Freedom Business FOrum Speakers
Gray Shipley
Gray Shipley received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Driven by a deep passion for local food, farms, and community, he continues his family’s 150-year farming legacy as a partner at Shipley Farms and Watauga Butchery. Gray’s past experience includes building, fixing, and leading businesses ranging from high tech healthcare startups to custom steel fabrication. Currently, he also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at Appalachian State, teaching in the Entrepreneurship program in the Walker College of Business.
Taking an unusual path to farming, Gray began his career working with startups, turnaround ventures, and multinational companies in a variety of roles leading sales, operations, mergers and acquisitions, business processes, financial analysis, and corporate strategy across industries ranging from 3D medical imaging tech to cotton gin manufacturing, and many others in between. He was previously CEO and Founder of Jones Valley Fabrication, an Alabama based steel fabrication company.
Gray’s commitment to growth extends beyond the farm and the boardroom as he actively mentors and advises individuals and companies seeking to navigate the complexities of business ownership. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Freedom Business Alliance, an organization devoted to combating human trafficking around the world through job creation and economic development.
Dan has lived, traveled, and worked on projects in over 40 countries, including East Asia, Europe, and North America, bringing a unique perspective to the interface of freedom, business, and human trafficking. For the past 20 years, he has been involved in small to medium size business development and community transformation in a business-as-mission context. Dan is keen to see organizations use business to fight human trafficking in both prevention and restoration, and ultimately to see communities so changed that poverty and family breakdown no longer drive people into desperation and vulnerability.
Dan graduated from Wheaton College in 1997 with a B.A. in Business/Economics, and completed his international M.B.A. at Rotterdam School of Management in 2006. Alongside development projects, he also runs an IT consultancy in the southeastern United States, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Dan S.
Sang Tian
Sang Tian is the CTO of Basil Technologies, a Christian tech non-profit that serves the Kingdom of God through digital technology. Sang is currently spearheading BibleDojo, a Bible education app that seeks to help people suck less at experiencing the Bible. While cultivating a natural curiosity for the Bible, users will acquire skills designed for deep rumination throughout the different genres within the Bible.
Sang also created Lordle (https://www.lordle.com/), a daily Bible verse game in which players guess the location of a verse by progressively narrowing down where it appears in the Bible. Through regular play, users become increasingly familiar with the structure and organization of Scripture.
Prior to Basil Technologies, Sang earned a computer science degree from Carnegie Mellon University and worked as a software engineer at Dropbox for six years.
Originally from Chicago, Kelly has been living in South Asia since 2016. She is passionate about shining light into darkness and seeing women equipped, empowered, and employed. After working as a managing partner for six years at a well-known cafe chain in her city, in 2023 Kelly launched Lamprini Hospitality, a hybrid cafe and bakery, granola brand, and hospitality training program where women who have faced gender violence, sexual abuse, or have been marginalized by their communities are trained and employed. When she isn’t at work, Kelly can be found exercising – her body, mind, and spirit – sometimes all at once.
Kelly Dwyer
Nathanael Arrowsmith (Naffy)
Naffy is the Chief Strategy Officer at Starfish Project, which restores hope to exploited women in East Asia through safe employment, holistic care and career development. Naffy has an MBA from Durham University and 10 years of experience across three continents in scaling and starting Social Enterprises, non-profit, and business ventures. Naffy moved to East Asia in 2020 and formed a business strategy for Starfish Project which has embedded Survivor Leaders at all levels of the organization, launched Starfish Project into Europe, and increased sales by 170%. He most enjoys leading a management training seminar with the incredible Survivor Leaders of Starfish Project each week who inspire him by their rapid professional growth!
Tiffanie moved to Nepal with her family of ten in 2019 and has since dedicated her work to building spaces of healing, empowerment, community and Christ-centeredness. Tiffanie brings both lived experience and professional expertise to her work and is a Certified Trauma Care Professional, author, and educator, currently pursuing a master’s degree in psychology with a focus in crisis counseling.
After a career in entrepreneurship including roles as an Area Director with Young Life, a self-employed doula, and founder of a successful photography studio in the US, Tiffanie moved to South Asia, where she founded and leads a life-skills and vocational training center focused on economic empowerment.Through providing ethical employment and a holistic, healing-centered approach to job preparedness and independent living, her work equips individuals to enter the workforce with confidence and dignity.
Tiffanie also serves on the Survivor Advisory Council for the Freedom Business Alliance, contributing survivor-informed insight to ethical business practices.
Tiffanie
Shekina Arrowsmith
Shekina Arrowsmith is the HR Director at Starfish Project. Shekina relocated to East Asia in 2020, having spent several years working in social enterprises and supporting individuals with complex mental health needs in Gloucester, UK. After working with the team in multiple roles since 2022, Shekina completed a Master’s Degree in International HR and has been applying those skills to enhance HR and impact data collection at Starfish Project since 2024. Shekina is driving the implementation of new HR structures to support both beneficiaries and support staff alike across three different countries. She also works closely with Survivors in her own HR department, integrating training opportunities into the delivery of HR at Starfish Project.
