David jonsson
Founder/ceo
David is the founder of World Volunteer. His own upbringing in Laos in the 90’s shaped his interest and passion for international development, social enterprise, and experiential learning.
Outside of his job David likes playing badminton, golf, tennis, hanging out with his family and traveling. David also has extensive experience leading corporate team building activities, retreats, and workshops from groups across the world. David’s goal for any trip is to show an unpeeled, honest, and vulnerable version of himself in order to encourage and inspire participants in the program to show and share their inner self.
Jesper Lejfjord
Co-Founder
Jesper is the other founder of World Volunteer. His work in sustainable tourism in Laos in the 2000's made him fall in love with the country and moved his life there. Jesper is truly a person with interests that span many areas. He has exported trucks to Nigeria, published a Adventuresome Cookbook from his travels in Central Asia, transformed a 16th century palace to a co-workingplace & worked extensively with rural ethnic minorities in SE Asia.
As a tripleader Jesper loves to assist the participants in uncovering the stories we all hold about ourselves and using the disconnection from technology to connect more to ourselves.
jesper@world-volunteer.com
Dean McLachlan
Destination Manager and Director of Compliance & Risk Management
Dean hails from Tasmania, Australia but has called Siem Reap home since 2009. He has worked in Tourism in the region since 2007 in every role from Trip Leader to Country Manager.
Dean has also spearheaded multiple social initiatives such as the ‘Refill Not Landfill’ Campaign - a project with the aim of reducing plastic waste in South East Asia. He and his wife upcycle traditional Cambodian wooden houses in their spare time!
Julia hopkins
Director of program operations
Julia joined the World Volunteer team in 2018. She holds an MSc in International Relations from London, studying human rights. Originally from New England, she has worked around the globe over the past 15 years, living in Europe, China, Australia and Southeast Asia, working in the outdoor education industry. She has led several international trips to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, China and Nepal. In addition to exploring new places, Julia loves being outdoors and is an avid rock climber and hiker.
Kor Vue
Laos program manager & coordinator
Kor (or Hard-Kor as he is known by many students) comes from a Hmong family living in the countryside in a village known as LongLao Mai, which also is one of the locations for our project site! He studied english and tourism at university in Luang Prabang and has worked as an english tour guide in both Thailand and Laos.
Kor has a passion for helping local people, especially local students. He loves, elephants, planting trees, especially banana and bamboo trees, and sharing his knowledge of local traditional medicine. Not only that, but one of his hidden talents is playing some of the local Laotian instruments!
He currently lives in Luang Prabang with his wife and 3 children and enjoys raising his cows, chickens and ducks! Kor has been working with World Volunteer since the very beginning, running trips for 10 years!
farah mustak
office manager
Friends would describe me as an easy going and friendly person. Well, I see myself as a music and tennis freak who loves nature and organic stuff more. I get these influences from my Dad. Living with him has taught me a lot of values in creating the world a better place. I used to follow him doing volunteering work giving out free dictionaries to schools, school uniforms, food and also did some hiking and learn a lot about the flora and faunas when we were in the Malaysian National Society club. Being close to nature has made a person I am today. No plastic & recycling things has been a fun thing to do as I grew up.
During my Uni time, I received a Bachelor in Accountancy which made me an account manager in WV. I used to represent the state for tennis, won several sportswoman awards and I love going to the local indie bands a lot too. As I get older, I hope that I can benefit the time and energy in assisting people with their needs so that all of us can live happily anywhere, anytime & I thank WV for giving me the chance to fulfill apart of my dream.
john@world-volunteer.com
John Lee
Head trip leader
John has 10 years of guiding and trip leading experience and has worked with WV since 2018. He has a love for educating groups of all ages and abilities. In addition to guiding, he regularly works with rescued elephants in Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal and Brazil and is passionate about their welfare.
Jesper Colding
Facilatator
Jesper is former food and beverage executive who recently transitioned from the traditional cooperate world to running his new venture core4you. He is a trained coach working with leaders in areas of growth for their careers and lives. Balancing a demanding carrier with being an involved and present family man is a struggle that most high achieving individuals experience at some point during their carriers. Jesper has the ability to unpack, reveal and get to the very source of our motivations and inner conflicts. Like the rest of the World Volunteer team he leads by example; sharing stories, struggles and victories from his own life.
Non Tiddin
Facilatator
Non is a community builder, yoga and meditation master, and a women’s right activist. She leads with her heart, always speaks the truth and lives her life according to deep-rooted values. Non is a source of inspiration. She has a unique ability to untangle some of the world’s most complex dilemmas by simplifying them down to clear messages which then have the chance to take root in other people’s hearts.
