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Our Team

The Faces Behind CPJ

The Center for Public Justice is supported by a team of faithful and dedicated individuals who work diligently to pursue public justice.

CPJ Team

Program Director
Equipping Ministries Fellowship

Mario Alfaro directs EMF, which equips grassroots Hispanic-led faith-based organizations to align their faith with their organizational practices, their relationship with the public, and their public policy engagement. He has 20 years of experience working with leaders of faith-based organizations to help them impact their communities.

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Mario Alfaro

Advocacy Manager
Center for Public Justice

Madi Allen is the Advocacy Manager at the Center for Public Justice. In this position she coordinates the planning, implementation, and evaluation of all aspects of CPJ’s organizational advocacy in policy coalitions. She is passionate about loving her neighbor well by advocating for them. Before joining CPJ Madi worked in Maternal Mental Health advocacy. She graduated from Covenant College with her bachelors in Community Development and obtained her Masters in Public Health from the University of Virginia.

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Madison Allen

Director of Development
Center for Public Justice

Dawn Brotherton is the Director of Development at the Center for Public Justice. With a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University, and an undergraduate degree from Gordon College, she has worked with nonprofits, schools, and Christian organizations to strengthen their capacity to fulfill their mission. Dawn lives in Harrisburg, PA with her husband and three children.

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Dawn Brotherton, Ph.D.

Senior Director
Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance

Stanley Carlson-Thies is the Founder and Senior Director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, a division of the Center for Public Justice. He is an expert on the federal Faith-Based Initiative and served in the inaugural White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

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Stanley Carlson-Thies

Program Director
Shared Justice

Emily Crouch is the Program Director for Shared Justice, CPJ’s program for Christian college students and young adults.

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Emily Crouch

Development Associate
Center for Public Justice

Michaelah is a Development Associate for the Center for Public Justice. She is passionate about implementing development strategies that enable the Center for Public Justice to flourish and expand its work. She is a graduate of John Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Music. She lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband.

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Michaelah Gertz-Billinsgley

Director of Communications
Center for Public Justic

Debora Haede is a multilingual communications professional who enjoys implementing communications strategies for faith-based organizations. She is a graduate of Calvin University.

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Debora Haede

Operations Manager
Center for Public Justice

Oliver Mead is the Operations Manager for the Center for Public Justice. He graduated with a degree in Statistics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

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Oliver Mead

Chief Executive Officer
Center for Public Justice

Stephanie Summers is the CEO of the Center for Public Justice. She received her M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Eastern University, and is a recipient of the inaugural Duke Divinity Reflective Leadership Award.

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Stephanie Summers

Fellows

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Chelsea Langston Bombino, J.D., is a program officer with the Fetzer Institute. Her work as a Fellow with CPJ focuses on increasing public understanding of the importance of religious freedom for faith-based organizations of diverse faiths and mission areas.

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Chelsea Langston Bombino

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Charles Glenn, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Boston University and co-chair of the International Conference on School Choice and Education Reform. His extensive publications detail pluralist education systems worldwide.

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Charles Glenn, Jr.

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Clarke Cochran, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Texas Tech University, and the author of numerous books and articles in health care policy, religion and politics, and Catholic social teaching.

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Clarke Cochran

Senior Fellow
Families Valued

Gideon Strauss, Ph.D., is the Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Worldview Studies at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Ontario.

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Gideon Strauss

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear is Associate Professor Emeritus of Applied Theology at Howard University School of Divinity and the National Director of Healing Communities.

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Harold Dean Trulear

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Rev. Dr. Matthew Kaemingk is the Richard John Mouw Assistant Professor of Faith and Public Life and Director of the Richard John Mouw Institute of Faith and Public Life at Fuller Seminary. Matthew’s research and teaching in ethics explores questions facing Christians serving in politics, culture, and the marketplace.

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Matthew Kaemingk

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Dr. Michelle Kirtley is a Senior Research Analyst in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Duke University. Prior to joining Duke, Michelle was a consultant on Bioethics and Public Policy at the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity and a science and health policy advisor for two members of Congress.

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Michelle Crowell Kirtley

Founder & Strategic Advisor, Families Valued
Families Valued

Rachel Anderson is a Fellow with the Center for Public Justice where her work focuses on work and family policy and faith-based civic engagement. She founded and now serves as Strategic Advisor to CPJ’s Families Valued program. Previously, Rachel was the Director of Faith Affair at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). She is a graduate of Harvard Law and Divinity Schools.

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Rachel Anderson

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Robert Joustra, Ph.D., is associate professor of politics & international studies at Redeemer University. He is an editorial fellow with The Review of Faith & International Affairs, and author, co-author, and co-editor of several books.

