Wheelchair Foundation Staff Profiles

California Headquarters

David Behring has served as the President of the Wheelchair Foundation since 2003. Prior to that, he was the president of the Blackhawk Automotive Museum, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate that is one of the most spectacular classic automobile collections in the world. David spent five years (1993-1997) as president of the Seattle Seahawks and was a member of the NFL Finance Committee. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Miami Law School, he spent most of his business career in home-building and development in California. David, a Rotarian, has been very active in both professional and community service organizations for almost 30 years and has served on numerous boards during this period. He is a member of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Board and is assisting his father on various projects of that institution.

Jeff Behring , Director of Special Events, helps to "sow the seeds" of the Foundation and its work around the world. He is also a property manager and a general contractor, building custom homes as well as semi-custom homes and commercial and warehouse buildings. He also does tenant improvement work. Jeff is a Rotarian and a Paul Harris Fellow with the Danville, California, Rotary Club. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in 1980, concentrating in real estate and finance. He is married and has four children.

Thomas Behring handles Africa, the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia for the Foundation's operations department. He grew up in Florida, and attended college in California. He has lived in Blackhawk for 20 years and has worked at the Foundation for two years. Previously, he worked in construction and homebuilding until the age of 30, at the Blackhawk Classic Car Collection for four years, then at the Blackhawk Automotive Museum for 15 years.

Eva Brook, Regional Director of Operations for Latin America joined the Wheelchair Foundation in October 2003. Eva manages all wheelchair deliveries to Latin America and the Caribbean, the Foundation s second-busiest region. Her primary focus is the efficient delivery and distribution of wheelchairs through capacity building, facilitating between donors and in-country partner organizations, relationship building and problem solving. Eva holds a Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she specialized in negotiation and conflict resolution and humanitarian aid. Eva speaks English, Spanish, German and French. Before joining the Wheelchair Foundation, Eva worked on CARE's human rights framework for development and mediated disputes for the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy.

Charli Butterfield, Assistant Director of Distribution, Africa, is responsible for selecting NGOs to receive and distribute wheelchairs to those in need of mobility in Africa and other countries that Ken Behring visits with his aircraft. She also has been Ken Behring's international events coordinator for 12 years, including four years at the Foundation. She has participated in all of Ken's humanitarian efforts aboard his aircraft, including shipping educational materials and clothing to Africa, shipping wheelchairs around the world, set-ling up important meetings with heads of state and coordinating wheelchair distributions in the "bush country" of Africa.

Dave Coyle, Director of Marketing and Development, is responsible for donor relations and promoting the work of the Foundation in addressing the global need for wheelchairs. Previously, Dave was Western States Director for Global Impact, an alliance of 50 premier U.S.-based humanitarian aid organizations, such as CARE, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, Save The Children, World Vision and Heifer International. He worked with corporations and government entities (federal, state, municipal) to raise funds for member charities. Dave was also Community Relations Manager for the American Cancer Society and Marketing and Development Manager for the United Way of the Bay Area. Prior to that, he was a marketing manager at the headquarters of both the Clorox Company and Lipton, the consumer products companies. Born in Mexico City, Dave has also lived in France, New Jersey and Arizona before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989.

Amanda Ferguson has worked for the Foundation Since 2000. Her responsibilities include Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Donor Recognition and other administrative tasks.

Tara Vineyard joined the Public Education Department as an assistant in February 2003. Tara helps with donor inquiries, processing donations, and shipping and handling materials to potential donors, staff and all Foundation offices. Tara's attention to detail is applied to creating personalized donor marketing material kits, executing the elements needed for conferences and events and participating in presenting the Foundation to the public.

Joel Hodge has been with the Wheelchair Foundation since 2000, working in operations, transportation, development and more. He has served as photographer, in-field video producer, scriptwriter, program director and director of operations, recently director of operations for the Eastern Hemisphere. Joel has traveled extensively throughout the world (more than 50 countries in the past four years) to some of the most depressed and poverty-stricken corners of the planet to distribute wheelchairs and to represent the Foundation. Joel has had the honor of meeting world leaders and many of the forgotten disabled who exist in every country. A graduate of Southwest Missouri State University , Joel has an extensive banking background and has worked for the Federal Reserve Bank and in private banking, as well as serving as a research and development scientist in the biotech industry. He and his wife, Molly, live in North Oakland and are expecting their first child.

Jeff Juri has been the accounting manager with Foundation for two years. His responsibilities include donor contributions and acknowledgments, preparing monthly financial statements and handling donor customer service. A graduate of San Diego State University, he has more than 20 years of experience in accounting. He is married with one son.

Chris Lewis is Director of Public Education/Development for the Foundation and a member of its Board of Directors. When Ken Behring owned the Seattle Seahawks, the team's foundation was the largest donor to the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Washington State. Chris's dad, Jerry Lewis, has been the national chairman of MDA since 1952 and Chris has worked on the MDA Telethon since 1972. Chris and Ken met as a result of an MDA art exhibit at the Blackhawk Museum in 1994. Chris joined the Foundation prior to its launch in 2000 and produces all print, video and electronic media to promote its mission. Chris developed the working relationship with Rotary Clubs worldwide in 2000 and is responsible for the creation of Wheelchair Foundation Canada, Australia and United Kingdom with Rotarian volunteers in each country. Chris is a member of the Rotary Club of San Ramon, California and is a Knight of Columbus.

