Leadership

Leadership Team

Under Construction

Board

Those selected to serve on the board must demonstrate Christian character, enthusiastically support the work of Bible translation, and be committed to full participation in board work. Using their ability to think strategically and futuristically, with a consistent emphasis on discerning God’s will, the board sets the direction for Wycliffe Canada. The president of Wycliffe Canada, Jon ImBeau, and the leadership team under his direction is responsible for achieving the desired results set by the board.

Antoinette van Kuik

Chair

Antoinette’s life experience has been characterized by diversity. The daughter of Dutch Reformed parents who immigrated from Holland just before she was born, Antoinette grew up in a Mennonite church in rural Saskatchewan. She met her husband, Dr. Henry Fast, while attending a Christian & Missionary Alliance church. They have been members of the inter-denominational Church of The Way in Winnipeg for more than 30 years, but more recently make their home in an Anglican parish. She pursued post-secondary education in piano, sociology, music history, and educational administration. She has lived in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario and traveled in every Canadian province.

After retiring from a fulfilling career as vice-president for college academics at Providence University College, Antoinette now fills her time with volunteer work in organizations such as A Rocha and Wycliffe Canada. She has served as the volunteer engagement services team lead for the Diabetes Canada in Manitoba.

After a career in the Christian higher education sector, Antoinette is happy to bring her experience to the Wycliffe board, most recently as Board Chair. Retirement allows her greater time to cultivate creativity through photography, stained glass and detailed stitching projects. She also enjoys time visiting with friends and getting to know her grandchildren. In addition, Antoinette and her husband Henry enjoy traveling throughout Canada. They have a “bucket list” goal of visiting as many of Canada’s national parks as possible—having supported these parks through their taxes for some time now. She and her husband live in Manitoba.

Randall Visser

Vice Chair

Randall grew up in Wycliffe, spending his formative years in Cameroon as his parents Bert and Wilma Visser served with Wycliffe. Since moving back to Canada to complete a Bachelor of Science at Dalhousie University, Randall has gone on to become a Chartered Professional Accountant, and has spent over a decade working for various cabinet ministers and ministries of the Government of Canada. He previously served his church as a board member and treasurer and as a general director of a private Christian school. Randall, his wife Cassandra and their three young children live in Manitoba.

Heather Geertsma

Heather is a lawyer in the Greater Toronto Area and has practiced law for the last 9 years. She currently runs and operates her own law firm specializing in family law issues.

Heather was brought up in a strong Christian family in Southwestern Ontario who supported Wycliffe’s ministry. Her older sister, who had a career in education, joined Wycliffe and moved to South Asia to develop literacy programs. This sparked a deeper interest in Wycliffe and a commitment to Wycliffe’s mission.

Heather believes strongly in serving in any capacity that God calls her, whether that be in private legal practice, at her church through Bible study, or leading a ministry. She brings her education, life experience and passion for God’s kingdom to the Board.

She lives in Mississauga with her husband and her two beautiful daughters.

David Baker

David is from Winnipeg Manitoba and is the founder and former CEO of Think Shift Advertising. His professional focus over the last 26 years has been focused on the agriculture industry as well as in leadership coaching and corporate culture. Since retiring from Think Shift he now spends time consulting and on the Board of the company.

David and Debbie have been married for 36 years and have 3 adult children and five grandchildren.

David and Debbie became Christians as adults, at 28 and 25 years old respectively, and were active for 21 years as members of Gateway Church, a nondenominational evangelical church which is part of Salt and Light ministries. For the last 10 years they have been part of a home church. He and his wife enjoy traveling together and spending time at the lake.

Kirstyn Mackie

Kirstyn first became involved with Wycliffe as a volunteer when she was completing her undergrad in Linguistics at the University of Calgary. She was part of a small group that dreamed up and launched Café Wycliffe (now Café Logos) which spread across Canada and then internationally. She went on to work in Education, Marketing and Communications and then completed her MBA, focusing on strategy, marketing and business law. Since her first encounters with Wycliffe, her passion for promoting and advocating for Bibleless people groups has only grown. She was the chair of the missions committee at her church, Bethany Chapel, when they initiated a Kingdom Friendship with Wycliffe Thailand, a major partnership that directly impacts the efforts of engaging the Thai church and mobilizing local missionaries. She and her husband, Aaron, have been involved in supporting a number of Wycliffe initiatives, including visiting projects in multiple areas of Thailand. Kirstyn and Aaron live in the Calgary area with their three children, whom she homeschools. In her “free” time, she teaches a classical dialectic literature class and is very active in her home church in the missions, Awana and worship ministries. Kirstyn is honoured to have the opportunity and privilege to support the mission of Wycliffe in its critical Kingdom-building work.

