Ellen is the Executive Director of Restavec Freedom Alliance, BEM Inc. Ellen grew up in Wethersfield, CT and graduated from the University of Connecticut. She spent most of her career as an executive for an insurance company working in information technology. In her last role, Ellen spent two years in Tokyo heading a technology division. She retired from corporate life in 2010. Originally a Child Development major in college, Ellen returned to her roots working with poor children in the Dominican Republic starting in 2006. This work introduced her to Bethesda Evangelical Mission Inc, a church run non-profit organization working in Haiti. Ellen worked in orphanages there both before and after the earthquake. Most recently she took on the project of developing and managing a home and school for Restavek, or slave children in western Haiti. In addition, since retiring, Ellen has gone back to school and has obtained a Registered Nurse (RN) degree. She intends to use this training to further her work in Haiti.