Leadership Team

Jo Luck, President and CEO
Jo Luck, who became president and CEO of Heifer International in 1992, has a distinguished record of public service. In 1979, she became then-Gov. Bill Clinton’s first cabinet appointee when he named her executive director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. She served in that post for more than a decade.

Jo Luck achieved another first in 1982-83, when she was chosen as the first woman president of the Hendrix College Alumni Association. She also served as the first executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, an organization modeled after the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC.  She attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and served on the executive committee of the Alumni Advisory Board. In 1999, she attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Session on Governing for Nonprofit Excellence. She was Heifer International Foundation president from 1992 to 2001 and was director of International Programs at Heifer from 1989 to 1992.

Steve Denne, Chief Operating Officer
Steve Denne is the Chief Operating Officer of Heifer International.
Prior to this position, Denne served the American Red Cross for 26 years, most recently as the Vice President of Strategic Fundraising Initiative. In the planning phase he organized and led teams of internal staff and external consultants to assess fundraising; developed a multi-year strategy and business plan; completed a high-level design of a new enterprise-wide fundraising model; and led change management and communications efforts. In the implementation phase, he managed the Initiative’s revenue and expense budget and provided oversight and direction to eight major pilots or program expansions touching almost every aspect of fundraising. Additionally, he spent two years of his career serving at The Pentagon as a Defense Analyst who worked with a special projects group to address economic and performance issues related to the post-Cold War drawdown of U.S. military forces and the Persian Gulf War.
Denne received an MBA from Yale University, School of Management, after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and English with high honors from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He has completed Harvard University’s “Partners in Organizational Leadership” Executive Education, has been a student of the Center for Creative Leadership and has participated in the StarTrack Development Program for High Potential Red Cross Leaders.

Jim De Vries, Executive Vice President of Programs
Dr. James De Vries directs Heifer's Programs Division, which includes the areas of Africa, Americas, Asia/South Pacific and Central Eastern Europe. He provides leadership to the headquarters team as well as to Heifer’s on-the-ground staff around the world, developing and managing more than 770 projects through 53 country and regional offices. He has been Director of Programs since 1992, being named Senior Vice President of Programs in 2003. He was also the Director of Africa/Near East Programs from 1982 to 1992. Prior to Heifer, Dr. De Vries was a professor and head of the Agricultural Extension and Education Department at Sokoine University in Tanzania. Dr. De Vries was born in The Netherlands and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1961.  He is fluent in English, Dutch and Swahili, as well as reading and understanding German. He has a Ph.D. in continuing and vocational education from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. in cooperative extension (education) and a B.A. in history and religion from Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

James Neal, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer
James Neal leads Heifer’s finance, human relations, legal, facilities, and information technology efforts. He joined Heifer in November 2005, and has over a quarter-century of diverse knowledge and skill in corporate financial management, including hands-on experience in fields ranging from Financial Planning and Analysis, Global Treasury and Internal Control. He has worked at Fortune 500 companies such as Ford Motor Corporation, Baxter International and Tenneco Inc. (JI Case Division). In addition, he established a financial advisory firm whose practice included corporate and governmental support on multinational transfer pricing schemes, debt restructuring alternatives, and international finance. Using a fellowship grant from the Ford Foundation, Mr. Neal earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin. He also acquired a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin with emphasis in finance and accounting, and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Economics from Northwestern University.

Steve Stirling, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Resource Development
Steve Stirling, whose nonprofit experience includes leadership roles with World Vision and Childhelp, is Heifer's Executive Vice President of Marketing and Resource Development. Most recently Stirling served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Univera Life Sciences of Olympia, Wash., a maker of nutritional and active-botanical health supplements. Before that, Stirling was a Senior Vice President of Marketing and Resource Development at Childhelp USA in Scottsdale, Ariz., a child abuse prevention and treatment organization. He spent four years at the Christian relief and development charity World Vision in Federal Way, Wash., where he was Vice President of Marketing Operations and Executive Director of Major Donor Fundraising. Stirling earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics at Cornell University and an MBA in marketing and finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, during which time he also studied international business in Paris, France.

Tanya Wright, Executive Vice President of Global Learning and Action
Tanya Wright leads Heifer International’s Global Learning and Action Division which includes the organization’s departments of Education, Global Initiatives, Advocacy, Program Communications and division administration. She also heads Campus Construction and the global Crisis Management Team. Tanya joined Heifer in January 2001 as Chief Information Officer and also has served as Senior Vice President of Internal Operations, where she provided leadership for Legal Services, Finance, Facilities, Human Resources, Information Technology and Organizational Development. In her time at Heifer, Tanya coordinated and developed a team to build Heifer International’s innovative and award-winning “green” headquarters building. She also developed the Information Technology and Legal Services departments; developed and sponsored the Crisis Management Team, and completed legal assessments that formed the foundation of Heifer’s worldwide legal framework. Before coming to Heifer International, Tanya was Director of Infrastructure Solutions for the American Heart Association. Tanya earned a business administration degree from the University of Arkansas. She is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program.