About Me and My Life’s Work
My career in the nonprofit sector spans nearly forty years, with experience in nonprofit management, association leadership, and online higher education. Throughout these varied roles, my focus has remained consistent: serving under-resourced populations, especially individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction. For the past twenty years, I have also dedicated much of my work to equipping and training others to serve these communities.
In 1998, I founded Rescue College, now called City Vision University, an accredited online higher education institution. There, I recruited and supervised adjunct faculty, oversaw curriculum development, coordinated partnerships with national organizations, and collaborated with web engineers to strengthen the online learning experience. I also led the process of securing DEAC accreditation and approval for federal student aid. Today, the university offers bachelor’s programs in Urban Missions, Addiction Studies, and Nonprofit Management, along with graduate programs in Business, Addiction Studies, and Technology and Ministry.
After eight years with City Vision University, I retired in April 2015 as Chief Academic Officer to serve full-time as CEO of Connecting for Good, a Kansas City nonprofit I co-founded in 2011. Now part of the PCs for People network, the organization works to close the digital divide by providing low-income families with affordable refurbished computers, digital life skills training, community technology centers, and wireless Internet service. This work led to an invitation to join the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development in Washington, D.C., where I managed ConnectHome, an Obama administration initiative that brought Internet access to families in federally funded housing in 38 cities.
When my service in D.C. concluded in 2016, I returned to Kansas City as Executive Director of Footprints, Inc., a transitional residence for homeless veterans. Footprints also operates a recovery community center, an outpatient treatment program, and a home for women in recovery from substance use disorders.
In January 2020, I became Chief Operating Officer of Healing House, an organization founded in 2002 that provides recovery housing for nearly 200 men and women in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast. I currently serve as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer, helping guide its financial growth and sustainability.
Earlier in my career, I spent 17 years as Director of Education for the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, a network of 300 organizations serving the homeless across North America. (AGRM is not called CityGate Network.) During my tenure, I founded Rescue College (now City Vision University), enhanced the association’s certification program, managed training and events, and provided consulting to rescue mission leaders in management, fundraising, and residential recovery program design. I was especially gratified to see AGRM members embrace a more therapeutic approach to addiction recovery during this period.
Before AGRM, I served for ten years as the founding director of New Creation Center, a licensed residential addiction treatment program for indigent men that also provided outpatient counseling for individuals and families. There, I developed effective counseling models, recruited and supervised a professional staff, obtained state licensing, and launched successful fundraising efforts, including direct mail campaigns, foundation support, special events, and capital campaigns for facility expansion.
My personal faith and journey of recovery have always shaped my work. My journey of coming to know God was featured in this 1992 “Unshackled” radio drama from Pacific Garden Mission.
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