Board Chair

Gerald R. Miller, Ph.D.

Gerald Miller is Professor Emeritus and Retired Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. He earned a B.S. Degree in Agricultural Education and an M.S. Degree in Agronomy from the University of Illinois. His Ph.D. was earned in Crop Science at Michigan State University. At the University of Minnesota and Purdue University, Dr. Miller served as Extension Agronomist for twenty years. He was the Associate Dean for Extension Education Programs in Agriculture for eighteen years. His responsibilities included administering an international student work-study program that annually involved about three hundred students from sixty countries. For the last fifteen years, Dr. Miller has worked with Shepherd’s Foundation and his church on agricultural mission projects in Ukraine. He currently is collaborating with Heifer Project International on an agricultural development project with an orphanage in Ukraine. For three years he led Sowing Hope, Inc. in developing an agricultural training center with a mission in Oaxaca, Mexico. He is an active member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. 

"ECHO provides a wonderful privilege to be actively involved with dedicated Christians in demonstrating our love for God and love for our neighbors, especially those who are hungry and poor. ECHO is creating opportunities for many people by providing appropriate science and technology to improve their nutrition and health."
 

Vice Chair

John Mulder

John Mulder has exhibited his commitment to ECHO through donations of his time and financial resources. John has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Davenport University and over 30 years of experience in the technical/research sector of the automotive industry. John retired from GENTEX Corporation in 2002 where he had worked 15 years as Vice-President of Marketing. He has served on the GENTEX Board of Directors since 1991 . He has also served on the Board of Trustees for Davenport University, the Regional Board of Southeast Michigan for Boy Scouts of America and is an active member of the Reformed Church of America.

"I am extremely proud to be part of ECHO. I find ECHO’s purpose to be unique to other charitable organizations. It is an organization of wonderful, committed people dedicated to making a difference in the world."

Treasurer

Gayle Bundschu

Gayle Bundschu is the CFO/Controller and a part-owner, together with her husband and another partner, of Bundschu Kraft, Inc., a real estate, construction and land development company active in Southwest Florida for over 35 years. She has a B.S. Degree in Public Relations from the University of Florida and a B.S. Degree in Accounting from the University of South Florida. Gayle is an active member of her Presbyterian church in Fort Myers, and has served as a Sunday School teacher, a Stephen Minister and as a part of the Stephen Ministry leadership team.

“I first heard of ECHO in my church and there I have come to know many of its volunteers, interns and staff members. I have seen in them a sacrificial commitment and deep desire to help others in an unusually effective ministry. It is an honor and privilege for me to be associated with the people and the mission of ECHO.”
 

Secretary

Tom Thorburn, Ph.D.

Tom Thorburn is retired and has served in the private, public and non-profit sectors. He has taught high school, managed a corporate farm, served for eighteen years with Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota in Extension program and administrative roles. Most recently, he served with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Ford Family Foundation in their grant programs focused both domestically and internationally. Tom has served as a volunteer on numerous boards including: Philanthropy Northwest and Michigan Partners, has taught Sunday school, has been a 4-H leader and served on volunteer missions.

“It is a blessing to be a part of ECHO solving hunger and nutritional issues by making practical sustainable food production information available to those working with the less fortunate in many other countries.”

Board Members

David Kearns, M.D., J.D.

David Kearns is a semi-retired pathologist with subspecialty certification in dermatopathology (skin biopsies). David has served as President of the Georgia Association of Pathologists and is on the board of the George Faile Foundation which supports the Baptist Medical Centre of Nalerigu, Ghana. He is also a principal supporter of the Bombay Leprosy Project of Bombay (Mumbai), India where he lived for two years as a child. David, his wife Jennifer and son Patrick live in the country outside Rome, Georgia. Together they are hay farmers and run a small cow-calf operation. David attends First Baptist Church of Rome, Georgia where he is a substitute Sunday School teacher.

"I believe that the only sustainable way to help the poor is to help them help themselves. ECHO shares that approach in its unique ministry to those working to improve the food supply for the poor."

Bill Curtis

Past Chair of ECHO Board

Bill Curtis graduated with a Business degree from Messiah College and has an MBA in Managerial Finance from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia PA. He serves as General Manager for Vision Video, an international Christian production and Distribution company, in Worcester, Pennsylvania where he has worked for the past 25 years. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Haitian American Friend Foundation and has been active in church related activities for many years. Bill currently serves as his Church Stewardship Coordinator.

“I’m pleased to be part of an organization like ECHO that is providing long term solutions for world hunger which helps hungry people become self-sufficient in growing food”.

J. Kirk Gulledge, Ed.D.

Past Chair of ECHO Board

Kirk Gulledge has graduate degrees from the University of North Texas and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate in gerontology from Arizona State University. During his professional career, he worked as a retirement community consultant and assisted in the development of approximately 30 major continuing care retirement communities around the country. He and his wife Jan live in Albuquerque, New Mexico where they are active in the Cathedral Church of St. John. He and Jan are deeply committed to sharing God's love through direct ministries in developing countries which improve the lives of the poor. They have made numerous mission trips to Asia, Africa and Central America where they have helped to acquaint mission field staff with ECHO resources.

"I am deeply impressed with the ECHO ministry and how God is using ECHO's training, seeds, and agricultural consulting to impact the lives of so many people around the world."

Theodore J. "Jim" Goering, Ph.D.

