Board & Advisors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Hayden Hamilton, MBA

Hayden is CEO of Zafirro and founder of ProgressiveRx, Progressive Health Worldwide, Bright Light Ventures and GreenPrint Technologies. Prior to starting his own businesses, Hayden helped design and lead an innovation department for Ford of Europe and was a scenario planning and strategy consultant at Global Business Network. Hayden holds a BA in Politics and Economics from Pitzer College. He received a Freeman Foundation Fellowship for post-graduate research and Rotary Scholarship to the MBA program at Oxford University. Hayden was named one of Inc. Magazines “Top 30 Under 30” and ComputerWorld’s “Top 40 Under 40”.

Jann Lane, JD

Jann is a contract attorney in the areas of business, tax, estate planning, elder, real property and water law. She received her Juris Doctorate from Lewis & Clark Law School, an A.B. Anthropology from UC Berkeley and completed graduate work in Early Childhood & Special Education at Sonoma State University. Jann founded and served as the executive director of Lake Oswego Asset Builders Coalition to promote positive youth development. In addition, she has worked as the policy analyst and board administrator for the Oregon School for the Deaf and the Oregon School for the Blind/ Oregon Department of Education and served as a commissioner for Oregon State Commission on Children and Families.

David Pyle, Ph.D.

David has been working in public health for almost 40 years. He specializes in community- based child health, family planning, and nutrition programming, especially in the design and evaluation of cost‑effective and sustainable programs/projects.  He worked for John Snow, Inc. for over 25 years.  His goal has always been to build local capacities to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.  While at JSI, he managed a large USAID-funded global micro-nutrient project and was co-founder of JSI’s Center for Health Information, Monitoring and Evaluation (CHIME).  With a Ph.D. from MIT, Dr. Pyle also consulted for such groups as USAID, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, CARE, Save the Children, Concern Worldwide, Project Hope, and the Aga Khan Foundation.  He has worked in more than 50 countries, with long-term residence in India and Turkey.

BOARD OF ADVISORS:

Karol Brown, JD

Karol is an international human rights attorney, currently doing immigration law for Microsoft. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, International Trade and Development, from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School. She founded the Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Washington and Seattle University law schools, which enables law students to take on human rights projects for organizations throughout the world. Karol served as a consultant for the Philippine government in analyzing court congestion and drafting legislation for the creation of Small Claims Courts in that country. Karol recently served as a pro bono attorney in a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prevent the deportation of over 3,000 individuals to Somalia.

Gun Denhart

Child advocate Gun Denhart co-founded the Hanna Andersson children’s clothing company in 1983. Through her leadership, the company has become known for its high quality clothing made from soft cotton materials. Having raised a family while creating a multi-million dollar business, Denhart understands the challenges of balancing work and family. Working Woman magazine has recognized Gun’s efforts to promote child development within Hanna Andersson in its annual list of “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” for company policies such as flex time and childcare reimbursement. After giving away used Hanna clothing to homeless shelters, Denhart was determined to make a difference in the lives of children living in poverty. She began by giving 5% of the company pre-tax profits to children’s groups. In 2001, Denhart founded Hanna Andersson Children’s Foundation, which promotes a brighter future in the lives of vulnerable children. Funds from this foundation are allocated by a vote of employees to support programs in the communities where Hanna and its vendors have a presence. To promote these, Denhart chairs Stand for Children and serves on the boards of the Oregon Business Association (Chair emeritus), Ecotrust, the Children’s Institute, the Russell Family Foundation, and The Threshold Group. Gun has donated space for Isobel’s Clubhouse in Portland Oregon, a community center that provides a free place for children’s creative projects and events.

