iLEAP Board of Directors
J.B. Hoover | Betsy Hale | Francis Janes | Deborah Streeter | Jim Gore
J.B. Hoover
President
email JB
J.B. was born and raised in Kentucky at a time when kids actually played outside, walked to school and ate home cooked food with their families every night. Raised in the Episcopal church, he graduated from a Catholic all boys high school and attended Earlham College, a Quaker institution. He has lived and worked overseas for the majority of his adult life. Most of this has been in three stints. First, he spent a year in Japan, volunteering at a non-profit organization in Yamanashi prefecture called KEEP and studying Japanese. Second, he spent four years in the Philippines in the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, primarily working with Indo-Chinese youth to prepare them for entry into secondary schools in the United States. During those years he also worked with KEEP to establish an integrated rural development project in the northern Philippines province of Kalinga. The third, and most recent stint, covered the last 12 years through work at the Asian Rural Institute in Tochigi prefecture, Japan. In between these periods of working overseas, he studied in the U.S. and acquired a Masters of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from the University of Louisville, and a Master of Science (M.S.) in International Agricultural Development from the University of California at Davis. He is married to Adeline and has two sons, Ashley and John, and daughter, Barbara Rose. All of them now live in Seattle. Since 2007 JB has served as the Executive Director of the American Friends of the Asian Rural Institute.
Betsy Hale
Vice President
email Betsy
The two values that Betsy feels most passionate about are stewardship for the environment and cultural competence defined as the curiosity and the ability to understand cultural differences and to move adeptly in cross-cultural situations. She is deeply concerned that we as North Americans be better global citizens. She is excited by iLEAP’s mission and is eager to make a contribution as a board member to building its programs. Betsy has lived and traveled extensively in Latin America and Europe and has a love of languages. Over the past three years Betsy and her husband Tony have had the privilege of being a homestay for several iLEAP fellows.
Betsy has enjoyed a 25 year career in the Seattle Community College district in the workforce development field. Two years ago she left the community college and currently works for Casey Family Programs, a foundation that is concerned with reducing the number of children in foster care and in improving the employment, mental health, and education outcomes for youth who remain in care. She is an active member of Plymouth Congregational Church and the longtime Chair of the Crossing Borders Ministry Team. She has led several delegations to Nicaragua where Plymouth has a twenty-five year relationship with the primary Moravian Congregation in Managua that serves a multi-ethnic population of Miskitu, Creoles, and Hispanics. Betsy has a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Bachelor’s degree in French. These days simple things excite Betsy the most: commuting to work by bike and taking longer bike rides around Puget Sound on the week-end, backpacking in the Cascades, swimming at sunrise in Lake Washington, and eating organic vegetables from Seattle Market Gardens.
Francis Janes
Treasurer
email Francis
Francis was born in Canada and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. After studying electrical engineering, Francis worked in the information technology industry for many years. Currently, he serves as a Vice President for ShoreBank Pacific, a community development financial institution governed by a triple bottom line. Francis is attracted to iLEAP’s mission because of the organizational vision to foster a globally connected community of social innovators and leaders. He believes passionately that those of us who have been given so much have an obligation to do our part to help those in need. He believes that it is always important to ask how can we work collaboratively to improve the human condition and build a sustainable world.
Francis has served on the boards of Pigs Peace Sanctuary, ToastMasters and EarthSave International. He volunteers for organizations such as the YMCA, Washington CASH, New Horizons Ministries, Habitat for Humanity and Food Lifeline. Francis is also passionate about helping people understand the importance of transitioning to a plant-based diet. He believes that a plant-based diet is the basis for improved human health, restoration of our environment and a declaration of compassion for all sentient beings. Francis lives in Seattle with his wife Carol Sue, daughter Elizabeth, and their rescued shelter dog and house rabbit.
Deborah Streeter
Secretary
email Deborah
Deborah Streeter's expertise is in helping non-profits to become more effective by identifying and recognizing their own unique strengths. Her work style is collaborative, in order to nourish the culture and dynamics of an organization. When working as a consultant or as a board member, she focuses on building structures for effective board development and intelligent growth. She engages the creative side of the mind to enable leaders to reach inside themselves and discover their full capabilities. She fosters communication as a tool to develop and implement strategies to engage donors and increase giving.
Deborah earned her M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Antioch University, Seattle, and her B.A. in Psychology from Whitman College. Her service on the board of iLEAP connects her with her personal goal to create and nurture partnerships with local and international organizations that benefit children in need.
Jim Gore
Director
email Jim
As Jim sees it, leadership is to social innovation what yeast is to bread making.
Our greater Seattle community has much to both learn and share regarding leadership and social innovation. The cycle of learning and sharing related to international social innovation leadership is a compelling Mission.
And iLEAP is in the middle of that cycle! …an organization borne of today with its focus helping bring together tomorrow’s innovators for constructive change around the world…In 2009, on the recommendation of Betsy Hale, the Gore family was honored to be the family-stay host for Mr. Paul Samba, an iLEAP International Fellow. That terrific experience was Jim’s introduction to iLEAP.
Jim was raised in Southern California and holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.P.A. in Healthcare Administration from California State University. His professional background is in the non-profit healthcare delivery and life sciences R&D fields where he holds business and operating responsibilities. He sits on two other non-profit Boards, Plymouth Healing Communities and the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. Jim is married to Susan and together they have three great children. He loves to make bread.
