Meet the Movers and Shakers

  • U.S. Team
  • Haiti Team
  • HUGG Board

Natul Middlebrook, Executive Director

Natul’s first experience working with the marginalized was in fourth-ward Houston where she worked with elementary through high-school aged youth as a drama instructor and Summer Programs Director for Impact Houston Church of Christ. Having moved to Connecticut, she founded and ran a Spanish tutoring program for three years until moving back to Texas. For 7 years, she dedicated herself to homeschooling her five children; Jack, Ruby, Luke, Daiton and Stella. She and her husband, Daniel, head up an active Orphan Care Ministry at their church and are always honored to have an opportunity to share their story on how God radically changed their lives through the foster-to-adopt process. Natul graduated with a Degree in Culinary Arts and enjoys doing cooking demonstrations, dining with family and friends and RV’ing with the family.

Betsy Welling, Sales Manager

Betsy joined HUGG as the sales manager to oversee our wholesale business. Her relentless passion for the HUGG mission has helped her to propel our organization's sales growth among boutiques and other retail outlets.

Betsy loves to share the HUGG story and believes we can all play a part in transforming the lives of our artisans. In addition to work, Betsy is married to her husband Mike and together they have raised three amazing children. They enjoy spending time in the outdoors and love sports - particularly college football, basketball and lacrosse.

Emily Pirkl, Admin

Hi! I’m Emily Pirkl, a 24 year old Houston native, Chick-fil-A connoisseur, and daughter of the King of Kings. God has blessed me in so many ways first off, I’m getting married to the man of my dreams in May 2019 and I have two awesome jobs, one is being a personal trainer and second is being apart of the HUGG team. I’m so excited to be apart of such a mission minded team and to serve others with Hugg Mission Market! --

Kiley Boothe, Financial Administrator

Kiley Boothe oversees the financial adiministration of the organization. With professional experience in banking, corporate risk management, financial management, and budgeting, Kiley is able to fuse her passion for missions and finances to advance this social enterprise. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Baylor University as well as a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas. In addition to her work for HandUp, Kiley and her husband, Collin, are very active members at West Conroe Baptist Church. Together, they have two daughters and are avid Baylor fans.

Denim Ramirez, Director of Manufacturing

I was born in Venezuela and raised in the U.S, but decided to make a life for myself in Venezuela after graduating high school. For the past ten years, I’ve managed ranches and developed my own farm in Venezuela and have become passionate about sustainability. Last year, I came to Haiti to help support my sister’s growing production needs and fell in love with the sustainable approach she is taking to orphan prevention in Port-au-Prince.

In addition to overseeing production, I’ve enjoyed the aspect of growing these boys into responsible men and fostering a strong work ethic in them. Haiti is a hard place and they have to learn fast how to thrive in a country where jobs and resources as so limited.My wife, Leonor, and I have a son named Joseph. He is currenty in pre-school where he is learning both English and Creole in addition to his Spanish. We are thankful to be able to be part of this work and hope to be able to take this model and grow it to serve the Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.

Osier Frantz, Operations Manager

My name is Osier Frantz and my wife and I are the Operation Managers for HandUp. We are also the founders of a Micro Loan Program for women here in Haiti. We founded this organization in response to the earthquake and I am proud to say that it is still in existence. In addition, I am the Haitian Coordinator for Orphan Sunday International.I have two passions: The first is to empower orphans and I get to do that through my work at HandUp. My second passion is to plead the cause of the women in this country who either work as nannies or factory workers. They are often underpaid and treated unfairly. My dream is to stop these forms of slavery.

Leonor Ramirez, Quality Control

Leonor's Bio coming soon!

Josue Henry, Program & House Manager

My name is Josue Henry and I am 33 years old. I work for HandUp Ministries as TinT Manger. My purpose is to see God continue to work in the lives of young men who’ve aged out of our partner orphanage.I was born in a Christian family and studied Public administration. I have been working for HandUp for 2 years. This is a dream for. I’ve gained a lot of experience and maturity and life and also my work at HandUp is changing lives. I recently got married and am able to provide for my wife.

