BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lloyd Reeb
Board Chair & Co-Founder, Ardent Mentoring
Co-Founder, HalfTime Institute
Lloyd Reeb is a social entrepreneur, author, and founder of the Halftime Institute, 100x Forum, and Ardent Mentoring. He helps high-capacity leaders move from success to significance, multiplying their impact through mentoring, redemptive ventures, and purpose-driven communities. His motto: “My fruit grows on other people’s trees.”
He is the author of From Success to Significance: When the Pursuit of Success Isn’t Enough; The Second Half: Real stories, Real adventures, Real significance; and along with his wife Linda, wrote the latest book in the Halftime series titled Halftime for Couples.
Lloyd and Linda enjoy living near Charlotte, North Carolina. They have three adult children, all married, and three precious grandchildren.
The Most Productive Years of Your Life May Surprise You [TEDx with Lloyd Reeb] - YouTube
Yvette Ondachi
Sinapis
Yvette is a Biochemist by training. She has over 23 years of experience in working in different sectors such as pharmaceutical sales and marketing, supply chain management, entrepreneurship, consulting, and digital innovation.
She is currently the East Africa Regional Director of Sales & Strategic Partnerships at Sinapis where she focuses on strengthening the customer experience and partnership development function in order to equip entrepreneurs in the African Continent.
As an entrepreneur herself, she is the founder and currently a non-executive director of Ojay Greene- a high impact, tech enabled agribusiness that is working to increase financial inclusion among smallholder farmers in Kenya through value addition and international trade. Her approach has been to address the most pressing challenges.
She has collaborated with global development leaders like USAID, GIZ, SNV, and World Vision and has had her work featured in major publications. Her passion is playing an active role in equipping entrepreneurs to thrive and build lasting businesses that address the challenges of unemployment in the African continent while integrating their faith to their businesses.
Steve Nelson
Dean, Gordon School of Business at Gordon College
With over 35 years of leadership in higher education, Steve Nelson has been named Dean of the Gordon School of Business at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Previously, he served at Harvard Business School as Executive Director of the MBA Program and as Senior Director of External Relations from 2000-2020. At Harvard's MBA Program, he led the delivery of educational programs and services to 1,800 full-time graduate students and 140 faculty, oversaw seven departments, and managed a team of 87 staff, with a budget of over $100M. He also played an instrumental role in the launch, duration, and completion of the Campaign for HBS, helping raise a record-setting $1.4B, exceeding an original goal of $1B.
Prior to 2000, Steve was appointed Executive Director of Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative, a major strategic center funded by the late John C. Whitehead, which focuses on the leadership, management, and governance of nonprofit and for profit social enterprises and encourages the role of business in society. Other positions at Harvard included Associate Director of MBA Admissions, Associate Director of Development at HBS, and Director of Leadership Giving at Harvard Law School. Prior to his graduate studies, he was Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at his undergraduate alma mater, Northwestern University. Upon retiring from Harvard, Steve most recently served as Chancellor of Valley Christian Schools in San Jose, CA.
Steve currently serves on the board of directors of the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society (The COOP) and Ardent Mentoring. He has also been a board member of the Northwestern Alumni Association, Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program, Project Bread/Walk for Hunger, Daybreak, City Vision University, as well as on the advisory boards of Victory Charter Schools and TechMission.
Steve earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and molecular biology. He graduated from Owensboro High School in Owensboro, KY, where he was born and raised.
Steve and his wife live in Massachusetts and have four children and one grandchild.
Missy Christie de Acosta
Conviventia
Inez Rose Christie "Missy", was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and grew up in Colombia, South America, where her parents served as missionaries since the early 1970s. Her parent’s work exposed her to the struggles faced by numerous children in Colombia. The loss of her father to cancer profoundly impacted Missy, inspiring her to extend her parents' missionary legacy. This is how the God is Love, corporation was established. A relief and development organization that provides hope and opportunity to destitute children and their families through programs, grounded on Biblical principles, models, and are birthed out of the capacities, assets and needs of the people. The organization later changed its name to Conviventia, which means Living & Working Together.
Through the organization’s technical training institutes, affordable Christian education in low-fee schools, initiatives to bolster family structures, teaching programs, entrepreneurship facilitation, employment access, and the delivery of humanitarian aid, thousands of individuals have been empowered to take responsibility for their own life, impacting an average of 13,000 people each year.
Missy has an educational background in Practical Theology, as well as studies in International Cooperation for Development, and Organizational Leadership. Missy has been married to Carlos E. Acosta Lozano for 33 years. Together they have two biological daughters, one ‘daughter of the heart’, and three precious grandchildren.
Her efforts through Conviventia have been recognized with the Mujer Cafam award for the city of Bogotá (2000). An award that recognizes remarkable social contributions of women leaders in the country. An honorific recognition was also granted by the Bogotá City Council (2013). Conviventia received the German Saldarriaga national award in 2019, for the work done in the field of education and child protection.
Steve Robertson
CEO, Bold Education
Steve Robertson is the Author of Aliens Among Us. 10 surprising truths about gen z.
He is also the CEO of Bold-Education, an organization specializing in youth-to-adult programming that turns curiosity into passion and skill.
Having worked with over 200,000 high potential youth from around the globe for the last 25 years, Steve is a generational expert who has experienced first-hand how to connect with, influence and motivate the younger generations.
Through his partnerships with University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Villanova, The Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia Phillies and most recently the NFL his insights have global impact.
When he isn’t watching a cricket match on the weekends or on his dirt-bike, he’s in the trenches focused on recruiting, training, and retention strategies as he manages an international workforce of over two thousand staff.
Ryan King
CEO & Co-Founder, Ardent Mentoring
Ryan King currently serves as Co-Founder and CEO at Ardent Mentoring. In addition to Ardent, Ryan serves as a Director of Philanthropy and Edification at Edify, an organization dedicated to improving and expanding Christ-centered education globally. Prior to joining Ardent & Edify, Ryan worked in educational development for Nexus Systems and was a Pastor at Inland Hills Community Church.
Ryan received a B.S. in Marketing from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and a Masters in Theological Studies from the Seminary at Eastern University. Ryan has a passion for seeing lives, communities, and nations transformed by the love of Christ and a desire to be hands-on with people making a difference.
Ryan married his wonderful wife, Lauren, a cardiac nurse, in 2007 and they have two amazing kids, Brooks (9) and Georgia (6). They currently reside in San Diego and previously lived in the Philadelphia area for 30 years. During their free time, they enjoy any activity at the beach, trying new restaurants, traveling, playing competitive lacrosse, and spending time with friends.