Medair

In June 2011, Medair’s International Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Jim Ingram as Medair’s CEO.

Jim was raised in Ontario, Canada, where he spent nine years in university, getting a number of degrees. His studies included mathematics, computer science, economics, and philosophy. He spent some time working for the Canadian government before beginning his career at L’Abri Fellowship Foundation in Switzerland. From 1980 until 2003, he worked at L’Abri as a teacher, counsellor, treasurer, and as director. For 15 years, he was the Executive Director of Swiss L’Abri. He was the trustee of six L’Abri Foundations around the world, and was instrumental in opening a branch in his home country of Canada.

In 2004, Jim began working for Medair and he has been an integral part of the organisation ever since. Jim’s combination of professional expertise and a deep grounding in Christian apologetics quickly made him a vital contributor to the organisation’s growth and vision. He served as Director of Finance, Interim CEO, and as a key voice on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). As a member of the ELT, he has been involved in all the major decisions about Medair’s mission and its implementation. Jim is ideally situated to lead the organisation forward to face the challenges of a changing world.

Jim's wife, Gail, also works for Medair in Human Resources. They have four sons, three of whom were born in Switzerland.

Jim joined Medair in January 2011 as Executive Office Director. His primary responsibilities are to lead and manage Medair’s governance practices and oversee organisational strategy and planning. He works closely with the CEO, the Executive Leadership Team, and the International Board of Trustees on a range of executive office initiatives including internal communications, funding strategy, compliance, risk management, and coordination of governance and strategy with Medair affiliates. He acts as Medair’s General Counsel and Organisational Secretary. Jim is also overseeing Medair’s Marketing and Swiss Fundraising functions on an interim basis pending the appointment of a new director for those teams.

A lawyer by training, Jim has more than 25 years of international legal and management experience in the government, private practice, and corporate sectors. His education includes a Bachelors degree in Economics from Duke University, a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Miami (Florida), and a law degree from the University of Florida. After finishing law school, Jim worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. He then worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. with the law firm, Arnold & Porter. Jim left private practice to join the Altria group of companies in Switzerland. While there, he held a number of senior legal positions before joining Medair on a volunteer basis in August 2010.

Jim and his wife, Cheryl, both native Floridians, have lived in Switzerland since 1992.

Peter became Director of Human Resources (HR) for Medair in September 2010. As HR Director, Peter’s primary responsibility is to lead and manage Medair’s HR department and Medair’s internationally recruited staff (IRS) with care and professionalism to support the organisation in the implementation of effective humanitarian aid projects. He also leads and manages initiatives in the areas of organisational development and organisational culture.

Prior to Medair, Peter was a member of the British Airways Executive People Leadership Team responsible for the development and delivery of HR services across the BA Group worldwide. He was responsible for a team delivering operational HR services for the BA Group of 40,000 employees, including training, recruitment, payroll, HR systems, and employment policy advice.

Earlier, as head of People and Organisation Development, Peter specialised in driving corporate change focused on organisation effectiveness and efficiency. One organisational initiative under his leadership resulted in a 35 percent reduction in sickness leave over a two-year period. In 2005, Peter was chosen by the Chief Executive to lead a team to reduce overhead costs across the company by £40m through process analysis and organisation redesign. Over the years, Peter has driven several other complex change programmes including leading the international HR team to establish the employee elements of the oneworld global alliance.  As head of Recruitment for BA, he ran one of the UK’s largest multidiscipline recruitment and assessment centres and introduced award-winning web-based recruitment processes.

Married with a son in school and a daughter studying in the UK, Peter is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has been trustee of a youth charity, a local school, and pension schemes with funds of £10.5b, as well as supporting and fundraising for a remote hospital in Africa. Peter enjoys supporting youth work and music ministry through his local church. In 2006 he was appointed as Worship Development Leader and worked with the other leaders of his church to support the congregation in developing their expressions of their faith through music and the church’s vision to serve the community.

Peter is currently overseeing Medair's Information Services function on an interim basis pending the appointment of a new director for that team.

As Internal Controller, John Rigstad is responsible for the assessment and improvement of internal controls in Medair.  This encompasses operational performance, reliability of financial reporting, compliance with laws and regulations, and organisational risk.  John is passionate about his work for Medair, because he directly contributes to building trust in the organisation through improvements in accountability and integrity. He reports to the Chief Executive Officer and acts in an advisory role to employees of the organisation.

John has worked with Medair for 10 years, first as Finance Director and then as Information Services Director.  Prior to this, John worked in financial and administrative management at St. Johns Water Company, a non-profit water utility. He worked for eleven years as a computer and network executive for Murphy Motor Freight Lines and spent three years in financial administration for Youth with a Mission in Switzerland.  John also spent four years teaching and demonstrating entrepreneurial business principles in post-Communist Romania.
 
John is from the United States, where he earned a BA with Special Departmental Honours in Economics from Macalester College in Minnesota. He is married to Nancy and has two adult daughters living in South Carolina.