Haleh Karimi, PhD – Chair
Haleh is Assistant Professor of Management in Bellarmine University’s MBA program. She holds a PhD in Management and an MBA. She has served as a consultant, IT developer, startup CEO, and as the nonprofit executive director of Interfaith Paths to Peace. She was given the Women STEAM Leadership award in 2020 by the RockIT Women organization. Haleh is a Kentucky Colonel and a recipient of Kentucky’s 2017 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award.
Rada Halaseh – Vice-chair
Rada is a first generation immigrant from Jordan. She moved to the US at the age of 16 to attend Spalding University, where she majored in Business and Communications. She also earned a Master’s in Strategic Finance from Indiana University Southeast. She is currently senior financial advisor and first vice president with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. She is passionate about charitable causes that focus on education and social well-being and currently serves as the board chair of the Community Services Project.
Ashley Hicks, PhD – Secretary
Ashley A. Hicks is Clinical Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Science and Director of the Ohio State University Couple and Family Therapy Clinic. Hicks is a sought-after teacher, supervisor and clinician. She is an independently licensed marriage and family therapist, an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing-trained therapist, an American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy-approved supervisor, and a 200-hour registered yoga teacher. Ashley has worked in a number of clinical settings serving clients from diverse backgrounds including racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ populations, homeless, and low socio-economic individuals and families.
Dan Davis – Treasurer
Dan retired from the federal government where he worked as a National Bank Examiner for 27 years. Since retirement, Dan has volunteered in various roles at the Earth & Spirit Center and as Treasurer on the Board of the Africa Student Fund. Dan has also taken numerous classes at the Earth & Spirit Center, including some dating back to the first classes ever offered, and most recently the Mindfulness Meditation Training Program (MMTP).
David M. Feldkamp, JD
David is an Assistant Jefferson County Attorney prosecuting child abuse cases for over 20 years. He also maintains a civil law practice. David has completed multiple classes at the Earth & Spirit Center and is an advocate for mindfulness among his fellow attorneys.
Br. John Monzyk, CP, PhD
Br. John has been a member of the Passionist community, a Catholic religious order, for over 50 years. He holds a doctorate in physics and has taught at the high school through university level. He currently serves as the Superior of the Sacred Heart Passionist Retreat, which founded the Earth & Spirit Center and on whose property the Center operates.
Dave Neumann, PhD
Dave is an organization development and human resources expert with 40 years of experience in helping organizations achieve breakthrough results. His background includes a PhD in Industrial & Organizational Psychology and a successful corporate career in human resources and organization development. During his 22-year career with Yum Brands, he served as Director of Organizational Development and as Chief Human Resources Officer for KFC, Long John’s Silvers, and A&W Restaurants. Since retiring in 2012, Dave has worked with many of our region’s leading organizations. His expertise is broad and falls into the areas of organizational change, strategic planning, culture development, executive teambuilding, coaching, and talent management.
Brian Riendeau
Brian recently retired from his role as Executive Director of Dare to Care Food Bank. Established in 1971, Dare to Care delivers over 19 million meals each year through a variety of programs to Kentuckiana families struggling with hunger. He previously served as Vice President of Government & Community Affairs at Yum Brands, and spent six years as a Legislative Assistant for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, DC. Brian serves on the board of the Kentucky Food Bank Association and is a member of the Kentucky Hunger Task Force.
Deryl Sweeney
Deryl is a meditation student, business coach, and the owner and principle of Deryl Sweeney Coaching. He is also the founder of CureCF, a foundation devoted to raising funds for medical research of cystic fibrosis.
Jerry Weber
Jerry is the retired executive director of Boys and Girls Haven in Louisville, KY. He is active on several local nonprofit boards.
Ryan Whelan, JD
Ryan is a native Louisvillian working as a Foreign Service Office for the United States Department of State. He previously worked in commercial real estate and on democracy promotion and elections across Asia with the Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL), where he served for six years as ANFREL’s Campaign & Advocacy Program Officer. Prior to that he served in the Peace Corps in Northeast Thailand, worked in the immigration legal clinic with Catholic Charities, and attended Northwestern University Law School where he focused on governance, environmental law and international rule of law issues. He’s an avid cyclist and traveler.
Sr. Caroljean Willie, SC, PhD
Sr. Caroljean is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati and serves as the director of Earth Connection in Cincinnati. She has extensive experience working cross-culturally throughout the United States and in 48 countries across the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, Asia, South and Central America as an environmental educator, teacher-trainer and cultural diversity consultant. She served two terms of office as the NGO representative at the United Nations for the Sisters of Charity Federation and continues to work with microfinancing projects in Africa.
Jim Wayne
Jim was the state representative for Kentucky’s 35th House District in Louisville from 1991 to 2019, recognized as an advocate for housing opportunities for the poor, as well as a leading voice in calling for tax reform and mental health care reforms. Jim is president of the Wayne Corporation in Louisville, providing Employee Assistance Programs for over 80 regional businesses and unions. He is a licensed clinical social worker and the author of the novel, The Unfinished Man.