Saint Francis Ministries – Board of Directors

Chief Operating Officer for the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), Brock brings more than two decades of experience in health care administration to his position as chair of the Saint Francis Board of Directors. A rural hospital administrator for more than 21 years in Mississippi, he has served on the board of the NRHA and the regional policy board of the American Hospital Association. Currently a member of the Board of Commissioners of Accreditation Commission for Health Care, he specializes in rural health system development. Brock earned his Master of Public Health degree from the University of Oklahoma. He also serves as an ordained Episcopal deacon in the Diocese of West Missouri and is parochially assigned to the St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Village of Loch Lloyd, Missouri.

Greg’s relationship with Saint Francis Ministries began about 50 years ago when he joined the staff of the Passport to Adventure program. As a professor of psychiatry and Coordinator of the Community Psychology doctoral program at Wichita State University, he taught organizational development, community leadership, and community-based applied research. In 1985, he founded and served as director of the Self-Help Network, which has since grown into the WSI Center for Community Support & Research. He has had faculty appointments at Harvard School of Medicine and Boston University, as well as served on Surgeon General Koop’s Council on Self-Help and Public Health. Greg has worked with numerous Kansas nonprofit, coalitions, community-based and faith-based organizations with a focus on leadership, capacity building, and sustainability throughout his career.

A 30-year veteran of education, Michel currently serves as an assistant professor and executive director of The Educational Leadership Institute on the campus of Kansas State University. Prior to that, she was director of Teacher Licensure and Accreditation with the Kansas State Department of Education. Before that, she served as superintendent of schools for the USD 380 Vermillion Board of Education and assistant superintendent for secondary education for USD 443 Dodge City. She is licensed as an elementary teacher, with endorsements in English as a second language, reading specialist, building leadership and district leadership. Further, she holds a Doctor of Education in educational leadership from Kansas State University where her dissertation research focused on leadership through the pandemic.

Vice president of Deluxe Corporation and president of Safeguard, its subsidiary, Mark has resided in the Kansas City area since 2008. He has also served as board member and chair for Associated Youth Services and United Way chair at Deluxe Corporation. Originally from the southeast United States, he earned his B.A. from Furman University and his M.B.A. from Georgia State University. Prior to moving to Kansas City, he and his family lived in Birmingham, Alabama; San Antonio, Texas; Tallahassee, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia. He and his wife Jennifer have three grown children.

Kathy Howell, M.B.A., B.S.N., R.N, NEA-BC, is the chief nursing executive for UCHealth, where she is responsible for the continued clinical integration and advancement of nursing practice across the system. UCHealth includes 12 Colorado hospitals, with about 2,000 inpatient beds and more than 150 clinics in Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Prior to joining UCHealth, Kathy was the senior vice president and chief nurse executive for Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Missouri. As an accomplished health care executive, Kathy led the clinical integration strategy and continued advancement of nursing practice and allied health disciplines across the 10-hospital Saint Luke’s Health System. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Organization of Nurse Executives, AONE Committee Health System Chief Nurse Executives, and Vizient System Chief Nurse Executives.

An Episcopal priest, Carissa’s vocation was born from her work in the fields of human rights and faith-based community organizing. She began her career with the International Human Rights Internship Program in Washington, D.C., in 1995 and went on to grassroots community organizing with the Industrial Areas Foundation in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Since her ordination in 2007, Carissa has engaged members of faith-based communities in outreach and the pursuit of peace and justice in Houston and Los Angeles. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Anthropology from Wellesley College and her Master’s of Divinity from the Seminary of the Southwest. She currently serves as vicar of Northside Episcopal Church, a bilingual, socioeconomically diverse church plant in the Diocese of Texas.

Dean and professor of theology at Bishop Kemper School for Ministry, Don previously served as dean and professor of theology at Graceland University Seminary; interim vice president for academic affairs at Saint Paul School of Theology, professor of religion at Graceland University, and associate professor of theology at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Graduate Theological Union. An Episcopal priest, he serves on the Diversity Team for the Diocese of West Missouri. Don received his Ph.D. in theological studies from the Graduate School of Religion at Emory University, an M.A. in Religion from Park College and a B.A. from the University of the Pacific, where he majored in religion and European history. He also did graduate studies in Mexican history at Princeton University, the University of Texas, and El Colegio de Michoacan.

A program manager for the Center for Open Science in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lesley previously served as senior manager of impact initiatives at the Association of Science-Technology Centers in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she was executive director for the North American Committee for St. George’s College in Jerusalem; Children’s Pre-school program assistant and office manager at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church I Alexandria, Virginia; financial manager and director of Children’s and Youth Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford, Connecticut; and corporate tax manager with Grant Thornton in Liverpool, United Kingdom. She also currently serves on the vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria and on the boards of directors of the Alexandria Public Library and the North American Committee for St. George’s College in Jerusalem.

As the system chief clinical operations officer and senior vice president of operations and medical affairs at Mary Washington Healthcare, which includes more than 40 facilities, Christopher manages more than 900 clinicians and oversees the Departments of Quality, Patient Safety, Performance Improvement, and Patient Experience. Prior to that, he has served as chief medical officer for Penn State Health St. Joseph Regional Health Network; executive director of Penn State Medical Group – Berks Region; associate chief medical officer for Penn State Health; internal medicine practitioner with Lehigh Valley Physician Group; and managing partner, vice president, and president-elect with Lehigh Area Medical Associates. A graduate of Georgetown School of Medicine, Christopher also has an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Associate Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois, since 2010, Ericka is also chair of the Juvenile Justice Commission of the 4th Judicial Circuit and board member of Centralia Connected, a mentoring program for junior high-aged youth. Prior to her current position, she served as Marion County Illinois lead public defender; assistant attorney general for Springfield, Illinois; and assistant public defender for Marion County. She is also an executive board member of the Illinois Association of Problem-Solving Courts; a board member of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission; a member of the Supreme Court of Illinois Judicial College; and served as a committee member to revise Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions in criminal matters, pursuant to the CLEAR Commission’s revision of the Illinois Criminal Code.