Board of Directors

Headshot of board of directors member Adam Beckett outside.

Dr. Adam Beckett

Founder/Board President

After completing his undergraduate education in 1995, Adam joined the U.S. Marine Corps for four years, ultimately completing his service having attained the title of Rifle Platoon Commander. Afterward, from 1999 to 2003, he went to medical school with the goal of becoming a doctor that specializes in emergency medicine. After graduating, when not practicing emergency medicine in the United States, he enjoyed engaging in volunteer work abroad.

During one of these ventures, volunteering amidst the 2010 disaster in Haiti, Adam saw the need for a centralized network that could more strongly unite people engaged in this type of work. Equipped with military experience and skill set in medicine, he set out to create Global First Responder (GFR) while continuing to provide health education and community development.

GFR officially became a nonprofit organization in 2015. Years later, its goal remains the same: to recruit and build teams for international relief work, as well as serve as a centralized global network for agencies and individuals involved in the same. Adam enjoys the work he does and appreciates the people he has had the opportunity to work in partnership with or in service to.

Headshot of board of directors member Daniel Beckett.

Daniel Beckett

Board of Directors

Daniel Beckett is a Partner in the Columbia, Missouri law firm of Smith Lewis LLP. He has represented and served on the Boards on NGO’s and served as General Counsel to for-profit business organizations.

He graduated from University of Missouri – Columbia School of Business, Cum Laude, in 2000 with a B.A. in Marketing. Following graduation Mr. Beckett entered into the United States Marine Corps and served two tours in the war in Iraq. After his honorable discharge as a Captain in 2004 he attended the University of Missouri School of Law and received his J.D. degree in 2008.

He began his law career with Smith Lewis LLP and has engaged in the general practice since then. Daniel is married to his wife, Jenny, and they have three young children, all girls.

Headshot of board of directors member Dr. Wayne Tate outside.

Dr. Wayne Tate

Board of Directors

Wayne@GoGFR.org

Wayne graduated with his B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Psychology in 1997. That degree was followed by an opportunity to work as an Account Executive with a marketing research firm. Realizing his professional interest had grown toward business, health care, and the pharmaceutical industry, Wayne applied and was accepted into the University of Nebraska Medical Center-College of Pharmacy and the University of Nebraska at Omaha MBA program. Dually enrolled at both universities, Wayne ultimately graduated with his Doctorate in Pharmacy and MBA in International Business and Economics in May 2003.

Professionally, he has always worked multiple jobs to cater to his interest to learn how different organizations work. With each year counting as a year of experience, Wayne has collectively gained over 33 years of work experience since his 2003 graduation primarily with various health systems like Nebraska Medicine, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and CHI Health.

Wayne currently has been working over ten years at what he deems as his retirement job with Methodist Women’s Hospital as a clinical pharmacist. Additionally, Wayne has over ten years working at Charles Drew Health Center as the Senior Director of Pharmacy Services. Working for this urban health center is what Wayne considers his mission job where he knows he has an opportunity to give back to the community.

Suzie Lee-09931

Suzie Lee

Board of Directors

suzie@gogfr.org

Suzie Lee is life-long educator and long-time medical team volunteer and team leader.  Suzie joined GFR in 2021 and led the Zambia team in 2022.  She has led medical teams for the last 12 years around the globe and she loves seeing her teams excel and gel while in the field.

Suzie has been a public and charter school educator for more than 25 years, certified in both general and special education. She joined GFR because of our focus on community sustainability.  With her expertise in adult and child education, Suzie focuses her efforts at GFR on building our community health education program.

In joining the board, Suzie stated that having the opportunity to dedicate a GFR water treatment facility in Zambia was one of the most impactful days of her life.  She wants to continue to help GFR move forward in sustainability while serving as a board member.

Suzie lives in in Hawaii with her husband, dog, and cat.  In addition to a career as a full time teacher, she also runs an Air BnB that she literally built from the ground up.  Her husband, Scott, is an acupuncturist and has served on many medical trips, where his work is always in high demand.

