Our Team
Jon is President and CEO of Gbarnga Mission. He is formerly co-founder of Product Insight, Inc. a Boston area product development firm and recently retired from Details Carpentry, residential remodeling company he founded in 2002. He has planned and participated in numerous short-term mission trips both domestically and internationally including building projects in Central Appalachia, the Gulf Coast, Mexico, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Since his first trip to West Africa in 2014 he has spent over a year living in Liberia overseeing all aspects of the mission. He and his wife, Kathy, enjoy hiking, traveling, and ethnic foods. They have three grown children, three grandchildren, and a 16-year old Bichon poodle named BJ. Follow his blog about Liberia: www.gbarngablog.org
Jon Rossman, President/CEO
Kelly serves as Secretary of Gbarnga Mission. She studied English/Writing and worked as a technical writer for a medical software company as a young professional. She returned to school later to become a Registered Nurse and particularly enjoyed patient advocacy and patient education. Her volunteer projects include work on the Gbarnga Mission publicity team, Amigos for Christ in Nicaragua, Community Supper (Acton, MA), and Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala. She has also worked on a variety of local volunteer projects in the school system while raising her family.
Kelly Larson, Secretary
Deniele is an Accounts Payable Associate and serves as Treasurer of Gbarnga Mission. She supports Gbarnga Mission through bookkeeping, expense management, and financial modelling. Her attention to detail is invaluable.
Deniele Pozz, Treasurer
Born in Liberia, Debbie is honored to be the granddaughter of two Paramount Chiefs. They gained the respect of their community because of their dedication to service. Debbie moved to the United States as a child, returning to visit her homeland in 2014, witnessing firsthand the devastation caused by the civil war. This experience motivated her to earn a Bachelors in Organizational Leadership and Change and found a nonprofit, Kpelleh Water, to make an impact in Liberia’s WASH sector (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). Debbie has followed in her grandfather’s servant footsteps by founding organizations with her husband to provide housing and jobs for low-income families, as well as sober living facilities for men and women suffering from drug and alcohol addictions. Her expertise, experience, and insights into Liberian culture make her a valuable asset to our team.
Debbie Crenca, WASH/Culture
Doug is a civil engineer with a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT who has worked on the cleanup of hazardous waste sites throughout the United States since 1985. Doug is a Senior Principal at Geosyntec Consultants in Acton, MA and is responsible for managing Geosyntec's Northeast Region, which has a combined staff of over 300 engineers and scientists in approximately 20 offices. He has taught at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and is currently an instructor for the Princeton Groundwater Remediation and Hydrology Courses. Doug has been involved in a number of volunteer projects that incorporate his civil engineering and construction management skills. These have included water supply and school construction projects in Nicaragua and Liberia, and home construction projects with Habitat for Humanity and Appalachia Service Project.
Doug Larson, Endowment
Laura holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering and has worked designing and building medical devices for various companies in the Boston area. She has been an active member of Mount Calvary (Acton, MA) her whole life; though coincidentally her great-grandfather previously served as the pastor at St. Paul’s (Providence, RI) well before Gbargna Mission was born. Since high school Laura has been involved in volunteer projects in various parts of the US, Mexico, Haiti, Nicaragua, and now Liberia. Laura serves as the Coordinator of Gbarnga Mission’s child sponsorship program.
Laura Souliotis, Sponsorships
Sharon holds a BA and MA in Education. During her 34-year career, she taught grades K, 1,2,3 and 4 primarily in Baldwin, NY. During summer breaks, Sharon had the opportunity to travel to and volunteer in Central American countries including Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala. She is an active member of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Garden City, NY where she served two terms on church council. Now retired, Sharon is a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for children under the supervision of the Department of Social Services. Sharon has been traveling to GLTC since 2021during which time she has worked with the teachers to implement early childhood learning centers, a leveled library and critical thinking strategies.
Sharon Meyer, Education
Michelle serves our mission as Grant Writer. As a child, she attended St. Paul's in Providence, RI where Gbarnga Mission had its origins. She first heard a presentation about a future school in Liberia at her church in Fitchburg, MA back in 2014. As then president of her Rotary Club, she connected the needs of the mission with Rotary's Areas of Focus. She was instrumental in writing grants several major grants that provided clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, an adult course for block making, solar power for evening adult literacy courses, school furnishings, and support for a poultry program that would provide nourishment to the people of Gbarnga and income to support the school. A retired family nurse practitioner, Michelle and her husband, Tony, live in New Hampshire.
Michelle Gasbarro, Grants
Roxanne Geidel Oellrich, Health
Roxanne holds a BS in Nursing and a MS in Perinatal Nursing. Her 40-year career included staff, head nurse, and clinical specialist roles in the Neonatal ICU and as a substitute school nurse. She is an active member of both Resurrection (Garden City, NY) and its church-plant The LIFE (Old Westbury, NY). She recently served with LIFE for Ukraine in Constanta, Romania assisting Ukrainian mothers and children fleeing their homeland.
Roxanne is also a Director and the Board Secretary of Chances4children, an organization caring for thousands of children and families in Haiti, where she has served with medical teams since 2013. Her husband, Harrison, is a Lutheran deacon, a founding board member of BEB Global created to address the worldwide orphan crisis, and serves as Board Chair of Lutheran Social Services of NY. They have three adoptive children from Hungary.
Pastor Bill Meyer retired from parish ministry in 2002 after having served congregations in Columbia, SC, Patchogue, NY and Garden City, NY. He then served as Director of Church Relations at Concordia College-New York until June 2006 when he was elected as a Regent to the College. In 2007, he began serving as Assistant to the New England District President for Revitalization and Missions and Chaired the NED Mission Board until 2015. Following his retirement, he and his wife, Marie, moved to Bethel, CT. They have four children, a foster son, eight grandchildren, two great-granddaughters and a great-grandson.
Rev. William J. Meyer, Pastoral Advisor
Nathaniel Sumo is a gifted educator, principal, and administrator for the Gbarnga Lutheran Training Center (GLTC). In addition to holding a Bachelor Degree in General Theology and Religious Education, he holds a diploma in bookkeeping and accounting. Principal Sumo's passion is teaching -- especially teaching children about God's love for them in Jesus Christ. Gbarnga Mission is blessed to have such a servant leading our school, staff, and vision in Liberia.
Nathaniel F. Sumo, Principal/Administrator