About

Ray F. West, Jr. is the founder, continuing President, and Chief Operating Officer of Moldova World Children’s Fund, Inc. He holds an Economics/Social Sciences BA from the University of North Carolina-Asheville with undergraduate philosophy studies at Oxford University-England and post graduate work in computer programming at Western Carolina University. Ray was in the U.S.

Navy 1968-2002 including active duty in communications security, submarine rescue, and as an in-country South Korea foreign military advisor. He had four Naval Reserve commanding officer tours, one awarded Best Unit Afloat, FY86, on nuclear-capable guided missile destroyer USS William V. Pratt (DDG-44). Captain West is a Surface Warfare Officer, martial artist, and weapons expert.

As a civilian, he was Vice President – Kanuga Conferences, 1977-2005, as administrator, business manager, and personnel director. He was elected President of the International Association of Conference Center Administrators, South East. A former U.S. European Command projects manager, he has been engaged in providing humanitarian assistance in Moldova since 1998.

Elaine F. Marshall, the first woman elected to a statewide executive branch office in North Carolina, began her initial 4-year term as NC Secretary of State in January 1997.

She is a former teacher, small business owner, attorney, and NC Senator. The office helps strengthen NC’s economy by promoting financial capital formation in the state, and more than 2 million businesses have been launched during her tenure. Due to her commitment to international business, she was awarded the International Trade Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charlotte Business Journal and currently co-Chairs the Coalition for Global Competitiveness.

She has served as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State and has received numerous state and national awards for innovation and leadership. A founding member of the Moldova World Children’s Fund Board of Directors, Secretary Marshall has been Chair of the North Carolina – Republic of Moldova Partnership since its inception in 1999. In 2024, she was bestowed with the Order of the Republic, Moldova’s highest honor, by Moldova President Maia Sandu.

James R. Olson, a native of Chicago, Illinois, grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and has resided in Flat Rock, North Carolina since 1985. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, and received a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) degree from Northwestern University in 1974. Jim practiced general dentistry for 11 years in Ft.

Lauderdale before moving to North Carolina where he practiced in Hendersonville for almost 29 years until his retirement in 2014. He is active in his church, St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church, Flat Rock, NC, having served in many leadership roles. He is currently in charge of maintenance of the Historic Churchyard cemetery.

Jim volunteers helping maintain the trails in Pisgah National Forest with the Carolina Mountain Club. He is Secretary of the Flat Rock Park and Recreation Foundation board of directors. Jim and his wife Kitty have served Moldova World Children’s Fund as active volunteers since 2012. Having traveled in various capacities to over 50 different countries, the Olsons provide a world of international experience to the MWCF team.

Michael D. Kirby joined the Board in 2018 following years of working closely with Moldova World Children’s Fund. He was drawn to the MWCF Board by its focus on the neediest people in a country struggling to find its place in the world.

Ambassador Kirby received a BA in History from the University of Pennsylvania and then studied at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Following three years as a high school teacher, Ambassador Kirby entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980, twice serving as Ambassador, to Moldova 2006-2008 and Serbia 2012-2016.

Between ambassadorial stints, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA). With a staff of 11,000, CA processes all visas for people to enter the United States, issues all American passports, and serves as well helping Americans abroad. His overseas postings included Seoul, South Korea; Warsaw, Poland; Frankfurt, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Krakow, Poland; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Georgetown, Guyana. His final assignment was as Deputy Transparency Coordinator scrutinizing the State Department’s handling of email.

Asif J. Chaudhry, Senior Advisor to the Provost & Executive Vice President of Washington State University. He is a board member of Moldova’s largest agricultural producer, processor, and exporter: Trans-Oil Group of Companies. Pakistani-American Dr. Chaudhry was U.S.

Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova 2008-2011, then for three years Foreign Policy Advisor to Chief of U.S. Naval Operations. During his State Department career, he was instrumental in formation of trade agreements with South Korea, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. He served U.S. Embassies as Attache-Warsaw, Counselor for Agricultural Affairs-Moscow, and Minister Counselor at the U.S.

Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. He was V.P. of the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. He completed his undergraduate at University of Punjab, Pakistan, Master’s at American University – Beirut, Lebanon, and PhD in ag-economics from Washington State. He speaks English, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Urdu and Punjabi. Asif and wife Charla worked closely with MWCF renovating boarding schools for orphans in Moldova during his ambassadorship in Chisinau.