Jim Goering has a BS degree in Agricultural Administration from Kansas State University, an MS degree in Agricultural Economics, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics/Economic Development from Michigan State University. After receiving his Ph.D., Jim went on to become the director of a rural development project in the highlands of Guatemala for the Peace Corps. In 1965 he became a Staff Economist for the White House providing analytical support to the Council of Economic Advisors on US agricultural policy issues. Jim later went to work with the World Bank serving in its Washington, D.C., China and Ethiopia offices before returning to Bank headquaters in 1992 . At that time he became responsible for World Bank agricultural lending operations in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Cyprus and Portugal. In 1995 he took up a leadership position with World Vision in its Washington, D.C. office and served there until his retirement in 1999. Today Jim remains an active participant in hunger related causes and serves as a member of the North Newton, Kansas, City Council and on several boards including the Bethel College, Kansas, Alumni Council, the Men’s Ministry Committee at his church and the Kidron-Bethel Retirement Center in North Newton.

“I have great personal and professional satisfaction in serving on the ECHO Board because of its mission of helping the world’s disadvantaged by increasing their food production through good science."

David W. Unander, Ph.D.

Dave Unander has a background in Genetics, Ecology, and Sustainable Development. He received his Ph.D. in plant breeding from the University of Minnesota and was hired as a plant breeder by the University of Puerto Rico. Dave later worked for the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, studying tropical plants with potential antiviral effects. He is currently a professor and Chair of the Department of Biology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He heard about ECHO in 1982, shortly after Martin Price became Executive Director, and quickly became an enthusiastic supporter. Dave could see that ECHO met needs that traditional agricultural research was not meeting. He served on ECHO's Board from 1987 to 1995 and rejoined in 2006. He has also served on the boards of Floresta and Hope Seeds, two other Christian missions that combine science and faith in service to the poor. Dave is professor of record for “Tropical Agriculture and Missions,” a university course taught at ECHO every summer in collaboration with the Au Sable Institute.

"I've been involved with ECHO since I was a graduate student in Plant Breeding in the early 1980s and have watched it grow from a tiny beginning to an organization well-known for quality information, training and seeds among both agricultural scientists and Christian missionaries around the world. One of the greatest privileges of my life has been to serve on ECHO's Board, and, like most fellow Board members, when possible to volunteer on-site as well."

Rod Frank, D.V.D., Ph.D.

Rod Frank is an Associate Research Fellow with Pfizer Animal Health in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Rod has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in veterinary pathology. Rod has served on the Board of Advisors for Christian Veterinary Mission and served with that organization in Haiti for 2.5 years. He also been involved with Bible Study Fellowship for many years as a Teaching Leader and Discussion Leader. Rod has worked in private veterinary practice and has held faculty positions at Kansas State University and the University of Minnesota. Rod is an active member of Calvary Bible Church and lives with his wife, Nancy, and son Isaac in Kalamazoo. They have 3 grown children.

“I am excited about serving on the ECHO Board of Directors. ECHO has a unique ministry in reaching out to the poor and needy in the area of agriculture through its extensive network of missionaries and development workers.”

Janel Curry, Ph.D.

Janel Curry is Dean for Research and Scholarship and Professor of Geography at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She did her undergraduate work at Bethel College in Minnesota and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota. In her present position she oversees ten research centers as well as major programs related to the development and administration of faculty research. Dr. Curry has served with the Mennonite Central Committee among the Houma tribe of southern Louisiana and was a faculty member at Central College in Pella, Iowa. Her scholarly research has focused on natural resource management including international cross-cultural comparisons. Curry has served on various boards including the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, the Rural Geography Speciality Group of the Association of American Geographers, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. She lives with her two daughters in Grand Rapids where they attend Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church.

"It is a great joy to serve on ECHO's board, where two topics in which I have a great love and interest come together--agriculture and missions!"
 

Jimiro Feliciano, D.Min.

Dr. Jimiro Feliciano serves as the Senior Pastor of the Rosa De Saron Church, a large Assembly of God church in Fort Myers, Florida. He has earned a Doctorate in Theology and Pastoral Ministry from Latin University of Theology.  He is active in the community, with participation in the Red Cross and the Faith-based program “Healthy Body/Healthy Soul.” As Director of the  Youth Awareness Center, he emphasizes sports and recreation as a means of reaching youth.  He believes in the importance of physical fitness and recreation, and he has achieved a 4th Degree Black Belt in Okinawa Karate Do, Kobudo and Kindo.  He is known internationally as an inspiring speaker and often requested as a conference leader in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and in Europe.  He also has a loca/international television program boadcast by the Christian Television Network.  Jimiro serves as Presbyter in Section Three of the Southeast Hispanic District of the Assembly of God. He is married to Rev. Lucy Feliciano, who also serves as an associate pastor of the Rosa de Saron Church.  They have two sons:  Neftali and Benjamin. 

Wilbert Merzilus

Wilbert Merzilus is the founder and Executive Director of Living Hope Mission in Haiti, which provides support and assistance to local churches and church leaders, including agriculture, medical services, education and water projects. He is a native of Haiti, and he has attended Eastern University and Temple University. Wilbert has previously worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship and has assisted projects in conjunction with Mennonite Central Committee and Heifer Project. His wife Meg, is from Ohio, and they work together in ministry with Haitian people. They have two children: Katie and Christian.