Meet Our Team

Executive Team

Headshot of board of directors member Adam Beckett outside.

Adam Beckett

Founder & CEO

Dr. Adam Beckett is a Board Certified physician in Emergency Medicine and has been in active practice at the University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia since completing his residency at Resurrection Hospital in Chicago in 2006. He is a 1995 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a BS degree in biology.

Following his undergraduate studies he spent 4 years in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry platoon commander in the First Marine Division. He was honorably discharged in 1999 and then attended medical school at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

Today he continues to work at the University of Missouri Hospital and at Truman Veterans Administration Hospital also located in Columbia. In 2011 Dr. Beckett organized Global First Responder LLC and personally funded all of its operations until 2014 when he founded Global First Responder Foundation (GFR) as a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt and all volunteer non-profit organization. GFR focuses its operations on providing medical and community infrastructure development missions across the globe.

Carolyn Alexander

Maternal and Infant Health & Wellness Programs

Carolyn@GoGFR.org
Headshot of board of directors member Donna Beckett.

Donna Beckett

Fundraising & Development

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.

Headshot of board of directors member Kelly Crowell inside.

Kelly Crowell

Operations Officer

Kelly@GoGFR.org

Kelly Crowell graduated from Creighton University with a BA in Cultural and Medical Anthropology with an emphasis in Native American Culture.  She is currently pursuing her MBA in International Business and Marketing at Northwest Missouri State University.

Kelly began her medical career in Pharmacy over 20 years ago and has worked as a Technician in Long Term Care, Retail, and Inpatient Hospital Pharmacies at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. While she was with UNMC she also gained her National Registry Emergency Medical Technician (NREMT) license and was a part of the City Wide Disaster Team, Decontamination and Haz Mat Response Team, and the Radiological Terrorism Response Team.  Kelly also has experience working as a Heart Arrhythmia Specialist at the Creighton University Medical Center.

Kelly began serving overseas during the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and has been doing so ever since. She has over 12 years of working in leadership roles in various nonprofit organizations. Currently she is the Pharmacy Program Manager at the Charles Drew Health Center, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC), in Omaha, Nebraska whose mission is to serve uninsured individuals and address health disparities within the community.

Headshot of executive team member Amy Jordheim outside.

Amy Jordheim

International Logistics & Field Operations

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 43 years, a parent and grandparent to a bunch of above-average children (in their own minds) and a wonderful cat named Fiona.

Headshot of executive team member Suzie Lee outside.

Suzie Lee

Volunteer & Community Health Education Programming

Suzie@GoGFR.org

Aloha! I’m Suzie Lee, I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. I’m super excited to be a part of GFR. I’ve been a teacher for more than 25 years, certified in both general and special education.

My passion for helping others led me to volunteer, and I’ve been leading medical clinic trips all over the globe for close to ten years. It is truly one of my callings in life. Community sustainability is very important to me and GFR is committed in this direction. I look forward to seeing and working with you in the field!

Headshot of executive team member Chris Troendle outside.

Chris Troendle

International Development and Programs

Chris@GoGFR.org

Chris Troendle was born in the far northeast corner of Iowa. He graduated from Saint Mary’s University with degrees in Environmental Biology, Studio Art and Graphic Design. After graduation he went to work as an archeological consultant for the next ten years. Still being a young man, he decided that he wanted to give back to society and joined the Peace Corps, serving in The Gambia, West Africa.

While working in Africa he met his wonderful wife and returned to the U.S. to seek his master’s degree. He received his degree in International Development at Clark University with a Summa Cum Laude honors. He continued on to a PhD. that was a specialized combination of environmental conservation, sustainable agriculture, and food security. Shortly after graduating he worked as a consultant for numerous international agencies such as UNICEF, CRS, USAID, etc.… After fifteen years of world travel, he and his wife wanted to settle down and start a family and soon became the Director of Conservation and Land Management at Whiterock Conservancy in Coon Rapids, Iowa. After serving for five years for Whiterock, he was recruited to take on the role of Chief Executive for the Mid America Council for the Boy Scouts of America. There he had oversight of three states for overall programming, budgeting, and staffing.

Having six boys growing up so far from his home, the loss of his brother and aging parents, he soon came to realize it was time to go home. Within months of reaching his decision to make the next step, to his amazement he was approached to take on a new role as Vice President for Lansing Housing Products. He immediately found a new mission with a purpose. He could be part of a dynamic business that saves the lives of children by manufacturing high quality window screens. This new adventure has brought him home with a purpose and has given him an opportunity to work with an amazing group of people that are changing lives.