Five people from New Hampshire to Texas and from the mid-Atlantic to Florida were elected to the Board of the Global Episcopal Mission Network at the 2024 Annual Meeting that was held on March 21 online at this year’s Missio.
The Rev. Jean Beniste
was elected for a second 3-year term. Previously a member of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Chicago, he recently moved to become rector of St. Paul’s Church in Concord, New Hampshire. He is a member of GEMN’s Mission Formation Team. A native of Haiti, he served as a missionary in the Dominican Republic and is fluent in Creole, French and Spanish as well as English. A graduate of Virginia Seminary, he has served congregations in Washington, D.C., Florida and Indianapolis.
The Rev. Dr. Meredith Crigler was elected for a second 3-year term. She chairs the Global Partnerships
in Mission Board of the Diocese of Texas, which links with the dioceses of Southern Malawi, Costa Rica and North Dakota. Rector of Trinity Church, Baytown, she is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Virginia Seminary and recently earned a D.Min. at Bexley Seabury Seminary. She was a student researcher in Costa Rica, a guest teacher in Ghana, and a guest lecturer at Msalato Theological College in Dodoma, Tanzania. She is a member of GEMN’s Endowment Committee.
Mr. William (Bill) Kunkle was appointed by the Board to a 1-year unexpired term in 2023 and was now elected for a first 3-year term. Executive director of the Province IX Development Group, he was previously executive director of the Dominican Development Group. He was a DFMS missionary and an Episcopal Volunteer in Mission in the Dominican Republic. He is GEMN’s treasurer. He is a member of St. Mark’s Church in Tampa in the Diocese of Southwest Florida. President of Kunkle Contracting in Tampa, he studied at the University of Cincinnati.
The Rev. Robin Newman was elected for a first 3-year term. A member of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of New York, she co-chairs its Tanzania Task Force and is a member of the Sustainable Development Goals Grants Committee and the Disabilities Concerns Committee. She is the diocese’s Global Mission Advocate and was a 2024 Episcopal Church delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. A graduate of Brooklyn College, she ministers as deacon at St. Luke’s Church in the Bronx.
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Searby
was appointed by the Board in 2023 to fill a vacancy and now was elected for the remaining two years of a first 3-year term. A deacon in the Diocese of Virginia, she assists in reviving the diocese’s global mission, with a special interest in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. She is program manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Capacity Building Program at NASA HQ in Washington, D.C. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. from Stanford.
The GEMN Board consists of 12 members who serve 3-year terms. The Board’s executive committee serves as the nominating committee, and nominees are endorsed by the GEMN Board. Members are limited to two 3-year terms, though members can be nominated again after one year off the Board. When the Board appoints to fill a vacancy between annual meetings, the appointee stands for election at the next annual meeting.