Our board truly gives tirelessly in support of our mission. We’re pleased to have these dynamic individuals on our team and thank them for the energy and creativity they bring to Global Village Connect.
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Joanne Trangle, Founder
Joanne Trangle founded Global Village Connect. The many wonderful friends and associations she’s made throughout her 25 years of travel showed her the importance of peer relationships between people from different cultures. After adopting her youngest child from Ethiopia, she resolved that no parent should have to give up a child due to a lack of food and basic resources, as some do in developing countries in order to give their children what they need . For the last five years she’s been facilitating projects that connect children with opportunities to be successful, and that help families and communities become economically self-sufficient. |
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Debbie Jacobson Glotter, Board Secretary
Debbie Jacobson Glotter has followed the Abayudaya Jewish community since 2002, and always dreamed of visiting one day. That dream came true when she visited her son, Michael, who volunteered with Global Village Connect in 2016. She had the opportunity to teach Challah baking at the Sholom Women’s Bakery. Debbie has had a lifelong commitment to helping others. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work, and counseled adults with Eating Disorders. Her family also mentored immigrant Russian and Somali families when they moved to Minnesota. Her trips to Uganda have been life changing and she is honored to be on the Board of Global Village Connect to continue their important work. |
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Adrienne Pelleg, Treasurer
Adrienne Pelleg is a director with Tefen USA. She brings with her over 20 years of experience in operations management with direct profit and loss responsibilities at a major Fortune 500 company, and many years of Six Sigma, lean and Kaizen implementations. Competencies include financial strategy, business process and business transformation, organizational effectiveness and change management, operation excellence in both transactional and manufacturing environments. Adrienne has been involved with Global Village Connect since its inception and currently serves as Treasurer. |
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Sherry Rudin, Board Member
Sherry Rudin and her husband Jim have been educating their children through travel since they were old enough to walk. She believes there is no better way to learn than to experience life first-hand. Sherry and daughter Jessie traveled to Uganda and spent time at Buyanga Primary School. During the week the students opened their homes to them, they cooked dinner and did chores alongside their hosts. Sherry saw the impact that Global Village Connect had on the community. She was so moved by what she saw, that she came aboard to help Global Village Connect expand its reach. Sherry was an IT with Fortune 500 companies. She also volunteers her IT skills to help students with learning disabilities. She’s worked with school administrators, teachers and parents to use assistive technology to help students excel in their education. |
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Heather Ring, Board Member
Heather has devoted her career to working as a non profit professional focusing on higher education, legal services, community building, international, and environmental non profits. Following completion of her degree in International Relations at the University of Minnesota, Heather began her career managing higher education programs at the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education. She left this position in 2003 to pursue her passion for international sustainable development work and travel, volunteering with Global Service Corp on a sustainable agriculture project in Arusha, Tanzania. Within a month of returning from Tanzania, Heather set off for Leuven, Belgium to begin a master's degree in Conflict and Sustainable Peace at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Following graduation, she started law school at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2007 and moving to Chicago, IL. While in Chicago, Heather worked for Heartland International, a small non profit focused on promoting the development of civil society around the world by providing educational programming funded by the U.S Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development. Upon returning to Minnesota she practiced as a criminal defense attorney for two years before returning to the non profit world as a regional development officer covering the Northeastern United States for the University of Minnesota Foundation. The opportunity to blend her criminal defense and development backgrounds appeared when she was asked to join the Great North Innocence Project as the Executive Director. Heather was then asked to join the Minneapolis Jewish Federation (MJF) as the organization's Chief Development Officer. While at MJF, Heather rebuilt the organization's development team and developed and executed a comprehensive and diversified strategic development plan encompassing all aspects of fundraising for the Minneapolis Jewish Community - including the organization's annual, planned, restricted, directed, emergency, capital and endowment, and corporate giving programs. She currently serves as the Midwest Regional Director of Philanthropy for the Trust for Public Land. Heather enjoys traveling, reading, sailing (she's a complete novice), reading, pretending she can "craft," cooking, and visiting and relaxing "Up North." She's a life-long Golden Gopher, and lives in Robbinsdale, Minnesota - a first ring suburb to Minneapolis - with her husband, a practicing massage therapist. |
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Bonnie Radintz, Board Member
Bonnie Radintz is a healthcare IT executive, currently serving as the Vice President of Sales Operations and Deployment Services at Surescripts, the foremost healthcare information network in the United States. Bonnie brings over 22 years of experience in healthcare technology, business operations, and myriad leadership roles. She holds a bachelor’s degree in IT management and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Bonnie is dedicated to giving back and has an unwavering commitment to making a positive impact, having volunteered in various capacities for numerous non-profit organizations. In her spare time, she loves to travel, hike, cycle, backpack, garden, read and enjoy time with her husband, kids and two dogs in Greenfield, MN. Bonnie is honored to have the opportunity to be a part of and to contribute to advancing the mission of Global Village Connect. |
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Michael Glotter, Agriculture Specialist
Michael Glotter is a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Chicago office, where he has worked since 2017. At BCG, Michael specializes in helping upper management think through strategy, primarily in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. Prior to joining BCG, Michael worked in the U.S. Senate as an adviser on energy, agriculture, and climate policy. Michael received his PhD in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago in 2015, where he studied the impacts of climate change on agriculture. He received his Bachelor in Science and Engineering in Earth Systems Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2010. Michael has been working with Global Village Connect since 2016, mostly on their farm projects. He spent 1 month in Uganda in 2016 kicking off the project at the Buyanga Primary School, planting 550 banana trees and making plans for the growth of the farm. |