Daniel Middlebrook, President

Dr. Dan Middlebrook is honored to serve as President of the Board of HandUP Global Goods. Dr. Middlebrook comes from a family with deep roots in ministry and continues that tradition today. After graduating from Abilene Christian University with Highest Honors, Dr. Middlebrook returned to Houston to attend the University of Texas Medical School. The summer before medical school, Dr. Middlebrook worked as a VBS intern with Impact Houston Church of Christ, an inner-city missions church. There he met his wife, Natul, who was also working with Impact. After completing medical school, Dr. Middlebrook and his wife moved to Connecticut to complete his internship and residency in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Middlebrook is now the Chief Medical Officer for Emerus Holdings, Inc., which he founded along with his business partners. The Middlebrooks now have 5 children and enjoying teaching them about the need to care for fatherless children. Together, they also direct the Orphan Care Network at West Conroe Baptist Church.

Kandis Dennis, Secretary

It is an honor for Kandis Dennis to serve on the HUGG Board. Kandis and her husband, Steve, were blessed to have parents that taught them the true meaning of a servant’s heart. They hope to instill this desire in their three children, Allison, Ashley and Rett. She currently works as a pediatric physical therapist with Riverkids Pediatric Home Health Company. After graduating from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from Texas Woman’s University and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She also serves as the Director of the Discovery Ministry for children and adults with special needs at West Conroe Baptist Church. Kandis has been travelling to Haiti since 2011, bringing wheelchairs and other mobility equipment to children with special needs, educating Haitians to implement physical therapy programs in local orphanages and spending time with the children of Zanfan Lakay.

Kiley Boothe, Treasurer

Kiley Boothe joins HUGG to oversee the financial operations of the organization. With professional experience in banking, corporate risk management, financial management, and budgeting, Kiley is able to fuse her passion for missions and finances to advance this social enterprise. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Baylor University as well as a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas. In addition to her work for HandUp, Kiley and her husband, Collin, are very active members at West Conroe Baptist Church. Together, they have two daughters and are avid Baylor fans

Travis Peterson

Travis Peterson and his wife, Kay, are high school sweethearts who have been married for 12 years. They have a little guy by the name of Brooks. Together, they operate a landscaping company by the name of Outdoor Perfection, which they founded in 2000. As an avid hunter, Travis has recently embarked on the adventure of running the Thunderbird Hunting Club in South Texas, which is one of the longest running clubs in the state. Travis is passionate about entrepreneurial endeavors and brings his 16 years of experience to the HandUp team. His advocacy for job creation is evident through the way he runs his businesses and through his commitment to serving these young artisans in Haiti.

Jennifer Breedlove

Jennifer Breedlove joined the HUGG Mission Market Board in 2018.Jennifer’s previous non-profit experience includes a six-year term on the Covenant Christian School Board of Trustees, and a three-year stint serving as Marketing Director for Christ Community School. Since early 2018, she has been active in Haiti working with one of our artisans, Max Emile. Over the past year, Jennifer raised funds and worked with village leaders, the Haitian government, and contractors to bring water to Max’s home village of Canaan, Haiti.Jennifer currently works as a realtor in The Woodlands, Texas, and holds a BS in Sociology from Texas A&M University.

Matt Register

Matt Register is the founder of RREA Media. He is also a Principal and Managing Director at Corporate Finance Associates in Houston specializing in mergers, acquisitions, and turn-arounds of mid-market companies.

Matt and his wife, Shannon, decided to start RREA Media as a media division of their real estate brokerage. The intention was to solely provide media services for their in-house agents. RREA Media’s work spread through word of mouth and it soon became apparent there was a market for video and media services with outside companies. The company has been growing ever since.

After leaving the Army in 2004, he joined his family manufacturing firm where he was instrumental in their 250% growth and sale to a fortune 500 company in 2007.Matt has a BS in Systems Engineering and Management from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York and an MBA from the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Natul Middlebrook, Executive Director, non-voting member

Natul’s first experience working with the marginalized was in fourth-ward Houston where she worked with elementary through high-school aged youth as a drama instructor and Summer Programs Director for Impact Houston Church of Christ. Having moved to Connecticut, she founded and ran a Spanish tutoring program for three years until moving back to Texas. For 7 years, she dedicated herself to homeschooling her five children; Jack, Ruby, Luke, Daiton and Stella. She and her husband, Daniel, head up an active Orphan Care Ministry at their church and are always honored to have an opportunity to share their story on how God radically changed their lives through the foster-to-adopt process. Natul graduated with a Degree in Culinary Arts and enjoys doing cooking demonstrations, dining with family and friends and RV’ing with the family.