Jenny Bowen
Founder, OneSky and Chunhui Children
“On a rainy day in 1997 when we met our little daughter, Maya, I began to learn what it means to a child to live a life without love. Just a year later, I looked out my window and saw our beloved toddler romping in the garden, so full of life and joy, looking for all the world like she’d always been adored. I suddenly understood just how resilient young children can be, and at that moment, I resolved to do whatever I could so that no child …
Richard Bowen
In loving memory of
As a Half the Sky founding director, adoptive father, and Jenny’s husband, OneSky is dear to my heart. I’ve been deeply inspired watching the children of OneSky, how the human spirit endures and persists despite difficult circumstances. Richard has photographed 20 features and shot and directed hundreds of television commercials. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, the International Photographer’s Guild, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Richard authored Mei Mei, Little Sister: Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage and is the producer, writer, and director of Cinderella Moon.
Janice Cotton, PhD
Senior Program Advisor
Chief Program Officer, Retired
“I first learned of OneSky in 1998, shortly after adopting our daughter. In 2001, because of my background in child development and education, Jenny invited me to train our first caregivers in China and the rest, as they say, is history.” Janice has worked in the field of early childhood care and education for over 30 years as a teacher, public school administrator, child development center director, professor and research scientist, and as an education consultant for foundations, research institutions and schools. Janice, her husband Jim, and their daughter Kathryn reside in Birmingham, Alabama.
Matt Dalio
CEO and Chief of Product, Endless Mobile, Founder, China Care Foundation
“As a teenager, I worked in an orphanage. I would hold a child in my arms, a child the doctor told me might die. I could do nothing or I could go home to find the money for that child’s surgery. This changed my life.” In 2000, at the age of 16, Matt founded China Care Foundation to help orphaned children with special needs in China, and currently serves as President of its Board. He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mei Jiang
Senior Finance Advisor
I began working at OneSky part-time as a donations coordinator in 2003. I was moved by the stories I heard from adoptive families and became committed to making changes in the lives of those children left behind. Born in Nantong, Mei worked as a bank manager at the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank before she came to the US. She received her MBA from California State University at Hayward with a focus on accounting. She lives in Hong Kong with her husband, Ting Lu and daughters, Mira and Nora.
Peter Rupert Lighte
OneSky Director Emeritus
As a father of two Chinese daughters, I never forgot about the children ‘left behind.’ When Half the Sky came along, I was able to do more than just think about them. Now that our model for care has been widely recognized–by the Chinese government itself–I no longer think of orphans as being left behind. They are now being helped along their way. Peter is a Sinologist and author of Host of Memories: Tales of Inevitable Happenstance and Pieces of China. He and his husband live in Princeton, New Jersey with their two daughters.
Debbie Tong
Director of Global Programs, Mongolia
“I am incredibly fortunate to combine two passions of mine at OneSky: my passion for the children still in orphanages ever since my husband and I adopted our daughter Maddie from Tongling in 2000, and my 30-plus years of experience as a pediatric physical therapist.” Debbie started working with OneSky in 2002, first as a nanny trainer and then helping serve the needs of children with disabilities. She received her MA in Physical Therapy at Stanford and lives in Menlo Park, California with her family.
Wen Zhao, PhD
Senior Program Advisor
“I truly believe that all children can learn and transform their lives because I have witnessed it. The moments watching children grow and develop to the fullest, as well as the transformation of the adults working alongside them, have been the best and the happiest of my life.” Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Wen previously worked as a middle school teacher in China. She obtained her doctorate in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and was instrumental in helping OneSky design its first preschool programs.
Wang Zhenyao, PhD
President, China Philanthropy Institute, Chairman, Chunhui Children’s Foundation
“In my work educating and training potential philanthropists, I still look to OneSky for inspiration.”Zhenyao is the Director of the new Beijing Normal University One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute and Director of the China Institute for Social Policy. Prior to this, he served as Director-General of the Department of Social Welfare at China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and Director of Disaster Relief. In 1994, he initiated China’s first village election, sparking fundamental change in China. Zhenyao holds an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Beijing University.
Zhang Zhirong
Senior Executive Advisor
One morning, two decades ago, I received a long distance call from a woman in the United States who wanted to help orphaned children. From that moment, a bright red thread has linked my fate with OneSky and the children. Zhang Zhirong graduated from Beijing’s University of Foreign Languages and received an MA from the University of Michigan. She has worked as a translator, a project director for UN-supported population projects, and for the China Population Welfare Foundation. Her work helping establish OneSky is detailed in Wish You Happy Forever.