Our Team
Dr. David Swarr
DAVAR Partners International President and CEO
Dr. David Swarr, President of DAVAR partners, has over 30 years experience of executive roles in both non profit and business organizations, including University of the Nations, Global Institute for Leadership Development and Galilead. In these roles he has served in Brazil, England, Israel, Hong Kong, USA, China, Malyasia, South Africa and Spain. David was formerly the Preident of MegaVoice International. While serving in that role David became convinced that a broader partnering and technology approach would be necessary to meet the vast needs of the emerging church worldwide. DAVAR Partners grew out of the commitment of MegaVoice board and development council members and staff and others joined in the task of meeting the need of those who do not read. David and his family reside in the Middle East where the the Word was given and became flesh
David Salyers
DAVAR Partners International Vice President
David Salyers is a Vice President of DAVAR partners international and serves on the founding board of directors. David is also Vice President of Marketing for Chick-fil-A where he has served for over 25 years. He says, "working here at Chick-fil-A is not my job, it's my ministry" and that is exemplified in all of his actions and service.
David was first exposed to the need for solar powered audio players four years ago and has since spent countless hours working first with the development council of MegaVoice and as a consultant to the CEO and then as an active board member of DAVAR.
Timothy King
Chief Operating Officer, Davar Partners International
Tim comes to Davar after 27 years of building the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and serving as one of its Founders and Financial Director at the Headquarters in Israel. In this capacity, he became intimately acquainted with the “Church” worldwide, and the glaring needs to reach those who cannot read the Word of God.
Prior to his work with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, he held various marketing and executive leadership positions of the corporate world in the USA and Canada. He brings a unique blend of “for profit”, “non profit”, and “ministry experience” to Davar.
He is a member of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, King of Kings Assembly in Jerusalem, and has made a permanent home in Israel with his wife, Martha, and daughter, Anna. He holds a BBA degree from Kent State University in the USA, and did a Masters Degree study in Jewish Christian relations at the Jerusalem University College in Jerusalem.
Brian Smith
DAVAR Partners International Board Chairman
Brian R. Smith serves as the Chairman of Davar Partners International. In addition to his role with DAVAR, Brian serves as managing director of S3 Ventures. At 35, he co-founded the Convergent Investors Fund, a $70M early-stage venture capital firm in Texas. At age 29, he founded and served as chairman and CEO of Crossroads Systems (Nasdaq:CRDS). After taking it public, Brian ran Crossroads for nearly four years. In this role, Brian was an early pioneer in Storage Area Networks which are industry standard solutions today. For his efforts, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2000. He spent the first seven years of his career in electrical engineering positions holding product development roles within the Technology Group of the IBM Corporation.
In 2007, Brian and his family were asked to carry audio units into China on a mission trip. He was so impressed with the effectiveness of the audio units that he and his family decided to dedicate a large portion of their lives and income to the vision of DAVAR.
Brian leads the teams efforts in technology, infrastructure and software.
Gerhard Marx
DAVAR Partners Africa President
In addition to his role with DAVAR, Gerhard also serves as the moderator of the South African Kingdom Business Forum, and as a board member for SAAWE. Prior to his current role, Gerhard was the Director for Africa with MegaVoice, the National Chairman of the Far East Broadcasting Association, the international chairman of the international council of the Far East Broadcasting Association and the CEO of the Turn2God Foundation.
As the founder of ECRA Solutions (Pty) Ltd Gerhard has been a coach and consultant for Kingdom Companies in North India, South Africa, Namibia, Morocco, China, Djibouti and Rwanda. Gerhard is still daily involved in coaching business people to fulfill their calling in the marketplace. He has also served as the Director and Manager of Outreach for Moreleta Park Congregation with a membership of 18,000.
Gerhard is dedicated to bringing the audio Word of God to Africa. African partners from the Orality movement, businesses and churches have joined Gerhard in this great task.
John Dann
Chairman of the Board DAVAR Partners Africa
John is active in commercial business where he serves as a director of Tele Atlas Africa. In his earlier career, John served as a director of an electrical engineering company called Netgroup where after he co-founded a Geographic Information System and Mapping Company called Georigin, which was subsequently sold to Tele Atlas in 2007. John has played a key role in managing the various GPS and Remote Sensing technologies to map Africa. The resulting products are now widely used by various GPS, Governmental and Military institutions. John further plays as non-executive role in a vibrant design studio called Fuge. He brings a wealth of business and technical experience to DAVAR Partners, and is dedicated to the continuous development of the audio player and spreading the Word of God in this unique way.
Leander Vosloo
Audio and Technical Support Services
Leander Vosloo is an electronic engineer with 5 years experience in the commercial sector in South Africa. He has served within the communication- and electronic design sector as sales engineer giving technical and customer support to customers in Africa south of the Sahara. He also has been trained as a counselor and has ministry experience with global conferences. Leander and his wife, Margret resides in Johannesburg, South Africa and heads up the audio and technical support services of DAVAR Partners.
Elmarie Marx
DAVAR Partners Africa, Business Administrator
Elmarie Marx graduated from the University of North West in South Africa (B. Acc; B.Comm. Hons.) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1996. She worked as a public financial auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers South Africa and then as the CEO of a private psychiatric hospital for 7 years. Currently she serves Kingdom Businesses and ministries by way of accounting and administrative services. These ministries include South Africa Turn 2 God, Kingdom Business Forum and DAVAR Africa. As primary ministry she continues to educate her children through home school on a daily basis.