William A. Vogel is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Investment Counselor originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He received a B.S.B.A in Accounting from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

He worked at First Union National Bank before becoming a securities analyst and portfolio manager with Wachovia’s Trust Investment Department in Winston-Salem, NC. Bill joined the investment advisory firm of Montag & Caldwell in 1988 and served as the firm’s CEO from 2006-2018. He is now a Principal and Vice Chairman of the Atlanta, Georgia based company which has discretionary assets under management of $800 million.

He was a 15-year member of the Board of Visitors of the Fugua School of Business at Duke University. Active in the United Methodist Church, Bill has been Chairman of the Onnie Mae Spruill Foundation for over fifteen years, Board Treasurer of Grant Park Health Clinic and a Board member and head of the Investment Committee of the Georgia United Methodist Foundation. He is past Chairman of the Empty Stocking Fund and a 25-year Rotarian.

Victor V. Bubuioc, originally from the Republic of Moldova and now a U.S. citizen, is the owner/operator of Overtop Media Digital Marketing in Charlotte, North Carolina.

His company helps small and medium-sized businesses grow. Victor has a diverse entrepreneurial background, including owning Wingstop restaurant franchises and co-founding Queen City Home Renovation in Charlotte, NC along with a fellow Moldovan from his village.

As a youngster, he and his schoolmates benefited from a United States military and Moldova World Children’s Fund renovation of the central heating systems at the two public schools in his hometown of Lapusna, Moldova.

Learning English from a Peace Corps Volunteer, he was sponsored by MWCF, the family of Board of Directors’ Chairman Albert Gooch, and other friends to continue his education in North Carolina.

He graduated from Christ School in Arden, NC, earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from North Carolina’s Brevard College and an MBA from Western Carolina University. Victor has served on the MWCF Board since 2009.

John N. Maxemchuk has lived in Moldova since 2003, making him the longest full-time resident American in the country. He is a business executive and entrepreneur bringing both professional education and experience to Moldova.

John received a B.S. in Finance from The Wharton School, a B.A. in International Relations with focus on Eastern European Economic Transition from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. John was CEO, Sun Communications – Moldova 2003-2016, then COO, Purcari Wineries where he helped lead the first international IPO of a Moldovan company on an international stock exchange. He has helped Moldova in developing its own domestic renewable energy generation and has been a leader in creating private education options in Chisinau.

He co-founded the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova and served as its first president for six years, remaining on the board through 2023. He is a founding member and past chairman of East Europe Foundation Moldova. John has supported the North Carolina – Moldova Partnership since 2004.

S. Joyce Jolly, MSN, Colonel (Retired), United States Army Nurse Corps is a native of North Carolina.

After three years as an Army medic and finishing nursing school, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. She received her United States Army officer commission in 1975, and a dual Master’s in Nursing and Business Administration from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. Military assignments included head nurse, medical surgical unit, Combat Support Hospital, Southwest Asia, multiple chief nurse positions in Germany, and as Commander, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Colonel Jolly was awarded the Legion of Merit and is a five-time recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal. She retired from the Army to become a nursing education consultant/faculty member/ planner for Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville, North Carolina. A member of the Lions Club, Joyce currently resides in Hendersonville, NC and volunteers for several non-profit organizations, including as a member of the Board of Directors of the Henderson County Hunger Coalition.

Sergio A. Porres, native of Guatemala City, Guatemala, moved to the United States in 1984. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and deployed aboard USS Enterprise and USS Abraham Lincoln.

From there, he attended San Francisco State University, graduating with a BA in International Relations and receiving an Air Force officer commission. He holds a MA in National Security from Naval Post Graduate School and a MA in Human Relations from University of Oklahoma. Sergio served in the U.S., Africa, and Europe, including three years in Moldova as Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation. There he and his wife Alejandra were instrumental in initiating and helping MWCF direct renovation and expansion of the Guiding Star center for handicapped children in the village of Gratiesti.

He has helped manage multibillion dollar defense programs and provide civilian communities with medical, sanitation and education infrastructure. He retired from the military in 2022. Sergio currently works as a foreign affairs specialist…managing international agreements for the U.S. Air Force in Science and Technology.