Mike Reusler

Michael Ruesler

Board of Directors

mkruesler@gmail.com

Hello! My name is Mike Ruesler, I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO and moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri – Columbia in 2011. Upon graduating in 2016 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering I decided to call Columbia my home. I have been working for a small company, Centurion Stone, here in Columbia for over 10 years now where I manage the outside sales and material installation portions of our business. Over the past 13 years I have also had the privilege of serving on the boards of multiple different not-for-profits.

I just recently completed my 3rd GFR trip, this time to the Peruvian Amazon, and I look forward to embarking on many more journeys with GFR. To try and summarize these trips is sometimes almost impossible, however what has struck me on each one is the immense care that every person in need receives. There is no “lather, rinse, repeat” methodology when it comes to GFR’s approach in helping people, it’s truly about identifying their needs and working to find the best possible solution to their problems. Whether that is through medicine, health education, or infrastructure projects.

Having the opportunity to serve on GFR’s board and help to support and grow the mission is an honor for me.

Headshot of board of directors member Donna Beckett.

Donna Beckett

Board of Directors

Donna@GoGFR.org

Donna Beckett is Dr. Adam Beckett’s mother. She is a 1969 graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in Education. She raised 4 sons, all of whom served in the Marine Corps.

She has worked in the airline, travel and clothing sales businesses and in 1992 she founded a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization, Assistance League of Mid-Missouri (ALMM). ALMM has grown into a successful philanthropic NGO with 315 members. ALMM is operated entirely by volunteers and has provided millions of dollars in assistance to schools, women and children in central Missouri.

Lehman, Angie_board phot

Angie Lehman, RDH, COM

Board of Directors

angielehman@hotmail.com

Angie Lehman is an IAOM Certified Orofacial Myologist (COM) who has been exclusively practicing Orofacial Myology since 2012 in York, Pennsylvania. She runs one of America’s most successful and well-known private practices, Oral Myofunctional Therapy of York. Angie is a highly sought-after educator for medical, dental and allied health professionals and she is passionate to encourage all health disciplines to work collaboratively and to better understand oral function and craniofacial development and to incorporate therapy into their specific areas of care.

Angie has participated in numerous international and domestic volunteer missions to share her knowledge of orofacial myology and dental hygiene with medical and dental professionals and with patients.  She specializes in working with young children who are often frightened and with teenagers who may be equally scared.

Angie participated on a GFR trip to Senegal in 2022.  She worked very closely with the dental team in Senegal and has continued to work with our local host in Zambia to help severely disabled children receive needed dental care in a surgical environment.  By using an OR suite and anesthesia, these children can receive care they would otherwise be too distraught to receive.  Angie also continues to teach on orofacial myology and multi-disciplinary care in Zambia.

Angie is a networker at heart.  She seeks to bring passion to the Global First Responder board and to bring awareness of the work that GFR does to her network of professionals and beyond.

 

Headshot of executive team member Amy Jordheim outside.

Amy Jordheim, MPH

Board of Directors

amy@gogfr.org

Amy Jordheim has a Master’s in Public Health from Benedictine University and has worked all over the world in public health for 2 decades. She has authored numerous continuing education courses designed to help medical personnel improve and provide more culturally balanced education for their patients. These courses include both infectious and chronic diseases and diseases that are well known around the world but rare in the United States.

Amy most recently developed a course designed to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID. This course has been published in more than 10 languages. She has led more than 75 medical and dental teams into the field during disasters, for post-disaster recovery, and to improve the health and health education in many communities around the world.

In her spare time, Amy is a dedicated volunteer with Global First Responder and Team Rubicon, a Nationally Registered Advanced EMT working on an ambulance and in a busy Emergency Department in rural Colorado, a photographer, a weaver, and most importantly, with her husband of 44 years, a parent and grandparent to a bunch of above-average children (in their own minds) and a wonderful cat named Fiona.