Board of Directors
CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE
Meet the Board
Jake Birdwell - Board Chair — Entrepreneur: Real Estate/Business Owner
Teresa Goines - Board Member — Founder and CEO - Old Skool Cafe
Kent Birdwell - Board Member —Entrepreneur: Business Owner/Finance
Bethany Haley Williams, PhD, LCSW - Ex Officio — Founder and Co-CEO - Exile International
Matthew Williams, MA - Ex Officio — Co-CEO and Chief Engagement Officer - Exile International
Jake Birdwell - Board Chair
Entrepreneur: Real Estate/Business Owner
Jake Birdwell brings a diverse background in real estate development, finance, operations, marketing, and international development. He currently manages real estate development projects in Cookeville, Tennessee, overseeing land acquisition, financing, construction coordination, and project sales.
Jake began his professional career with over ten years of experience in the banking industry, advancing through multiple roles to Bank Officer. More recently, he has held leadership roles in small business operations, including co-founding and operating two restaurant concepts and serving as marketing manager for an online healthcare startup. These experiences strengthened his ability to bridge day-to-day operation with long-term strategy.
Jake has extensive international experience, including service with Healing Hands International in Sri Lanka, India, and Zambia. His work included post-disaster assessment, feasibility analysis for economic development initiatives, and micro-finance and leadership training programs for local cooperatives.
He previously served on the Board of Exile International during its early growth years and has held civic leadership roles as Vice President and Board Member of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.
Jake holds an MBA with a specialization in International Business from Tennessee Technological University and a B.S. in Finance/Economics and Marketing from Lipscomb University.
Kent Birdwell - Board Member
Entrepreneur: Business Owner/Finance
Kent Birdwell is a finance professional and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in banking, microfinance, and small business leadership in both the United States and East Africa. He recently joined Exile International’s Board of Directors, bringing strategic, financial, and cross cultural insight to support the mission of empowering child survivors of war through Christ-centered, holistic care.
Kent has over twelve years of experience in banking and finance, including roles as a financial analyst, bank auditor, and policy writer with Jackson Bank and Trust in Tennessee. He later served as Managing Director of a microfinance bank in Burundi, leading a team of more than 90 staff serving over 20,000 clients and successfully restructuring the institution to restore liquidity, strengthen reserves, and return it to profitability.
He had also consulted with multiple nonprofits on business development, microfinance initiatives for farmers, and leadership and management training. In addition to his finance and nonprofit work, Kent, with his brother Jake, co-founded and operated two restaurants, one an award winning upscale restaurant, the other a fast casual concept in Cookeville, Tennessee, strengthening his experience in small business management, team leadership, and community focused service.
Kent holds an MBA with a specialization in Management Consulting from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and a B.A. in Business Administration (Finance/Economics and Management) from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. These experiences equip him to support Exile International’s long-term vision and governance as a member of its Board of Directors.
Teresa Goines - Board Member
Founder and CEO - Old Skool Cafe
Teresa Goines is the founder and CEO of Old Skool Cafe - a supper club run byat-risk youth in San Francisco, which provides training, jobs, and a second chance at life for youth coming out of incarceration and foster care. Teresa’s experience working with gang-affiliated youth, as a juvenile correction officer, impacted her life in a way that changed her forever. Their stories gave her an in depth understanding of how many young people end up on such a destructive path. They compelled her to find a solution to the hopelessness she saw in the lives of incarcerated and forgotten youth.
Teresa’s mission is to permanently break the cycle of incarceration by giving young people hope, economic opportunities, and training in a supportive environment where they can grow emotionally, physically, and spiritually. From this passion, the concept of Old Skool Cafe was born in 2005.
Ms. Goines has received several awards and recognitions for her work with Old Skool Cafe and the Bayview community: 2013 CNN Hero Award, 2012 Wells Fargo Community Spirit Award, 2011 Bank of America - Neighborhood Excellence Local Hero Award, 2011 Westmont Global Alumni Award, 2009 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award, 2008 Jefferson Award, and 2006 San Francisco Foundation Koshland Bayview Fellowship Award.
Bethany Haley Williams, PhD, LCSW - Ex-Officio Member
Founder and Co-CEO - Exile International
Dr. Bethany Williams is the Founder and Co-CEO of Exile International. Since establishing the organization in 2008, she has guided its mission to restore and empower child survivors of war in Congo and Uganda to become leaders for peace.
A licensed clinical social worker with a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, Bethany also serves as Exile’s Clinical Lead and designed Exile’s impact model, The Hope Initiative, — integrating art-focused trauma care, spiritual formation, leadership development, and peacebuilding.
Bethany has also had the privilege of advocating for child survivors of war in Washington DC and sharing their survival stories at The Hague. Bethany sits on the advisory council of the Global Trauma Recovery Institute. Her grassroots program and institutional development spans over eight countries in Africa.
Bethany also had the privilege of visiting Haiti a few weeks after the 2010 earthquake to lead a trauma care workshop for survivors. She has 32 years of experience working with emotionally wounded children around the world and is the author of the book The Color of Grace.
Under her leadership, Exile now serves approximately 5,000 children annually, with more than 9,000 child survivors of war reached since founding. Despite ongoing instability in Eastern Congo, the organization’s locally led and graduate-driven model continues to provide measurable trauma recovery, education, discipleship, and safety to war-affected youth.
Bethany and her husband, Matthew, lead the work of Exile International together. She resides in Nashville with Matthew and their two children.
Matthew Williams, MA - Ex-Officio Member
Co-CEO and Chief Engagement Officer - Exile International
Matthew Williams serves as Co-CEO and Chief Engagement Officer of Exile International, helping shape, create, and grow the organization’s strategy, governance, and long-term sustainability since 2010.
He holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and brings more than 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience. Matthew oversees donor engagement, strategic partnerships, board development, and organizational growth, guiding Exile through seasons of expansion and crisis response amid ongoing conflict in Eastern DR Congo.
Matthew has served trauma survivors across multiple global contexts, including Africa and Southeast Asia, and has led trauma care trainings at the United Nations in Congo and for NGOs serving war-affected populations.
Today, Exile serves approximately 5,000 children annually across DR Congo and Uganda, with more than 9,000 child survivors of war reached since 2008.
Matthew is particularly focused on strengthening Exile’s graduate-led model — equipping local leaders to replicate trauma-healing programs within their own communities.
Matthew and his wife, Bethany, lead the work of Exile International together. He resides in Nashville with Bethany and their two children.