Trustees Join Student Outreach in NYC
One of the keys to the vitality of InterVarsity’s ministry is our board of trustees. Faithful spiritual leaders from all walks of life—academics, lawyers, clergy, business leaders, missionaries—have provided direction for our ministry over the past 72 years.
I love our board. Last month, the board met in New York City to coincide with the Price of Life Invitational. Trustees were trained to use Proxe Station evangelistic displays and spent an afternoon at City College of New York interacting with students (photo).
In 2014, five new trustees will join our board. Since we only have a total of 18 trustee spots, these five will have a strong impact for years to come.
KATHERINE LEARY ALSDORF
Katherine is past Director of the Center for Faith & Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. With Tim Keller, she is co-author of Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work with God's Work.
Prior to her tenure at Redeemer, Katherine worked for two decades in the high tech industry serving as CEO of three companies: (1) Pensare, an online management education company, (2) One Touch Systems, a hardware/software products company, and (3) Private Satellite Network, a satellite services company.
Katherine became a Christian mid-career through the ministries of Redeemer. Her brother, Paul, served on InterVarsity staff. She lives in New York City with her husband, John. She has an MBA from the University of Virginia and a BA in Psychology and Education from Wittenberg University.
JANE LIN
Jane is a Senior Manager of Financial Services Risk Management at Ernst & Young in New York City. She leads teams that provide credit risk advisory services to leading financial services clients, including top commercial banks.
An InterVarsity alumna and past speaker at Urbana's Business as Mission track, she has lived and traveled extensively in a wide variety of countries including Taiwan, South Africa, and the Caribbean. She is fluent in Mandarin.
Jane has a doctorate in Economics from Columbia University and a bachelor's in Economics from the University of Massachusetts. She has served as an adjunct instructor at Columbia and the King's College. Volunteer activities include serving as co-leader of the Financial Services Ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Center for Faith & Work.
LIBBY LITTLE
Libby spent over 30 years in Afghanistan, working with her late husband, Dr. Tom Little, to improve the lives of the Afghan people, especially their eyesight.
Deeply impacted by their experience at Urbana 67, they helped establish the Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul and related ministries all over the country, while Libby also served as an English teacher.
Tom and Libby raised their three daughters in the war-torn country, persevering through several regime changes, and became known to the locals as "the ones who stayed," all out of love for God and the Afghan people.
Dr. Tom Little and his medical aid team were murdered in 2010 while traveling to a rural clinic. Libby accepted the Medal of Freedom (America's highest civilian honor) on Tom's behalf at a White House ceremony. She speaks frequently, and spoke at the Lausanne Congress in South Africa and Urbana 12.
BARRY ROWAN
Barry Rowan is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Cool Planet Energy Systems, a green company that produces energy from biofuels.
I have known Barry for more than three decades. He inspires me with his pursuit of spiritual formation and careful listening to the Lord. A regular speaker at InterVarsity chapters, he has a long connection with Agros International, a nonprofit that helps families build self-sustaining communities in Central America and Mexico.
Barry has served as CFO for Vonage, a $900 million Internet communications company, and for Nextel Partners, a Fortune 1000 company. Other employers include Hewlett-Packard, Comlinear, and Fluke.
He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BS in Business Administration and Chemical Biology from The College of Idaho. Barry lives in the Denver area with his wife, Linda. They have two adult sons.
GREG SMITH
As an undergraduate, Greg was deeply involved with our chapter at Fresno State University and attended Urbana 87.
Post-college, Greg joined the family business—manufacturing brake actuators for commercial vehicles—and held a number of positions: new product development, export manager, vice president of operations, and president. He also completed his MBA at Fresno State.
A few years ago, the family business was sold to Berkshire Hathaway. Since then, he has started Seeds On Earth, a business focused on making investments in new ventures for God's glory. He also runs a property management firm (commercial sites).
Greg sits on the boards of Mission Aviation Fellowship and Hume Lake Christian Camp. He and his wife, Amanda, live in Fresno and have three beautiful children—Grant (14), Luke (12), and Hope (9)—with whom I recently enjoyed a rousing game of Frisbee golf.