serial entrepreneur and Pastor

Gerald is a serial entrepreneur and a Pastor. His calling is to connect the dots between business, purpose, success and faith.

Gerald bootstrapped his first startup in his early twenties, 33 years later he’s working on his sixth startup as the CEO and Marketplace Pastor at CanaGlobal, a faith-based entrepreneurial accelerator in Los Angeles.

Prior to CanaGlobal, Gerald has been the Founder/CEO to five ventures in the tech-education, coder bootcamp, staffing, marketing, and business turnaround marketplace. He loves working with stuck CEOs and helping them get unstuck through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

He’s published two books about purpose and success: HisPlan MyPlan and Ignite Your Success.

Gerald and his wife Leslie have two boys, Brandon (24) who is also co-founder with him at CanaGlobal, and Alec (21) who went to live with Jesus in heaven at age 1.

They attend CrossRoad South Bay Church in Gardena, CA where Gerald teaches on a biweekly basis.

LINKS

• LinkedIn

CEO of Convene

Greg Leith is the CEO of Convene. He was born in Canada and lived in all four corners of North America. His career spans over 35 years of senior leadership roles in corporate, non-profit and academic sectors. Recently, he served as Director of Strategic Alliances for 13 years at Biola University in California.

Greg has served the persecuted church with food, brought relief and long term jobs to Orissa, India, assisted mission agencies in China with strategy and helped envision a School of Journalism in Haiti. He and Shelley, his wife of 38 years, have crisscrossed Canada for over a decade speaking on marriage and parenting for FamilyLife helping thousands of marriages.

Greg was a senior executive for 20 years with the $9 billion ServiceMaster Company, serving in various leadership capacities. He was Vice President of Arrow Leadership and Director of Leadership Development for Christian Leadership Alliance, creating learning experiences for the most influential Christian organizations in the world.

Married for over 38 years to his wife Shelley, he’s the father and friend to five thriving young adults.

LINKS

• Personal Website

• LinkedIn

• CONVENE

Associate Professor at Westmont College

Rev. Dr. Rhee graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in history and earned a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary. Before coming to Westmont in 2004, she served as pastor of Hana Church in Buena Park, Calif. and is an ordained minister of Free Methodist Church Santa Barbara. She specializes in early Christian history, especially second- and third-century Christian literature and theology, focusing on the diverging Christian self-identities in relation to Greco-Roman culture and society. Her books include “Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third Centuries,” “Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation,” and “Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity.” She received the Bruce and Adaline Bare Teacher of the Year Award in Humanities in 2010 and the Faculty Researcher of the Year Award in 2014. In the fall 2016, she led the Westmont in East Asia program.

Specialization(s)

Early Christian literature and theology; wealth and poverty in early Christianity; Greco-Roman medicine and early Christian healthcare

LINKS

• LinkedIn

chairman emeritus of Capella Hotel Group

Horst Schulze, chairman emeritus of Capella Hotel Group, is a legend and leader in the service world.  His vision has helped reshape concepts of customer service throughout the hospitality and service industries.

In 1991, Schulze was recognized as “corporate hotelier of the world” by HOTELS magazine. In 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management.

Schulze served as vice chairman of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company from 2001-2002, after serving as president and COO of The Ritz-Carlton Group, starting in 1988.  Under his leadership, the Group was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in both 1992 and 1999—the first and only hotel company to win even one such award. In addition, Ritz-Carlton was continuously voted “best hotel company in the world” by meeting and other trade publications.

Upon joining Ritz-Carlton as a charter member and VP of Operations in 1983, Schulze created the operating and service standards that have become world famous. He was appointed EVP in 1987 and president and COO in 1988. When he left Ritz-Carlton to form the Capella Hotel Group, Schulze was responsible for the $2 billion Ritz-Carlton operations worldwide.

LINKS

• Excellence Wins

retired university professor

Hubert Morken is a retired university professor best known for his founding of the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) and for his teaching, research, and publications.  In the APSA, The Hubert Morken Best Book Award is given every two years for the “best book” published anywhere dealing with religion and politics.

Note:  Morken had no role in the naming of this award which came as a complete surprise to him after he retired.  Many deserve it.  Special help from Aaron Wildavsky, Daniel Elazar, Charles Dunn, Daniel Dreisbach, Robert Booth Fowler, Jo Renee Formicola, and William Bentley Ball, to name a few colleagues.

Professional:

Professor, Azusa Pacific University, Houghton College, Oral Roberts University, Regent University.  Retired 2001.

Book Publications: 

• Pat Robertson: Where He Stands, Fleming H. Revel, 1988.

• Everson Revisited: Religion, Education, and Law at the Crossroads (editor and contributor with Prof. Jo Formicola), Rowman & Littlefield, 1997.

• The Politics of School Choice, (co-authored with Prof. Jo Formicola), Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.

• Religious Leaders & Faith-based Politics (editor and contributor with Prof. Jo Formicola), Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.

• Additional articles, papers, conferences, and public lectures.

Community:

Former school board member and board Chair, Park City Academy,  Park City, Utah.

Ministry:

Students, largely in university settings and in our home.

Attended Church in a variety of settings, inner-city, urban, suburban, and small-town.

Personal:

Born in California, 1943.  Primary and secondary education in Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong — 10 years in Asia — the son of Christian missionary evangelist the Rev. David Morken and Helen (Mitchell) Morken.

Married to Mary (Spradley) Morken, four children, fifteen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

coach and mentor

Who am I?

Hi, my name is Evan Kubicek aka Coach K and I love helping people and businesses leave a legacy. That’s why I love my work. At Eastern Illinois University I get to pass along strategies, processes and ideas that bring transformation in my students, their companies and their communities. I’m a father of 4 boys, a husband of 17 years, a life & business coach, a volunteer firefighter, township assessor and former VP of Workforce/Impact CloudFactory.

What am I?

I help coach and mentor potential managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders to reach their highest potential. At home, at work or at the store it doesn’t matter to me. This passion for business and entrepreneurial development has taken me through several professions: retail, education, humanitarian aid, international technology startup and consulting in more countries than I can count on two hands.

Why do I?

In 2006 I had a dream of my wife and I standing on a mountain top with a whisper in the wind telling us to explore the world. A few years and more than 20 countries later, I love consulting international startup companies to success. I like to pretend that I am the Indiana Jones of social entrepreneurship. I love the treasure hunt.

LINKS

• LinkedIn