Andrea has loved working in and for Kiribati since 2011. Her background in microlending first began in Trujillo, Peru where she evaluated candidates for small business loans. After serving an LDS mission to Kiribati she knew Kiribati women needed access to financial services too. Andrea has led the Kindling Kiribati team since its inception and is proud of the accomplishments the team has achieved. She double majored in Finance and Economics and also double minored in International Business and Political Science. She worked for Goldman Sachs for two years and Wells Fargo for over 7 where she managed over $1 billion in equity assets.

JD Borg, CFA is a Private Wealth Portfolio Manager at Wells Fargo in Salt Lake City, UT. He has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 2022. He graduated from Utah State University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. While at USU, he was involved with the honor’s, study abroad, and micro-finance programs through the business school. JD’s interest in micro-finance began at Utah State when he ventured to Trujillo, Peru to see the USU’s program in action. Because of that experience, he became a micro-finance intern that same year and ran the program in Abomosu, Ghana for a semester. He is excited to continue in this new adventure to help the I-Kiribati entrepreneurs.

Melody Jensen was born and raised in Cache Valley and is a proud USU Huntsman School of Business graduate. Her experience in Ghana as a micro-finance intern set her on a global impact journey; she has worked with entrepreneurs, funds, and organizations around the world, from advising NGOs and social enterprises as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Georgia to developing impact measurement and management strategies for Irish organizations.
She completed a master's degrees at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey: MBA of Global Impact Management with a specialization in Social Enterprise and Finance and an MA of International Policy and Development. As a directed study course during her program, she developed the Kindling Kiribati curriculum and traveled to Tarawa to help get the program established in-country.
She currently manages the T100 Project at Toniic, an impact investor network based in San Francisco

Lauren is an Investment Professional with over 15 years of financial industry experience. She has a passion for financial education and helping those of all income levels work towards their financial goals. Lauren attended the University of Tulsa and received her Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance from the Collins College of Business in 2008. While Lauren is new to the Kindling Kiribati team, she's eager to contribute and learn more about the micro-financing needs in the area.

David Herrmann has taught at The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University for the past twenty years. He teaches management, strategy, and entrepreneurial finance. During his time at USU he started and developed The SEED Program, a micro-lending program initially in Peru and Ghana. The SEED program sends college students on three-month internships to developing communities to help aspiring entrepreneurs start and run their own companies. He has led seventeen study abroad trips to twelve countries. David is a harvested and current business owner. He started multiple companies over the last thirty years. He is a consultant and has also taught at Universities in Chile and China. Mr. Herrmann has co-authored a textbook and multiple case studies. He has his MBA from the Marriot School of Management at BYU. He enjoys building homes on the side. David has been married to his wife Melanie for thirty-nine years. Together they have five children and sixteen grandchildren.

Part I-Kiribati, Tuvaluan and Australian, Ruth grew up on South Tarawa and migrated to Australia at 17. She recently pulled the roots up after 23 years and relocated back to Kiribati in April 2019.
Ruth has been a board member of the Victorian Kiribati Association (VKA) for 8 years as Treasurer, Secretary and President before leaving Australia. As a proud and passionate ambassador, Ruth has worked tirelessly on aid projects over the years to address many grass root issues faced by communities in Kiribati.
After 15 years in financial services operations Ruth made a transition to aid work through sponsorship and events management before setting up a social media marketing agency in 2017. Now heavily focused on facilitating aid programs in Kiribati, Ruth studies project management while leading the newly re-established Rotary Club of Tarawa and continues to influence VKA’s local efforts as Director of Kiribati Aid.

Brent M Thorne received a BS from Utah State, M.Ed from BYU and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He served a mission for his Church in New England and later with his wife in Tarawa, Kiribati. He served 6 years in the Army Reserves. Brent worked in public education for 42 years. In 1996 he was named Utah’s Superintendent of the Year and has received many awards and recognition during his professional career. Currently, he is a member of Snow Colleges Foundation Board and Chair of their Scholarship Committee. An active Rotarian, Brent has served as club president twice and as an assistant governor. He loves the Kiribati people and has a strong desire to improve their lives.

Patrick first became interested in microfinance while interning in Ghana. He later started as a virtual intern for Kindling Kiribati and never got around to leaving. He assists the team in a variety of support roles, from grant writing to content development. In summer 2024, he is excited to finally visit Kiribati and meet everyone now that COVID-19 has dissipated. He will be helping to implement the new database as well as help a Green Growth Grant Initiative recipient start a black soldier fly farm. In his day job he works as a medical entomologist for the National Institutes of Health.