The Heart for Africa (Canada) Team
Our Board of Directors
Carol Hickman obtained her law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 and has practiced family law in the Greater Vancouver area for over 25 years. Carol has extensive experience in complex family law matters, including property division, maintenance, and custody and access disputes. She has experience at all levels of Court including the Supreme Court of Canada.
Carol was a Bencher of the Law Society of BC from 2004 – 2011, when she completed her final term, and sat on several Committees and Task Forces. Carol continues to sit on Law Society Discipline Hearing panels. Carol was recognized for her contribution to the legal profession when she was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010.
For the past 15 years, Carol has been helping couples resolve their disputes outside of the courtroom, as a family law Mediator and a Collaborative family lawyer. Carol is also a family law Arbitrator. Carol has been an instructor for Continuing Legal Education for many years and has also been a guest instructor at UBC Law School and Thompson Rivers University Law School. Carol has been a guest speaker across North America in the area of family law. Carol recently completed her Masters of Law in Alternate Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Carol continues her litigation practice at Quay Law Centre, the largest group of family lawyers in BC. In addition, in 2012 Carol established West Coast ADR Law Group, which is focused on mediation, arbitration and collaborative law.
Carol has been involved in a number of charities and is actively involved with her Church. Carol is also very passionate about Heart for Africa (Canada) and the children at Project Canaan. Carol was instrumental in organizing a large fundraiser in BC, in the fall of 2016, to raise money for Project Canaan Academy. Carol and her husband Barry made their first trip to Eswatini in 2016. They spent the majority of their time with the children and participating in the HFA Outreach Program. Carol is passionate about raising awareness of the drought, famine and AIDS epidemic in Eswatini. Carol is organizing another large fundraiser in BC and can’t wait to see the children of Project Canaan again in 2017.
Cheri was blessed to be born into a Christian family and was brought up in the Church. She accepted Jesus as her Savior very early in life and His hand has been upon her all her life. Cheri and her husband Dave have four children and she had the privilege of being a stay at home Mom until the last child went off to college. After the kids were gone she and her husband started a retail flooring business that they owned for 12 years. They sold that business and retired for a bit. Currently, Cheri works at a Seniors residence in Penticton.
Cheri’s introduction to Heart for Africa (Canada) came from Dave’s connection to Mercy Tech Mission. MTM’s Mission statement is “Changing Lives – One Skill at a Time”. They have been working at Project Canaan for a few years, training employees in auto mechanics, welding, electrical, and millwrights. Dave was interested (as a Mercy Tech board member) in going to Eswatini to get a sense of the opportunity, and to help plan for future training missions. Cheri agreed to go along and was astounded by the whole operation!
Cheri spent an epic “day in the life” with Janine – they picked up baby Cheri and baby Jewel in the morning and in the afternoon took Elvis II’s Mom up country to the Hospital to await his birth. On the way home Janine stopped at a roadside vegetable stand and bought all of their sweet potatoes. Were the venders ever happy. Cheri was hooked! The kids, the farm, the hydraponics, aquaponics, the fruit, the fields, the dairy, the egg production, the school, the Medical clinic, the Artisans, the housing, the mechanic shop – an amazing operation!
Cheri is deeply honored and humbled to be asked to join this incredible group of people and do what she can to move this project forward.
Spencer Maxwell is a Consultant at Ernst & Young (EY), LLP in the Supply Chain Practice, focusing on Supply Chain Innovation and End-to-End (E2E) strategy. Before joining EY, Spencer served as a Marketing Manager for Heart for Africa after completing his two masters degrees in International Business (at Queen’s University, Canada) and Marketing Management (at ESADE Business School, Barcelona).
Chris Winkle served as the chief executive officer for Sunrise Senior Living from April 2014 to Jan 2021. With extensive knowledge of acute, post-acute, and senior living sectors, Mr. Winkle is a seasoned executive with more than 35 years of experience in leadership management, healthcare operations, finance, and strategic planning.
Before joining Sunrise, Mr. Winkle served eight years as chief executive officer of MedQuest, Inc., a leading operator of independent, fixed-site, outpatient diagnostic imaging centers in the United States. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer for Mariner Health Care, Inc., which operated skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and long-term acute care hospitals. Prior to that role, Mr. Winkle was the chief operating officer at Integrated Health Services, where he helped pioneer the sub-acute care sector and was responsible for all of the facility and ancillary service operations. Mr. Winkle started his career by holding management positions within specialty and rehabilitation hospitals.
