Meet Us
Hi, we're the Ogden Family
OUr Story
Hi, we are the Ogden family! There are originally 6 of us in our immediate family, with one brother-in-law and grandchild added in so far. We are based in the Boise, Idaho area and have lived here the majority of our lives. Our husband / father, Nathan, was in a skiing accident in 2001, leaving him paralyzed and our family’s life was changed forever. We’ve always strived to live life to its fullest, even when we’ve had to live it with a twist.
Chair The Hope came to be after our family rode bikes for 1200 miles, to raise funds for wheelchairs. We accompanied another organization to deliver the chairs to Mexico and we never looked back. We created our own non-profit that same year and it’s our passion project that came to life. Our family interests include playing sports, spending time in the mountains, exploring new cultures, and making smores in mom and dad’s backyard. We love meeting new faces and hope you’ll stick around!
Meet our team
Mindy Godell
Travel Coordinator
Nathan Ogden
Chairman of the Board of Directors / Co-Founder
Nathan Ogden has taught thousands how to conquer their fears and move from paralysis to progress through eliminating excuses in their lives. He is a wheelchair athlete, co-creator of the non-profit Chair The Hope, and author of the book Unfrozen and Resilience, a #1 Bestseller. In 2001, Nathan broke his neck snow skiing leaving him paralyzed and in tremendous pain. Regaining half of his body function over the next year brought new hope to his young family that he would walk again. That quickly changed as he lived through a second devastating neck break robbing him the use of his hands, triceps, and everything below the chest. Facing fears and staring his excuses in the eye, he found new legs to live life standing taller.
Nathan is a highly sought after international keynote speaker, trainer, and bestselling author. He uses his unique life changing experiences in overcoming challenges to train a vast variety of groups, from high schools to business executives throughout the world.
Nathan instantly connects with his audience and delivers invaluable tools to be more
successful in business and life. His courage and determination give hope and power to all who know him and hear his messages.
Nathan loves to live life and has experienced snow skiing, snorkeling, skydiving, completing a half triathlon, rappelling off a 150-foot cliff, and most recently riding a
hand-powered bicycle 1,200 miles with his family raising money for, and personally
delivering wheelchairs needed in underdeveloped countries. Nathan lives in Boise, Idaho and is married to a beautiful wife with four children.
Board of Directors
Phil Scott
Board of Directors
Business owner, coach, community servant and resident in the City of Folsom who helps facilitate the growth of businesses that call Folsom Home. Phil received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from California State University, Chico in 1988. He continued his education with a secondary clear teaching credential in 1989. After that, he became a high school teacher for 4 years at El Dorado High School in Placerville, California. He soon found himself involved with giving back and supporting his community and evolved in his career as an advocate and business member. He is currently a Business and Economic Development Consultant at Greater Folsom Partnership. For the past 29 years, has also been in the Real Estate and Real Estate Finance industry in Folsom, CA.
Civic Experience: Former President of Folsom Chamber of Commerce – 2 terms Board of Directors, Folsom Chamber of Commerce City of Folsom Parks and Recreation Chairman and Commissioner
Assistant wrestling Coach, Folsom High School
Vice President of Communications at Gallardo Elementary School
Other and Related Philanthropy:
Participant on Chair the Hope Bike Ride 2017 Participant and donor on Chair the Hope Costa Rica 2019
Donor on Chair the Hope Mexico 2020
NCAA Div. 2 Wrestling All American, California State University, Chico 1987
Jeff Wallace
Board of Directors
Jeff Wallace is a long-time Silicon Valley resident who dedicates himself to serving the needs of companies, both locally and abroad, in understanding how to best deploy mobile technology and create an environment for
innovation & disruption. Additionally, he consults with global startup ecosystems, including governments, corporations and startup
accelerators, to help catalyze startup environments and to create a bridge for global startup entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley.
