Lindsay Morgan
Senior Program Officer, Development Policy and Finance, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Lindsay Morgan is an analyst and writer with a decade of experience in global development. Most recently, she has consulted with the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and the USAID Maternal and Child Survival Programs. She also served as an editor of Disease Control Priorities, 3rd edition. Previously, Morgan was a senior health analyst at the consultancy Broad Branch Associates (BBA) based in Washington, D.C., specializing in evaluations of health programs in low-income countries. She has led and supported program assessments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Indonesia, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Prior to BBA, Morgan worked as an analyst and writer with the World Bank based in Tanzania, and with the Center for Global Development, a policy think tank in Washington, D.C. She has also served as an editor for The Middle East Journal; communications manager for Sojourners, a social justice nonprofit; and editorial assistant for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Morgan was a visiting scholar at PLNU from 2013–14.
Wes Wasson
Silicon Valley Executive and Board Member
Wes Wasson is a long-time tech industry veteran who spent more than 20 years building and growing successful companies in Silicon Valley. Over the course of his career, he has served as a senior executive at companies of all sizes, from fast-growing tech startups to multibillion-dollar industry leaders. Most recently, Wasson served as senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Citrix Systems, a leader in mobile and cloud technology. During his tenure, he was a key driver of the business, product, and marketing strategy that helped Citrix grow from a single-product company into a global industry leader employing more than 10,000 people worldwide. In 2010, he was voted “Top Executive Leader in Silicon Valley” by a survey of employees conducted by the San Francisco Bay Area News Group. In 2013, Wasson stepped down from his role at Citrix to focus more on using his experience in business and technology to help others, especially those struggling to break the cycle of poverty. In addition to his nonprofit work, he remains an active board member and consultant for a variety of technology startups in Silicon Valley. He and his wife now live in San Diego.
Susan Brownlee
PLNU Graduate and Adjunct Professor
After graduating with a degree in accounting from PLNU, Brownlee worked as a financial analyst for several government contractors, including NASSCO and SAIC. She was also a partner and CFO for an environmental consulting business. When her business partner was diagnosed with cancer, she took a hiatus from her professional career to focus on raising her children and volunteering in her community and local church. Several years ago, she began to look for tangible ways to live out Jesus’ calling in her life. She wanted to dive deeper into understanding what it meant for God’s Kingdom to be present here on Earth. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, she felt it was important to integrate her professional and volunteer experience into that endeavor. That search led her to Dr. Robert Gailey and the CID, where she immediately found a place to put her faith into practice. Brownlee has learned firsthand about social enterprise by participating in Praxis Academy and furthered her understanding of microfinance by taking part in several of San Diego’s annual microfinance alliance summits and the 17th Microcredit Summit in Merida, Mexico. As an adjunct professor at PLNU, she has worked with students to support Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ Water Challenge, and other initiatives surrounding the Syrian refugee crisis. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in organizational leadership from Eastern University. Brownlee believes this program will give her the additional insight, knowledge, and skill to better proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Richard A. Knowles
SVP & General Manager of One Customer Experience, SAP SE
Richard (Rick) Knowles is the general manager of One Customer Experience for business software market leader SAP SE. As a lead advocate for more than 300,000 customers in 180 countries around the world, he is responsible for reinventing the entire customer journey across SAP and driving adoption of best practices in the areas of customer onboarding, retention, and the overall customer experience. Knowles has nearly two decades of executive-level experience in business software. He most recently served as senior vice president and chief operating officer for SAP Americas, the company’s largest geographic market covering North and South America. He worked closely with the region’s 10 market units, ensuring consistent execution of sales strategies, business operations, and go-to-market initiatives. He also served as the chief operating officer of SAP’s global Platform Solutions Group, leading day-to-day operations for the business unit responsible for bringing innovations to market in the areas of mobile, analytics, and database and technology. Following the 2010 appointment of co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, Knowles was named senior vice president and chief of staff for CEO operations. He served as principal ambassador for the company’s 65,000+ employees and drove major company-wide initiatives as the representative of the executive office. He was executive sponsor of the company’s corporate social responsibility agenda and its global university alliance program. Since joining SAP in 1999, Knowles has overseen major corporate initiatives and activities ranging from product launches to global customer-facing events and internal employee forums. He is credited with helping develop and execute wide-ranging marketing and operating plans to drive SAP’s market leadership. With 30+ years of progressive experience in technology management, marketing and sales, Knowles is a strategic and creative leader. Prior to joining SAP, he held various management and director-level positions in marketing and sales at leading companies and organizations including Georgia Power, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Southern Company, and Xerox. He also served as a member of the U.S. Army. Knowles received his bachelor of science in business administration from Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. He holds an MBA from the Michael J. Coles School of Business at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and completed an executive Global Leadership Development Program at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
David Park
Real Estate and Private Equity Investor, PRD Inc. and Greenwood Hospitality
David Park was fresh from investment banking when he met Rob Gailey. He spent four years working in microfinance for World Relief under Gailey's leadership, much of that time in sub-Saharan Africa. His time in microfinance also led to serving on the board of HOPE International for four years. Park currently serves on the regional board of HOPE in Houston, Texas. In addition to investment banking and microfinance, he has spent most of his professional career in real estate investment and development. Park is currently president of PRD Inc., a second-generation real estate development company in Houston. He also serves as a partner of Greenwood Hospitality Group, where he is responsible for business development, underwriting of investment opportunities, and sourcing of debt and equity. Park has helped Greenwood grow from its inception in 2009 to a company that manages over 17 properties and employees more than 2,500 people. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University.
Dan Bothe
Dean, Fermanian School of Business, Associate Professor of Finance
Dan Bothe has approximately 20 years of management consulting, accounting, and senior-level financial management experience that includes capital market transactions, investor and lender relations, strategic planning, acquisition sourcing and due-diligence, process and procedures assessment and design, financial and operational forecasting, accounting and reporting, taxation, and risk management. Specifically, he has served as the CFO of several companies, has worked as a management consultant for Ernst & Young and Paloma Advisors, and as an auditor at KPMG. Bothe also served as an adjunct faculty member at PLNU and Palomar College prior to joining the Fermanian School of Business full time as an associate professor of finance in 2009 and the dean of the Fermanian School of Business in 2014. In addition, he is a CPA (inactive) in California and is currently working on completing his dissertation in the doctoral program in business (finance) at Anderson University.