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Robert Joustra

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Steven E. Meyer, Ph.D., is the Dean of Graduate Studies and Chairman, National Security Program and Professor of National Security Studies, Daniel Morgan Graduate School, and the Former Deputy Chief of the CIA’s Balkan Task Force. He served 25 years as a U.S. intelligence professional.

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Steven E. Meyer

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Timothy Sherratt, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Gordon College and author of Power Made Perfect? Is there a Christian Politics for the Twenty-First Century? ( 2016)

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Timothy Sherratt

CPJ Fellow
Families Valued

Vincent Bacote, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL.
His recent titles include Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News: In Search of a Better Evangelical Theology (2021), and The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (2015), and stand alongside nearly two decades of publications on race, culture and faith.

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Vincent Bacote

Juvenile Justice Fellow
Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance

Yasmine Arrington, M.Div.,  supports CPJ’s Juvenile Justice policy and educational portfolio. Yasmine is the Founder and Executive Director of ScholarCHIPS and an alumna of CPJ’s Sacred Sector Fellows program.

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Yasmine Arrington

Board Of Trustees

Trustee, Board Chair
Families Valued

John Baas is the Vice President of Advancement for Dordt University and lives in Iowa.

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John Baas

Trustee
Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance

Justin Bailey, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of theology at Dordt University, the host of the In All Things podcast and lives in Iowa.

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Justin Bailey

Trustee
Families Valued

Jesse Covington, Ph.D., is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Augustinian Scholars Program at Westmont College and lives in California.

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Jesse Covington

Trustee
Families Valued

Ivy Ka-Lee Lau is the Global Public Policy and Research Lead at PayPal and lives in California.

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Ivy Lau-Schindewolf

Trustee

Ruth Melkonian-Hoover is professor of political science and international affairs at Gordon College, where she has taught since 2005.

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Ruth Melkonian-Hoover

Trustee

Jeff Ming Liou is the National Director of Theological Formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.

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Jeff Ming Liou 

Trustee
Families Valued

Claire McWilliams-Doty is Lead Auditor at the Environmental Protection Agency and lives in Maryland.

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Claire McWilliams-Doty

Trustee, Board Vice Chair
Families Valued

Pastor Kathy Pointer is co-pastor of Greater Fellowship Full Gospel Baptist Church and the Executive Director of Kingdom Care Elder Village.

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Kathy Pointer

Trustee
Families Valued

Matt Reiffer is the Vice President of Infrastructure Programs at ACEC and lives in Maryland.

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Matt Reiffer

Trustee
Families Valued

Denise Strothers, Ph.D., is the National Director of Operations for Healing Communities and lives in Maryland.

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Denise Strothers

Trustee, Treasurer
Families Valued

Kelly Tien is a retired finance and accounting executive and lives in Colorado.

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Kelly Tien

Trustee
Families Valued

Ryan VerWys is the CEO of ICCF Community Homes and lives in Michigan. 

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Ryan VerWys

Trustee
Families Valued

Terry Woodnorth is a retired software engineer and lives in Pennsylvania.

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Terry Woodnorth

Strategic Advisors

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Amy L. Sherman, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute where she directs the Center on Faith in Communities (CFIC), a capacity building initiative for congregations and faith-based and community-based organizations. She is a frequent speaker/trainer at gatherings for congregational and nonprofit ministry leaders.

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Amy Sherman

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Rev. Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner is CEO and co-founder of Skinner Leadership Institute. Dr. Williams-Skinner is a trusted advisor, public policy strategist, faith and community leader, author, lecturer, educator, executive coach, and mentor. She and her late husband, Tom Skinner, founded the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Prayer Breakfast that annually attracts over 3000 leaders across the nation.

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Barbara Williams Skinner

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Bruce MacLaury is President Emeritus of The Brookings Institution. He is a former vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and also served in the U.S. Treasury Department and at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

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Bruce MacLaury

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Ambassador Clyde D. Taylor is a former U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay. He is the former executive director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, which supports the Foreign Service Foundation, and a board member for several non-profit organizations.

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Clyde Taylor

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Corwin D. Smidt is the former Director and a current Research Fellow of the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin University. Dr. Smidt specializes in American electoral politics, presidential primaries, the political news media, campaign politics, and dynamics in American political behavior.

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Corwin Smidt

Strategic Advisor
Families Valued

Judy Dean is Professor of International Economics in the Brandeis University International Business School. Judy’s research focuses on international trade and economic development. She serves as a Senior Fellow at the Rimini Centre of Economic Analysis.

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Judith Dean

Resident Fellow
Families Valued

Mark Noll is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. Noll is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2006 he received the National Endowment for the Humanities medal at a White House ceremony.

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Mark Noll

Resident Fellow
Families Valued

John J. Dilulio, Jr. is the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania.

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John Dilulio

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