MEET THE TEAM
Julie Hernando
President / Co-Founder
Julie Hernando has spent the majority of her life tutoring or teaching children in some capacity. She has a great love for the youth and has every desire to see them succeed. Julie served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ecuador, where she learned to love service and reaching out to those in need.
Julie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Brigham young University, and from there she spent a semester in Cambodia learning about nonprofit organization’s and how to make the greatest impact. While teaching sixth-grade Julie also earned her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on English as a Second Language from Southern Utah University. Julie has home schooled her children over the last eight years and is looking forward to educating the children of the Philippines. She, along with her husband and children, moved to the Philippines in January 2017 to prepare the way for success.
Junell Hernando
Vice President / Co-Founder
Junell was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. In his early years, Junell played major roles in several local movies. At the age of 15, Junell migrated to the United States with his family. After high school he returned to the Philippines for 2 years to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Upon returning to United States he met and married Julie and they are now the parents of 4 amazing children. Before diving into Lighthouse Sanctuary, Junell was a Project Manager for Xango LLC, where he worked for 12 years. Junell and his family moved to the Philippines in January 2017, to lay the foundation for Lighthouse Sanctuary.
Lance Platt
Board Member
Lance has spent his career in business, mostly related to technology services. For nearly two decades, Lance has served as the President and CEO of Groove Technology Solutions, an industry leader in providing technology solutions to the hospitality and healthcare industries. Lance is also the CEO of EpicVue, the first and only provider of live television services packaged and designed exclusively for long-haul trucking companies, and the CEO of Della Connect, an innovative software solutions company for smart building technologies in the multi-dwelling industry. Lance has meaningful experience in board governance, having served for over 10 years on DIRECTV’s Dealer Advisory Council, three years as a board member of Hidden Valley CC including one year as President as well as the board of Lighthouse Sanctuary. Lance’s leadership has its roots in Appreciative Inquiry, a change methodology that uses the lens of “what works” to guide the organizations he leads. Lance holds a PhD in Organization and Management from Capella University.
Candace Kunze
Board Member
Candace Kunze is the Co-author of the Ackermane Book Series and advocate for children.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Utah, and became an Elementary Teacher through the Licensure Program from Utah State. She is a Certified Herbalist and Family Nutritionist, as well as Formulist for Raven Horse Farmz LLC.
Besides teaching elementary, writing books and creating products for her family business Raven Horse Farmz, she has taught or hosted several classes and retreats related to wellness and spirituality, around the greater Salt Lake City area.
Candace’s passion is to relieve the suffering of children around the world through healing and education.
Russell J. Osguthorpe
Board Member
Russ is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist with interests in global health, and reforming primary care. He is currently building a direct primary care delivery system within the United States. Prior to that current position he worked for Intermountain Healthcare as the Pediatric Medical Director and Pediatric Department Chair of a large tertiary care hospital. His desire for the health and wellbeing of children drives his advocacy on their behalf through Lighthouse Sanctuary.
Steven Shraedel
Board Member
Steven worked in the software industry for 15 years as a a consultant. He was the web content manager for The Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also consulted at Kennecott Utah Copper. He owned and operated several small businesses, and most recently was an IT partner in a medical clinic.
A few years ago he was introduced to the nonprofit world by a friend and has been a great asset to multiple organizations. Steven is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit leadership.
Russell Osguthorpe
Board Member
Dr. Russell J. Osguthorpe currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of doTERRA International. He is establishing a virtual healthcare delivery platform focused on prevention of metabolic disease through integrative, evidence-based medical practices. His work at doTERRA also revolves around directing research on the use of essential oils in healthcare settings. Prior to doTERRA he developed mixed matrix models of delivering pediatric subspecialty care at distance from the traditional Children’s Hospital. Dr. Osguthorpe received his medical degree from the McGill University School of Medicine, completed his residency at the Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine. He and his wife Mary, have five children and three beautiful grandchildren.
Apple Lanman
Board Member
Apple is a mental health professional with a master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s from Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Her practice is focused on clinical social work, vocational and employment counseling, behavior modification, and general mental health service. She has extensive training and experience implementing different theoretical frameworks and therapeutic modalities in the counseling field. She is a certified suicide prevention instructor, certified ADHD professional, certified autism spectrum disorder professional, and a certified trauma professional.
Apple’s professional career in the last 10 years has been in the social services arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from the humanitarian center in Utah, piloting and implementing welfare initiatives in the Philippines, to currently full-time counseling in Arizona. She is also behind the blog and YouTube channel, SeedsInAnApple (www.seedsinanapple.org) tackling mental health topics geared for Filipinos.Her passion is alleviating suffering and offering hope especially for her beloved Philippines, where she was born and raised.
What she loves about her work is witnessing hope and courage displayed every day and seeing the resilience in people’s hearts as they transform their lives throughout their healing journey.