GBHEM Board of Directors 2013-2016

Executive Committee

James (Jim) E. Dorff
President, GBHEM

Division of Ordained Ministry
Resident bishop, Rio Texas Annual Conference. He holds a master’s in theology from Perkins School of Theology and a B.A. from Oklahoma City University. Dorff serves on the Board of Trustees of the Texas Methodist Foundation, and the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of several UM-related educational institutions, including Africa University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, Huston-Tillotson University, Lydia Patterson Institute, and the Executive Board of Perkins School of Theology. He is a member of the Executive Committee and the Personnel and Policies Committee.

Ianther Marie Mills
Vice President of GBHEM and chair of the Division of Ordained Ministry

Superintendent,Washington East District. She is dean of the cabinet in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, where she has served on the Board of Ordained Ministry for the past eight years. She earned a B.S. in mathematics at Georgetown University, and an M.S. in computer science at the University of North Carolina. She holds an M.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and earned both her M.Div.and D.Min. at Wesley Theological Seminary. She is serving her second quadrennium on GBHEM and serves on the Nominating Committee and the Executive Committee.

Ted Brown
Vice President of GBHEM and Chair of the Division of Higher Education

President of Martin Methodist College. During his 15-year tenure, enrollment has nearly doubled to more than 1,000 students, and a 2010 fund-raising campaign raised $41.6 million. He serves as president of IAMSCU, the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities. He received an undergraduate degree in Philosophy atWest VirginiaWesleyan, an M.Div. and doctorate at Vanderbilt University, and did post-doctoral work at Harvard University. Brown is on GBHEM’s Executive Committee and the Committee on Personnel and Policies.

Rachel Wright
Secretary of GBHEM

Director of Mission and Vision, Austin District Office of the Southwest Texas Annual Conference. She is responsible for district initiatives to increase mission field awareness and address the Four Areas of Focus. In this capacity, Wright co-chaired the launch of Imagine No Malaria to the denomination. She serves on the conference Committees on Nominations and Futures and is on the Unification Implementation Team. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she also received an M.A. from the University of London. She is a member of the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee, and the Personnel and Policies Committee.

David Beckley

President of Rust College, one of the 11 historically Black colleges supported by the Black College Fund. Beckley is a member of the University Senate and former president of NASCUMC, the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist Church. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Rust College and prior to his tenure there was president ofWiley College. Under his tenure, the Rust endowment has grown from $13 million to $27 million. He chairs GBHEM’s Investment Committee and serves on the Executive Committee.

Jennifer Copeland

United Methodist chaplain at Duke University and executive director of the Duke Wesley Fellowship. She is an ordained elder in the South Carolina Conference. She holds a B.A., M.Div., Ph.D., and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, all from Duke University. In 1998, she was a member of the inaugural class of the Pastor-Theologian Seminars at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton Theological Seminary. In 2007, she received the Allen J. Burry Award from the United Methodist Campus Ministry Association. She was awarded the James C. Baker Graduate Award six consecutive years. She chairs the Loans and Scholarships Committee and serves on the Executive Committee.

Forbes Matonga

Director of Christian Care, a leading Zimbabwean partner for theWorld Food Program and other humanitarian agencies in Harare, Matonga also teaches courses at Africa University. He served on the Connectional Table for eight years, and is a member of the Study Committee on the Worldwide Nature of The United Methodist Church. He is conference secretary for the Zimbabwe West Conference, general secretary of the Africa Central Conference, and a UMC delegate to theWorld Council of Churches in Brazil. He has been a Central Conference delegate to General Conference since 2000. He is a member of the Global Education and Ministry Committee and serves on the Executive Committee.

Barrie M. Tritle

Senior pastor, Iowa City First United Methodist Church. He has chaired the Iowa Board of Ordained Ministry since 2004 and was a General Conference delegate in 2004, 2008, and 2012. He was a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. He was a member of the 2005-2008 Ministry Study Commission. He was a member of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns from 2005-2008. He was a member of GBHEM’s Board of Directors from 2009-2012. He chairs the Personnel and Policies Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee and the Nominating Committee.