Meet the Board

Ryan grew up in West Virginia where he completed his undergraduate from West Virginia University and medical school at Marshall University. He is Board Certified in Family Practice and completed a Sports Medicine fellowship. After graduating from medical school Ryan joined the Navy, traveling around the world, including a humanitarian deployment throughout Central and South America.

He is active in the men’s group at his church, volunteers with several ministries both locally and internationally, and is the YoungLife Chair for Mid-Tex YoungLife. He has been married to his wife Dayspring for 15 years and they have 3 young sons.

Tom and Judi have four kids, all adopted through Maranatha Children’s Home (the precursor to Heartline), the oldest in 1995.

Tom has overseen Heartline’s finances since our formation in 2000. He is a CPA within his family’s firm, White and Company, PC. The White family lives in Sunnyside, Washington.

My why: I love Heartline because the organization arranged the adoptions for my four children. Even though the organization no longer does adoptions, the organization has found effective meaningful avenues to help the people of Haiti. Being involved in Heartline has allowed me to give back to the people and country that help form my family.

Jen lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, four kids, and two cats. Jen is a systems engineer who operates interplanetary spacecraft for NASA, often called a stay-at-home astronaut by her friends.

Jen’s two youngest daughters were adopted from Haiti in 2017 and that journey is what led her to support and believe in the mission of Heartline and family preservation.

Dieula Previlon is a pastor, licensed professional counselor, life coach, motivational speaker, preacher, and entrepreneur. Dieula lives in Carrollton, Texas where she serves as Associate Pastor of Redeemer Evangelical Covenant Church. She is also the CEO and Founder of ElevateHer International, a nonprofit ministry that empowers women across the world to heal from trauma and become instruments of healing, peace and hope.

Dieula was born in Gonaives, Haiti and later moved to the United States where she graduated from Rutgers University and completed a MA in Counseling at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dieula and her husband, Fresnel, are the proud parents of three teenage sons, Reynel, Justin, and Devin.

Deb Steiner lives just outside Chicago with her three children who came to her through adoption (US, Uganda, Uganda). She is Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel at RR Donnelley & Sons Company in Chicago where she has worked for the last 11 years.

In her free time, Deb loves to spend time with her kids at their "farm," affectionately called Acres of Grace, where they enjoy nature and time away from the hustle and bustle of city living. Deb has long been an admirer of Heartline and is excited to serve on its Board.

My why: I love Heartline because it is an extraordinary model of how to operate nonprofit organizations in developing countries. The Livesay family poured into Heartline in country for many years and then left the operation to the capable hands of Haitians who are continuing its success. Maternal health, in particular, is a critical issue in so many places, but especially challenging given the many crises facing Haiti.