When Alece first stepped foot on African soil as a teenager, she knew she’d return long-term. In 1998, at 19 years of age, she took a leap of faith and moved from New York to South Africa. With the invaluable help of partners and staff through the years, Alece took what started as just a dream and pioneered Thrive Africa from the ground up. She has a strong vision for leadership development, and firmly believes that it is key to turning the tide of the AIDS pandemic. Despite countless setbacks and challenges, Alece remains obedient to God’s calling on her life and passionate about mobilizing indigenous leaders to bring transformational change to Africa. Email Alece

Amy’s passion for Southern Africa was ignited during her first missions trip to Botswana in 1996. In 2000, Amy and her husband Dave became Thrive’s first missionary staff and together they experienced the joy of doing relationship evangelism amongst the street children and underprivileged in the Harrismith community. After her staff commitment, Amy returned to the United States and obtained her Masters of Social Work in 2005. Amy has served on the Board of Directors for Thrive Africa since 2006 and her family returned to South Africa in September 2008. Email Amy

June was content living a comfortable life as a Nurse Manager in the heart of Michigan when an interruption occurred. It was during a mission trip to Thrive that God turned what she thought would be a two-week adventure for the kingdom into a long-term call that superseded time or comfort and dramatically impacted her future. June has always been passionate about people, with a heart to equip and mentor. She is now using that passion and gifting as she serves as the Director for our Leadership Summit Program. Email June

Since her first mission trip at the age of 19, Charlene knew that her life would involve missions. She spent most of her twenties in college, receiving a BS degree and an MBA. After visiting Thrive Africa on a short-term trip in 2006, Charlene knew that God was leading her to make a full-time commitment. Her life mission is to “help leaders stay where they are called”, and she joins the Thrive Africa team as the Director of LaunchPad Program, while also serving as an Operations Manager. Email Charlene

As our US Administrative Specialist, Tracy is an essential behind-the-scenes part of our team and serves as a link between our ministry partners and our field work in South Africa. Tracy has her bachelor’s degree in Education and served as a teacher for several years before becoming a full-time mom. Tracy is the Director of Middle School Ministry at her home church and is serving on the leadership team of a current church plant. Tracy joined our staff team in January 2010.
Email Tracy

After spending a summer as a Next Step intern and a year in the Twenty4Seven internship, Aimee joined our staff team in February 2008. Listowel, Ontario is her hometown, making her our only Canadian staff member in a sea of Americans and South Africans. Aimee is our Finance Manager and assists in the development of Leadership Summit. Email Aimee

Katie fell in love with the people of South Africa while traveling here with friends. She always knew that she would be back, but never anticipated working in missions. A few months later, Katie was headed back to South Africa to start our Twenty4Seven internship program, and she joined our staff team in 2009. Katie is a graduate of the University of Tampa, with a degree in communication, and she is currently serving as Amy Riep’s Administrative Assistant. Email Katie

As a graphic designer in the Creative Services department, Marc is able to combine his passions for youth and creative design. After leading a short-term missions trip to South Africa with students from his church in Michigan, Marc knew this is where he needed to be. Less than six months later, he came back to South Africa as a Twenty4Seven intern and he joined the staff team in 2009. Email Marc

It was during her first mission trip to Ecuador in 2002 that Jill first saw a glimpse of the Lord’s purpose for her life- to serve the underserved, and to share the love of Christ with those in need. In the years following, Jill led several mission trips to South Africa, Malawi, and Palestine. With a passion for missions and a desire to equip others as well, Jill left her career in Information Technology and joined our staff team as the Outreach Director in May 2009. Email Jill

While leading a missions team in 2007, Matt felt called to serve in Africa. A year later, Matt joined our Twenty4Seven internship program, and he joined the staff team in 2009. Matt works in the creative department and serves as our video editor, which gives him an opportunity to combine his love of film with his passion for the people of South Africa. Email Matt

Pastor Abram joined Thrive Africa in 2001 after proving himself faithful as a student at our early LaunchPad classes. Having been with us the longest of all our staff, Pastor Abram is very involved in many aspects of the ministry. He coordinates ministry and follow-up for our Outreach department and oversees the activities of all our interpreters. He also teaches weekly at LaunchPad classes and liaises with the local pastors in our Hand in Hand program. Email Abram

Amanda joined our staff team in February 2006 after faithfully volunteering for a year in our Leadership Summit department. She continues to assist in our school outreach by teaching in the schools, training coaches, and helping with program development. Amanda also teaches a weekly LaunchPad class, interprets for ministry events, assists with office work, and is involved in writing curriculum and other ministry publications. Email Amanda

With a love for people and a heartbeat for South Africa, Jace always knew that she was supposed to work cross culturally. She has been a part of the Thrive Africa family since she was 13, participating in both our summer and yearlong internship programs. During her year-long internship with Thrive, she knew that God could use her passion and raw personal testimony to impact lives for His glory. Jace joined our staff team in 2009 as Relations Specialist for our Leadership Summit and LaunchPad Departments. Email Jace