Jonathan Vipperman

President

Jonathan Vipperman has been advocating for support of projects in Haiti since his first trip the Central Plateau in 2011.

His involvement includes projects in agriculture, education, clean water, and health through Partners In Agriculture, Clemson University, the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, and Summits Education. Jonathan has spent more than twenty years in Healthcare information technology, and currently serves as the General Manager of Clinical Exchange at Change Healthcare.

Jonathan is a graduate of The Citadel, and The University of South Carolina Law school. He resides in Columbia, SC with his wife Lisa and their three daughters.

Charles Warne

Treasurer

Born in Australia, Charles Warne attended College in Sydney and was educated in agriculture and animal husbandry. He spent time farming in the outback of New South Wales raising sheep, cattle, and grains.

Charles began his Haitian journey alongside his wife Gillaine, the Founder of Partners in Agriculture, in the year 2000. He quickly became involved in agricultural efforts in the region, raising funds for projects centered in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Over time, Charles and Gillaine assisted Haitians in establishing Zanmi Agrikol to provide training and guidance in agricultural practices with a focus on growing ingredients for a food medication for the treatment of malnutrition in children.

As he saw the malnutrition rates drop in the Central Plateau with these initial efforts, Charles realized that sustainable farming and education was key to the long-term success and vitality of the country. As a result, Charles has provided financing for the purchase of land. He has dedicated himself to fundraising efforts for equipment and machinery and developing and equipping CFFL, a vocational school on the farm in Corporant.

As a long-time Rotarian, Charles sought and obtained Rotary International grants for all areas of development for the work being done in the various projects in Haiti.

Wendy Judy

Secretary

Wendy lived and worked on the campus of EARTH University in Costa Rica for 32 years. Most recently she was a member of the development team working to advance the mission, programs and vision of EARTH University (2008-2021). Her primary responsibilities included the cultivation, management and stewardship of partnerships with large foundations and government entities in the United States and Canada.

Previously (1999-2008) she was part of an EARTH University team responsible for developing and coordinating an international collaboration and dialogue which aimed to foster leadership and change in rural communities worldwide, through promoting innovative models of higher education in agriculture and natural resources relevant to common social, economic and environmental needs.

Wendy holds a Master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, and is a former Peace Corps volunteer.

Marie Flore Lafontant Chipps, daughter of Fr. Fritz Lafontant, is the Executive Director of Summits Education, which operates 40 primary schools in rural Haiti. She is also the director of the social programs in Zanmi Lasante. She earned a degree in management and started her profession as a public health advocate with a family planning project in Cange that enabled women to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.

As one of the leaders of Zanmi Lasante, Marie Flore has spent her career working in many areas, including water, sanitation, education, and supporting those most vulnerable, such as the elderly and orphans. She is now a member of the Board of Zanmi Agrikol, through which she is using her work ethic and positive attitude to fight and prevent malnutrition by offering seeds, trees, and education.

Yamilee Mackenzie

Born in New York, NY to parents of Haitian descent, Yami spent her early childhood years in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where she began her primary school education.  Yami graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in History and earned her law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law and is currently a Senior Associate General Counsel with Optum Insight.  She resides with her family in the greater Boston area.  In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling. Always an avid learner, she enjoys reading and experiencing different cultures and perspectives through travel.

Dr. Daniel Sherrard

Daniel, currently living in the mountains of North Idaho, was one of the founding members of EARTH University in Costa Rica (www.earth.ac.cr). At EARTH he served as a Professor, Academic Dean and Provost and played a key role in developing many of the unique aspects of EARTH’s learning model, including the admissions program, the focus on experiential learning and the entrepreneurship program. Daniel retired from EARTH in 2019 after 32 years of service.

Daniel has been active in popularizing EARTH’s academic model in Latin America, the Caribbean and particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where he has collaborated for many years with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 147 universities in Eastern, Central, Northern, Western & Southern Africa. Daniel is currently a member of RUFORUM’s International Advisory Board.

Daniel holds a PhD from Iowa State University in Agricultural Education. He is passionate about the potential of education to improve lives, and is especially concerned about providing educational opportunities to those most in need.

Gillaine Warne

Founder of Partners in Agriculture

Emeritus – In Memoriam

Gillaine Warne was the Founder of Partners in Agriculture, and for 22 years was an inspiration to many in both Haiti and the United States. She was born and educated in Australia, and finished her studies in both France and New York. Upon moving to South Carolina, she met Father Fritz Lafontant, another inspiring figure from the little village of Cange, in the Plateau Central of Haiti. Gillaine traveled to Haiti countless times, overseeing programs using agriculture as a tool to uplift thousands of poor, rural families, providing them with the means to grow their own healthy foods and build sustainable incomes.

She was instrumental in producing and supplying the Zanmi Lasante health clinics with an RUTF (ready to use therapeutic food) designed to combat child malnutrition, and in forming a Family Assistance program that has changed the trajectory of many thousands of families and children. She then oversaw the creation of the Centre de Formation Fritz Lafontant, a vocational school that helps young Haitians build careers in agriculture.

Gillaine’s dedicated work in Haiti has been acknowledged by many, and she was the recipient of The Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award, the Garden Club of America Horticultural Award, the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest award, and has been honored with a Doctor of Humanities from Furman University. Gillaine passed away in October 2022, and we will always continue the work with her in our hearts.

Paul Farmer, MD, PhD

Emeritus – In Memoriam

Dr. Paul Farmer was one of the first Board members for Partners in Agriculture. A world-renowned medical anthropologist and physician, he was a co-founder of Partners in Health / Zanmi Lasante. He dedicated his life to improving health care for the world’s poorest people. He began his lifelong commitment to Haiti in 1983 while still a student, working with dispossessed farmers in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Paul and his work were featured extensively in the book “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” by Tracy Kidder.

Paul was also a Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and co-founder of Partners in Health. He served as UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti.

Paul and his colleagues pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrated the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. He wrote extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. He received numerous honors and was a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Graham Huff has been working in Haiti since 2009 as Executive Director of League of Hope. Graham created the Haiti Agriculture Virtual Technical Assistance Program, which has over 60 agriculture experts from around the world available to counterparts in Haiti at four partnership agriculture schools, including CFFL. Graham also developed the soil testing facility at CFFL, and has provided for training the personnel now responsible for operating the soil lab. Graham implemented a USAID Farmer-to-farmer project which trained scores of Haitian agronomists in advanced agricultural techniques to improve crop yields in Haiti. Graham received a BS and MS degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech, and received a UPS scholarship for a professional certificate in Humanitarian Logistics from Georgia Tech.

Loune Viaud is the global Chief of Gender and Social Equity for Partners in Health. Until September 2021, she served as Executive Director of Zanmi Lasante, Partners in Health’s sister organization in Haiti. She won the 2002 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her work with the group to provide health care in Haiti, and in 2003 was named one of Ms. magazine’s “Women of the Year”.