Board members serve for 3 years and can then serve 3 more before rotating off the board for at least 1 year.

One must have spent time in South Sudan to be considered for the board.

In October 2019, the Water is Basic board gathered in Philadelphia to say goodbye to founding members Gregg Murry and Amy Goddard. We also welcomed Michael Guaglione and Lisa Primavera to the board.

Karin Wollschlaeger is an OB/GYN physician practicing in Denver, CO. She has long been involved in academics and teaching medical students and residents. Her other passion is mission trips, serving women with their gynecological surgical needs. She and her husband spent a year in Cambodia, and after they had children continued their service with them in the toe. They have spent time in Ecuador, Peru, India, Nepal, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. The time spent in South Sudan allowed everyone to focus on their skills- medical work, installing solar panels, and working with the children in the schools. The family spent an afternoon visiting a community that had been transformed by the clean well water that Water is Basic brought. Illnesses, miscarriages, death, and poverty previously defined this community. Now there was health, term pregnancies with healthy children, life, and a source of income. It is evident that clean water is not only a basic necessity for survival, but water is so much more.

Steve Roese is an out-of-the-box thinker who wants to change the world by connecting dots, and people, to make the impossible - possible. He has traveled much of the developing world, and is burdened for, and amazed by the people he meets. “Whatever It Takes” for him is more than a tag line, it’s how things change. Impatient with the status quo, his focus is on both the haves and have-nots of society and whose cultural ethos is to do whatever it takes to collide the lives of both.

Roese is the cofounder of Water Is Basic, a highly efficient borehole drilling organization in South Sudan, where they complete a new, life-giving well every two to three days. Roese currently serves as president of the nonprofit, where they focus on indigenous solutions to indigenous problems of water and sanitation. Water Is Basic has currently completed over 100 water projects impacting the daily life of over 1,500,000 South Sudanese. Roese is also one of the founding board members of ALARM Inc., an indigenous East African organization working on reconciliation and pastoral training and development.

Before leading Water is Basic, Roese served as Director of Development at REACH International, where he worked to establish the flourishing organization in its role of training leaders in the developing world. He dedicated 14 years as Executive Pastor to Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas, where he led the church toward a community-focused, mission-focused ministry. During this time he led, designed and completed a $15 million construction project of new and existing facilities expansion – a design so groundbreaking, it has influenced church design across the nation.

In a world turned upside down by technology, and social media, where new countries are birthed and old ones are transformed overnight, Roese is grateful to know there are still places where a basic investment can return amazing results. The new nation of South Sudan is enjoying the heady days of nationhood so similar to the early years of the birth of America; it’s tumultuous, it’s exciting, it’s frustrating, it’s life-giving.

In the midst of it all, Roese is thankful Water is Basic and its teams of South Sudanese are providing clean fresh water to hundreds of thousands giving them a breath of air that fills their lungs with the air of hope. He shares, “When clean water means health, successful births, an education, peace, hours of labor saved, that clean water literally is the mortar that holds together the bricks of a new nation’s foundation. It’s simple but it is profound.”

“It’s nationhood…one borehole at a time. “

Roese received a BS in economics and business from NYU Stern School of Business; an MS from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently pursuing a DM in International Global Leadership at Bakke Graduate University. Roese has been married 32 years to his highly gifted and talented wife and has three grown children, who he happens to really like.

Abbey has led efforts with Feed My Starving Children resulting in over 1 million meals sent to those in need. She founded and led Carrier Ministries (an org that invested in agroforestry in East Africa and Cambodia and funded grass-roots farming projects in Honduras), chaired her church's Missions Commission, and serves on the executive team of All Saints Children's Home in Peshawar, Pakistan. She seeks to invest her time in long-term, slow-burn efforts that will bring lasting improvement in the lives and futures of communities worldwide. She is so excited to be part of the WiB team, confident that they are carrying out an effective, efficient, and lasting change in South Sudan. She is married to Dane and has three children. She loves missions, mountains, and playing music with her husband. Her favorite hike so far was 70 miles of the Cornish coast in southern England. Next up: hopefully, Iceland?

Carrie Ward is the Executive Director of Water is Basic. She lives in Atlanta, GA, with her two teenage daughters and her husband, who happens to be her high school sweetheart. In her nomadic journeys, Carrie has taught elementary and middle school in Tennessee and Texas and has served as a Children’s Director in the United Methodist Church in Alabama and Florida. Since 2008, she has passionately raised funds for Water is Basic across the southeast, initially as a volunteer, then a board member, and now as a full-time employee.

In July of 2015, Carrie had the opportunity to travel to East Africa with Water is Basic, spending time in Yei, South Sudan, and Goma, Congo, fueling her passion as she saw first-hand the impact of clean water and local solutions. Carrie served as a WiB board member for a year, and since 2017, has been honored to use her relational and organizational gifts to work full time with Water is Basic.

Michael Guaglione was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. in Advertising from Rowan University and is a co-founder and Creative Director of EyeCatcher Creative, an advertising agency in New York City.

James holds a Master of Arts in Community Development from St. Paul University, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Community Development and Conflict Transformation from Daystar University, and an Advanced Diploma in Theology from St. Paul University, Kenya. He has vast experience of over 16 years of working with other regional organizations in the polarized context of South Sudan and perfectly understands the needs and dynamics of conflict across sections of different conflicting communities in South Sudan