The Board of Trustees

DAVID RODGERS (Chair) - David and his wife Sandra live in Northern Ireland. David first visited Nepal as a medical student in 1986. He returned for a visit in 1990 and met Sandra, who was working in Tansen Hospital at that time. After getting married back in Ireland they served together, with UMN, in Amp Pipal hospital from 1995 to 2001. David, now retired from General Practice, is also a trustee of UMN Hospitals’ Endowment Trust and UMN Support Trust.
AJAY ANAND SHARMA - Ajay has been working in community development and transformation since 2002. He is a Director of WACT, an NGO working in the far western region of Nepal. He has served on the board of different local and national level NGOs in Nepal. He has experience in conducting evaluations of development projects and organisational assessment of NGOs.
HEIDI WESTBORG STEEL - Heidi is based in Oslo, Norway and has a background in leadership, organisational development and geography. She had her upbringing in Asia and Africa and has worked for Blue Cross Norway, with alcohol and drug related problems in Southern Africa. She was previously the head of HimalPartner, one of UMN’s partner organisations. She is now working for ICDP (International Child Development Program) and taking a masters in leadership and global mental health.
RUPA CHHETRI - Rupa Chhetri is a psychologist and has worked in direct anti-sex trafficking interventions and aftercare with International Justice Mission, Kolkata. Rupa currently serves as Program Manager for the Justice Ventures International project of Torrent Consulting in Nepal. She also teaches a course in the Master’s in Psychology in Crisis Management programme at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
SAMUEL GROSZ - Samuel is a lawyer who is based in the United States. His practice focuses on business, tax, and international law. He also has experience in real estate development and managing small businesses. Samuel spent significant time growing up in Nepal when his parents served with UMN.
ARBIN POKHAREL - Arbin is the founding pastor of Cross-Way Church in Kathmandu and leads Nepali Reformed Church movement. He has been involved in developing Reformed & Presbyterian Seminary for over 18 years, where he loves to teach Nepali Ecclesiology. He is passionate about Pastoral Formation.
CAROLINE TRIMBLE - Caroline lives in the UK and is Head of Finance at BMS World Mission. She and her husband, Tim, worked with UMN between 1995 and 2003. Caroline has over 30 years’ experience working in finance in the not-for-profit sector both in the UK and internationally.
MALATI RAI - Malati has experience in managing community development projects working with various organisations in Nepal since 2010. A former UMN intern in 2008 she has worked with organisations like Early Childhood Education Center, Educational Horizons Nepal and Mission Aviation Fellowship. Passionate about creation care, climate change and environmental issues she is also serving as a Children’s Ministry Coordinator in a local congregation in Kathmandu.
MATHEW SANTHOSH THOMAS - Santhosh currently lives in Delhi and works part time as a Consultant Physician and rest of the time with International Christian Medical and Dental Association as Training in-charge and Regional Secretary South Asia. He previously worked with Emmanuel Hospital Association in various leadership roles. He has been associated with various Health and Development organizations as a board member.
NARAYAN KHADKA - Narayan is the National Director of DAI (Development Associates International) in Nepal and has been working in the areas of leadership and organisational development. He serves as an Elder for a local congregation, leads the diaspora department of Nepal Christian Fellowship. Previously, he worked for World Vision International Nepal for many years.
ASTHA SHRESTHA - Astha currently resides in Kathmandu and has a background in Microbiology and a Master’s in Public Health. She joined HDCS in 2012 and initiated the Public Health Programme, which has helped transform the health of mothers and new-borns in rural areas of Western Rukum, Nepal. Currently, she is the Partnership Manager at HDCS. Her endeavour has always been to bring development and change to marginalised communities of Nepal and also focus on organisational capacity development in organisations to help them reach their highest potential.
 
JIM ALEXANDER - Jim lives near Seattle in the US. He is currently semi-retired, but continues to do periodic consulting, most recently in Turkey and Northwest Syria. Prior to that he was the Country Director for World Vision in Afghanistan for five years. Jim has over 40 years of experience working with international and culturally diverse humanitarian assistance and development organizations as a senior manager, consultant, trainer, and post-graduate professor. He has spent over 20 years of residency in South Asia. Ten of those years were in Nepal, including eight years of serving with UMN, seven of which were as the Director of Rural Development. Jim has a B.Th. degree in Missiology, and a Master’s degree in international administration with a focus upon strategic management of humanitarian assistance organizations.
 
STEPHEN EDISON - Stephen Edison is based in New Delhi, India and is currently the Hub Leader of South Asia for Asia CMS. He has a breadth of experience in leadership, organisational development and transformation across Asia since 2008. Stephen has served in UMN’s Doti Cluster Team in 2008-2010. He is passionate about peacebuilding and supporting youth in leadership in South Asia.

 

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