Our Team

Tim Heaton, President and CEO

Tim Heaton is a retired professor from the Department of Sociology at Brigham Young University and was the director of the International Development Minor. His research focused on demographic trends in the family. His research in the United States and Indonesia was focused on trends in and determinants of marital dissolution. He has examined the relationship between family characteristics and children’s health in Latin America and Africa. He directed the PEAT internships from 2011-2017, and worked with students on evaluation projects in India, Cambodia, Thailand, Uganda, Malawi, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. He currently serves as the President for the Bountiful Children’s Foundation and is the head of the Evaluation Committee.  Tim began doing children’s evaluations in 2015 and became Bountiful’s President in 2018.

Shaela Avery, Finance and Technology

Shaela was raised on the Navajo Reservation and served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the New York Rochester Mission at the Hill Cumorah Church History sites. Shaela graduated with honors from Brigham Young University with a BS in Physiology and Developmental Biology. She was a recipient of the ORCA Grant at BYU for her research and honors thesis on osteoarthritis. After attending two years of medical school she chose to be a mother and is now raising six children at home and continuing her passion for helping children by working with Bountiful Children. Shaela has been with Bountiful Children since 2011.

Angela Johnson, Communications and Development

Angela graduated from Brigham Young University in Education. She started helping Bountiful Children after going on a Nutritour to Guatemala in 2016. After meeting the beautiful children and families, she knew she wanted to help Bountiful wherever she could. She has also gotten to do humanitarian work in Peru and Ghana and hopes to visit many more areas where Bountiful is helping malnourished children. She has also enjoyed serving in various callings with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in helping local refugee families. Angela is originally from Kansas and now resides in Cedar Hills, Utah. She is the mother of 4 and is excited to be a new grandma. She enjoys hiking, swimming, reading, genealogy, traveling, and doing just about anything with her family.

Gary Heaton, Board Chair

Gary Heaton grew up in rural Utah. He and his wife have been married for 45+ years and have six children. Gary graduated with a Bachelors of Science from Brigham Young University in 1970, and he earned his Medical Degree from the University of Texas Medical School Houston in 1973. He later earned his Masters of Medical Management from Tulane University in 2000. Dr. Heaton completed his residency in pediatrics in 1977, and from 1977-2005 he was in general pediatric practice at FM 1960 Pediatric Center. He also served as the President and CEO of FM 1960 Pediatric Center from 1979-2005, overseeing 20 physicians and 4 allied health professionals. From 1995-1998, Dr. Heaton was the Associate Medical Director of One Care Health. His service includes serving three years on the Board of Directors for Medical Group Management Association, community service in schools and Boy Scouts of America, humanitarian service in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Africa, as well as regular service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dr. Heaton began helping Bountiful in 2017 and currently chairs the Board of Directors and oversees the Finance Committee.

Brad Walker, Vice President

Brad Walker is a public health physician and is married with 6 children. He is a returned missionary from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Brad is the chief founder of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation. He authored a series of articles entitled “Spreading Zion Southward” in 2003-2004 in “Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought”. Brad currently oversees the Feeding Operations Committee and is the Chief Operations Officer.

Polly Sheffield, Vice President

Polly Sheffield is a General Pediatrician who recently retired from working at the BYU Student Health Center and is now a professor at BYU. She received her MD from the University of Utah and completed her residency training at UCLA. She also received a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Polly is a returned missionary from Los Angeles where she had the opportunity to work with Cambodian refugees and developed a long-term interest in care of under-served populations and an interest in culturally appropriate care. Polly enjoys spending time with her husband and four children, reading, music, and bike riding in her free time. Polly is one of the founders of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation and currently serves on the technical committee.

