Mike Penistone is best known as the ‘Global Rugby Coach’ from his years coaching Rugby League and Rugby Union in the UK and Australia, and more recently through his global Rugby Coaching Consultancy.

Mike has been an ACF friend and avid supporter, and has raised funds and awareness for sport programs and new sport facilities at ACF’s new location.

Roland learned about ACF in 2016. Roland says: “I was blessed to see the immense love and care for children by the whole staff, headed by Mrs. Roelien Muller.” Since then his church in Austria, CIG Wien, his family and himself, have supported ACF.
“This year, I was very honored to be appointed an Ambassador for ACF in Austria. It’s my goal to deepen the relationship with ACF and create more awareness for their work in Austria.”

JP spent 40 years in Asia, where he developed his own businesses. He lives in Phuket with his wife since 2018. JP started to support ACF’s scholarship program in 2015 and has also been involved by raising awareness for the work ACF is doing in the local community and Internationally. JP says: “ Each year a child receives education is a step forward in life. We cannot hope for a better future in the world without better-educated people, this is why I decided to dedicate time and resources to children in need. The ACF team has my support, trust, and admiration for the many years of relentless work with unfavored children and their families. I believe that proper care and education are the best tools to beat poverty.

We should all contribute when we can.”

Danny has been a friend and supporter of ACF for the past eight years. He also lived in Phuket for about two years and understands the need for assistance to underprivileged families living on Phuket. Danny is a Project Designer by profession.

Danny says: “It has always been an aspiration for me to help the needy, especially children.”

Over the last 10 years my husband and I have been spending more time in Phuket. We love the island and the people. We learnt about ACF and their impressive charitable works. It’s an excellent cause helping those in need, particularly the children. We like to be involved and support in any way we can.

For the past 25 years Marianne has dreamt of being able to do more charity work than she was doing while she still worked in a full-time managerial position.

When she moved to Phuket 2014 with her husband, she started looking for an organisation that in a broader perspective would coincide with her values and beliefs – as well as having an important mission. Says Marianne:

“When I found Asia Center Foundation (ACF), I felt at home immediately, with the people, with the objectives, with the dedication. Since then I have tried to support ACF in all possible ways that I’ve been able to. Today I’m honored being an Ambassador and a Member of the Board at ACF.

I’m proud and very happy to be a part of this organisation, which provides education opportunities to the most disadvantaged children in Phuket. My ACF colleagues are accomplishing fantastic results – giving these children hope of a better future! Nothing can be more important.”

Marianne has held senior positions in the airline industry, facility management companies and also has had her own business in service development. Before retiring, she was Head of Security Operations, first at the Swedish Parliament and later at the Swedish Government.

Founders of Asia Center Foundation – Switzerland.
In April 2019, Phil and Naemi met Roelien Muller in Zurich and learned about her work
with disadvantaged children in Phuket and the planned health program for ACF. This inspired Naemi to travel to Thailand to support the project on the ground.

Naemi, a registered nurse with many years of experience in internal medicine, infectious diseases and oncology, currently works as a certified educational trainer in the Swiss health care system. Naemi volunteered at ACF for three months. Philippe is an electrical engineer. Before adopting their two children from Thailand, they traveled through Southeast Asia for two months to get to know the culture better.

After their return, they continued to support ACF and developed a curriculum for child health that is used at the Cornerstone Learning Center.

In 2023, they visited ACF with their son and Naemi’s sister Joy Stäger. This led to the idea of founding an independent association in Switzerland to provide targeted support for ACF projects. Asia Center Foundation – Switzerland was founded in 2024, after Philippe and Naemi were able to adopt their second child, a girl.

In 2025, the association is pursuing a clear strategy to attract members, increase awareness and have a lasting impact through raising support for targeted projects.

“We are very happy to continue to work with ACF, even though this year and Corona put some obstacles in our way and refused us a further work assignment with ACF. We feel honored to now be Ambassadors of Hope for ACF and thus pursue long-term cooperation. Our goal is to make ACF known in Switzerland, to visit ACF regularly and help wherever necessary.”

Bob was involved in rugby coaching in various areas of Thailand with The Old Bangkok Bangers Rugby Club when he first came across ACF.

“I was blown away by what ACF was trying to do through their various programs and just loved the vision that Roelien had for the future. Being a teacher, I thought that ACF was trying to help the children involved in a different way from other charities that I had come across in Thailand. After speaking with Roelien I decided to try and help to raise money for the center. On my return to Bangkok, I made a decision that I would do a sponsored bicycle ride from Bangkok down to Phuket with 2 of my friends. That was in 2010 and we have been cycling and raising money for the center for the last 10 years. I love how the center is community based and what it stands for.

I am honored to be an ACF Ambassador of Hope and it is something that I certainly will try to live up to.”

“I started working with Roelien in 2002 when she was working in the slums in Patong. After the tsunami in 2004 we set up a scholarship program for kids affected by it, mostly orphans, and we have been raising funds for the program since, at the annual Phuket International Rugby Tens event. Over the years the Phuket Tens contributed millions of baht through the efforts of teams, supporters and individual donors, who supported the scholarship program by sponsoring a child.

I’m pleased to have become an Ambassador of Hope to help raise awareness and much needed funding. With the 2020 Tens event being cancelled, it left a huge gap in funding for the scholarship program. Any help will be greatly appreciated since ACF is managed through donations.”

Adam is an Archaeological Finds Specialist in England and also helps to lead Threshold Church. Adam and his wife Lydia first learnt about ACF when they were on holiday in Phuket. After returning home they felt called to continue supporting the work of Asia Center Foundation, which they do through the UK registered charity ‘Project Cornerstone’.

Ambassador of Hope – Singapore
At Sskills Coaching – and as individuals, we’re passionate about empowering children and kids to become positive contributors to our global society. Our deep passion for uplifting kids and seeing them grow inspires everything we do in taking on this ambassador role.

I (Lance) met the foundation and Roelien for the first time in 2018 on our yearly Rugby tour to Phuket. We have since been contributing towards kids through our Rugby club (bless them for the introduction). Now years later with a deeper understanding of the foundation we feel we could offer more individually as a family including through our company Sskills Coaching.

That’s why we’re thrilled to take on an ambassador role for the foundation; it is an incredibly rewarding opportunity to make a real difference in young people’s lives. By serving as ambassadors, we wish to inspire hope, foster resilience, and contribute to building a supportive environment where every child feels seen, valued, and equipped for success.

Through this partnership, we aim to support and amplify the organization’s mission to nurture young minds and help them grow into compassionate, responsible, and engaged citizens. Together, we can and will aim to make a lasting impact and shape a brighter future for generations to come by continuously promoting the foundation to our inner and wider networks for years to come.

Lance and Genieve de Kock