2024 Board Members

Dr. Matt Bloom is currently a research professor at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. In 2020, he left his tenured position to focus full-time on leading the Flourishing in Ministry and WorkWell research projects. These projects focus on the well-being of helping and caring professions: clergy, physicians, global health workers, international humanitarian and development professionals, and educators.

For 15 years, Dr. Bloom taught innovation to graduate and executive education students. He has also worked with a variety of not-for-profit organizations in the United States and abroad, helping them learn about and integrate well-being research into their programs and initiatives. Before entering academia, Dr. Bloom spent several years as a consultant with Arthur Young, E.F. Hutton, and Shearson Lehman Brothers. He received his PhD from Cornell University.

Mr. Ernest Brooks is a managing associate at Isaacson, Miller, one of the nation’s leading retained executive search firms, where he also serves as co-lead of the firm’s social justice + advocacy practice area. His practice as an executive search consultant is informed by the diversity of his leadership experiences spanning a broad range of mission-driven institutions. Mr. Brooks has successfully recruited presidents, chief executives, c-suite and senior functional and program leaders for organizations across sectors including higher education, k-12 education, and youth development, faith-related organizations, social justice + advocacy, and philanthropy/collective impact. 

Prior to joining Isaacson, Miller, Mr. Brooks served as president and CEO of Academy of Preachers, Inc., a national ecumenical vocational discernment and development organization for young people exploring pathways in and refining their gifts for ministry. He previously served as special assistant to the CEO of The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and as assistant dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, among other roles. In addition, he was a Higher Education Fellow for Graduate Diversity Initiatives at the University of Chicago.

A passionate advocate for effective social-sector leadership, he has served on governance and advisory boards for several national and local organizations including Interfaith Community Initiatives, Southern Initiative Algebra Project, Rural School and Community Trust, and Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society. Additionally, Mr. Brooks has led consulting engagements with numerous organizations in the areas of mission and vision development, strategic planning, program design and launch, organizational governance, and change management.

Mr. Brooks is a proud alumnus of Morehouse College, Duke University, and The University of Chicago.

Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson is the executive presbyter at Presbytery of Greater Atlanta where she serves as an encourager to 84 congregations, 26 new worship communities and leaders within a presbytery filled with deep cultural diversity and a vast theological landscape.

Before her current role, she served as a youth director and later as the mission pastor at Wayne Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania. While serving at Wayne Presbyterian Church in 2013, she also served as the organizing pastor for The Common Place, a faith-based arts and education center in Southwest Philadelphia. Aisha has also served various churches in her hometown of Philadelphia as well as New Jersey, New York, and the surrounding area through her music ministry, preaching, teaching and pastoral care. She holds a BS in music from Temple University and earned her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Rev. John Helmiere is a writer, spiritual director, and consultant based in Seattle. He planted and convened a radical new expression of church, called Valley & Mountain Fellowship, in Hillman City, WA. He is also the co-founder and former executive director of The Collaboratory, a progressive organizing incubator and arts space in Seattle. Born and raised in Tampa, Rev. Helmiere studied religion, philosophy, and physics as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, and went on to receive an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, where he was awarded the Tweedy Prize in 2010.

As an FTE Ministry Fellow, he visited eight progressive, innovative churches around the country, which was a crucial part of his preparation process before planning Valley & Mountain in 2010. On multiple occasions over the past decade, Rev. Helmiere has created and led workshops and facilitated learning labs at FTE events. He strongly believes in the mission and the efficacy of FTE.

Rev. Helmiere has been formed by a vast array of mentors, friends, activists, artists, intentional communities, and sidewalk saints. He is constantly being educated by his two daughters, Charis and Juniper, and his wife Frederica, a scholar who works at the intersection of spirituality, ecology, and international relations. He is an activist and organizer involved in many movements and was the founding chairperson of the Interfaith Economic Justice Coalition. Rev. Helmiere has also been a fellow with the Beatitudes Society and the Louisville Institute."

Ms. Soon Mee Kim is executive vice president and global diversity and inclusion leader for Porter Novelli, part of the Omnicom Public Relations Group. In her role, she is responsible for implementing policies and programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. A dreamer and a doer, she is passionate about workplace culture, supporting the talent lifecycle, and working with clients to create innovative campaigns that make an impact.

A frequent speaker and writer on topics related to diversity, race and gender, Ms. Kim was recognized as a 2019 Holmes Report Innovator 25 for the Americas. She was also named a 2019 ColorComm Circle Award honoree for helping to strengthen the voices of underrepresented women of color in the communications industry. At a local level, she was named the 2019 Changing the World honoree by the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta.

