Wendy Bjurstrom
CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Wendy Bjurstrom serves as the Executive Director of CompassioNow and along with her husband Ed, established the charity in 2006 after visiting a number of rural villages in Africa during trips in 2002 and 2004. On their visits, they found many people not only suffering from HIV/AIDs, but many who were in great need of the most basic healthcare services.
Today, Wendy is very active in overseeing the day-to-day work of CompassioNow and also serves as the National Director of Sales and Marketing for the Compassion Tea Company, a for profit enterprise that raises funds exclusively for CompassioNow.
Wendy previously served on the board of Women of Vision, San Gabriel Valley Chapter, from 2002-2008. The mission of Women of Vision is to educate others about the plight of women and children in poverty around the world. This helped to prepare her for the work she is currently doing at CompassioNow. She led two mission teams to Cambodia in 2004 and 2006 and has traveled to Africa eight times. She also serves on the Board of the International Leadership Foundation which helps to train world leaders in transformational leadership and integrity.
In 2019, Wendy attended the Geneva Institute for Leadership and Public Policy (GILPP) on National Transformation through Poverty Alleviation in Geneva, Switzerland and attended meetings at the United Nations on Global Poverty.
She and Ed have three children and four grandchildren. Wendy enjoys reading and world travel.