Wesleyan Impact Partners Adds Four Nationally Recognized Community Changemakers from Across the Spiritual Landscape to its Board

Wesleyan Impact Partners announces the addition of four new members to its board of directors. Each member has a wealth of experience and diverse perspectives to guide our work. Wesleyan Impact Partners has a 55-year history as a trusted investment and loan partner growing churches and ministries and helps build thriving congregations and flourishing communities across the United States.

Wesleyan Impact Partners' new Board members are:

Rev. Leroy Barber – Rev. Barber is a nationally recognized leader, author, founder, and professor who helps repair local communities and build a more just economy. Rev. Barber has dedicated his 30-year career to working toward Dr. Martin Luther King's vision of "the beloved community." Rev. Barber is the executive director of Neighborhood Economics, in Portland, Oregon, connecting people repairing local economies, and a 2021 Locke Innovative Leader Award honoree.

Bishop Héctor A. Burgos Núñez – Bishop Burgos serves as the episcopal leader of the Upper New York Area of the United Methodist Church, in Liverpool, New York. Burgos is the first Hispanic-Latino bishop in the Northeastern Jurisdiction and the first Puerto Rican bishop in the United Methodist Church. Burgos is a Community Leadership Fellow from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, and he is deeply committed to connecting the church to its community so that more people experience faith, hope, and justice.

Rev. Dr. Christopher Pierson – Dr. Pierson is the senior pastor of Gary Church in Wheaton, Illinois. With deep roots in the community since 1853, Gary Church has vibrant music, kids, youth, and adult ministries, including opportunities for local, national, and global missions. Rev. Pierson has received awards for his commitment to and work in the areas of child advocacy, peace with justice, and the pursuit of inclusion and justice.

Cindy Thompson – Thompson is the executive director of Boundless Impact, in Greensboro, North Carolina, a nonprofit driving inclusive leadership and innovation initiatives across commerce, education, civic, and faith networks to unleash prosperity for all communities. Thompson is an executive leader and social entrepreneur whose organization provides a platform for cross-boundary leaders to build thriving communities that are intentional about equity leading to economic justice.

"The Wesleyan Impact Partners Board is a special combination of vision and practical knowledge serving the needs of churches and communities across the country," said Dr. Maggie Jackson, Wesleyan Impact Partners Board Chair. “We are thrilled to add these four outstanding community leaders to our team as we continue to support a Spirit-led movement to bring about human flourishing."

"We are so excited to welcome these four amazing leaders to our Board.” Rev. Lisa Greenwood, President & CEO of Wesleyan Impact Partners said. “They bring exactly the right blend of vision and on-the-ground experience to expand our work in investing and loans and igniting the imaginations of church and community leaders across the country doing God's work in the world.”

About Wesleyan Impact Partners

Wesleyan Impact Partners is a national nonprofit fueled by impact investors, borrowers, and donors who invest in ministries and innovative leaders courageously doing God's work in the world – partnering in a Spirit-led movement to bring about human flourishing grounded in love, generosity, and belonging. Throughout its 55-plus-year history, Wesleyan Impact Partners has made thousands of loans totaling over half a billion dollars, empowering churches across the United States to pursue their God-sized dreams while also lifting up the work of courageous spiritual entrepreneurs across the Wesleyan Ecosystem through the nationally recognized Locke Innovative Leader Award and its nationally recognized thought leadership in Igniting Imagination^®. Our work is made possible through partnerships across the country with impact-focused investors, donors, and Methodist foundations. Based in Austin, Texas, the organization is led by President & CEO Rev. Lisa Greenwood, who is also President & CEO of the Texas Methodist Foundation.