Ms. Kim serves on the board of directors for ColorComm, the business community for women of color in communications, and the board of advisors for the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network. She is an active member of Leadership Atlanta and a member of Atlanta Magazine’s editorial advisory board. Ms. Kim is a graduate of Emory University and is a trained diversity coach through Coach Diversity Institute. She and her husband Kevin have two daughters, Madeleine and Chloe.

Rev. Stephen Lewis is the president of FTE and leads responsibility for the strategic direction of FTE programs. An accomplished executive leader and former banking officer with experience at Moody’s Investors Service and Bank of America, Lewis has seventeen years of experience guiding FTE programs.

Ms. Andrea Perrett is an associate in New Witnessing Communities at the Centre for Missional Leadership at St Andrew’s Hall in Vancouver, Canada, and the director of two different church planting networks, Cyclical Vancouver and Cyclical Calgary-Macleod.

Before her current roles, Ms. Perrett created and led a dinner church, St. Andy’s Community Table, and served at West Point Grey Presbyterian Church in Vancouver. She is also a registered dietitian and currently leads a missional community, the Just As We Are Baking Circle. Andrea received her MDiv from Vancouver School of Theology.

Shively T. J. Smith serves as assistant professor of New Testament at Boston University School of Theology. Rev. Dr. Smith is an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church where she serves as a resident scholar at the historic Cathedral of the AME Church, Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C.

As a scholar of New Testament, Rev. Dr. Smith’s particular focus is on the traditions of Peter, diaspora studies, approaches to biblical interpretation, Womanist and African American biblical interpretation, and issues related to the treatment of and hospitality to “strangers,” locally and globally. She published her first book, Strangers to Family: Diaspora and First Peter’s Invention of God’s Household with Baylor University Press and is completing a commentary on Second Peter for SBL Press. She has also contributed to writing projects and series, including Feasting on the Gospels, Reading & Writing Theologically, and the forthcoming series, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship. In addition, she is a regular contributor to the online Working Preacher Lectionary series and the Odyssey Network’s “On Scripture” online series and “Odyssey Impact” campaigns.

She currently serves on the Society of Biblical Literature’s Women in the Bible Steering Committee and the Emory Studies in Early Christianity editorial board for SBL Press. Previously, she was also a national mentor for the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) and has been recognized as an outstanding alumna and mentor by IRT’s Maryland Alumni Chapter and the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program.

Rev. Dr. Smith completed her Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at Emory University as the first African American female degreed in that specialization. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion, Association for Jewish Studies, and the Society for the Study of Black Religion.

Mr. J. Larry Stine is a senior principal at the labor and employment law firm of Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine P.C. in Atlanta, Georgia. A former regional counsel to the U.S. Department of Labor, he specializes in employment discrimination issues, wage and hour matters, and concerns involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Mr. Stine has s represented numerous employers against OSHA, including handling the largest citation ever issued by OSHA.

He also focuses on litigation prevention through counseling, compliance audits and training. In addition, Mr. Stine assists employers with developing workplace policies and procedures to cohere with all state and federal laws and regulations, including those directed at government contractors by the OFCCP. Mr. Stine also provides executive leadership and management training and helps clients design effective systems for personnel management and review.

Mr. Stine is a co-author of two nationally recognized books, Wage and Hour Law: Compliance and Practice and Occupational Safety and Health Law: Practice & Compliance. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and its law school where he was senior editor of the Georgia Law Review. Mr. Stine is admitted to practice in Georgia and in U.S. District Courts in Arkansas, Florida, Colorado, Texas and Tennessee, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Stine has three daughters and 10 grandchildren and is a competitive ballroom dancer.

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson is a pastor, philanthropist and activist pursuing God's vision of community marked by justice, peace and love. He is president & CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and CDF Action Council. He also serves as board chair for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

From 2011 through 2020, Rev. Wilson was president & CEO of Deaconess Foundation, a faith-based philanthropy for child well-being and racial justice in St. Louis. From 2008 through 2018, Dr. Wilson also pastored Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), a multiracial congregation in the city.  Under his leadership, the foundation constructed and established the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, a community action tank engaging thousands of citizens annually. After the police killing of Michael Brown, Jr., the church hosted the #BlackLivesMatter Freedom Ride to Ferguson and other mobilizations.

Dr. Wilson was appointed co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, which released the Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity Report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility in 2015. He currently serves boards for Duke Divinity School, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University of Louisiana, Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary, and the Doctor of Ministry from Duke University. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Starsky is married to Dr. LaToya Smith Wilson, a dentist and child advocate. They are raising four children.