Deborah Caldwell — Deborah Caldwell became Vice President, Head of Content at PepsiCo in August, after a long journalism career culminating at Time Inc, where she was managing editor of Fortune.com among other posts. Perhaps more notably, Deborah was vice president of content and managing editor at Beliefnet.com and a senior writer at the Dallas Morning News, where she won a Templeton Award for her religion reporting. Since leaving reporting, Deborah has branched into native and branded content, e-commerce content, and corporate communications. She's a digital innovator and media executive deeply devoted to building metrics-driven digital content products and verticals. Deborah also has been itching to give back to the profession where her passion still resides: religion journalism. The foundation board couldn’t imagine a better adviser to RNS.
Ken Chitwood — Ken is a religion scholar at the University of Florida studying Religion in the Americas and Global Islam (with the Center for Global Islamic Studies). He has published multiple pieces on the topics of religion & culture, Islam, Latina/o Muslims, globalization, popular culture, secularism, Christian-Muslim relations, global Christianity, and theories of religion, & ethnographic methods in a global and digital age. Writing as both an academic and an award-winning journalist his bylines have appeared in Religion News Service, Deseret News National, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Houston Chronicle, Newsweek, Sojourners, OnBeing, Christian Century, US Catholic, RealClear Religion, The Daily Dot, The Gainesville Sun and Sightings from the University of Chicago.
Ken lives in Gainesville, Florida where he writes, teaches, and enjoys ultra-distance running, well-placed sarcasm, craft beer, bike-commuting, traveling, hiking, camping, & rugby.
Nicole Neroulias Gupte — Nicole is thrilled to bring her journalism, religion and nonprofit management expertise to Religion News Service's managing board. During her reporting and editing career, she created a weekly Faith section at The San Mateo County Times, covered Judaism and national trends for Religion News Service and created Beliefnet's Belief Beat daily news blog. She won a Religion Newswriters Association reporting award in 2006 and was a contest finalist in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Since transitioning to the nonprofit sector, she has worked with a range of foundations, corporate giving programs and community organizations on communications and development campaigns in the Pacific Northwest. Nicole has a bachelor's degree in communication from Cornell University, a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Washington. She lives in Seattle with her husband, two young children and a young-at-heart beagle. In her spare time, she plays oboe and percussion in the Seattle Symphonic Band and practices public speaking at Emerald City Toastmasters.
Jerry Pattengale, Ph.D. — Jerry enjoys mentoring younger authors, evident in their inclusion in his dozens of books, videos and international projects. In addition to his 20-year news column at the Chronicle Tribune and over 100 professionally filmed lectures, his contributions have appeared in many leading venues (WP, WSJ, CT, Chic. Tribune, History Channel, InsideHigherEd, etc.) and he has garnered various writing and education awards. Indiana Wesleyan University (f. 1920, over 14,000 students) named Jerry its first University Professor (2014). He also served as the executive director of education for the Museum of the Bible in DC (2010-2018)—one of its two founding scholars (2010), establishing its international Scholars Initiative. He is associate publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and on the board for Yale’s Jonathan Edwards Center. He has distinguished appointments at Tyndale House Cambridge, the Sagamore Institute, Excelsia College (Australia), the Moody Center (Northfield, MA), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Books in 2017 include: The World’s Greatest Book (w/ Lawrence Schiffman), The Global Impact Bible, The Book: The History, Narrative and Impact of the Bible (4 Vols.), and Faith Made Real. Books in 2018 include: The State of the Evangelical Mind (IVP), CSR (theme issue on the evangelical mind), Telling the Truth with a Smile: Life Happens (DJ), and Is the Bible at Fault? How the Bible Has Been Used to Justify Evil, Suffering, and Bizarre Behavior (Hachette/Worthy). Forthcoming books include The New Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (Tyndale House), To the Ends of the Earth (w/ TBN State of Faith series), Public Intellectuals and the Common Good (IVP), and CSR (theme issue on public intellectuals). He is also the Editor-in-Chief (content writer) for the six-part TV series on the spread of Christianity (TBN, 2020), and appearing inJesus the Game Changer (2019). He helped expose two prominent scandals in the ancient biblical manuscript arena in the WSJ and in CT. Jerry participated in White House roundtables on compassion, and PBS/WIPB affiliate covered his story of graduating at 16 and homeless (Leading the Way out of Poverty.).
John Terrill, Ph.D. — John is executive director of the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation, where he guides Upper House, a multi-experiential ministry center on the University of Wisconsin (Madison) campus. John previously served as director for the Center for Integrity in Business at Seattle Pacific University, as well as national director for InterVarsity's Professional Schools and MBA Ministries. John holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Seattle Pacific University. He is also a graduate of Indiana University (BS), Northwestern University (MBA), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MAR & MATH). He and his wife, Vanja, live in Middleton, Wisconsin, with their daughter, Elena.