Clayton Avery, Vice President

Clayton Avery was raised on a cattle ranch in eastern Wyoming, and he and his wife have six children. Clayton received a BA in International Relations with an emphasis in Southeast and Eastern Asia from Brigham Young University. He is the founder and CEO of CS Intelligence, a language translation company. Clayton works as a product manager at Wavetronix. He was formerly a product manager for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Missionary Department in Salt Lake City. He also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah and helped further develop the Cambodian language program there. His experience with language training and instruction has been ongoing since 2003. His love for the Cambodian language and the people of Southeast Asia began with his missionary service among the Cambodian population as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Long Beach, California. Clayton has also been involved with numerous volunteer, education, and non-profit programs in Cambodia since 2008. Clayton has been a part of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation since 2011.

Josh West, Vice President

Josh West is a professor at Brigham Young University and is the Public Health department chair.  He specializes in assessing and using technology applications to measure and change health behaviors. He has a masters in public health with an emphasis on health behavior and a doctorate in epidemiology. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles on public health issues, such as the use of social media to track substance abuse and suicide and a number of related applications such as cell phones and their potential to influence health behaviors. Dr. West co-founded Computer Research in Health, a collaboration between public health and computer science. He began working with Bountiful Children in 2012 and currently oversees research and training.

Jay Rollins, Board Member

Jay is retired from U.S. Foreign Service with 35 years of experience in accounting, financial analysis, and auditing in the public and private sectors. He served as Director and Regional Inspector General for USAID and SIGAR to provide audit and investigative services for development projects in the Middle East and Africa. After retiring from the U.S. government, Jay served three years as Associate Vice President and Chief Audit Executive for Save the Children. He received a BA in International Relations, an MBA in Finance, and professional certifications include CPA, CIA, CGFM, and CFE. Jay also taught accounting/business courses as an adjunct instructor at several colleges and universities during the last 25 years. He currently teaches auditing and fraud examination classes part-time at Utah Valley University. He started working with Bountiful Children in 2018 and is currently serving on the finance committee.

Sara Walker Hyde, Board Member

Sara is an international public health specialist who received her Master’s in Public Health Degree from George Washington University. She is a returned missionary from Korea. Sara has served as President of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation in the past and has led multiple groups of interns to screen children in Central and South America. She is one of the founders of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation and currently serves as the head of the Technical Committee.

Kirk Dearden, Board Member

Kirk Dearden has worked to improve maternal and child health—and in particular, nutrition—for the past 28 years. He has overseen the design, implementation, and evaluation of large-scale nutrition programs in Bolivia, Ghana, Madagascar, Nepal, and Tanzania and has been a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, and numerous NGOs. He is the author of 60 peer-reviewed publications, most of which focus on nutrition. He has been a professor of global health at Brigham Young University and at Boston University. Kirk has been working with Bountiful Children since 2018 and currently resides in Virginia.

Gloria Rosales, Board Member (Guatemala)

Gloria Rosales and her husband, Fernando Santiago, were sealed in the Mesa Temple prior to temples being opened in Guatemala. Gloria is a convert to the Church and was baptized in 1974. She and Fernando now have three grown children. Gloria has served as a ward and stake relief society president, although her favorite callings have been directing choirs and working with the Quetzaltenango Temple dedication as a musical coordinator. She has been very dedicated to the malnourished children and manages the nutrition program in her hometown of Momostenango. Her area has a very high rate of childhood malnutrition and many cases of children who are living in desperate circumstances.  She began working with Bountiful in 2008 and is currently the regional coordinator for Central America.

Cristie Deyro, Board Member (Philippines)

Cristie was born to a family of farmers in Pasig city. She graduated with a Biology degree from the University of the Philippines and a medical degree from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center in 1985. She started volunteering for Bountiful Children’s Foundation in 2014, but her involvement in health and community development started in her college years. She married Ernesto A. Deyro Jr. in 1986 at the Manila Temple. They were called to serve as mission President and companion in the Philippines Urdaneta Mission from 2015- 2018. She is currently the regional coordinator for Asia.

