New Bread Board Officers and Members, and Retiring Board Members

Staff
8 MIN READ

December 2023

The board guides Bread for the World’s work to end hunger. They provide high-level policy and programmatic guidance, are some of Bread’s most visible ambassadors, and, like all Bread members, pray, act, and give toward the end of hunger.

NEW OFFICERS

Bread for the World is delighted to announce the election of Dr. Jeremy Everett as Chair of the Board of Directors beginning January 1, 2024. Dr. Everett is the founder and executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, which integrates research, policy, and practice through projects such as the Hunger Free Community Accelerator, the Baylor Collaborative Innovation Hub, the master’s degree in theology, Ecology, and Food Justice, and the Hunger Data Lab. The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty has assisted community-based, state-based, and national efforts to increase hundreds of millions of additional meals through innovative, researched-based interventions, and raised more than 300 million dollars to support faculty research, public service, and policy analysis. Everett holds a bachelor’s degree from Samford University, a Master of Divinity from Truett Seminary at Baylor University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Duke Divinity School at Duke University. Prior to becoming Chair, Everett has been a member of Bread’s board since 2019. 

Mariam Mengistie has been elected as Board Vice Chair. She is Executive Director of Missions at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida, where she leads poverty alleviation strategies and connects community partners and volunteers. Mariam also leads the Orlando Bread for the World Team and is deeply involved in building Bread’s advocacy strategies in central Florida.

John Hendrix has been elected as Board Treasurer. He is a managing director in the Financial Services Investment Banking Group at Piper Sandler & Co, where he specializes in providing strategic advice to insurance brokers, underwriters, and service providers. Hendrix is a second-generation Bread for the World member and has served on the Advisory Committee for Bread’s New York Gala to End Hunger since 2011. 

Bishop James B. Walker has been elected as Board Secretary. He is Presiding Bishop of the Seventh Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Previously, he was pastor of Phillips Metropolitan CME Church in Hartford, Connecticut for 27 years. Walker’s promotion of Bread for the World has led to the participation of many Christian Methodist Episcopal congregations in Bread for the World’s annual Offering of Letters. 

Full bios for the officers can be found at www.bread.org/board. 

We are honored by the expertise and passion these new officers will bring to the leadership of the Board of Directors. 

NEW MEMBERS

Bread for the World is delighted to announce the election of new members to our Board of Directors. They were elected by Bread for the World’s membership and board to terms   beginning January 1, 2024, and join existing members listed at bread.org/board.

  • Rev. Eddy Alemán is general secretary of the Reformed Church in America (RCA), where he is responsible for casting a vision for the denomination and overseeing the implementation of its mission. He is formerly the RCA’s director of strategic leadership development and coordinator of Hispanic ministries, and before that, served churches in Canada, California, and Michigan. 
  • Max Finberg is Vice President for Government Affairs at Chobani. He has nearly three decades of experience working to end hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world, most recently as President and CEO of Growing Hope Globally, and before that as director of the United Nation’s World Food Programme and inaugural director of the Alliance to End Hunger. 
  • Dr. Kate Howe is Executive Director of the Indy Hunger Network, which aims to create a system that ensures anyone who is hungry can access the nutritious food they need. She is also a leader of Bread the World’s Central Indiana Leadership Team. Howe is a current member of Bread for the World’s board; this election is to a second term.
  • Dr. Sandra Joireman is a political scientist specializing in property rights, customary law, and return migration after violent conflict. She is the Weinstein Chair of International Studies, Professor of Political Science, and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Richmond. 
  • Dave Miner is projects chair and board member of the Indy Hunger Network, a coalition of representatives from leading anti-hunger organizations and community volunteers, all committed to addressing food insecurity in Central Indiana. He was previously volunteer executive director of the Interfaith Hunger Initiative and retired from a senior executive role for Elanco animal health after 28 years with Eli Lilly. 
  • Grace Shim is Executive Minister of Serve Globally, where she oversees missional efforts for Covenant World Relief and Development, Merge, Paul Carlson Partnership, and more than 100 global personnel and ministry partners who advance the Evangelical Covenant Church’s mission in more than 50 countries. 
  • Karen Smith has shaped the media content (magazines, books, videos, and websites) of three award-winning Catholic publications for nearly 30 years: as editorial director of America, the national Jesuit review of faith and culture; as editor of CHURCH, the journal for pastors and parish staff published by the National Pastoral Life Center; and as associate editor of Commonweal, an intellectual lay Catholic journal of opinion. 
  • Rev. Lori Tapia is the first woman and first Mexican American to serve as National Hispanic Pastor for the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church). She works with 170 Hispanic churches across the U.S. and Canada who have members representing every state in the U. S., every Latin American country, and several countries in the Caribbean and South America. 
  • Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson is General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. She is the first woman, and the first Black woman, to hold this position. She has held several leadership positions with the UCC and partnered with Bread through the Pan-African Women of Faith Network. 
  • Micheal Wear is founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with a mission to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. He has served as advisor for a range of civic leaders on matters of faith and public life for the last decade, including as a White House and presidential campaign staffer. 

Please warmly welcome Bread for the World’s newest board members. 

RETIRING BOARD MEMBERS

The terms of the following board members will end on December 31, 2023. Bread for the World is deeply grateful for their leadership over the last several years; their contributions to Bread’s vision and direction have been invaluable. 

  • Kate Pringle, Partner, Litigation Department at Freidman, Kaplan, Seiler, & Adelman, LLP, has been a board member since 2015. She was elected as Board Chair in 2021, and in her tenure shepherded the board and organization through leadership transitions, the pandemic, and notable public and policy changes on global nutrition.  
  • Heather Hardinger, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer at CoxHealth and member of the City Council of Springfield, Missouri, joined the board in 2018. She has been Vice Chair since 2020, chaired the Constituency & Organizing Committee since 2021, and was the first chair of the board’s Equity Committee. 
  • Mike Goorhouse, formerlyPresident/CEO of the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area, joined the board in 2017. He has been Board Treasurer and Finance and Administration Committee Chair since 2021. 
  • Rev. Lawrence Kirby II, pastor at One Voice Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, joined the board in 2018. He chaired the board’s Governance Committee. 
  • Carol Myers, Bread supporter since 1975, has been on the board since 2018 and, in a previous term on Bread’s board, served as Vice Chair. She is a grasstops activist and champion of Bread’s endowments. 
  • The Right Rev. Frank Madison Reid III, ecumenical officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Presiding Prelate of the Third Episcopal District, has been on the board since 2020. 
  • Rev. Amy Reumann, Director of Advocacy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,joined the board in 2018. Since 2019 she has chaired the board’s Public Policy Committee. 
  • Fernando Tamara, Lead Pastor of El Gólgota AG in Richmond, California; founder of Asamblea Church in Orange, California; and Director of Hispanic Initiatives at the Theology of Work Project, joined the board in 2018. He is part of Bread’s Latino Consultation and Advisory Board. 

The full board is listed at bread.org/board. All Bread for the World members are invited to nominate future candidates to the board. Email Jamie Thomas, [email protected], for more information.

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