Our Board
Lynn Velez
Lynn holds a B.S. Degree from San Diego State University. She moved to Hong Kong in 2001 and the following year moved to Shenzhen. In 2006 she started volunteering at the local orphanage and engaging herself in community activities. Lynn has been involved with Captivating International since 2009 and is practically family to us. It was at this time in her life where she and her husband decided after many years of living in China it was time to give back to a country that had given them so much, and reached out to Captivating International. It was Lynn who championed Captivating’s first Charity Auction in Shenzhen (2009) and still co-chairs this event today. Now based in the US, Lynn continues her desire to impact the world’s poor with specific passions for girls in both China and Nepal, and issues of human trafficking.
Tom Wang
Tom Wang holds a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University, New York. He is Co-Founder & President of GPA Global Group, a premium packaging and display solutions provider founded in 2007. Tom aims to create a new industry standards in commitment, creativity and sustainability world widely. With his insightfulness and solid industry knowledge, GPA now has manufacture sites and branch offices in 3 continents 13 cities with 1,400 employees worldwide. GPA Group have been committed supporters of Captivating for many years. Along with his experience and professionalism, Tom also has a proactive attitude and passion for helping those in need.
Greg Schultheis
Greg has been a long-time supporter of Captivating and joined the Board as a director in 2015. A businessman from the United States, Greg and his family have called China home since 2007. Greg is passionate, focused, and has a real desire to solve problems rather than apply band-aid solutions in the form of welfare or aid. His business acumen and desire for tangible results is a great fit for Captivating.
Karen Seymour
Karen Seymour is Chief Purpose Officer at Human at Work, a strategy lab working with organizations across all industries and of all sizes, building strategies for impact that help their people, teams and organizations thrive. She is a strong collaborator and connector. Karen has built a career spanning almost 30 years, mostly in Asia Pacific, as an agile and entrepreneurial leader in corporates and start-ups in financial services, the supply chain, media, wellness and philanthropy. She has forged partnerships and community impact for decades, where purpose has played centre stage in building action for a better world. Karen has supported Captivating since 2014 and is excited to help this truly remarkable team bring even more empowerment, positive impact and possibilities to the deserving women and children we serve.
Glenn Roberts
Glenn brings to Captivating in excess of 20 years of NGO experience. Previously CEO of one of Captivating’s Australian based partners (ICC), Glenn is particularly experienced in administration, procedural and government compliance matters. His interest in project compliance and audits, clarity of project objectives, and how to continually raise the bar on accountability and integrity checks makes him a critical member of the board. Glenn will help us to structure Captivating for it’s next 5 years of growth.
Our Team
Andrew Colquhoun
Co-Founder and CEO
Born and raised in New Zealand (a kiwi), Andrew migrated to Australia working for 20 years in the corporate sector covering Finance, HR, Management Consulting and in his later years Corporate Social Responsibility. At 40, he along with his wife, Julie and 5-year-old son, moved to China following a decision to devote the rest of their lives to help children of the world. Andrew and Julie founded Captivating International Foundation Limited in 2008. He is passionate, positive and purpose driven. He is humorous, honest and driven by an incredibly high sense of integrity. His greatest loves is his family. His heart breaks at children suffering. His indulgences are chocolate and coffee.Julie Colquhoun
Co-Founder and Project/Finance Manager
Julie co-founded Captivating with her husband, Andrew, in 2006. Following 20 years in the finance industry where Julie worked as Group Financial Controller for one of Australia's leading insurance groups, Julie became increasingly frustrated at the needs of less fortunate children of the world and less content with "normal" living back in Australia. Julie's exceptional organizational and administration abilities ensure that Captivating stays focused, efficient and compliant. She is particularly passionate about the desperate needs of girls caught in the terrible trap of Human Trafficking in Nepal and the many single mothers living in Nepalese slums struggling to raise their children.Tracy Chen
Administration Manager, Shenzhen
Tracy has been with Captivating since 2011 and runs the Shenzhen support office as well as direct coordination with our Chinese project partners. Tracy is also the office mum for three Tibetan girls who live in the rooms above the office. With previous experience in Human Resources and Administration Tracy is famous for her ability to multitask and make any difficulty seem problem free. Tracy is incredibly valuable to the work that Captivating does and a critical part of our China program. She is the glue holding everything together.Francine Zhang
Child Sponsorship Coordinator
Francine graduated from Northeast Normal University and after more than ten years of working in schools and kindergartens she developed a great enthusiasm and passion for working to improve the futures and opportunities of children. She joined Captivating in 2012 and is responsible for driving the child sponsorship program and handling sponsor’s inquiries. Francine is also involved in overseeing various projects, gathering materials, project photos and writing blog stories to keep our donors up to date. Francine also assists with many other administrative tasks. Francine is a loyal and supportive member of the team and is willing to perform any task.
