Our Team
ERIC RAJAH
Executive Director and Co-founder
“I want to give back because much has been given to me.”
BRIAN LEAVITT
Project Director and Co-founder
“A dream was developed 30 years ago to do something to make the world a better place. ABW has been the fulfillment of that dream.”
Board Members

RON SYDENHAM
Chair, Board of Directors
Ron is a retired head pastor of College Heights Church in Lacombe, AB. He has volunteered for ABW since 1998, first as the head of the
Steering Committee, now as the Board Chair. He has traveled with ABW several times to East Africa and Belize, as well as to Haiti and Louisiana for relief efforts.
“I volunteer for the privilege of learning from other people and cultures, and to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
STU MACPHAIL
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Water Program Manager
Stu has volunteered with A Better World since 2004 where he has focused on our water program and project monitoring and evaluation. He has been on many trips to various project locations and is currently the ABW Water Program Manager. Stu retired after 35 years in the Oil & Gas Industry, where he was most recently Executive VP of Corporate Development for the Parkland Fuel Corporation.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to volunteer with A Better World. Seeing lives changed and saved through the water program has inspired me to give back.”


JULIE LAPOINTE
Secretary, Board of Directors
GORD BONTJE
Member, Board of Directors
Gord is a Founding Partner of Laebon Homes, based in Red Deer, AB, and has been a supporter of A Better World since 1999. In 2006, Gord began volunteering his own time and energy to travel to project sites throughout Eastern Africa, overseeing the impact which his support has fostered. Gord is passionate about development and he has frequently demonstrated his dedication to seeing impoverished communities improve their standard of living. He has sponsored an immense number of A Better World projects and his generosity has and continues to shape the lives of thousands of people around the world. A Better World is grateful to Gord and his wife Kate for the support they have shown for more than twenty years.


Scott Sankey
Member, Board of Directors
Rwanda Project Manager
Scott has spent the last 20 years working in the oil and gas industry in countries and cultures across the globe, leading teams and influencing others. He is a founding member of the Saruk Centre for Leadership Development. He is a volunteer project manager for Rwanda and has also funded ABW projects and traveled to visit projects in Kenya and Rwanda. He spends his time in Panama and Calgary. Born and raised in Alberta, Scott is passionate about helping others in need.
RAY LOXDALE
Member, Board of Directors


Mona Walls
Member, Board of Directors
Assistant Rehab Project Manager
Mona Walls, is a Pediatric physiotherapist and has managed and monitored the rehab work of A Better World. She has travelled to Kenya and Rwanda with the rehab team to assist with the work. Mona is currently the Chair of the Global Health Division of the Canadian Physiotherapists Association. She has been working for 34 years as a physiotherapist with 25 years in paediatrics.
Our Staff

Carl Hahn
General Manager
Carl first travelled with A Better World to Kenya as a reporter in 2014, and has volunteered in numerous roles since then, as a project manager in the Maasai Mara region and on marketing and communications projects back in Canada. Now he manages project files and funds from the home office in Lacombe.