Meet Our Newest staff members!

Kristopher Meyer, Chief Operating Officer

Kris Meyer has almost three decades of operations, planning, and assessment experience across a wide sector of government and non-governmental work. A retired US Navy Commander, he has served in locations around the world conducting everything from direct patient care as a Hospital Corpsman, to planning for major contingencies in the Western Pacific as a Naval Planner, to maintaining continuous airborne alert as a Naval Flight Officer in preparation for strategic crises in the United States. As the Public Private Cooperation Division Chief at US Southern Command from 2015-2018 he supported World Hope International’s disaster relief water production deployment to the Turks and Caicos immediately following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and facilitated World Hope International’s medical volunteer support to the US Navy’s USNS Comfort hospital ship missions in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018. He has directed operations for one of the largest US Navy aviation squadrons and most recently served as a principal assistant for opera- tions aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier during an around-the-world deployment.

A strong proponent of partnership across all levels to maximize collective efforts in areas of common concern, Kris has a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a Master’s in Human Resources from Towson University, and a BA from the University of North Florida. He is Project Management Professional certified and has completed additional training programs with USAID, OFDA, Naval Postgraduate School, and Defense Acquisitions University.

Tim Murphy, Chief Financial Officer

Tim has joined World Hope as CFO, coming to us from Urban Ministries, a distributor of African American religious materials located in Chicago, IL, where he served as CFO and was responsible for Accounting, Procurement, I.T. and Distribution. He has experience as CFO in several other companies as well, and before that, worked at Oshkosh Truck Corporation for 9 years as a Controller responsible for 3 divisions of the company including the Mobile Medical, Command, and Flight simulator divisions in Illinois, Florida, and California. Prior to that, Tim spent 9 years as a Controller at Whiting Corporation in Monee IL, with multi-site responsibility in Chicago and Turlock, CA, after starting his career with Arthur Andersen as an Auditor. Tim earned his M.B.A. in Finance/Accounting from DePaul University and a B.S. in Finance from Illinois State University.

Zachary Lawless, Director of Development

Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Zachary leads WHI’s grant positioning, pursuits, and acquisitions for WHI. With 10+ years of business management experience, including 7 years in business development, Zachary has led business development efforts across several relief and development sectors in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America for several organizations, including Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision. With Samaritan’s Purse, Zachary lived/worked in Liberia to lead post-Ebola recovery new business efforts. Most recently with World Vision, Zachary managed the USDA McGovern – Dole Food for Education portfolio out of the Food Security and Livelihoods department in Washington, DC. Obtaining degrees in Intercultural Studies and International Development coupled with working on projects in 25+ countries, Zachary is com- mitted to designing projects that best meet the needs of vulnerable populations in developing countries in hopes that transformative, sustainable, and holistic development can be attained.

Kelsey Rwayitare, Chief Legal Officer

Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Kelsey drove her beatup Pontiac down to New Orleans and joined the United Way in the rebuild effort. She lived in a tent city with displaced locals, cared for children in a FEMA trailer park, and learned the necessity of active community service. Kelsey went on to serve in the areas of poverty alleviation, human rights, and women’s empowerment, specifically by legal consulting for the Supreme Court of Rwanda, advocating for Habitat for Humanity, representing immigrants in their quest for political/ religious asylum, and teaching in Central Africa, Japan, and Germany.

Upon graduating from law school, Kelsey joined Collins Aerospace where she led teams in multi-million dollar negotiations (over $1B in revenue) and equipped women leaders as the Women’s Forum Co-Chair. Kelsey joins World Hope International’s team as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer