Meet the Board
Kristi Garrett
CFO, Board Chair
Kristi has been serving in the missions field since 2014 after her first trip to Cambodia. Since first working with LOHI she has been an advocate for the work they have done and continue to do. This first visit sparked a calling in Kristi to serve women and children in Cambodia and around the world. With nearly 20 years of banking and finance experience, Kristi has chosen to honor that calling by serving as CFO for LOHI. She is currently attending graduate school at the University of Oklahoma to obtain her MS in Finance.
Tim Brown
Founder, CEO, Executive Board
An entrepreneur at heart, Tim is a South Carolina resident with a passion for travel and adventure. Over the past decade, Tim has established international business in Southeast Asia, affording him the opportunity to see many places where the affects of child maltreatment, trafficking and forced child labor left their mark on his heart.
Because of the great needs of 'children at risk' in third world countries and his involvement with survivors of child abuse and trauma, Tim set his sights on making a difference in the lives of children in need. His desire is to ELEVATE these little ones out of difficult situations, add value to their lives through
EDUCATION and EMPOWER them to help lead their villages and communities into a better future.
Creative and compassionate, Tim enjoys helping people and is the Founder of LOHI.
Lee Rhea Johns-Mabry, RN, MSN, Lt. Col. (ret.)
Volunteer Medical Ambassador of Hope, Advisory Board
Lee Rhea is married to Keith Mabry and has 2 sons, Aaron and Brandon. They have 3 German Shepherds and live in the countryside of the mountains in Leicester. She began volunteering with LOHI in October 2022 and is LOHI's Medical Ambassador of Hope.
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Lee Rhea has worked for 40 years as a Registered Nurse. She retired in March of 2022 but is keeping her license active. Her nursing experience is in Oncology, Hospice and Palliative Care, and Workers Compensation. Concurrently, she was in the US Air Force Reserves for 28 years, with 4 years as a Clinical Nurse, 14 years as an Aeromedical Evacuation Flight Nurse, and 10 years as the Chief Nurse Executive. She retired as a Lieutenant Colonel and is a Veteran of 2 Foreign Wars.
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Lee Rhea's Education history is a Master of Science in Nursing, Adult Health/Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Curriculum; 2 Bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Nursing.
Karen Cowen MSW, LCSWA
Advisory Board
Karen Cowan has been in North Carolina since 1976 from Detroit Michigan and has lived
places like New York City, Maryland, California, and as young child wanted to make things
better for people. Volunteering at age 8 with her church in Michigan at a home for abused
children changed her life forever. Not really understanding it at the time but knowing that it
was wrong and wanting to make a difference. This has been her driving force her whole
life. Karen became a foster parent to teenage girls at the age of 24 wanting to have a place
that they belonged and were cared about before officially entering into adulthood. Her life
has been involved in some type of community service, or helping agency as either an
employee or a volunteer.
Karen has worked for Buncombe County Child Development, the County
Commissioner/County Manager’s Office, the Baby Love Program as a Maternal and Child
Outreach worker, Group Home Employee and at Blue Ridge Mental Health as a Clinical Case
Manager. She has also done work with non-profit agencies around Human Trafficking.
Karen attended AB Tech and obtained an Associate’s Degree in Law Enforcement
Technology and then went to Mars Hill College to finish up a bachelor’s degree where she
double majored in Criminal Justice and Social Work. Afterward, she attended UNC-Chapel
Hill to obtain her Master’s degree in Social Work.
Karen has worked in this community in the service field for more than 3 decades, loving
every minute of it.