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Members of the GICF Board:
Click on Board Member's name for a short biography. |
Larry Hoelscher, Chairman
Larry Hoelscher has enjoyed travelling to Uganda since 2001, participating in church planting mission trips and overseeing the operation and construction of Lulwanda Children’s Home. Mr. Hoelscher, a founding board member of GICF (since 2001), has served the Foundation as Construction Committee Chairman and President. He currently serves as Managing Director and Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Hoelscher feels that GICF is special because of its purpose and due to the people who have given of themselves to make it successful. “GICF is unique in that it is powered by our volunteers’ love of the purpose and vision of this organization. It is my goal that their love and trust is honoured.”
Mr. Hoelscher has been married to Leslie Dee (Dee Dee) for 27 years. They have two sons, Jamison and Christopher, both attending Texas A&M University in College Station. They reside in Tomball, Texas, where they are members of Tomball Bible Church and where Larry serves as a Deacon and Chairman of the Missions Committee.
Professionally, Mr. Hoelscher’s career has spanned 27 years and has involved various assignments in Texas and Louisiana while working for Williams Gas Pipeline-Transco. His current position is Director of Engineering in Transco’s Project Development and Execution department in Houston.
Rob Marshall, President
Rob Marshall is President of GICF USA, Inc., the operating and fundraising arm of GICF in the United States. He is also Chairman of the Operations Committee, which provides day-to-day support and guidance to the Administrator of Lulwanda and manages the Child Sponsorship program. Mr. Marshall began volunteering with GICF in 2002 and assumed the role of President in 2004.
Mr. Marshall, a native of Canada, is a degreed Professional Engineer working in Houston for BP America. His employment in the oil industry has taken him to live and work in Canada, Norway, Russia, Egypt, Italy, and now the United States. He and his wife Cathy (who also spends considerable time managing GICF affairs as a volunteer) consider it a privilege to serve the Lord to the benefit of the children of Uganda. They have two daughters, Sarah and Rebecca, who have visited Lulwanda twice and share their parents’ love and compassion for the orphans of the world.
Anne Selin, Secretary
Anne Selin visited Lulwanda Children’s Home in June of 2006, and it was apparent that God was preparing her to serve in new and different ways. Ms. Selin’s commitment to GICF stemmed from a desire to serve in a way that would honor God’s call to ministry, particularly for children, and LCH was a perfect match. Ms. Selin serves as Secretary of the board.
She and her husband Roger relocated from Manchester, New Hampshire to Houston, Texas in 2003, and are members of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church (MDPC), where she also serves in ministry as the Communications and Media Director.
Ms. Selin holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, and professionally, has worked in a variety of industries including energy, engineering, and entertainment.
Phil Norby, Treasurer
Philip A. Norby was born in Van Nuys, California. Mr. Norby was a founding board member of GICF in 2001. He has acted as Treasurer since the inception of GICF. Mr. Norby and his family were on a church planting team in 1999 which visited the village of Bulolelo, where the Lulwanda Children's HOme was eventually built.
He and his wife continue to be involved in East Africa church planting, leading or participating on mission teams annually. They are part of a Calvary Chapel church plant which meets at Houston Baptist University.
Mr. Norby received his bachelor’s degree from California Lutheran University and master’s degree from California State University at Northridge. His professional experience has been in the energy industry, spending 29 years in various technical and managerial roles for Unocal and Chevron. He and his wife Denise spent nearly ten years in overseas’ postings, having lived in Thailand, Norway, Indonesia, and Senegal. They have lived in Richmond, Texas since 1993. They have three children Krista, Jared, and Paul.
Paul Mitchell
Stephen (Paul) Mitchell rejoined the GICF Board in November 2008 to help develop policies and procedures for the ever-expanding GICF organization. He served on the Board previously from 2001 to 2005 as the Chairman of the Fundraising Committee. That committee was instrumental in soliciting funds through churches and outside organizations in the early stages of GICF’s growth. Mr. Mitchell and his family have been heavily involved in church planting efforts in East Africa since 2002, either as team leaders or participants. He was a member of the teams that helped open new avenues of ministry in Kenya and Tanzania.
Mr. Mitchell has been married to his wife Cynthia for 30 years. They have two children; Amber, 25, who is working on an MBA at the University of Houston and Zachary, 20, who is studying architecture at Texas Tech University.
Professionally, Mr. Mitchell has been in the oil and gas industry for 30 years. He is a geophysicist with BP America Inc. and has been employed with them for 26 years. He works primarily in the deep water Gulf of Mexico exploration team helping to plan and execute drilling programs for some of BP’s most critical exploration wells. He worked overseas in Aberdeen, Scotland and in a variety of provinces including the North Sea, on and offshore Alaska, the USA Atlantic margin, the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore Brazil, and recently finished a four-year technical exchange program with PEMEX in Mexico.
Morris Ogenga
Pastor Morris Ogenga is Moderator of the Eastern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Uganda, and Senior Pastor of Mbale Presbyterian Church. He is one of the founding members of GICF. Pastor Ogenga is Chairman of the Lulwanda Children’s Home (LCH) Local Management Committee, a committee founded to provide local guidance and support to LCH. Pastor Ogenga grew up in Kenya but has long lived in Uganda. He, his wife Aidah and their family live in Mbale, Uganda.
Mike Thrasher
Mike Thrasher began travelling to Lulwanda Children's Home in 2006 with Cypress Creek Church of Wimberley, Texas. Although involved in meaningful mission opportunities since 1973, the visits to Lulwanda “changed his life forever”; Mr. Thrasher and his wife Mary felt God’s call to focus on the educational needs of the children and teachers of Lulwanda, and each year they lead a team to bring training and supplies to the Primary School. Mr. Thrasher serves on the board of GICF with a focus on education.
Mr. Thrasher graduated from Angelo State University with a Bachelors degree in Business and worked for Thrasher Trucking Company in Monahans, Texas (where he was born and raised), for 9 years before relocating to San Marcos, Texas. There, the Thrashers opened The Spring Christian Shoppe, a Christian bookstore. Currently Mr. Thrasher and his wife Mary are partners in Thrasher Consulting, an educational consulting business.
Dr. Lew Wilson
In 1995 Dr. Lew Wilson and his wife Wanda led the first church planting trip to Uganda to work with Pastor Morris Ogenga. A desire was born during those early trips to establish an orphange to meet the overwhelming need due to parental loss to HIV/AIDS.
This vision was shared with members of Grace Community Bible Church in Richmond, Texas. God brought a committed group together which resulted in establishing Lulwanda Children’s Home, under the GICF umbrella. Currently, Dr. Wilson serves on the GICF Board as medical director.
The Wilsons have three children and seven grandchildren. They reside in Frisco, Texas and attend Prestonwood Baptist Church. Dr. Wilson is a retired OB-GYN, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and an ordained minister. |
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