to visit Malawi, but she and Jim did just that in the summer of 2017 when they felt […]
Gayle Anderson
Class of 2023
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 […]
Randa Nelson
Class of 2023
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
Class of 2023
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 […]
Tim Schuler
Class of 2024
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 […]
Elizabeth Yates
Class of 2024
Betsy has held senior executive responsibilities in the areas of finance, operations, administration and mergers and acquisitions. She was the managing general partner of a number of limited partnerships formed to acquire, operate and sell underperforming and undervalued media properties. At its height, the companies she ran owned 60 radio stations, 12 television stations, several […]
Annie Belden
Class of 2025
Annie has worked as a Human Resource professional since 2019 and recently transitioned to a Senior Program Management role for Amazon Logistics. Throughout Annie’s life, she has seen her mother, Lucy Goeke–as well as her aunt Liz Heinzel-Nelson–impact the lives of countless people in Malawi. Annie joined her mother on her first medical mission trip […]
Marissa Cano
Class of 2025
Marissa is a member of Valley Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, AZ, where she volunteers with the children’s ministry and is also a member of the missions committee. She takes all the knowledge she has gained from working in the school districts and applies it to her ministry work. Her goal is to travel to Malawi […]
Dave Specca
Class of 2025
Dave has been involved in agriculture his entire life. He grew up working on the family vegetable farm, was the Farm Production Manager for an Ag-Biotechnology Company after graduating from college, and is currently the Assistant Director at the Rutgers University EcoComplex. At Rutgers’ clean energy research and commercialization center, he focuses on sustainable energy […]
