The Global Aid Network Team

William (Bill) Blaney, Chief Executive Officer

William (Bill) Blaney is the Chief Executive Officer of GAiN.  He has over 32 years of senior management experience in the forest industry and has been working in the field of humanitarian aid for 7 years.  He graduated from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Forest Management in 1972.

Bill was born in the US and moved to Canada at the age of 15.  He began his career in the forest industry as a field technician and moved to Prince George in 1972.  He lived there for 20 years where he held the positions of ‘Logging Superintendent’ for Carrier Lumber, ‘Woods Manager’ for Prince George Wood Preserving, and ‘Manager of Northern Operations’ for Northwood. He moved to the coast in 1992 taking the position of Vice-President - Forest Resources for Coast Mountain Hardwoods in Delta.  In 2000 Bill started his own company, ‘Pacific Hardwood Development’, which provided forest management services to the forest industry.  This allowed him to commit a portion of his time to humanitarian work. That involvement in humanitarian work coupled with the Gospel soon became a full time calling.

Bill came on staff with GAiN as the North Korea Project Manager in January 2002 and appointed as Chief Executive Officer of GAiN and New Life World Aid in January 2003. He and his wife Susan currently live in Abbotsford, BC and have been married for almost 39 years.  They have 2 grown children, Mark and Sarah who are both married and two grandchildren. Bill’s passion is to help the needy and disenfranchised people of the world through sharing God’s love in a very practical way by the provision of humanitarian aid.

Aaron Rogers, Chief Operations Officer

Aaron has been involved with GAiN since July 2001 and is currently its Chief Operations Officer.

Aaron was born in Pune, India and grew up in Kuwait in the Arabian Gulf. He has a commerce degree from the University of Pune with a major in Accounting and Auditing. His professional career began with the set up and management of a private limited company in Pune in the Machine Tool Industry. He worked with Otis Elevator Company, Kuwait, a subsidiary of United Technologies, from 1989 to 1998, first in pricing and estimating and then in the Finance and Administration Department as its Assistant Financial Manager. He worked in the finance office at CCCC’s Head Office from January 1999 to June 2000.  From there he went on to manage the Creative Communications department of CCCC until July 2001.

Aaron and his wife Madhvi immigrated to Canada in September 1998 with the faith that God wanted them here. They have been married since July 1993 and currently reside in Langley, BC.

Aaron is passionate about doing whatever it takes to get the job done. This has been important in his career as he has fit into a variety of different roles over the years. His prayer is that God would always give him a passion to do what he is doing and what HE has called him to do. It’s this passion that excites Aaron in his current role with GAiN Canada. Touching people through acts of compassion, seeing their lives transformed by accepting Christ and securing their eternal destiny in Jesus gives him tremendous joy.

Dennis Fierbach, Director, Water for Life Strategy

For over 30 years now, Dennis has been involved in planning and implementing projects of faith around the world which communicate Christ’s love and change lives. His career began after he graduated with a degree from the University of Alberta in Electrical Engineering. He maintains his active status in the British Columbia Association of Professional Engineers. His work has exposed him to the varying needs in cultures of different countries, including Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Jordon and Tanzania. Dennis’ assignments have included founding an ESL school in the Dominican Republic, Director of Information Technology, VP of Operations, and managing many international projects. Joining GAiN in 2008 was the fulfillment of a personal dream - to work in the humanitarian aid sector and implement projects which demonstrate Christ’s love in practical ways to needy people, underscoring the message of God’s love. Dennis now applies his expertise and experience in the Water for Life Strategy, bringing clean, pure water to needy people worldwide.

Peter Koteles, Project Manager, GIK & Logistics

From a 9 year background of initiating, directing and implementing national education projects in Ukraine, Peter joined GAiN Canada in 2005, out of a desire to reflect Christ’s love as he networks with people to practically equip the needy to live better lives. He currently coordinates the acquisition, logistics, and shipping of GIK (Gifts In Kind) such as non-perishable food, clothing, medical equipment, etc., from generous partnering donors to various GAiN projects worldwide.

