Phil, his wife Becca, and their five children live in Folsom, CA. Phil received his Juris Doctor degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law and his B.A. degree in Rhetoric and Communications from U.C. Davis. Before his role as President/CEO of Providence World, Phil was an attorney with different firms in Sacramento, CA, and Atlanta, GA, and a clerk for a federal judge in Honolulu, HI. Phil co-authored In Pursuit of Orphan Excellence and co-hosts two podcasts, Think Orphan and How Soccer Explains Leadership.

Elli Oswald is the Executive Director of the Faith to Action Initiative, a coalition of organizations seeking to elevate best practices in global orphan care. Elli has been a member of the Faith to Action Leadership Council for 15  years. Prior to her role with Faith to Action, she served as Director of Mission and Outreach at Bethany Community Church in Seattle, and as the Children in Crisis Research and Communications Coordinator for World Vision International’s Child Development and Rights Technical Team, specializing in community-based care for children deprived of parental care. She has a B.A. from Pepperdine University and an M.A. in Cross-Cultural Studies and International Development from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Kimberly Quinley has spent  40 years serving in Thailand with her husband, John,  and their four children. Kimberly and John founded Step Ahead, an organization committed to seeing all children in Thailand grow up in safe and nurturing families. Step Ahead advocates, delivers services, and strengthens the capacity of families and communities, as well as,  the social service workforce in government and civil society to increase well-being for children in Thailand. She is currently working with the Thai government to help them transition their first orphanage to family-based care.  Her certification as a Life Coach  and four decades of experience working in Thailand help her deliver training and consulting to leaders, teams, and individual staff. She and her husband John have fostered Thai and refugee children. 

Nicole Wilke serves as Director of the Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children & Families.  The Research Center aims to bridge research and practice to improve care for vulnerable children and families around the globe.  An initiative of CAFO, the Center serves more than 260 organizations in 130+ nations around the world, and the work impacts millions of children and families at risk. Dr. Wilke has supported improved outcomes for children in care through both research and practice.  This has included leading investigations related to care reform, resilience, and family strengthening, developing the Care Transition Accelerator Academy, and authoring dozens of evidence-based resources on improving care for children. Although she has lived on four continents, Dr. Wilke currently finds herself living with her family in Peru, where they work to see children raised in families.

Kristen is the Executive Director of Otem Collective, an organization working in Uganda to help children grow up in families. A proud “Double Gator Grad,” Kristen has a B.S. in Family, Youth and Community Sciences and a Master’s of Sustainable Development Practice (MDP) from the University of Florida. She is also a licensed Trust-Based Relational Intervention® Practitioner and is certified as a Care Transition Coach by CAFO. With 16 years of nonprofit and ministry work, Kristen has experience in program planning and evaluation, child development, furthering community development initiatives, and child protection. Prior to starting Otem Collective, she worked for several years on programs for orphaned and vulnerable children in Northern Uganda. 

Kristi Gleason currently serves as the Director for Child Protection and Education at  World Vision US. With over 20 years of experience in international development, Kristi’s work has primarily focused on international child welfare, deinstitutionalization of children in orphanages, family-based care and child protection. More recently, she is leading programs focusing on fighting child labor and all forms of violence against children.    Additionally, she has experience in the full spectrum of the program life cycle, from program design, implementation and closure, as well as monitoring and evaluation and financial management. 

Kristi lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her husband of 22 years, two children, 2 dogs and six chickens.

Sandra is  committed to the welfare of vulnerable children. She  excels as a master trainer in Child Protection and Case Management, and a certified Care Transition Coach in Nigeria and West Africa, transitioning orphanages to family-based care models. She is also a Board of Trustee Member and Vice President for the Northern Region of the Association of Orphanages and Homes Operators (ASOHON).  She spearheaded the Save the Plateau Child Initiative. Her  recent initiatives include pioneering innovative family strengthening programs such as “Mother Me,” the Aging Out Mentoring Platform known as STAND OUT, AOA (Aging Out Africa) to assist youth transitioning out of care.

In her role as the Plateau State Coordinator for the Child Protection Network (CPN), Sandra ensures the protection of children within communities and upholds best practices in orphan care, always prioritizing the best interests of the child in decision-making processes.

Catherine holds a BA in Social Policy and Administration and a Master’s in Social Work. Catherine began her career in child protection services in the UK. Working for Bethany Global based in Grand Rapids Michigan for the last 12 years she’s served in multiple roles supporting their transition to serve children and families within the local community in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Colombia. Passionate about care reform, Catherine has offered social work consultation, training, and partnership work throughout Africa. Catherine oversees a complex portfolio of programs focusing on children in families and care reform, including Family Preservation and Empowerment, Youth Resilience and Alternative Family Based Care Services.