MISSION STATEMENT

Dr. David Angwenyi, our founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), grew up in the village of Nyanchonori, Kenya. He has his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration.  Dr. Angwenyi currently teaches Biology at Hopewell Valley Regional School in New Jersey. Dr. Angwenyi inherited land from his father and has been committed to using the property to enhance his village. He has successfully built an access road and a high functioning well. The next project is to build the Global Connections Center!

Steve Haines Chief Operations Officer (COO) In addition to his work with GCF, Steve is an entrepreneur and author with many pursuits and passions all aimed at providing memorable & meaningful experiences for children and teachers. Steve is the President and CEO of Advantage-USA, an International Educational Consulting Company dedicated to global education and language immersion experiences. Steve spent 20 years as a teacher, and collectively has more than 30 years in the field of education.  

Steve has written and delivered his unique, interactive teacher/leader training course that has taken him to more than 80 cities in China, training close to 4,000 teachers. His goal is to empower teachers to embrace the leadership role as facilitator and to help them forge deeper and more meaningful connections with their students. 

 Steve is also the founder and Executive Director of Camp Concepts, Inc. where he designs and directs a 9 week long summer day camp program for children ages 2-16. He has been a camp industry leader and entrepreneur for over 30 years

Ruth Haines is our Administrative Director, currently managing all aspects of our foundation from being a liaison to our Kenyan staff, web development, directing our agendas, event planning, bookkeeping, managing the donor program and assisting in board development, just to name a few! 

 Ruth's experience and passion has been 40 years of involvement in non-profits relating to missions in Haiti, prison ministries, private school fundraising & events, chaplaincy, trauma recovery and inner city homelessness and substance addiction volunteerism.  She is a TedX speaker on the subject of seeing the value in ALL people. 

Ruth has been an executive administrator and project manager in the corporate world and an entrepreneur that has forged many businesses empowering and supporting women and children. 

Ruth has been married to Steve Haines for over 30 years and is the proud mother of 5, now adult, children and 4 grandchildren!

DIRECTOR OF BRANDING & MARKETING FOR GLOBAL CONNECTIONS FOOTBALL CLUB.

Football aka American Soccer has been an important part of Steven's life. He grew up playing a lot of different sports, soccer, basketball, baseball and track and field, but soccer was his favorite sport from an early age. Steven played soccer throughout high school and eventually went on to play at the NCAA Division 3 level at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania. After graduation, Steven moved into the role of the assistant men's soccer coach at the university and is entering his second season with the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. Steven is excited to combine his love for soccer with Digital media and is helping the Global Connections Foundation and the Global Connections Football Club build a successful brand that will be recognized around the world.

David is currently the founder and CEO of a multi-million dollar company, an industry leader by the name of Asphalt Care Equipment, Inc. David started the company as he was working his way through Wharton Business Program. David has a strong aptitude towards business development, finance planning along with setting best practices in policies and procedures. Over his 42 year career, David has been involved in building businesses in the areas of retail, construction services and real estate investing. He currently serves on the Board of several local committees including; the Economic 

Development Corporation and the Bensalem Impact Group. David is active with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is part of their Founders Society.  David is also involved in supporting several Prison Ministries. 

Ingrid was born in the Western Cape, South Africa and her family relocated to Zimbabwe when she was very young. Ingrid had a carefree childhood and spent many hours playing under the African sun. She has lived across a number of continents throughout her career and has gained global experiences and she now resides in Christchurch, New Zealand. Highlights of her career  include four successful businesses built and sold, and a non-profit organization rescued. She has been involved in a multitude of organizations from board involvement and senior executive levels. She enjoys the opportunity to coach women entrepreneurs to build successful businesses whilst ensuring they give their family the love and attention they deserve. She loves the thrill of the business build! Ingrid's family makes her smile and she believes family is not just an important thing - it is everything.

Clay Mason is the owner of East West Group Properties. He is an accomplished entrepreneur with 20 years of experience working in the medical device and real estate industry. His passion for learning new cultures & promoting education stemmed from his first experience living and teaching English in Japan. He believes your can learn a great deal about your own culture when stepping into another. Clay is a Gulf War Veteran served in US Navy as an Operations Specialist. He is an advisory board member for the Center for International Business & Education at Raritan Valley Community College, Board Member of the Rise to Shine Education Foundation, Kenya, Member of Branchburg Rotary Club. He holds a bachelor’s degree in History from William Paterson University and a master’s degrees in International Business & Relations from Seton Hall University.

 Utpal is an IT professional with over two decades of global experience, who thrives on building relationships, trust and credibility with clients, partners, vendors and colleagues. Utpal is a results-oriented individual with a customer focused approach, leveraging extensive industry experience to achieve and exceed business goals and targets. 

At Noema, an established name in Mortgage industry, Utpal heads product offerings, sales and marketing efforts targeting new industry vertical such as Insurance, Healthcare and Retail. 

Utpal currently serves on the board of Oxygen Ventures as an advisor to IT products and entrepreneurs for Product Strategy, Sales & Marketing Strategy, Organization Optimization to increase ROI and build value proposition for potential investors and customers.

Utpal leverages his industry experience to provide career coaching to empower those who are looking to help in their career progression and pursue a career of their choice.

Debbie has been teaching 4th grade in the School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 22 years.  She sat on the Building Committee and Site Selection Committee at her school as well. Debbie has also been the Director of Expressions Day Camp for nine years. This camp is for children 6 - 18 yrs of age who have social skill deficits such as High Functioning Autism & Asperger's Syndrome.

In 2019, Debbie twice, took 2 groups of students to China with the Global Youth Foundation and can't wait to go back!

Debbie is married with a wonderful son named, Adam!

For over 20 years, Ellyn Ito has used her background in operations, human capital management and business strategy to mitigate risks and enhance operations in organizations experiencing growth and contraction.  Having served in executive roles in both public and private companies, Ms. Ito has had broad operational experience including sales/marketing, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and business restructuring. In 2004, Ellyn founded Sigma Integrated Resources, an Advisory firm focused on serving the unique needs of start-up and mid-sized businesses. In the Fall of 2018, Ellyn joined her client, Helius Medical, Inc, a purpose-driven organization that she has served since its inception in 2014. In May 2021, Ms. Ito co-founded Within Health, LLC, a medical technology company focused on mental health wellness. Ms. Ito is also Founder of Seeds to Sew International, a non-profit organization committed to improving the lives of women and girls in compromised communities. Ellyn's social justice focus fuels her passion to create opportunities for those less fortunate -- whether this is access to health care, technology, education or skilled jobs.