Ghana Rural Integrated Development is a registered Canadian charity that operates almost entirely through volunteers.
Contact Information
Ghana Rural Integrated Development Canada
PO Box 398 Milton, ON L9T 4Y9
tel: 289-429-1099
fax: 905-878-4597
email: grid@grid-nea.org
Board Members
Jacques Lapointe (Chair, GRID Canada)
Born in Ottawa, Canada, Jacques Lapointe received a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an MBA (Finance) from Concordia University in Montreal. He also completed an EPBA at Columbia University in New York.
Mr. Lapointe’s business career in pharmaceuticals and biotech spanned over 35 years with companies which included Johnson & Johnson, GSK, and Biochem Pharma, where he held a number of senior executive and global responsibilities. He was also a Director and Chairman of a number of public and private health industry corporations in the USA and Canada, as well as a number of charities and non-profits organizations. Today he is co-owner of several private companies and is Chairman of Teen Challenge Canada Inc. as well as The Makbraneth Foundation, a private Canadian foundation.
Jacques has been on the board of GRID since 1999 and was appointed Chairman in 2009. He and his wife Brigitte now live in the Toronto area and travel to Ghana regularly.
Tim Bayless
Born in West Virginia, Tim Bayless has spent most of his life in Indiana. He holds a BSc in Health and Physical Education and an MSc in Health Education. In a career of nearly 40 years, he has worked as a Health Educator in a facility for multi-handicapped children, an athletic trainer, and a high school science teacher.
Mr. Bayless has also served in a variety of church leadership capacities, including membership on the Board of Elders and twenty years of service as Treasurer for Evangelical Community Church in Bloomington.
Tim and his wife, Kathy, have been associated with GRID and NEA since 1987. They have both been to Ghana and hope to return again soon. Tim has been a member of GRID’s board since 2009.
Paul Hurlburt
Paul Hurlburt was born in Toronto and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University. He has been in the retail automotive business for over 32 years and is currently employed in a dealership in Toronto.
Mr. Hurlburt has volunteered in a number of churches and a private Christian school, typically providing support and leadership for organizations’ finances. He has been treasurer twice in the organizations he has worked with.
He and his wife Marion have been to Ghana several times. They have four children, 2 have been to Ghana and the other 2 they hope to take in the future. They live just north of Toronto. Paul joined the GRID board in 2014.
Paul Lapointe
Born in Montreal, Canada, Paul Lapointe holds a diploma in Accounting and Financial Management from Centennial College in Markham and a business degree (BAS) from York University in Toronto.
Paul has 25 years experience in progressive roles in both Finance and Information Technology. He started his career as an Accountant in the Information Technology Industry and since then has held various finance and IT specialist and leadership positions in the Telecommunications, Consulting and Public Sectors. Paul’s passion for technology and innovation along with his finance background and business experience provides a unique combination of skills. As a certified SAP consultant, Paul has provided strategic consultation to large organizations such as: Bell Canada, Bell Mobility and Purolator, and more recently hands on SAP development and implementation for one of the largest municipalities in Ontario.
Paul is a board member of The Makbraneth Foundation, and has been the treasurer for GRID since 2009.
Dr. Jennifer Wilson
Dr. Jennifer Wilson (MD CCFP (EM) DIM & PH) has practiced family and emergency medicine for 14 years. She has a Diploma in International Medicine and Public Health, and is a part-time clinical Lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
In 2004, Dr. Wilson received a challenge that our world needs family physicians to engage in the global health arena. Since then, Jennifer has led six international health care teams to GRID and NEA’s project site in Carpenter, Northern Ghana. As part of her ongoing professional development, she completed a two-week learning exchange placement in a hospital in Northern Ghana in 2013. She also led an intensive training for 30 community-based midwives and nurses in Ghana on the topic of neonatal resuscitation.
Dr. Wilson has been on the board of GRID since 2009. She and her husband, Graham, live in Uxbridge, Ontario with their five children.