Personnel

As with any effort, people are needed to develop and implement the plan. Such is the case with Joining Hearts & Hands. Campaign staff members can be reached either by clicking the email link next to their name or by contacting the Joining Hearts & Hands office at (888) 728-7228 x5611.

Interim Director of Funds Development

Robert L. Thompson, CFRE
Email Robert Thompson
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

An elder at the Waverly Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa., Bob has served as counsel to more than 200 churches and church-related organizations, schools, medical institutions, and other nonprofit organizations.  32 of his more than 40 years of fundraising counseling were spent with Ketchum, Inc., where he ultimately served as chair of the board.  Most recently, as president of R.L. Thompson Associates and consultant to Church Financial Campaign Services (CFCS), Thompson has focused on capital campaigns and other services for churches and church-related organizations and on counseling for clients in planned giving and strategic planning.

Bob has served on the national boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, and the Advisory Council of the Center on Philanthropy; and has served as chairman of the American Association of Fund Raising Counsel.  He has made more than 165 speeches and training presentations on fund raising and philanthropy at national, international, regional, and local Conferences.

Staff Team

Kevin J. Garvey
Email Kevin Garvey
Zionsville, Indiana

Kevin has 25 years of professional fund raising experience.  He has served as director of annual giving, Clarkson University; Director of Development, Carnegie-Mellon University; vice president for Institutional Advancement, Westminster College; vice president for Advancement, West Chester University; president, Alpha Sigma Phi Educational Foundation; vice president for Development and Marketing, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; and vice president for Advancement, Savannah College of Art and Design.  He is currently president of Garvey & Associates LLC, a fund raising consulting business.  Kevin, who is married with two sons, is an ordained elder and an active youth leader at Zionsville Presbyterian Church (Indiana).

Staff Team

Robert J. Kukla
Email Robert Kukla
West Chicago, Illinois

For nearly 30 years, Bob managed the family business in the highly competitive printing industry as it grew to 175 employees and sales grew to $35 million.  As a trustee, committee chair, and elder, Bob has chaired capital campaigns that ranged from $1 million to $5 million over the last fifteen years.  Bob has found great fulfillment in assisting his own church, a 1,500-member congregation in Wheaton, Illinois, and has redirected his career to assist churches in the denomination.  He has served on committees of the Presbytery of Chicago and the Synod of Lincoln Trails.  Bob has also conducted stewardship and capital campaign workshops on behalf of the Chicago and Philadelphia Presbyteries.  In 2001, Bob began a new career consulting with a wide range of churches within the denomination through the Church Financial Campaign Service of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  He holds a Certificate in Fundraising Management from DePaul University, has a master’s degree in management from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Economics from Beloit College.  Bob and his wife, Lynda, have four children and five grandchildren.

Staff Team

James L. Vande Berg
Email James Vande Berg
St. Augustine, Florida

A native of Iowa, Jim received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Central College  in Iowa, and earned graduate degrees from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago.  After being awarded a Danforth Internship and assigned to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Jim served as the Presbyterian Campus Minister there for an additional eight years.  His diverse background in ministry also includes pastoring two congregations — Ponds Reformed, Oakland, N.J., and Trinity Presbyterian, Atlanta, Ga.; serving as director of the Presbyterian General Assembly Office of Church Development & Evangelism in Atlanta; and serving as executive presbyter of Highlands Presbytery (Virginia) and Hudson River Presbytery (New York), from which position he retired in 2003.  Since his retirement, Jim has continued his avocation as a consultant working with several presbyteries and serving as an independent contractor with the former Office of Stewardship and Mission Funding in Louisville.  He and his wife, Kathleen, reside in St. Augustine, Florida.

Staff Team

John Elder Wray
Email John Wray
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

John, who began his career in funds development and institutional advancement in 1984, is Coordinator for the Church Financial Campaign Service (CFCS) of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Prior to joining CFCS, John was the Executive Director of Suburban Health Foundation, where he was responsible for all areas of institutional development.  John began his career at Ketchum Inc. as a capital campaign director and in that capacity provided direction for many religious institutions.  Ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1982, John currently serves as treasurer for the Waverly Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.  He attended Pennsylvania State University.  John and his wife, Holly, who is also an ordained elder, have two sons.

Associate for Communications

Emily Odom
Email Emily Odom
Greensboro, North Carolina

An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Emily has served as both a parish pastor and a hospital chaplain, as well as on the program and communication staff of the Montreat Conference Center. In addition to her pastoral background, she has over 10 years of experience in advertising, public relations and television production. Among her credits are associate producer and assistant film editor for two award-winning documentaries for ABC News. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she was named a Wellesley College Scholar and awarded the Silver Medal by the Royal Society of Arts, London. Following graduation, Emily received a Fulbright Grant to Hamburg, Germany. Her M.Div. degree was conferred by Union Theological Seminary, New York, where she earned academic distinction for her master's thesis under the direction of Phyllis Trible and was the recipient of the Jonathan Kneeland Award for the best exegetically-based sermon.

Emily has been a reporter in the General Assembly Communication Center at Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assemblies since 1999. She has been published in Presbyterian Outlook, The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, as well as the PC(USA) periodicals, Church and Society, Presbyterians Today and Perspectives (an online magazine). She has also written a monthly religion column for the Gannett-owned Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times. A resident of North Carolina and a member of Salem Presbytery, Emily is married to the Rev. John L. Odom, pastor of Starmount Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, N.C. The Odoms have two children, Nathaniel and Elizabeth.

Senior Administrative Assistant

Rebecca Snipp
Email Rebecca Snipp
Louisville, Kentucky

Becca joined Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands on February 1, 2004, as the Senior Administrative Assistant. Prior to joining MIJHH, Becca worked as the Administrative Assistant to the Director and the Director's Executive Assistant in the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD). She began her career with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in July 1999 as the Senior Secretary in the Office of International Evangelism (WMD). Becca attended Bellarmine University and Indiana University Southeast, focusing on Mathematics and Accounting.

Senior Administrative Assistant

Mary Ruth Phares
Email Mary Ruth Phares
Louisville, KY

Mary Ruth joined Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands on June 2, 2008, as the senior administrative assistant to the Director of Funds Development. Prior to joining MIJHH, Mary Ruth worked as a senior administrative assistant in the Office of the General Assembly, Department of Constitutional Services. An elder at First Presbyterian Church, Jeffersonville, In., she began her career with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in November 1988. Mary Ruth attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She succeeds Becca Snipp, who moves to a new position as Administrative Assistant in the office of the Deputy Executive Director for Mission effective July 1.