Kevin Faul, MBA

Kevin is the Vice President of Business Development of 3D visualization technology firm RealD’s PRO division in Beverly Hills, CA. Kevin is responsible for all aspects of financial planning and strategic development including new products and partnerships. Kevin has a background in finance and product development, having graduated with a dual MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Oregon. He earned the Lundquist Entrepreneurial Scholarship and was the Graduate Teaching Fellow of UO’s Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship. His work with technology and consumer product development has taken him around the US, SE Asia and though he lives and works in Los Angeles, still considers Portland, Oregon home. Kevin’s proficiency in financial and strategic development, his know-how in marketing and his passion for making a difference in the world comes together supporting Hands to Hearts International in creating a solid and sustainable model and a tactical plan for management and growth.

Jerry Jones

Jerry, a corporate CEO and business owner for over 35 years, is a semi-retired real estate investor. He now divides his time between business, service and personal activities. He is President of the So-Hum Foundation, a charitable organization which supports over 20 charities in South Asia, as well as numerous other international and domestic charitable works. Jerry is the co-author of From Here to Nirvana: The Yoga Journal Guide to Spiritual India and regularly teaches meditation classes and retreats in Oregon. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Seva Foundation, the Portland House of Umoja and the Oregon Young Presidents Organization and currently serves on numerous advisory boards. Jerry makes annual trips to India and other parts of Asia to visit charitable work and makes regular trips to France to visit family and friends.

Todd Lofgren, MPA

Todd comes to Hands to Hearts International with extensive professional expertise in managing, negotiating, and implementing multi-million dollar economic development and social sector programs around the globe – from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe to Latin America. He recently moved to Portland from Washington D.C. where he worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) creating public-private alliances to better our world. He is currently designing international and domestic community engagement and corporate social responsibility initiatives as an independent consultant for a number of companies, foundations and non-profit organizations. Todd was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa and earned an MPA from The University of Arizona.

Amanda Rodriguez

Amanda is an international development consultant applying her field expertise to addressing operations, donor regulations, and compliance issues for major international NGOs. She brings to HHI an extensive knowledge of the procurement policies, controls and reporting requirements of international donors and investors such as UNHCR, UNICEF, USAID, IDB, Gates Foundation and OPIC. Her career in the humanitarian and international development sectors began with two years of service as a Peace Corps business volunteer in Ukraine, followed by ten years overseas managing field operations and implementing program strategies for complex multi-donor and multi-million dollar NGO projects. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Amanda was Chief Financial Officer for a private international development firm in Washington, D.C. She has work experience in seventeen countries, is bilingual English/Spanish, proficient in French and Portuguese, and conversant in Russian.

David Sawyer

David is a leadership educator and management consultant with 20 years of experience in the public, private, and social sectors. David designed the Appalachian Teen Leadership for Save the Children, and for a decade, directed leadership and service-learning programs at Berea College, which in 1992 received the White House Points of Light award. Sawyer traveled to India in 1990 and met with the Dalai Lama and Tibetan officials to help design a Tibetan refugee education program. He facilitated The New Generation Training Program and other national leadership programs, helped launch the nation’s Americorps program, and in April of 1997, led a delegation to the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future. David was honored with The Servant Leader Award by the National Youth Leadership Council in 1998. He helped develop the Denali Initiative, a national fellowship program for social entrepreneurs, and served as executive-in-residence for the Kauffman Foundation, promoting citizen engagement and innovation. Recently he served as the Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Portland and is President of the consulting firm Context.

Michael L. Smolens

Michael is the Founder and CEO of dotSUB, a cutting edge tool that allows films to be subtitled and shared in over 200 languages. Since 1970 Michael has been a very successful, serial entrepreneur. He has started and led business ventures around the world – in Haiti, Mexico, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Jordan, Russia and Azerbaijan. He has a profound practical understanding and appreciation for different cultures, and he is dedicated to making the world a better place for all. This has led him to use his unique and eclectic cross-cultural experiences, integrated with digital technology, to facilitate the distribution of knowledge and culture contained in video and film using new technologies. Michael created dotSUB in 2004 to enable any film or video to be subtitled into any language using a community of volunteer or professional translators and a browser based tool that works in real time with no downloads at no cost. With dotSUB Michael has created a revolutionary way to open all communication and media in video form to be able to be seen in any language.