Natividad Samochuallpa, Board Member (Peru)

Natividad Samochuallpa is from Cusco, Peru. She is a teacher by profession and has taught high school, elementary, and kindergarten students. Naty is a convert to the Church and was called to serve a mission in the Bolviia La Paz Mission soon after being baptized. She started working with the Bountiful Children’s Foundation soon after it started operations in Peru and worked as the local stake coordinator for the program in Cusco. She then worked as the country coordinator for Peru. She is currently the regional director for South America.

Rachel Matthia, Advisory Board Member

Rachel Matthia joined Bountiful’s advisory board in October 2022 and brings with her relevant community organization experience and skills gained in her professional life, in her Church callings, and through volunteer experiences. As an employee of Cox Communications, Las Vegas, Nevada, Rachel serves on the Cox Conserves Committee which leads company recycling and conservation efforts. And from 2015-2018, served on the Cox Volunteer Committee which planned and executed large-scale employee volunteer opportunities and encouraged employee participation.

Rachel served 2016-2018 as the Community Public Relations Specialist in the Elkhorn Springs Las Vegas Stake organizing quarterly community food distribution events with Catholic Charities and Three Square Food Bank. Coordinated blood drives, volunteer activities, stake-wide food drives benefiting St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church’s food pantry, and monthly volunteer events at Three Square Food Bank for stake members to participate in.

Personally, Rachel has volunteered with all Hands and Hearts – Smart Response, Disaster and Humanitarian Relief in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico mitigating damage caused by Hurricane Maria and in Coastal Bend Region of Texas repairing damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. She also spent time in Tamarindo, Costa Rica helping renovate a primary school and volunteers regularly with St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Las Vegas.

Alberto Puertas, Advisory Board Member

Alberto Puertas is an academic/career counselor for the University Advisement Center at Brigham Young University. His responsibilities include: serving as the International Advisement Specialist at BYU; teaching courses in career strategies, career exploration, and effective learning; mentoring students at risk, and assisting the University in promoting career development issues and objectives.

Alberto has a Master of Science in Counseling and Guidance from BYU. He has mentored many college students doing humanitarian work and internships abroad. He has served in humanitarian projects, presented professional workshops, and career development seminars in the United States, Canada, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Haiti, Peru, Philippines, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and India.

Alberto’s support to local and international community projects is an important component of his contribution to society. In his presentations and daily work, Alberto Puertas emphasizes the relationship between meaning, spirituality and career development. He also stresses the benefits and challenges globalization presents to vocational guidance in the international arena to this new millennium.

Alberto’s support and dedication to career orientation is tireless. He currently serves NCDA (National Career development Association) as the Latin American Director. From 2008 to 2010, he served on the Board of Trustees for NCDA, which allowed him to see the positive impact of career development in this nation and around the world. Alberto has also served as the International Career Issues Committee Chair for NCDA.

In his free time Alberto enjoys reading, nature, good cuisine and spending time with his family and friends. He truly values relationships and genuine caring for others.

Benjamin Crookston, Advisory Board Member

Ben Crookston has 10 years experience conducting research in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He earned his bachelor’s degree in zoology and his master’s degree in public health from Brigham Young University and a doctorate from the University of Utah. He currently works as an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Brigham Young University. He has worked with a variety of research institutions related to child nutrition, growth and health.  Ben has been working with Bountiful Children since 2013.

Jay Keller, Advisory Board Member

Jay Keller received his undergraduate degrees in biology and nutrition at Utah State University and a Masters in nutrition and food science at Utah State. His research focused on the absorption and utilization of trace minerals. He is a registered dietitian nutritionist and worked as a clinical dietitian for several years, but for the last 22 years has taught in higher education. He is currently a faculty member at Brigham Young University Idaho. His professional focus has been in nutrition and biochemistry, clinical nutrition and sports nutrition. But recently his emphasis has been redirected on international issues as they relate to food availability and the needs of the growing international student population at BYUI. He is married and he and his wife have three children. He was born and raised in Idaho and he and his family love all the wonderful outdoor opportunities Idaho provides for them.  Jay has been on the advisory board since 2018.