INCHE Governing Board
INCHE’s governing board sustains the mission and policies of the network. There are two representatives from each of INCHE’s five global regions. Regional INCHE members elect their representatives. Board members may serve for up to six years. Below are the identities of the 2022-2023 INCHE governing board members.
Faith Nguru
Board Member
Africa - Kenya
Faith Nguru is deputy vice-chancellor for academics, research, and student life at Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Nguru is a professor of mass communication with research interests in Christian worldviews and education related to her primary field of study. She served as a department chair, program director, and academic dean at Daystar University. Then Dr. Nguru became the deputy vice-chancellor of Riara University, also in Nairobi, for five years. She returned to Daystar University in 2018. Her most recent publication is a co-authored chapter in Black/Africana Communication Theory published by Palgrave Macmillan (2018). Dr. Nguru has also remained involved in directing a Christian elementary school and teacher training college.
Dr. Elijah Ayolabi
Board Member
Africa - Nigeria
Dr. Ayolabi is a specialist in environmental geophysics, as well as engineering and exploration geophysics. He has executed several environmental and exploration studies for reputable organizations such as Schlumberger. He is a member of Nigerian Mining and Geoscience Society (NMGS), Nigerian Association of Petroleum Exploration (NAPE) and Science Association of Nigeria. Dr. Ayolabi has trained over 100 postgraduate students successfully with over 90 articles in journals and referred conference proceedings, locally and internationally. He became the first Vice-Chancellor of Mountain Top University in 2015.
Dosoung Choi
Board Member
Asia-Oceania - The Republic of Korea
Dr. Dosoung Choi is the President of Handong Global University (HGU) located in Pohang, South Korea. HGU is a Christian university which fosters capable, global citizens with honesty, integrity, and faith. HGU was founded in 1995 and Dr. Choi has served as the university president since 2022.
In his 40 plus years of academic service, Dr. Choi taught at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Seoul National University. He also served as Vice President for International Affairs at HGU and at Gachon University. In the latter part of his career, he worked to educate young people of developing countries based on the belief that economic development is not feasible without good education/training of human capital.
Dr. Choi served on the Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea as a member from 2008 to 2012, leading the central bank’s battle against the global financial crisis. In addition, he served as the President of the Korea Securities Research Institute, a think tank in capital markets research; and he also has been the president of academic societies such as the Korea Finance Association and Korea Securities Association.
Elizabeth Beech
Board Member
Asia-Oceania - Australia
INCHE is grateful that Dr. Elizabeth Beech is willing to return to the INCHE Board after a two-year gap in her board leadership. She previously served on our board from 2018-2021. During the 2020 Covid crisis Beth established the first Graduate Studies programs at Toccoa Falls College, USA, later returning to Australia where she was the Director of Graduate Studies in Education for Alphacrucis University College and currently serves as the Quality and Projects Officer at Avondale University.
Previously, Beth was the Academic Dean of the National Institute for Christian Education (NICE) in New South Wales, the postgraduate arm of Christian Education National. Her passion is instilling a transformative biblical worldview perspective in education and leadership related to teaching, curriculum, administration, and school governance throughout Australia and beyond. She is fluent in Spanish from her many years of mission and educational work in Bolivia, particularly at Universidad Evangelica Boliviana.
Marlene Wall
Board Member
Europe - Lithuania
Dr. Wall began her work at LCC International University in 2002 as the Academic Vice President. Then in 2012 she became the university’s president and has continued in that post since then. She had an undergraduate degree from Tabor College (Kansas), the master’s degree in English as a Foreign Language from Southern Illinois University, and a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Kansas State University. Wall has been active in the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities and was a featured speaker in their 2017 international forum.
Dr. Wall has expertise in strategic planning, non-profit management, entrepreneurship. program development, and writing. During her leadership at LCC International it has grown to be a university with students from more than fifty nations. LCC International University was established in 1993, just after the tumultuous years during which the Berlin Wall fell and there were significant political changes in Eastern and Central Europe. The university was inaugurated through the combined efforts of Lithuanian, Canadian, and American foundations.
