Jessica Lugo Meléndez
Executive Director, Association for Hispanic Theological Education (AETH)
The General Board of the Association for Hispanic Theological Education (AETH) has announced the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Jessica Lugo Meléndez, as executive director of the organization. Lugo assumed office on Jan. 1.
Lugo, a native of Puerto Rico, has served as an American Baptist-ordained minister and seminary and college professor with experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations over the past two decades. She has held various pastoral roles within the denomination and is an active collaborator across denominations and mainstream churches.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico; a second MBA and the M.Div. from Ana G. Mendez University (also in Puerto Rico); and the D.Min. in Expository Preaching and Teaching from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Adam Groza
President, Gateway Seminary
Gateway Seminary trustees elected Adam Groza, Ph.D., as Gateway Seminary’s eighth president during their spring 2024 meeting. He began his new responsibility on May 13.
Groza, 48, grew up in Arizona and graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s in political science before earning a Master of Divinity degree from The Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles. He also holds a Ph.D. and a Th.M. in philosophy of religion from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS); while in seminary, he was ordained for ministry at Fairview Baptist Church in Rhome, Texas.
Before joining Gateway in 2010 as Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services, Groza served SWBTS and Scarborough College as director of admissions and associate professor of Philosophy of Religion. He currently is a research fellow at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a teaching fellow at the Agricola Theological Institute in Finland, and teaches regularly at California Baptist University.
The author of several books and articles, he and his wife of 23 years, Holly, have four children.
Demetrios S. Katos
President, Hellenic College Holy Cross
Demetrios S. Katos, Ph.D., began his tenure as president of Hellenic College Holy Cross (HCHC), on Feb. 21, bringing 25 years’ experience in higher education with leadership positions in fundraising, teaching, and administration.
Elected by the trustees of HCHC, and approved by the chairman, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Katos previously served as associate director of leadership giving at Northeastern University, as well as dean, professor of Religious Studies, and registrar at Hellenic College.
Katos earned his doctorate in Greek and Latin Patristics and an Master of Arts in Early Christian Studies from the Catholic University of America.
He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from New York University. He is the author of Palladius of Helenopolis (Oxford, 2011) and a former Luce Fellow of Theology.
John Mark Yeats
President, Corban University
Corban University Board of Trustees in March named John Mark Yeats, Ph.D., as the Salem, Ore., university’s eleventh president. He assumed office on June 1.
Yeats previously served in a multifaceted role as vice president of student services, dean of students and student success, Title IX coordinator, and professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College in Kansas City, Mo.
He also has an extensive background in Christian university administration and biblical scholarship spanning two decades.
He earned his Ph.D. in Church History from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and also holds degrees from Southern Seminary, Oxford University, Criswell College, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He is the author of three books: Franchising McChurch: Feeding our Obsession with Easy Christianity; The Time is Come: The Rise of British Missions to the Jews, 1808-1818; and Worldviews: Think for Yourself About How We See God.
Yeats also brings significant experience as a lead pastor and church consultant. He and his wife have four children.
David J. Gyertson
Interim President, Asbury Theological Seminary
Asbury Theological Seminary has named David J. Gyertson, Ph.D., as interim president, effective July 1. He succeeds Timothy C. Tennent, Ph.D., who will return to the faculty as professor of World Christianity after 15 years in office.
Gyertson is an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church who previously served as president at Asbury, Regent University, and Taylor University. He has held senior positions in pastoral, charitable, and educational organizations domestically and internationally.
Gyertson first joined Asbury in 1983 as vice president for advancement, and returned in 2015 as associate provost and dean of the seminary’s Beeson Center, while concurrently serving as an active professor.
He currently is an affiliate professor at the seminary and serves as a leadership succession consultant, executive coach, and governance facilitator to faith-based organizations.
Bryce Ashlin-Mayo
Ambrose University
Rev. Dr. Bryce Ashlin-Mayo assumed the office of president of Ambrose University in May, succeeding Dr. Gordon T. Smith, who led the university for over a decade.
Ashlin-Mayo is an alumnus who most recently had been dean of Theology and associate professor of Pastoral Theology at Ambrose since 2021.
Ashlin-Mayo previously had served for 25 years as a pastor within The Alliance Canada denomination, a founding denomination of Ambrose University.
Ashlin-Mayo graduated with a Bachelor of Theology from Canadian Bible College, a previous iteration of Ambrose University; he earned an M.Div. from Taylor Seminary, and received his Doctor of Ministry from George Fox University. Ashlin-Mayo has published widely, including his most recent book, Digital Mission: A Practical Guide for Ministry Online.
Ashlin-Mayo and his wife, Laurie, have three adult children.
Eugen J. Pentiuc
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass. named the Rev. Dr. Eugen J. Pentiuc as president following an international search. He assumed office on Jan. 1, 2024.
A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1998, Pentiuc became a professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages in 2009, and since 2018 has been Archbishop Demetrios Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Origins.
He has over 40 years of priestly experience in Romania, Israel, Germany, and the United States, and is a Protopresbyter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. A prolific author and recognized Orthodox biblical scholar and theologian, Pentiuc also is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity.
He earned a Ph.D. in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and also holds a Th.D. in Old Testament from Bucharest Orthodox School of Theology in his native Romania. In 2019, Pentiuc was granted a Doctor honoris causa in Theology by Cluj University in Romania.
Lauren Whitnah
Nashotah House Theological Seminary
Nashota House Theological Seminary Board of Directors has appointed Lauren Whitnah, Ph.D., as dean of the Wisconsin school. She will assume office on August 1.
Whitnah joins Nashotah House from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she has been a member of the teaching faculty since 2014. She also served as research manager and associate director of the university’s Global Computing Lab.
Whitnah earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in medieval studies from the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Oxford, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Gordon College.
She will succeed Garwood Anderson, who served as dean since 2017. He plans to return to teaching in the fall.