Girls Education International Board of Directors & Major Volunteers

Executive Director: Therese Thompson

Therese comes to us from Summit Cancer Solutions, where she is also Executive Director. She has a B.S. in biology, a M.S. in wildlife biology and 15 years of experience working in the public sector in policy analysis, strategic planning, fundraising and event management. Therese is currently working on a Master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in nonprofit management through the University of Colorado.

 

 

 

Non-VotingActing Chair & Advisory Board Member: Steve Murchie
Lizzy Scully is a professional writer/editor with a Master's degree in communications from Utah State University. She founded and published She Sends, the first and only women's climbing magazine, and she has managed online and print publications, including FindYourSpot.com and the Berthoud Recorder. In her free time, she travels the world on rock climbing expeditions, climbing big rock walls such as 19,700-foot Shipton Spire in Pakistan, and she regularly volunteers for nonprofit organizations such as the HERA Foundation and now Girls Education International. Her life's goal is to empower women and girls with education and opportunities. She hopes to accomplish this through her work with Girls Education International. To read more about Lizzy, visit her blog.

Treasurer: Rai Farrelly

Rai Farrelly is a graduate student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is pursuing her PhD in Applied Linguistics with focus on Second Language Acquisition Theory and Second Language Teacher Education. Her specific interests lie within the realm of teaching pre- and low-literate adult English language learners with refugee status from various regions of the world. Rai is also the founder of Project Wezesha, an organization which strives to increase access to education for children in developing countries. Currently, Project Wezesha is collaborating with a village in Western Tanzania to construct their first ever secondary school. Rai's passions include hiking with packs of dogs, snowboarding, traveling, rock climbing, trail running, native language revitalization, grassroots activism, refugee advocacy and drinking red wine often.

Board Member & Marketing Director: Carolyn McHale

Carolyn McHale serves GEI by helping with marketing and providing graphic and web design assistance. She has owned design and web firm Boldface Design, Inc., since 1996, creating for nonprofits and Fortune 100 companies. Carolyn moved to Colorado in 2005 to climb, snowboard and mountain bike. Her love of climbing found her as a member, and later President, of womens' climbing nonprofit sheclimbs, inc. Carolyn also serves as PR/Marketing Coordinator for HERA Colorado's Climb for Life events, which raise money for ovarian cancer research, education and awareness.

 

Board Member: Amanda Padoan

A climber and attorney, Amanda Padoan specializes in boulders and international law. She earned her B.A. from Harvard and J.D. from Pepperdine School of Law. As legal advisor to GEI, Amanda is committed to promoting girls’ education in the developing world and is working to establish our school program in rural Pakistan. She also serves as the Pakistan Program Director for the Mountain Fund.

 

 

 

Founder & Events/Fundraising: Heidi Wirtz Heidi Wirtz is a North Face athlete who has traveled extensively around the world on climbing expeditions, from Canada to the big walls of Morocco. While continually raising the bar for her personal performance and for women's climbing in general, Heidi's vision for a broader view for her role in the sport in years ahead led her to co-found Girls Education International. She's now able to work with people in need around the world. She's also raised money and worked on projects for organizations such as the HERA Foundation and the dZi Foundation, and she regularly teaches Sherpas at the Khumbu Climbing School in Nepal. To read more about Heidi, please visit The North Face, Black Diamond or La Sportiva websites.