Warner Woodworth

Warner Woodworth is a professor of organizational behavior at Brigham Young University where he teaches Third World Development, Micro-credit, and Social Entrepreneurship. He is married to Kaye Colvin Woodworth and they have ten children. Author of 10 books and over 180 articles he has been engaged in empowering the poor for two decades. He has helped found and/or served on the boards of numerous nongovernmental organizations including Enterprise Mentors International, Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance, Unitus and HELP International, among others. He is co-author of Small Really is Beautiful (1997) and Working Toward Zion (1999).

Russ Booth

Russ Booth has over thirty five years experience as a Broker/Agent in leasing selling, leasing, managing and developing various types of properties and is currently the Senior Vice President of Coldwell Banker Commercial. He is a Managing Partner for several real estate partnerships, LLC's and investment groups. He was awarded B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Russ was recently the President of the BYU Alumni Association, and professionally is a former President of the 1.2 million-member National Association of Realtors. He currently chairs the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations. He has been active in community, church, civic organizations. Russ is married Nina C. Woodbury and has six children, (5 boys, 1 girl, ages 34 to 22,) and four grandchildren.

Lisa Jones Christensen

The research and teaching of Lisa Jones Christensen focuses on sustainable enterprise in the United States and in developing economies, corporate social responsibility, leadership, change management and change implementation. Dr. Christensen's research has been published in edited books and journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics and Academy of Management. She worked fornearly 10 years as a marketing and sales manager at Silicon Valley start-up firms before she began her academic career. She also co-founded and served as the first country director of H.E.L.P. Honduras (now HELP-International), a nonprofit organization originally focused on post-disaster relief and micro-finance work in five regions of Honduras, which has expanded to emphasize economic self-reliance and microfinance principles in developing economies such as Peru, El Salvador, Venezuela and Thailand. She now sits on its board. Dr. Christensen has consulted with various public and private sector firms, including SJF Ventures, Johnson & Johnson, BST Consulting, Earthbound Farms, Sustainable Harvest, Pioneer Hi-Bred (DuPont), Procter & Gamble, UNC Hospitals and Papa Johns Pizza. She received her PhD in organizational behavior from UNC Kenan-Flagler, her MBA from the Marriott School and an MA in international development from the David Kennedy School, both at Brigham Young University. She received her BA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Roger A. Dixon

Roger is currently the Assistant Director of the MPH program at BYU where he teaches public health administration, field epidemiology and project management classes. He works with the Kennedy Center at BYU to sponsor public health internships with NGOs and multi-lateral international organizations in Bolivia. He spent many years working in Latin America and the Caribbean with the Pan American Health Organization, the regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO). He also worked with the USAID as Hurricane Reconstruction Project Manager for rebuilding health facilities and infrastructure in Central America and as a consultant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He now lives in Highland with his wife Deanne. They have five children and eight grandchildren.

Mindy Jensen

Mindy graduated from BYU in 2003 with a degree in International Development and Latin American studies and has had a passion for serving and teaching the poor since she visited Russia at age 14. After working with Laubach Literacy in Guatemala, Mindy joined the HELP team in 2004 as the Assistant Programs Director and has been actively involved ever since. She now serves as a member of the HELP Board of Directors. Mindy has been married for eight years to a very supportive husband, Russ, and is the mother of two rambunctious boys, Corbin(4) and Cody(1½).

Pete Sorenson

Peter Jay Sorenson, CMC, is an independent management consultant and social entrepreneur. His consulting practice focuses on building tangible value with intangible assets. Pete has consulted with HELP since 2002 and served on the Board since 2006. He served with "Wave of Hope" Thailand and with HELP in El Salvador and Guatemala. Pete is an advocate of using action research and action learning to improve the HELP experience forvolunteers and the delivery of services to our NGO partners and those they serve. Pete earned his BA in the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington (1976) and his MA in Organizational Behavior from BYU (1979). The Institute of Management Consultants awarded Pete the Certified Management Consultant (CMC®) designation in 2002. Pete is the father of four children and four grandchildren

Janet Tanner

Janet Tanner, PhD, CPA, is currently teaching in the School of Accountancy at Brigham Young University, after holding an accounting faculty position with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for ten years. Janet has also studied international development and educational leadership and has been involved with numerous international humanitarian aid efforts. Her academic research focuses on business, educational and social entrepreneurship in Africa, where she has extensive experience in Uganda. She is the mother of four children, all of whom have served as volunteers with HELP International in Latin American settings.

Sarah Carmichael Parson

Sarah Carmichael Parson is originally from Toronto, Canada.  She moved to Provo, to pursue a master’s  degree in comparative and international development of education (CIDE) at Brigham Young University.While completing her degree Sarah became involved with Warner Woodworth and helped start and then manage the Wave of Hope project (Empowering Nations' 2005 tsunami project). Sarah became the executive director of Empowering Nations in the fall of 2005 and after completing her degree, she continued her work as director while also working full-time at Utah Valley University as the Director of the Equity in Education Centre which promotes diversity and equity as well as raises awareness about violence and abuse in the UVU and greater community. Sarah has led projects for Empowering Nations in Thailand, Ghana and Kenya. Sarah married Christopher Parson while at BYU and after the birth of her son Jacob was thrilled to become a stay at home mom.  In 2009 Empowering Nations merged with HELP International and Sarah is now happy to serve on HELP's board of directors. Sarah ultimately believes that one person can make a difference and that teaching and empowering people to help themselves is the only way to create lasting change. 

Heidi Poelman

Heidi Poelman serves on HELP International’s board of directors as marketing and public relations counsel. Heidi has provided PR services to dozens of organizations in a variety of sectors, including nonprofit, high-tech, educational and Fortune 500. Heidi received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Brigham Young University and her master’s degree in communication from Wake Forest University. She is married to Scott Poelman, HELP’s legal advisor, and together they have three children. Heidi’s goal with HELP International is to help spread the word that even one person, with a desire and an opportunity, can make a lasting impact on global poverty.