Jeff Wallace is the Founder & President of Global Kinetics Inc., a Bay Area
based corporate advisor and market development accelerator partner to early-to-mid stage clients seeking to establish or expand operations within the U.S. marketplace. He is also a Co-Founder of Silicon Valley in Your Pocket (SVIYP), an online, virtual startup accelerator that allows global entrepreneurs to access Silicon Valley content, coaching and connections as they build viable businesses. He is also the President & Co-Founder of HubSV, a Silicon Valley training and mentorship company serving startup communities across the world. He is also President, Managing Partner and a Founding Investor of Batchery, a Bay Area-based global incubator for seed stage startups founded by 50 veteran angel investors. In addition, Jeff is an Entrepreneur in Residence for SKTA Innopartners where he mentors portfolio companies, sources new companies for the accelerator, conducts technical
& financial diligence on new investments and expanding the contact network with other investors.
Jeff is a SkyAdvisor and an Investor at University of California Berkeley’s startup incubator, SkyDeck. Jeff was previously with Cognizant Technology Solutions and Brillio where he served as the founder of and Global Practice Head for the Mobility practices and also focused on Internet of Things (IoT) and user experience (UX) practice areas. Prior to this, Jeff was a serial entrepreneur having founded several businesses since the mid-1990s. In fact, Jeff was awarded the prestigious BridgeGate 20 Award, recognizing Jeff as one of the top 20 business leaders and “difference makers” in Southern California’s information technology and new media community.
In addition, Jeff serves on the Global Advisory Board for the Enterprise Mobility Exchange and is a mentor and advisor to several Bay Area / Silicon Valley technology accelerators where he advises several early to mid stage technology companies. Jeff is also an active angel investor and a member of the Berkeley Angel Network. Jeff also serves as a Board member for Innovate Marquette SmartZone in Michigan where he helps support the entrepreneurial eco-system.
Jeff has performed keynote presentations at numerous international conferences and corporate events and worked on innovation programs at global incubators, accelerators and corporations across North, South & Central America, Europe and Asia. He has published many documents about enterprise mobility, user experience, Internet of Things and related topics. His presentations are geared to be relevant and compelling to his audiences. The topics he speaks about are very high on most companies’ priority lists and he strives to be thought provoking while simultaneously being practical, actionable and applicable in his perspectives and guidance.
Jeff earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Finance from Rutgers College and an MBA focused on Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Technology from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and, along with his wife, enjoys the Silicon Valley lifestyle.
Spencer Kofoed
Board of Directors
Spencer is a life-long Idahoan and enjoys family, service, teaching, networking,
investing, developing, building, adventure and especially the great friendships created
with partners while doing meaningful work together. Spencer is a former CPA and
worked for Deloitte & Touche and Hewlett Packard in his early career but was an
entrepreneur at heart. He left corporate America in 2003 and has since run Tradition
Custom Homes, Tradition Development, and Tradition Capital Partners. He has
developed and built hundreds of commercial and residential properties over the past
twenty years and has a large network of business partners and friendships that make
work enjoyable.
Spencer and his wife enjoy being involved with charitable work. They have sponsored
the educational pursuits of several local and international students. They love going on
family service trips where they have built homes, delivered wheelchairs, served in
orphanages, and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A recent highlight of Spencer’s life was a Chair the Hope trip that took him back to the
beloved country of South Africa after having served as a missionary there 30 years ago.
He connected with many friends and acquaintances, dove with sharks, went on safari,
and delivered wheelchairs to many people in need. He is excited to be a new board
member helping Chair the Hope in their tremendous efforts to relieve suffering and
improve the quality of life for people in need throughout the world.
Brandon Bliss
Board of Directors
Brandon’s passions include traveling, golf, snowmobiling, dirt biking, mountain biking, competitive shooting, and competitive BBQ. He is deeply committed to personal finance, investing, church service, and charitable endeavors.
Paul Featherstone
Board of Directors
Bio coming soon....
Alison Biggers
Board of Directors
Bio coming soon....