Eric Britton, Project Manager

Eric Britton is a Project Manager with GAiN Canada. For the last 20 years he has been in senior positions in municipal government and in March 2008 retired from the Township of Langley as the City Clerk. Eric started his involvement with Power to Change as the Operations Manager for GAiN Worldwide. In December 2008 he moved to GAiN Canada to accept a position as a Project Manager. Eric lives in Surrey, BC with his wife of 31 years, Marette. They have one grown daughter, Stephanie, who is married to Brendan. Eric knew that God was not going to let him sit out his retirement and has be lead to fulfil the Great Commission through the provision of providing to those less fortunate in the world and to introduce Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

Marshall Norman, CIDA Administrator

Marshall’s understanding and grasp of international development certify that funding proposals to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) are completed thoroughly and effectively articulate GAiN’s humanitarian strategies. His attention to detail and knowledge of business administration supports the Chief Operations Officer and ensures that GAiN’s operations are conducted efficiently and with integrity.

Marshall joined GAiN in the summer of 2007 upon graduating from Trinity Western University with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration. Prior to attending university he was with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in Maui, HI and traveled on short term mission trips to Europe and the Persian Gulf. During his time with YWAM he met Jessica Westberg, from Toronto, ON, who is now his now fiancé and acquired a passion for communicating Christ’s love in practical ways across all cultures.

Originally from Portland, OR, Marshall now calls the small Finnish community of Naselle, Washington on the southern Washington coast home when not in Canada. When he’s there he enjoys surfing and catching up with family and old friends. In his free time Marshall can be found snowboarding at Mount Seymour in the winter and surfing at the coast during the summer.

Melissa Carter, Executive Assistant

Melissa joined GAiN in January 2009 and provides excellent administrative skills to the organization. She assists the Chief Executive Officer. Other duties include scheduling, travel arrangements, setting up donor engagements and handling external correspondence.

Melissa was born and raised in Southwestern Ontario and moved to British Columbia to attend Trinity Western University. She now lives in Surrey, along with her husband Lee.  She recently graduated from Trinity where she studied International Studies and TESL.  Prior to university, her international travels included Peru, Colombia, South Africa, and Botswana and living in Costa Rica for several months. She recently completed a summer ministry in Moosonee, Ontario with Lee who was the summer pastor at Moosonee Baptist Church.
She finds her passion in making a difference in people’s lives, especially in those parts of the world which are less developed.  She has seen the tough and demanding lives that women and children in the developing world live, and her heart goes out to them.

Felice Swanson, Technology/Media Specialist

Felice joyfully re-joined GAiN in April 2009 after 4 years of devoting her time to a variety of projects.  She is responsible for the design and production of communication materials including brochures, project proposals, fulfillment reports, presentation displays, donor plaques and video presentations as well as maintaining the Global Aid Network website.

Felice and her husband, Don, have been married 27 years and live in Surrey. They have 2 grown boys, Cameron and Matthew and soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Kelly.

Dr. George F. Rhoades Jr., Ph.D. – Director of Trauma Training, ALERT GAiN

Dr. Rhoades is a Clinical Psychologist having his own practice in Hawaii. He is on the Executive Committee on Trauma Psychology with the APA (American Psychologists Association) and also Chair of the Diversity and Multi-Cultural Concerns Sub-Committee with the APA

Dr. Rhoades has conducted workshops, training and counseling in countries like Northern Ireland, Russia, Iran, Paraguay, Brazil, Sudan and Sri Lanka. He has been back to Sri Lanka several times since the tsunami to conduct trauma training and workshops in universities, hospitals and Bible colleges

We as staff could not accomplish anything without the vast, hardworking network of unpaid partners that we have. They contribute their labour, influence, finances, and expertise in working together with us to demonstrate God’s love to hurting and needy people, and we are grateful for each one of them.