I grew up in a pastor’s home, with my dad serving as a United Methodist minister in the West Ohio Conference for over 40 years. Watching him lead a local church was my first introduction to leadership, and it left a lasting impression on me.

Over the years, I’ve come to see many parallels between the work of pastors and educational leaders. That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to be part of the Pretty Good Pastor project—it allows me to combine two of my greatest passions.

I spent 34 years as a public-school educator, including 16 years as a superintendent, leading the Mariemont Schools in Cincinnati and the Upper Arlington Schools in Columbus. During that time, we celebrated many successes, but I also faced moments of failure and tough decisions. Those experiences deepened my belief in the importance of supporting and empowering leaders in their work.

Today, I serve as the Director of Government Relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, where I advocate on behalf of public school superintendents across Ohio. I also enjoy teaching and mentoring aspiring leaders at The Ohio State University and the University of Dayton.

I earned both my bachelor’s and Doctor of Education degrees from Miami University and a master’s degree from the University of Dayton.

Outside of work, I’m a proud veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard. I cherish time with my wife of over 30 years, Melissa, and our two children.

My heart beats for the work of Pretty Good Pastor Ministries, starting as early as childhood. When my mother was a church secretary, I learned the secret passageways through and under our church from her office, and as a teenager and young mom watched my brother discern and grow in his call to ministry. Now as the wife of my favorite second-career pastor and best friend, I appreciate that listening to and encouraging pastors is a calling from Jesus to sacrificially follow in his ways of surrender and bold love. I wholeheartedly support the mission of this ministry that seeks to do just that. 

My vocational career has been steeped in higher education, through no plan or intention of my own. I’ve had positions as an adjunct statistics instructor and in research, planning and data analysis for educational outcomes. When my husband, Jim, was a seminary student, I got to work planning and supporting an international doctor of ministry program and leadership conferences that built into pastors. My current work at United Theological Seminary in assessment and accreditation converges the strengths in which I have grown and the ways in which God gifted me to understand and encourage what is good. 

For the past 44 years, my wife Linda and I have served together in pastoral ministry through the United Methodist Church. I have served churches as small as three and as large as over six hundred in attendance on Sunday morning. My years of experience have pretty much all been in rural settings, primarily in Southeast Ohio.

Leading my first three churches at the age of 24, I very quickly realized the need for support and guidance from more experienced pastors ... and was fortunate enough to find mentors to fill that role in my life. Pastoral ministry can be very difficult, lonely and at times very discouraging. No one should have to navigate those waters alone. That’s why I am now involved with the Pretty Good Pastors Ministry. Serving on the Leadership Board gives me the opportunity to be a part of a ministry team that will very intentionally offer the much needed support and encouragement to other pastors.

Pastors endlessly give of themselves in ministry to others. The goal of Pretty Good Pastors Ministry is to provide the care and support needed for those pastors to continue doing that.

In addition to serving as a part-time, retired United Methodist pastor in Nelsonville, Ohio, I am also very involved in LifeWise, serving as the Program Director for the Nelsonville program and also teach sixth and seventh graders in the Logan-Hocking Program.

My wife Linda and I live on a sixth-generation family farm in a log home that a friend andI built for retirement. We have three adult children and two amazing grandchildren. We spend most of our spare time following the grands sports activities.