Pieter Oudenaarden
Board Member
Europe - Netherlands
Pieter Oudenaarden studied public administration at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, in the Netherlands and was active in the Christian student association CSFR (Civitas In Studiosorum Reformata). Afterwards, he worked for some time as an organizational consultant before beginning administrative leadership for the Christian CNV trade union with 300,000 members, in 2008. Since January 2017 Pieter Oudenaarden has been a member of the executive board of the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede (Christian University of Applied Sciences). This university is a well-regarded higher education institution that focuses on developing and providing high quality professional education, which teaches students to develop, share and apply knowledge, through a Christian multi-cultural worldview.
Nicolás Panotto
Board Member
Latin America - Chile
Dr. Panotto is an Argentinean theologian from the IU ISEDET (Buenos Aires) and PhD in Social Sciences from FLACSO (Argentina). Currently, he is a research scholar in the International Relations Study Center of the Arturo Plat University (Chile) on matters of religion and society. He is also the Director of the Multidisciplinary Study Group on Religion and Social Advocacy (GEMRIP), now called “Otros Cruces”. He is also member of the Latin American Theological Fellowship. The books he has authored include: Faith Becoming Public (Buenos Aires, 2019), Decolonizing Theological Education (Mexico, 2018) and Religion, Politics and Postcoloniality in Latin America (Buenos Aires, 2016).
David Mesquiati
Board Member
Latin America - Brazil
INCHE is grateful that Dr. David Mesquiati is willing to join the INCHE Board of Directors. Among his degrees, he completed a PhD in theology from PUC-Rio (RJ), a Masters’ degree in theology from Faculdades EST (RS), a bachelor's degree in Economic Sciences from the Federal University of Espírito Santo - UFES, and a post-graduate degree in EAD Education from the Claretian College. Also, he engaged postdoctoral studies in theology at Princeton Theological Seminary (USA). Now Dr. Mesquiati is the Pro-Rector of Faculdade Unida de Vitória and a Professor of the Professional Master's Degree in Religious Sciences and degrees in theology at the United College of Vitória (UNIDA) while he is also member of scientific councils for several academic journals and author of several articles and books. He is the former president of the Latin American Theological Fraternity Brazil (FTL) with which INCHE has an ongoing partnership. He is also regularly engaged with the Latin American Network of Pentecostal Studies (Relep Brasil).
Alan Cureton
Board Member
North America - United States of America
From January 2002 through July 2022, Alan Cureton was the eighth president of the University of Northwestern – St. Paul where he also served as president of Northwestern Media, a media ministry of the university. Today he is the Senior Advisor to the current President of the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Under Dr. Cureton’s leadership, several undergraduate degrees were added and the Center for Graduate Studies was established. At his initiative, the university redesigned its core curriculum with a comprehensive emphasis on a Christ-centered, biblical worldview. Beyond his presidency, he has been a trustee and board chair for the Daystar University (U.S. Board), a member and then chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council, and board member with the National Association of Evangelicals. Dr. Cureton also served on Higher Learning Commission evaluation teams and as consultant in the areas of strategic planning, leadership, fiscal health, and board development for private colleges and universities.
Rick Ostrander
Board Member
North America - United States
Rick Ostrander began his professional career as a professor at Taylor University, Indiana and then moved to Grand Canyon University, Arizona. In 1997, Ostrander became an assistant professor of history at John Brown University in Arkansas. Five years later he became the dean of undergraduate studies there, and then was selected as a Fulbright scholar who taught in Germany. In 2009, Dr. Ostrander began his tenure as provost at Cornerstone University (Michigan); and in 2015 he was named as the vice president for academic affairs and professional programs of the U.S.-based Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. In 2019 Dr. Ostrander began a consulting business to coach Christian colleges and universities for academic leadership, including the development of shared online courses. Two years later, in September 2021, he became the Executive Director of Westmont College Downtown in California. His publications include Why College Matters to God: An Introduction to the Christian College and several articles about Christian higher education.