Meet the Team

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Lauren Speeth, PhD

Founder & Director

Lauren Speeth holds PhD and DMin degrees from Bakke Graduate University, and completed her Clinical Pastoral Education at Stanford University Hospitals and Clinics. An award-winning filmmaker and writer, her documentaries, ranging from eco-green to Celtic-green, all contain a message of encouragement, as do her other works, which include a novel, a primer on eMinistry, books on social entrepreneurship and poverty, and articles on a host of other subjects. Leveraging a background in the Silicon Valley from the startup to the Fortune 50 levels, Speeth has lectured and forged partnerships internationally to foster lasting, measurable, positive change. She lives out a vision for ecumenism, as an elder at a Baptist church and having served as a member of a Methodist healing prayer team and a Regent Emeritus at a Catholic college. She is also an External Advisor for The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and a Lifetime Member of The Carter Center's Board of Councilors.

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Michael Dalling

Graphic Designer

Mike Dalling is a master of 8-bit video games and anything on two wheels. With twenty years of working in commercial arts and design, Mike is always ready to help us shape our vision into reality. This means much more than our beautiful logo and overall look-and-feel; it also means creating apparently simple graphics that convey a great deal of information, seemingly effortlessly. We especially love our S.H.I.P. graphic for our Spiritual-Holistic Inquiry Process, developed in 2011 and brought to life with the new graphic in the Summer of 2013. Most recently, he completely overhauled the look-and-feel of the website when we changed our name from The Center for Nonharming Ministries to NHM Ministrants. We promise never to do that to you again, Mike!

Council of Advisors

Our Council of Advisors is an advisory (non-voting, non-fiduciary) body comprised of distinguished theologians, ministers, and professional and academic leaders. Members share wisdom and provide counsel and recommendations to our Director. Members are invited to serve for a period of three years. In addition to advising the Director on issues relative to tour work, members function as ambassadors to the outside community.

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Dr. Gwendolyn J. Dewey

Director of DTL Programs; VP of International Partnerships; Professor of Theology of Work, Bakke Graduate University

Dr.Gwendolyn Dewey holds a doctorate from the University of Washington in educational policy, governance, and administration, and a Doctor of Ministry from Eastern Baptist theological Seminary in transformational leadership for the global church. She has held the position of Academic Dean at Bakke Graduate University over both the School of Theology and the School of Business, as well as the Director of Doctoral Dissertations, and Administrator of the Theology of Work grant program. She was past President of Bakke Graduate University and teaches in the U.S. and globally. She has experience both in the corporate world and in education (pre-kindergarten through university levels), holding key administrative positions at each level. She served as professor in the graduate educational administration program at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.

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Gabriel Ehri

Executive Director Friends Journal (Quaker)

Gabriel Ehri is executive director at Friends Publishing Corporation, which publishes the magazine Friends Journal, QuakerSpeak.com, Quaker.org, and the Quakers Today podcast. A member of Green Street Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, he is an active volunteer, reader, home cook, birder, and dad. He serves as chair of the Friends Life Care Partners board and clerk of Green Street Meeting, and as a board member of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, Greene Street Friends School, and the Corporation of Haverford College. He lives in Philadelphia.

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Rev. Dr. James (Jim) Keck

Senior Minister First Plymouth Congregational Church

Rev. Dr. Jim Keck was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and started heading west for undergraduate study at the University of Colorado, Boulder and graduate study in Berkeley. He received his Doctorate of Ministry from Andover Newton Seminary and was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1990. In 1993, after serving churches in Berkeley and Corona Del Mar, California, he became the Sr. Minister of the West Concord Union Church, in MassachusettsIn 1999 he became the Sr. Minister at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, California. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at Pacific School of Religion; as president of the Peninsula Clergy Network which links 400 clergy with other area civic leaders; and as a board member of the Mission Hospice of San Mateo County. He has also served as a guest lecturer at Tufts University, Andover Newton Theological School, American Baptist School and Pacific School of Religion, as well as a keynote speaker for numerous denominational events. Rev. Keck and his wife Karen Taylor have two young children. When not at church he loves to play golf, basketball, handball, tennis, or just about any sport.




Past Advisors

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Brother Camillus Chavez, F.S.C., Ph.D.

June 14, 1929 - May 31, 2023

Professor Saint Mary's College of California Brother Camillus Chavez held a B.A. in philosophy, an M.S. in Spanish and Latin-American literature, a second M.A., in theology, and a Ph.D. in clinical and social psychology. A member of the faculty at St. Mary's College of California from 1975, he was the recipient of the Alumni Association's highest honor – the St. John Baptiste de la Salle award – in 2000. Br. Camillus approached psychological material from a spiritual perspective because, "I've found that psychological problems often indicate a need to move forward in one's spiritual development. The key to that development is the interior life."

Contemplative practice reminds us we are in the presence of a God who loves us with an overwhelming love. This is a Lasallian heritage; in the Rule of the Brothers, the most important exercise of the day is interior prayer.

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Rev. Calvin Jones, Jr.

Jan. 26, 1951 - Oct. 24, 2021

Rev. Calvin Jones, Jr. served as Senior Pastor Providence Baptist Church, Board Member of the Tabernacle Community Development Corporation, Commissioner of National Baptist Convention USA Prison Ministry; Founding Board Member of the SF Housing Development Corporation; Founding Executive Director of the Family School of San Francisco; and was a member of the Mayor of SF Citizens Advisory Committee for the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. Rev. Jones, who held a BA in Social Welfare from the University of Washington and an MDiv from Harvard, brought a team spirit honed by his years playing Defensive Back for the Denver Broncos to every effort. Among his numerous awards and recognition were CityFlight's "10 Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area" and the Alliance of Black School Educators of San Francisco's "Distinguished Clergy of the Year." Honored by the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, Jones also spoke on numerous national platforms, including a 1977 keynote at a White House prayer breakfast.

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