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Inform your audience and inspire them to take action by inviting World Relief to speak at your next event.
Frequently Requested Speakers
Myal Greene
President/CEO
Myal Greene has a deep desire to see churches worldwide equipped, empowered, and engaged in meeting the needs of vulnerable families in their communities. In 2021, he became President and CEO after serving for fourteen years with the organization. While living in Rwanda for eight years, he developed World Relief’s innovative church-based programming model that is currently used in nine countries. He also spent six years in leadership roles within the international programs division. He has previous experience working with the U.S. Government. He holds B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University and an M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Global Leadership. He and his wife, Sharon, have three children.
Matthew Soerens
VP of Advocacy and Policy
Matt began his World Relief journey in 2005 as an intern in Nicaragua. Since then he served as a Department of Justice-accredited legal counselor in Chicagoland before assuming the role of U.S. Director of Church Mobilization and Advocacy. Matt is the co-author of three books including Welcoming the Stranger (InterVarsity Press, 2018) and Inalienable (InterVarsity Press, 2022). Matt also serves as the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition that advocates for immigration reforms consistent with biblical values. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, where he has also served as a guest faculty member in the Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership program, and earned a master’s degree from DePaul University’s School of Public Service. He lives in Aurora, Illinois with his wife Diana and their four children.
Lanre Williams-Ayedun
SVP of International Programs
Lanre Williams-Ayedun is a global development leader with 17 years of experience in strategy and systems building for new business acquisition, technical program design, and program management. Most recently, she served as a Senior Program Advisor at Jhpiego, supporting the organization to pivot its resource base and technical assets to match changing global health demands, and helping to raise millions of dollars for strategic new projects. For ten years Lanre worked for World Vision US in various roles, including as director for the Child Protection and Education team, managing a global multi-million dollar portfolio of projects funded by US government donors, individual philanthropists, corporations, and foundations. Lanre currently sits on a working group advising the World Bank on the creation of a research agenda related to faith and development, and is a 2022 World Trade Center Institute Emerging and Developing Global Executives (EDGE) fellow. She holds master’s degrees in international development and public health from The George Washington University. Lanre speaks fluent Yoruba, French, and basic Spanish; her career has included working in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. Lanre and her husband Yomi live in Sterling, Virginia and lead in various capacities at Fairfax Church.
Aerlande Wontamo
SVP of U.S. Programs
Aerlande has been working in the refugee and immigrant services field for more than 15 years. This work is near and dear to her heart both personally, and professionally having spent her formative childhood years in Kenya. Prior to joining World Relief, she spent a decade with Lutheran Social Services beginning her career as a case manager, eventually assuming the role of Regional Director for Maryland and Virginia. Most recently she held several leadership positions at Catholic Charities D.C. Aerlande has extensive experience in program management, building, motivating and optimizing teams; and enjoys expanding and enhancing community partnerships. She holds a bachelor's degree in economic development from Eastern Mennonite University and a Master of Public Health, Behavioral Sciences from Saint Louis University. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Jeff Walser
VP of Strategic Engagement
Jeff Walser joined World Relief in 2018 as the Senior Director of Development, leading our team of Strategic Partnership Directors in serving church and individual partners. Prior to joining World Relief, Jeff served for 10 years as the Executive Pastor of Ministry at Wheaton Bible Church, a World Relief partner. During his time at Wheaton Bible, Jeff traveled to Turkana, Kenya multiple times, and his heart was captured by the ways in which the local church was empowered to serve the most vulnerable. Before joining Wheaton Bible, Jeff enjoyed a 25-year career leading and developing high-performing sales and marketing teams at a large manufacturing firm in Chicago, holding the roles of President and Senior Vice President. Jeff and his wife Jill live in the Tampa Bay area and have three children and seven grandchildren. He also serves as a lay pastor in a church plant in Largo, Florida.
Francesca Albano
VP of Marketing and Brand
Francesca joined World Relief in 2016 and has played a variety of roles with progressively expanding responsibilities. She is a passionate storyteller and cross-cultural communicator, having spent much of her childhood in Kenya and the U.K., before immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology and International Affairs from Colby College and an M.A. in Strategic Marketing Communications from Georgetown University, and is also a Storybrand Certified Guide. Today, her passions and expertise converge to help us tell the story of what God is doing through World Relief and the local church all around the world. She is deeply committed to stewarding this story, and the stories of those we serve, with great care and dignity as we also seek to inform, inspire and invite others to come alongside the work of World Relief. She lives close to Boston with her husband, Joe, and son, Teddy.
Chelsea Sobolik
Director of Government Relations
Chelsea Sobolik joined World Relief in 2023. She currently works on public policy before the U.S. government and intergovernmental organizations. Prior to joining World Relief, she led policy and advocacy for Lifeline Children's Services, the largest evangelical adoption agency in the United States. She has also served as the Director of Public Policy at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and worked as a policy staffer on Capitol Hill. She is the author of “Longing for Motherhood: Holding Onto Hope in the Midst of Childlessness”, and “Called to Cultivate: A Gospel Vision for Women and Work”. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Michael and their son.
Liliana Reza
Director of Border Engagement
Liliana Reza joined World Relief in 2023. In her role, she works to equip churches and community partners to advocate for immigrants through educational experiences across the Southern California/Mexico border. Prior to joining World Relief, she worked as a program director and adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University in a role focused on border education, social justice initiatives and global Christianity. She holds a MA in Intercultural Studies from Nazarene Theological Seminary and is an ordained elder with the Church of the Nazarene. Liliana lives in the San Diego-Tijuana border region.
Daniel Yang
National Director of Churches of Welcome
Daniel Yang is the National Director of Churches of Welcome at World Relief. Previously he served as the director of the Church Multiplication Institute at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, a think tank for evangelism and church planting. He has pastored and helped plant churches in Detroit, Dallas-Fort Worth, Toronto, and Chicago. He earned an MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a BS in computer science from the University of Michigan, and is currently a PhD student in intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
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