Rick, with several other people, created Village Focus International in 2000.  26+ years later, VFI has evolved into an organization that is known throughout Laos and the region as a local leader in the fight against human trafficking, and for land and natural resource rights and food security.  Rick is also a founding member of VFI’s Board of Directors, which in 2015 became known as the Board of Trustees.  As the Executive Director, Rick serves in an ex-officio or non-voting member of the BoT.

Rick arrived in Laos in 1998 as the Country Director of World Education, a very small INGO (in Laos) focused on integrated development in remote corners of the country.  When WE decided to withdraw from Laos in early 2000, Rick and colleagues immediately created a new entity dedicated to local focus and leadership.  VFI was officially registered in the USA on August 2, 2000, and received official registration approval from the Lao government to operate in the country on January 15, 2001.

Since 1998 Rick has built his life in Laos with wife Nalin Meckdala, and with children Alan and Annabella, and he treasures his annual treks back to his beloved northern Michigan (with family when possible). Nalin is a businesswoman and personal health and fitness advocate in Laos, especially among middle-aged Lao women, while Alan is a US-trained chef operating a very popular restaurant in Laos, and Annabella is on her way to becoming a primary school teacher likely to live and work throughout the world.

He has a MA in Asian Studies from the University of Michigan’s Asian Studies Program, an MCRP in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon, and an BA in Psychology from the Hope College.  Rick has left his basketball shoes behind to become an avid golfer and is a mediocre pickleball player. 

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