Village Enterprise Fund's US Staff

Our Organization
US Staff

Our US-based staff brings their life experience, talent, hard work and passion to the task of alleviating poverty in East Africa. While they call California home, their hearts are never far from the people they serve. Click on any photo to see them in action.

Brian Lehnen (brianl@villageef.org) is our Co-Founder and Executive Director with a wealth of experience in developing countries. In visits to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Brian has met with hundreds of owners of micro-businesses. Through this engagement, he has developed and refined the grant-based microenterprise model which combines seed capital with business training and mentoring. This approach creates sustainable, income-generating and life-changing businesses. He has been singularly effective in identifying partners in the field who share his dedication and commitment to the poor. Brian received his undergraduate degree from UC Davis and his MBA from Eastern College.

Lyndsay Holley (lyndsayh@villageef.org) is our Operations Director and has worked for non-profits in East Africa since 2003. Lyndsay holds a BA degree in International Relations from Stanford. She speaks Swahili fluently, coaches and plays Ultimate Frisbee and has a great talent for working with the field staff, volunteers and business owners. Lyndsay serves on the board of Bahati Education, a non-profit innovator in education for girls in Africa.

Pat Brown (patb@villageef.org) is our Interim Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining us as a volunteer two years ago, he worked for over twenty years in the computer software industry. In his last position, he was the Senior Director of Technical Publications for Siebel System. Pat enjoys traveling. He spent 4 weeks in central and southern Europe last Fall followed by 2 weeks in East Africa. He teaches business skills courses on a part-time basis. Pat received his BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a MA from California State University, Fresno. He completed doctoral work at UC Berkeley.

Julia Hack-Davie (juliah@villageef.org) joined VEF as Associate Director of Operations in January 2007. Julia graduated from UC Santa Barbara with BA degrees in Global Studies and Linguistics. Julia attended World Social Forum ’05 and was a member of the UCSB chapter of the International Convention on Human Rights. She was also active in Chilla Vista, a UCSB sustainability and community growth group. She spent a year in Brazil and has traveled extensively all over the world. Julia speaks Portuguese and Spanish and loves music, the outdoors and chocolate.

Anjanette Lundell (anjanettel@villageef.org) is the Associate Director of Development. Before joining VEF in 2005, Anjanette worked as a high school chemistry teacher and in investment real estate. She graduated from Westmont College with a BS in Biology and Chemistry. She has a teaching credential from Cal State University Hayward. When not working at VEF, Anjanette enjoys spending time with her husband and her son, skateboarding and swimming.

Beth Bishop (bethb@villageef.org) has worked as Associate Director of Donor Relations since August 2006. Before coming to VEF, she worked at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford for the Global Supply Chain Management Forum. She also worked as a Development Associate at Start Up, a micro-business initiative based in East Palo Alto. Beth earned her BA in Economics from Southern Methodist University. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Meet our African staff »