Mario Swampy

Mario has served as Pastor for the Louis Bull All Nations Church in Maskwacis Alberta since 2014, and on Chief and Council for the Samson Cree Nation from 2011-2023. He believes these positions have given him a unique perspective on some of the challenges that exist when it comes to reconciliation both politically and at the church level between Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Given Canada’s controversial political past concerning its First Peoples, which includes the residential schools, Mario believes that the body of Jesus Christ has an amazing opportunity right now to demonstrate true reconciliation in tangible and practical ways through the Gospel.

Joan Macdonald

Joan and Bill live in Stratford PEI and have two married sons and three grandchildren. They spent most of their married lives in business, having been leaders in the Agricultural and Transportation industry on PEI. They were the first to offer bulk agricultural lime spreading and to open a trade school for truck and transport heavy equipment and school bus training. BJs Truck Centre was opened to provide much needed parts and service for their own businesses and all others with such need. Having an entrepreneurial spirit, they managed to include a total of seven businesses in the span of many decades; all were sold by the end of 2021.

All the while they managed to serve in leadership roles at Central Christian Church, where Joan served as chair of the board. She also served as vice chair of Skills Trades PEI and as a board member of Canadian Trucker Sector Counsel, where she was awarded for her work with HR in the transportation industry.

They are now free to share in other areas that have been a passion for them throughout their lives. Joan serves on the Mission Team and leads the prayer ministry at Central Christian. They have provided prayer and financial support for Missions ever since close friends went to Chiang Mai, Thailand over four decades ago and have supported Wycliffe since the Visser’s went to Cameroon.

Joan and Bill also enjoy boating and spend their winter on their boat, aptly named Tis A New Life.

Peter Moore

Rev. Peter Moore has served as Lead Pastor of Douglas Baptist Church in New Brunswick since 2005. He grew up in New Brunswick and has been in local church ministry for 26 years, with all but three years of his pastoral ministry having been at the same church. Peter is ordained with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC) and serves locally on the Executive of the York Baptist Association of Churches. He has participated in missions to the Dominican Republic and Cameroon, as well as Argentina and Bolivia. Peter has been married to Patricia for 27 years, is the father of 5 children ages 17 - 27 and the grandfather of one beautiful little girl. He enjoys getting outdoors to cycle, fish, skate and snowshoe.

Ryan Graham

Ryan currently serves as the National Vice President with The Alliance Canada. He and his wife Christana have been married for 26 years. Together they have three kids aged 22, 20, and 16 and live in the greater Toronto area.

Ryan served the local church for almost 18 years, first as Student Ministries Director and Teaching Pastor at First Alliance Calgary, and then 10 years as Senior Pastor of Westlife Church Calgary. In 2015 the Grahams moved east to Toronto where Ryan took on the national role of Director of Leader Development for The Alliance Canada, and Director of Envision Canada. In the fall of 2017, Ryan began his current role as National Vice President.

Field Member Advisors

Rob Bustin

Rob and Kara live in Ethiopia, where Rob first worked with a mother-tongue New Testament translation team (which was dedicated in March 2023). For the past eight years, Rob has been the programs director for the Bible translation services, scripture engagement, and digital media work conducted by the SIL Ethiopia Branch, one of Wycliffe’s key field partners. Rob is excited to be working with local churches and ministries as they take the lead in identifying Bible translation needs and as they seek community transformation through God’s Word. Kara teaches at a Christian international school in Addis Ababa and is excited to be interacting with the diverse staff and student community who come from over 30 nations. Rob and Kara have been members of Wycliffe Canada since 2012, and they have three daughters.

Jon Jagt

Jon is originally from Southern Ontario. After feeling the Lord’s call to work in Bible translation, he joined Wycliffe Canada along with his wife Candace in 2012. Together with their three children, they have been working in Papua New Guinea since Feb 2013. Jon’s first role was in the area of software development, but during their first term Jon felt increasingly pulled toward administering a translation and literacy program in Madang province. Jon and Candace are currently serving with the Gwahatike multi-language translation program, which is located on the north coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. They spend part of their time in that area and part of their time living in Ukarumpa, the main mission center of PNG.

Alice Reed

Alice grew up in a non-denominational Chinese church in Houston, Texas, where she was a student leader in the youth group. After graduating from university with a degree in anthropology and francophone studies, she began a career in marketing. However, a church course on world missions introduced her to Bible translation, and Alice soon recognized it as the place God was calling her to, where – in the words of Frederick Buechner – “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Alice met her husband, Martin, while in seminary, and they joined Wycliffe Canada in 2017 in order to serve First Nations communities in northern Quebec and Manitoba as language program facilitators. For five years Alice worked closely alongside Indigenous church leaders, most notably in the Anglican tradition, to create Scripture products and promote the use of First Nations languages in church, school, and community life.

In 2022 Alice and Martin relocated to Calgary, Alberta with their two young children. Alice now serves on the SIL Global Consultant Pool, reviewing Bible translations and advising translation teams primarily in Canada and Africa. Alice is passionate about seeing the global Church be built up through the unique gifts and theological perspectives of mother-tongue Bible translators. To this end, she is also currently pursuing a PhD in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.