Founders

Joel Birkemeier - Founder

My journey began in 2017 when I had the privilege to spend a semester in Ghana while studying for my masters in public health. During this time I was able to connect with many people within the community of Labadi and at the University of Ghana, and experienced the rich culture, history, and extremely warm and inviting people of Ghana.

Since then, I have traveled back multiple times and recognized the need for wellness programs within the local communities. I began to wonder, why should some people, depending on where they live have limited access to various wellbeing programs like health education, physical activity programs, and school age activities. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, I was in Ghana for over 8 months. The love, acceptance and family-like feeling that I experienced from everyone within the local community truly made me feel like it was my home.  As I became close friends with many people, I became inspired to turn my passion and inner drive to create the Global Wellness Mission alongside my friends.  It has been and will continue to be an extremely rewarding and meaningful experience to help build wellness communities in Ghana and in many other communities around the world.

Todd Fellerman - Secretary & Treasurer

Todd Fellerman is the Chief Revenue Officer at Community.com where he oversees the Growth, Revenue, Partnership support and Marketing divisions. Before Community served as the Global Vice President of Sales, Customer Success, Operations and Insights at Tripadvisor.

Todd has spent a majority of his career in digital media and has head leadership roles at both Amazon Advertising and Google. At Amazon, he was the CPG Vertical Lead and Head of Grocery for advertising partnerships. Prior to Amazon, Todd worked at Google in the Advertising & Sales division as the Head of Industry for the Johnson & Johnson Global and U.S. business, covering all business partnerships and digital strategies. Before his move into the digital media industry, Todd worked for many years in financial services as a Relationship Manager at US Trust, Bank of America Wealth Management.

In his free time, Todd enjoys using his frequent flyer miles for unique travel experiences, such as scuba diving in Thailand, exploring the Ruin Bars of Budapest, diving with great white sharks in South Africa, exploring Cuba, and touring the wine valleys in Chile and Argentina. When he can, Todd also enjoys playing tennis and badminton.

Todd is also passionate about giving back and has served as the Chair of NYU Stern’s Alumni Council and has also served on the Board of I Have a Dream Foundation. Currently, Todd is proud to serve as the Board Treasurer & Secretary of the Global Wellness Mission.

Todd currently lives in New York City. Todd received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University with a double major in Economics and Philosophy. He received his MBA from NYU Stern with concentrations in Marketing and Leadership and Change Management.