Our Team

Josh Barkey (Communications Consultant) joined the SIL LEAD team in January of 2018. After a decade in Canadian Industrial Reforestation, Josh spent four years as a high school art teacher, then moved on to a career in the arts, becoming an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, and motion picture screenplays. A childhood spent in Peru, South America instilled in him a passion for helping marginalized peoples lift themselves out of poverty, so he's excited to be working with the SIL LEAD team to make that happen. Read more of Josh’s story…

Fraser Bennett (Associate Director) loves his mixed role of project management and language software training and support for SIL LEAD. Fraser previously spent 28 years in various roles in SIL International, most recently 12 years as SIL's Global Training Director. Fraser's passion for SIL LEAD's mission grows out of one of his first jobs, which included creating a custom computer font at the request of teachers in a refugee community, so that they could create primary education materials using their own language and unique script. Fraser holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Read more of Fraser’s story…

Michelle Emelio (Accounting Assistant) earned a B.S. in Business Administration - Management at Missouri Western State University. After a few years working as a financial analyst and bookkeeper for defense contracting companies in the DC area, she turned her focus towards education, homeschooling her four daughters and co-founding a homeschool institute that served over 100 families. She recently began offering bookkeeping services again and joined SIL LEAD in January 2018. Read more of Michelle’s story…

Valori Maresco (Chief Financial Officer) joined SIL LEAD in June 2015. Accounting is her fourth career. After graduating with a BS in Consumer Economics in 1983, she served for 3 years as a missionary in Central America, 25 years as a homeschool mom of five sons, and 6 years as the Women’s Ministry Director of a large church (some of that simultaneously). Then one day she got the urge to study accounting. From 2014-2016, she completed all of the formal training needed to sit for the CPA exam, and is still considering doing so; meanwhile, she is busy enjoying her job at SIL LEAD. Read more of Valori’s story…

Christof Weber (Executive Director) Christof was appointed Executive Director in May 2021 after serving as Associate Director for two years. He began working with SIL LEAD in 2014 and has managed numerous multi-year and short-term projects. Chris grew up in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Los Angeles as the son of father who has a PhD in linguistics and a mother who has a PhD in reading. He witnessed firsthand the transformative power that the promotion of minority languages can have on entire language communities. Prior to SIL LEAD, Chris spent ten years in pastoral ministry and ten years as the Latin America economist for a large international money management firm. He received Master's degrees from UCLA and Fuller Theological Seminary. Read more of Christof’s story…