James Barnett is the visionary behind DaySpring's remarkable journey to global leadership in Christian expressions. For 29 years, as president, he transformed a small partnership into a powerhouse, distributing over 200 million products worldwide. Beyond DaySpring, James authored "Blue Skies" and founded Mary & Martha. He resides in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, with his wife, Marilyn. They have three adult children, five grandchildren, and are active members of Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers, Arkansas.

Mr. Rodgers holds an M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, where he was awarded the Peabody Honors Scholarship. He also holds an M.A. in Humanities from the University of Dallas.

Jake began his career in private and independent school education as a high school English teacher and basketball coach. Since then, he has served in a variety of roles in independent and private schools including dean, marketing specialist, assistant principal, and most recently, as the principal of a large preschool through 8th grade Catholic school, where he led major strategic planning and capital projects. He is a fellow of the University of Notre Dame’s Reform Leaders Summit, is a member of the 2021 cohort of Leadership Forsyth, and has been recognized for his work by the Knoxville News Sentinel as a Top 40 Under 40 honoree.

In his free time, Jake enjoys reading, fly-fishing, and running. He is married to his college sweetheart, Rachel. They are the proud parents of Catherine Clare (Cate) and John Joseph (JJ).

Justin Throupe serves as Head of School at Summit Christian Academy in Yorktown, Virginia. Prior to serving as Head of School, he served as Upper School Principal, and prior to joining Summit, he served in public education for 15 years as a high school teacher, coach, and administrator. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in History and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Christopher Newport University, as well as an Eds. in School Policy and Administration from Virginia Tech. Justin and his wife, Lori, have two children who attend Summit.

Kristian Jaloway is a partner at John Oberg Advisory and a public speaker who works with mission-driven organizations to leverage their strengths and make them even better leaders in their field.

At 18, he entered the Legionaries of Christ seminary in Connecticut, convicted that he should give God the first chance. Over the years, he completed priestly formation: novitiate and humanities in Connecticut, mission work in Caracas, Venezuela, mentoring young men, and five years in Rome, earning degrees in philosophy and theology. At the same time, he served as a seminary formator, assisting primarily in human and apostolic formation for a total of eight years.

Finally, although conflicted, Kristian was ordained a Catholic priest in 2008. He served as a priest and Vice-Rector of a minor seminary in Gozzano, Italy, during which he inherited a worldwide crisis in the Legionaries of Christ and an acute crisis in the local area he was charged with. Navigating this successfully taught him lessons on transparency and leadership that he still teaches others. After four years of active priestly ministry, he received the clarity he always lacked and had to make the hardest decision of his life: to leave the priesthood.

Kristian spent several years training and managing ramp and safety operations for Delta Air Lines, scratching his itch for travel and aviation. Now, after 30 years leading and developing teams worldwide, Kristianunderstands that each person has incredible potential. He coaches and consults for startups, government, and nonprofits on leadership and human management, including the Houston Fire Department and the Texas Workforce Commission. Kristian helps leaders navigate the things that typically create the most stress: personnel issues, financial questions, and how to create institutional change in a world often at odds with their values.

Kristian holds an MA in philosophy and a BA in theology from the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy, and an MA in International Affairs from the Bush School of Public Service at Texas A&M University. He is a private pilot and resides in Austin, TX, with his wife and three boys. They enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle with lots of hiking, camping, and travel.

Bishop Robert Barron is the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota) and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. He is the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award-winning documentary about the Catholic faith, which has been broadcast on numerous public broadcasting stations. Bishop Barron’s more recent film series, CATHOLICISM: The Pivotal Players, was nominated for an Emmy award and has been syndicated for national television.

Bishop Barron is a #1 Amazon bestselling author and has published numerous books, essays, and articles on theology and the spiritual life. His recent book “This Is My Body” sold over one million copies. He was a religion correspondent for NBC and has also appeared on FOX News, CNN, and EWTN.

Bishop Barron’s website, WordOnFire.org, reaches millions of people each year, and he is one of the world’s most followed Catholics on social media. His YouTube videos have been viewed over 200 million times, and he has over 3 million followers on Facebook.

He has engaged in dialogue with Dr. Jordan Peterson, Lex Fridman, Dave Rubin, Ben Shapiro, and William Lane Craig, among other influencers and thought leaders, and he has been invited to speak about religion at the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and Amazon. He has keynoted many conferences and events all over the world, including the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon, 2016 World Youth Day in Kraków, and the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which marked Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States.

Derek Stemen is the Vice President of Advancement for LifeWise Academy. In this role, he is helping organize and mobilize a national effort to bring Bible education to public school students during school hours.

Since its launch in 2019, LifeWise has quickly grown to serve more than 600 schools across the U.S. each week, with over 40,000 students attending LifeWise to receive a Bible class as part of their public school day.

Before joining LifeWise Academy, Derek served in a variety of nonprofit community roles. He has been a Pastor, served as the Director of Admissions at Bluffton University, and for the past 10 years has served in nonprofit leadership roles.

Derek lives in Lima, Ohio with his wife, Abby, and their three children.

With over 15 years of experience leading nonprofits, launching social enterprises, and working with global NGOs, Graeme Watt has seen firsthand that whoever tells the best story wins. As an owner of Anthem, he helps nonprofits amplify their impact by crafting compelling brand narratives that drive engagement and action in an ever-evolving digital world.

What do you do when you quit your day job? Of course, you produce a docuseries on medical alert service dogs! After 39 years in real estate, including commercial, investment, corporate and brokerage, it was time to use his gifts, talents, skills and resources to make a difference. In addition to working in real estate, Rahn worked in film, doing commercials, industrials, TV and voiceover through the years. Rahn asked, as a follower of Jesus Christ, what project can I use my gifts, talents, experience and resources to make a difference? The result, 'The Doguseries’ and ‘This Paw’s For You’ podcast. His first three short films out of the gate, as Executive Producer, ‘Zoomtime’, ‘Birthday Brash’ and 'Lifeless: A Musical Zomedy' have been award winning. Rahn and his wife, Holly, live in the Pacific Northwest and when not working on projects, enjoy the opportunity for various outdoor activities that the area has to offer and building their five and half-acre homestead project, church and ministry ventures.