Ruth Dykstra Entwistle

President

Ms. Entwistle graduated in May 2007 from Grove City College with a BS in Entrepreneurship and a minor in Christian Thought. She is an MBA graduate student at Eastern University concentrating in International Economic Development. After holding several internship positions in non-profit organizations and working with communities in the US and abroad, she has developed a passion for business development in the third world. During the summer of 2006 she interned with Hope for the Children of Haiti - researching and analyzing potential business venture creation in Haiti. Ms. Dykstra desires to continue to positively impact poverty through empowerment and sustainable business development.

Michael Ritter

Vice President

Michael’s trips to the Dominican Republic while attending Grove City College in Pennsylvania piqued his interest in working in developing countries. Michael then obtained a Masters of Public Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. During that time he held research internships involving water and sanitation projects at the Center for Global Safe Water and the Task Force for Child Survival and Development. In the summer of 2007, he collected data on the Jolivert Safe Water for Families project in northwest Haiti under the direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This led to his masters’ thesis on the determinants of adoption of household water treatment products in rural Haiti and his appointment as the Program Director of the Jolivert Safe Water for Families project. Michael is currently the principal investigator on a research grant from the Religion and Health Collaborative at Emory University to assess the contribution of churches and faith-based organizations to safe water projects and to leverage partnerships between donors, in-country organizations, and communities in the US and Haiti.

Board of Directors

Dr. Timothy Mech : Chairman of the Board

Dr. Mech is Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at Grove City College, with expertise in poverty alleviation through business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Mech has taught at the University of Rochester, Saint John Fisher College, Boston College, Suffolk University, and Grove City College. Professor Mech’s current activities include research into the design of a new type of retirement fund that channels a portion of the assets into investments that fight poverty, the development of microenterprise training materials, and various poverty reducing projects in India. He is enthusiastic about DSI’s potential to make water treatment sustainable and scalable for the first time!

Joe Cicero, CPA

Successful Entrepreneur and Startup Consultant, Acting Director of Entrepreneurship Program, Grove City College

Elizabeth Kemeny, MS, CTRS

Adjunct Professor Slippery Rock University and Health Care Consultant

Robert Kinelski, MBA

Award Winning Marketing Executive

Gerald Walle

Senior Executive, Technology, Former Chair, Hope For The Children Of Haiti

Pictured above from left: Ruth Dykstra, Michael Ritter, Tim Mech, Joe Cicero