Laura Maria Morales joined the Wheelchair Foundation as a transportation and logistics coordinator in June 2004. Laura supports the operations team, especially with Latin American countries, as she is originally from Colombia and is fluent in Spanish. Laura handles documentation for shipments, advises in-country partners on wheelchair import and clearing processes and resolves customs issues to expedite wheelchair deliveries. Laura is certified in translation from the National University of Colombia and from the National Hispanic University in San Jose, California. Before joining the Foundation, Laura worked as Assistant to the International Trade Director for the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Bogotá, Colombia.

Gerry Riley is a transportation and logistics coordinator for the Foundation. After a career in computer hardware and software support, he joined the Foundation in 2003 to help get the wheelchairs manufactured and delivered. He says he experienced a "pretty steep learning curve" in the world of ocean freight. His earlier skill set did come in handy, though—he was able to pull together disparate functions and data, and to automate much of the shipping process. He enjoys working at an organization for which the object isn't to make "tons of money," but rather to give something to those in need.

Annette Vineyard is an executive assistant to Ken Behring and is Regional Operations Director for the Middle East. After working for the Behrings as a household manager and assistant, she joined the Foundation when it launched in 2000. Her experience as a distribution, warehouse and quality control manager for an industrial company helped prepare her for her work at the Foundation, where those functions are important to operations and deliveries. She has been on dozens of wheelchair distributions, calling them a "wonderful thing, an instant life-changing experience" for both the recipient and the team member. She has been joined on distributions by her daughter, Tara, who works part-time on Foundation donor relations.

Lee Winter , Assistant to the President, has been employed with Behring entities since 1984 as contracts administrator during land development, property manager of Blackhawk Plaza and the Blackhawk Commercial Owner's Association upon completion of the commercial center and administrator of Blackhawk Automotive Museum. When David Behring assumed the role of President of the Wheelchair Foundation, he asked Lee to serve as his assistant to work on special projects, research, fundraising and community events, donor relations, organizational and communications issues and community outreach. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Lee has a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and she holds a lifetime California teaching credential. Lee is active in the community and currently serves on the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce Board Executive Committee as Vice Chair of Promotions.

China Office

Katherine Yan joined the China office as a project manager in 2003. Her major responsibilities include processing purchase orders, setting up distribution ceremonies, overseeing quality control and maintaining the Foundation's relationship with the government. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature from Dalian University. She worked for three years for a major shipping company in logistics, customer service and sales. After that, she spent a year in England and earned a Master's Degree in international marketing management from the University of Leeds. She says she enjoys her job because it enables her to help others, especially the neediest.

Ling Yan joined the China office as Public Relations Manager in 2004. Her work focuses on development and implementation of public relations campaigns and fundraising activities. She is also responsible for media relations, sponsor relations and volunteer programs. Born in Shanghai, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Shanghai International Studies University. She has experience as a part-time radio program presenter and project manager of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival. Before joining the Foundation, she worked for Shell and Fleishman-Hillard International. She says she enjoys her job because it gives her purpose in life.

Florida Office

Jack Drury met Ken Behring in August 1960 when he moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ken was a builder, and the Drury family needed a home. The purchase of the home led to Ken Behring hiring Jack s advertising firm to handle marketing for Behring Properties. When Ken moved to California, Jack stayed in Florida. In July 2000, Jack, who was retired, called to congratulate Ken on creating the Wheelchair Foundation. Ken wanted to take advantage of Jack's talents, and a month later, he opened the Southeast Office of the Wheelchair Foundation in Ft. Lauderdale. He oversees Wheelchair Foundation activities in the southeastern United States, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Nevada Office

Don Williams, President of the Nevada chapter, oversees wheelchair distributions in Nevada as a friend and volunteer of the Foundation. The Nevada chapter has distributed more than 2,000 wheelchairs in the state. Through his friendship with the late Nevada businessman Ralph Englestad, who was a native of North Dakota, the chapter also has distributed 2,100 wheelchairs in that state. Don's full-time work is buying and selling classic cars; he is the world's leading expert on prewar classics. But he fell in love with what Ken Behring is doing around the world and has tried to help the Foundation in any way he can, including raising more than $1 million for it.

Canada Office

Christiana Flessner has been Executive Director of the Wheelchair Foundation Canada since January 2003. She has taken part in wheelchair distributions in Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Washington and California and draws from those experiences during speaking presentations, many of them to Rotarians across Canada. Christiana grew up in a tiny village in northern Germany. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of British Columbia/Vancouver in 1979. Over the years, in addition to helping run the family business in land development and property management and raising four children, Christiana has always been very involved in the local community. She became a Rotarian in 2001 and heard about the work of the Wheelchair Foundation at her first District Assembly. Coming from a rural community, she has always treasured personal relationships and the practical approach to solving problems and found a way to combine the two by being involved in both organizations.