Our Team
Dolly Kikon
Dolly Kikon is a distinguished anthropologist and leading scholar on the social, political, and cultural life of Northeast India. She serves as Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for South Asian Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz. Her interdisciplinary work on Indigenous rights, migration, food sovereignty, gender justice, and resource politics brings deep scholarly insight and lived commitment to the mission and communities served by North East Christian University.
Don Ng
Don Ng is a retired American Baptist minister, educator, and denominational leader whose deep conviction for liberal arts education in Northeast India played a pioneering role in the formation of Friends of North East Christian University. He views NECU as a continuation of the unfinished legacy of the American Baptist Mission in the region. Don served as Senior Pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco from 1998 to 2015 and spent two decades as a Christian educator with ABC Educational Ministries in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He also served as President of American Baptist Churches USA from 2014–2015, bringing visionary leadership to the denomination and to the global mission of Baptist education.
Rev. Ruth Skar
Rev. Ruth Skar is an ordained American Baptist minister from North Dakota who has long served the churches of ABC of the Dakotas. Since 1999, she has served as Associate Executive Minister, with a deep commitment to congregational life, youth ministry, camp ministry, and missions. Ruth has participated in multiple mission trips to India (including a visit to North East Christian University), Mexico, and across the United States, and brings a lifetime of pastoral and mission-focused leadership to her service.
Rev. Brian Skar
Rev. Brian Skar is a retired secondary school educator in history and English and an American Baptist pastor who served for more than three decades in four ABC of the Dakotas congregations in north-central North Dakota. Since 1991, he has combined his passion for teaching with pastoral ministry, leading mission trips to Tijuana, Mexico, and to New Jersey in response to Hurricane Sandy. Holding a master’s degree in counseling, Brian brings deep experience in education, pastoral care, and mission engagement to his service with Friends of North East Christian University.
Ruth Gilson Fox
Ruth Gilson Fox brings a lifetime of cross-cultural ministry, education, and leadership shaped by growing up in Burma and India as the child of American Baptist missionaries. She holds degrees in education and theology and has taught in Japan and the United States. Ruth and her husband served for many years with International Ministries in Thailand, working closely with Akha churches on community development, women’s leadership, education, and sustainable livelihoods. She later helped establish and lead an international school in Thailand and currently serves as Global Coordinator of Education for International Ministries, offering strategic leadership to educational initiatives worldwide.
Mang Sonna
Mang Sonna was born and raised in Manipur, North East India. He became the executive director of Bethel Neighborhood Center (BNC) in May 2009. Bethel gives him the opportunity to work with refugees, immigrants, and the city’s poor in Kansas City, Kansas. He makes and executes plans, oversees the programs and services at BNC, travels to speak at churches and visit donors, advocates, and interprets for refugees. The lives that are transformed and the new hope people find because of the Bethel ministry excites him the most. Mang’s passion is in education, and he is thrilled to serve as a member of the Friends of NECU.
Dr. Darlando T. Khathing
Dr. Darlando T. Khathing is a distinguished nuclear physicist and academic leader serving as Pro-Chancellor of North East Christian University. A retired Professor of Physics at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, he brings over four decades of experience in research, teaching, and university administration, with more than 70 international publications and supervision of doctoral scholars. He previously served as the founding Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Jharkhand and is widely recognized for his contributions to higher education and research leadership across India.
Cathy Holmes
Cathy Holmes is an educator and missionary with extensive international experience in the United States, Colombia, and India. She served for many years at Woodstock School in India as a teacher, elementary principal, and Director of Admissions, and was commissioned by International Ministries in 1983. After returning to the U.S., she worked at the IM office in King of Prussia as Executive Assistant to the Executive Director and Recording Secretary to the Board. Now retired, she remains active in her church, serving as Chair of the Missions Committee.
Taku Katie
Kate (Kathryn) Ulmer
Kate (Kathryn) Ulmer is a longtime member of First Baptist Church–Fargo, where she serves in worship leadership and has held numerous lay leadership roles. She brings more than four decades of administrative and financial experience from North Dakota State University and continues part-time work with the Center for Social Research. Kate has served in regional and statewide American Baptist Women’s Ministries leadership, supported prison and homeless ministries, and participated in international mission trips with International Ministries.
Ruth Clark
Ruth Clark is a lifelong American Baptist leader, educator, and musician based in Kansas City, Kansas. She holds a degree in Music Education from William Jewell College and a Master’s in Religious Education from Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Ruth has served extensively in denominational leadership, including as President of American Baptist Churches USA (2012–2013) and as President of the Central Region. She is an honorary recipient of the Doctor of Humane Letters from Bacone College and is honored to serve with the Friends of North East Christian University.