Mr. Winkle currently resides in Middleburg, VA with his wife. They have four children and two grandchildren. Mr Winkle is a long time supporter of Heart for Africa. He and his family visited in 2009 and were present at the ground blessing for Project Canaan. He returned for the 10th Anniversary in 2019. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University and is a member of several for profit and nonprofit boards.
Jeni lives in Listowel, Ontario with her husband of 22 years and her two boys ages 21 and 19. When her youngest son went off to kindergarten she followed her passion for loving children and went back to school to earn her Early Childhood Education diploma through an apprenticeship program at the North Perth Early Years Centre. After that she went on to become the supervisor of a local Preschool and from there began as a supply ECE teacher with Avon Maitland District school board.
Her passion for helping people led her to her current position as a “full time professional volunteer”. She serves her community by working as a board member/volunteer at a local non profit organization called “It takes a Village”, which focuses on helping those who are most vulnerable. She also serves as a board member for Hope Links North Perth and delivers Meals on Wheels for VON Listowel. Her love for children and ministry has had her teaching ministry weekly through a children’s program called Jubilation Station, as well as volunteering Sunday mornings with their High Voltage (Sunday School) Program. Through the church, Jeni has volunteered on two consecutive missions trips to Saugeen First Nations Reserve helping put on a Christian camp for their youth.
Jeni remembers her love for Africa beginning at a young age after hearing about how impoverished the continent was. In 2020 she learned about Heart for Africa through friends who had attended a previous trip. She immediately read all of Janine’s books and knew this was something she was meant to see. As soon as trips resumed after the pandemic, she booked. She travelled to Eswatini in July of 2022 with her husband Sean, where she fell in love with everything Africa and her new friends at Project Canaan. She is honoured to be asked to serve on this board and is excited to see where God will lead her.
Roger Pelissero is a third-generation egg farmer and Chair of Egg Farmers of Canada. Prior to his appointment as Chair in 2017, Roger represented the province of Ontario on the Egg Farmers of Canada Board of Directors. He has also served on numerous Board appointed committees including Executive, Cost of Production, Marketing and Nutrition, Service Fee and Production Management.
As a representative of Egg Farmers of Canada, Roger has appeared before the House of Commons Standing on Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to brief Members of Parliament and Senators on the egg industry’s activities and objectives.
He is passionate about sustainability and an advocate for evidence-based research that supports progress and innovation. He is a founding member of the Global Initiative for Sustainable Eggs, and recently co-chaired the Canadian Poultry Sustainability Value Chain Roundtable. He is also a member of the Egg Industry Center Board of Advisors of Iowa State University.
Roger has been farming with his family and wife Lorrie since 1984.
Our Team
Ian Maxwell
Co-Founder & CEO
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Ian never thought he would end up in Africa. After working at ONYX Marketing Group in North York, Ontario for 10 years his life took a turn when he and his wife Janine were directly impacted by the events in New York city on September 11th, 2001. In 2006, they both left the corporate world and founded a non-profit organization called Heart for Africa (Canada). Their focus turned to the tiny kingdom of Eswatini, Africa, where their family moved in 2012. Ian’s vision for a self-sustainable project to provide food-security, vocational training, education and a home for orphans and vulnerable children led them to purchase 1,000 hectares of land, which they now call Project Canaan. On the ground, Ian focuses on the operations of each facet – building capital projects, farm production, distribution, mentorship and MUCH more. He is gifted in uniting people from many nations to work together for comprehensive and sustainable solutions.
Janine Maxwell
Co-Founder & COO
Jocie Breton
Marketing & Development Coordinator
Jocie is a Brock University graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management and is also a Fanshawe College graduate with a diploma in Event Planning. She is from a small town in northern Ontario, but now lives in Kitchener, Ontario. Jocie enjoys all things sports and will leap at any opportunity to travel. She has always had a passion for mission work ever since attending her first mission trip in Kingston, Jamaica in 2017 with her grade 12 class. After this trip, Jocie came home with a stronger passion for mission work and a desire to continue to help make a difference in the world. While completing her post-secondary education for 6 straight years after that, and living through a global pandemic, her goal to embark on more mission work opportunities became challenging. Luckily, she has now landed a position as the Marketing Coordinator of Heart for Africa (Canada) and couldn’t be more excited to fulfill her passion for mission work through the start of her career. Jocie is excited to share her passion and upcoming experiences with as many people as she can, and spread HOPE!