Ashley Stahle
Global Events Director | Co-Chair Captivating Charity Auction
Ashley believes that the best leaders are the greatest servants and that we always have more to learn than to teach. Her bachelor's degree in Psychology, 7 years of expat life, and her professional background in staffing & training, teaching, event planning, and charity work have provided a great framework to utilize these principles in her work with Captivating. As Co-Chair for Captivating's annual Charity Auction, she primarily focuses on ensuring the volunteers, details, and logistics of the event are in place so that Captivating's influence can continue impacting lives on a daily basis. She also enjoys the layers of enriching adventure that come with being a mother of three active children!France Bernardo
Graphic Design and Communications Coordinator
France joins the Captivating team with a Bachelor of Broadcast Communication and a passion to make a difference in the world. Her creative flair and talented writing ability is an asset to the team. France works on creating our amazing reports and updates from our many projects as well as creates all our event designs.Kayla Moraleja
Communications and Digital Marketing Manager
Kayla graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Economics. During her time at university, Kayla led fundraising projects and events which supported various causes in her community. This ignited a passion in Kayla that made her want to build a career and live her life with the purpose of serving others. Kayla leads our online fundraising events and focuses on ensuring effective communication with donors about projects through our publications and online presence.Jofe Runio
Communications and Online Events Coordinator
Jofe joined Captivating in September 2023 as our Communications and Online Events Coordinator. He has been working in the digital marketing field for many years and has now decided that his passion for graphic designing and community engagement be used for a greater cause. In Captivating, he primarily works for our online events and design assets while generously applying his creativity in everything that comes along his way.
Sue Zhang
Accountant
Sue joined Captivating in September 2020 as our part-time Accountant. She has 14 years of great experience in accounting. Her focus is ensuring Captivating complies with country laws and guidelines as well as ensuring we are passing annual accounting audits and inspections. Sue also provides accounting support to our project partners by helping them to improve their financial records and practices. Sue is a very calm, patient & diligent person and always prepared to help others.Serena Cole
Fundraising and Events Manager, Shenzhen
Serena is a Durham University graduate and a mother of two, who has worked in International Event Management and Executive Administrative roles in public and private sectors, including Microsoft, BBC and for Corporate CEOs. She has also been a teacher and is an artist when time allows. Over the last 14 years she has loved nothing more than creating new events to raise money for impoverished children to get an education. Serena is responsible for all Shenzhen based fund-raising events which involves leading and directing over 100 volunteers. She is also the primary contact and organizer of our school partnership program.Kate Brown
Project Manager, Philippines
Kate has worked as a Program Manager international development for 15 years, throughout a number of countries in Asia. She has a special heart for seeing young women freed and restored from human trafficking and has overseen the establishment of projects in the Philippines which include microfinance, a social enterprise and various community development projects. Graduating from Monash University in Social Welfare she has served as Program Manager in one of Melbourne’s largest crisis residential support agencies, and has established a number of businesses and projects.Greg Schultheis
Volunteer, Board Member
Greg is the chair of the Midnight Charity Race, a successful annual charity fundraiser in Shenzhen that he initiated back in 2009. Since that time this event has raised in excess of US$100k for Captivating. Greg makes things happen and no task is too big or small for him. His loud voice and large presence make him an amazing advocate for Captivating. You will find Greg either on the stage as Charity Auctioneer or yelling out instructions to 200 runners ready to start racing for a cause. A savvy businessman, Greg is not only a wonderful asset to Captivating, he's also a good friend.