C. Bruce Ashe, a native of Asheville, North Carolina, is currently First Vice President-Investments and a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor with Wells Fargo Advisors in Hendersonville, NC. He has been an Advisor since 1994, first with J.

C. Bradford of Nashville, Tennessee…afterward upon its acquisition by Paine Webber, and subsequently by Switzerland’s UBS, the largest private bank in the world. Bruce joined Wells Fargo Advisors in 2008.

Actively involved at First Baptist Church – Hendersonville, NC as a Deacon and currently chairman of the mission’s committee which is a major portion of the church’s annual budget. A 1975 graduate of the University of North Carolina-Asheville with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science he spent the first part of his working career in management with K-Mart corporation until he began his career as an Investment Advisor. A member of the Lion’s Club of Hendersonville, NC since 1999, he has served as a board member and as President in the past. Bruce has been an active volunteer for Moldova World Children’s Fund since 2011.

Leslie G. Johnson is a resident of both New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Leslie graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. One highlight of her time in college was being inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame.

She moved to New York City and began a career in the fashion industry where she worked for Chris Burch from 1990 – 2005 in product development for private labels. During the years 2005 – 2011, Leslie created and oversaw her own apparel collection which she named Josephine & Laurentina. She presently works as an apparel development consultant and as promotion and development advisor to Moldova World Children’s Fund. Leslie helped develop the J.

Christopher Burch Empathy Training facility at New York University Langone Hospital. She is on the boards of the nationwide Partnership to End Addiction and Horizon’s at St. David’s helping underserved boys grades K-9 in Harlem, New York. Leslie follows her father James Gordon and his wife Alice of Fairhope, Alabama on MWCF’s Board of Directors.

Craig M. Mix, a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot, since 2016 the Chief of Military Programs for the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) in Washington, DC.

Colonel Mix transitioned from army active duty in 2022 to government civil service, remaining in the same position at CMH. A North Carolina native, Craig received a B.S. at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC and a Masters, with honors, from American Military University in Charles Town, West Virginia. During 2007 – 2010, he was stationed within the Moldova Ministry of Defense in Chisinau as the Moldova-North Carolina country-state Partnership Program’s Bilateral Affairs Officer promoting regional stability.

Here he worked closely with Moldova World Children’s Fund on various humanitarian assistance programs. He was with Sprint Corporation as Client Executive Southeast, Federal Accounts, Army/Air Force. From 2014 to 2021, Craig worked at Trimble Navigation as Director, Department of Homeland Security sales. He is the newly appointed Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (JROTC) Senior Army Instructor at South Carolina’s Spartanburg High School.

John David Culp was born in Charlotte, NC, and he and his wife, Donna, built a vacation house in Waynesville in 1997 and have lived there fulltime since 2017. John is a retired U.S.

Army Lieutenant Colonel with nearly 30 years of military service and 19 years of service with the CIA. Both veterans, John and Donna are members of the Western North Carolina Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) as well as Chapter 17 of the Special Forces Association.

John has been a supporter and donor to MWCF since 2022 and has visited Moldova on several occasions, the most notable being the Board of Directors meeting and renewal of the Moldova-North Carolina Partnership for Peace program in 2024. John has volunteered in Ukraine since 2022 as a bomb disposal specialist and is supporting development of a rehabilitation facility for war veterans and their families in Kryvyi Rih known as HART. John and Donna have four adult children and seven grandchildren.

Ron Hollmeier was born, grew up, educated and worked in the Chicago area until accepting an assignment in China in 1995. He received a BSME from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. His professional experience includes thirty-five+ years in the design and construction support of Electric Power Generating Plants for various USA electric utilities.

Involvement included PWR nuclear, gas, oil and coal fueled plants. He conceptualized, coded, and maintained computer programs to simulate electric generating system operation for planning generating plant additions, major equipment selection optimization, and various other engineering-economic applications. Organization responsibilities ranged from creation of an analytical engineering department to support typical mechanical, structural, I&C, and electrical engineering departments designing nuclear power as well as fossil fueled plants.

Manager of mechanical engineering & design department, support of marketing and business development culminating with management of operating plant projects. Assigned to Beijing China to develop turnkey powerplant projects in conjunction with the Marketing Department. After retirement Ron lived and traveled widely in China for 15+ years.