Presenter Information
Dr. Lovett Weems, Jr.
Senior Consultant, Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary
Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is distinguished professor of church leadership and senior consultant of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Weems was the founding director of the Lewis Center in 2003, coming to the position after 18 years as president of Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. He became senior consultant in 2017. A native of Mississippi, he was a local church pastor in that state for many years. His years in local church ministry in Mississippi were marked by emphasis on both evangelism and social concerns. His work in Mississippi led the distinguished Mississippi writer Willie Morris to describe him as “one of the persons who added much to the growing civility of Mississippi.”
Dr. Weems is a graduate of Millsaps College; Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; and Wesley Theological Seminary. He holds honorary degrees from Baker University, Central Methodist University, and Millsaps College.
Contact: lovettw@wesleyseminary.edu
Karen Manczko
Director, Institutional Relationships
Wespath Institutional Investments
Karen joined Wespath in April 2013. Karen is primarily responsible for developing and managing relationships with institutional clients for Wespath and its subsidiaries. Specifically, she helps guide clients with asset allocation analysis, investment policy statement development and in incorporating sustainable investing guidelines into an overall investment program. Karen also frequently presents on investment-related topics at United Methodist-affiliated conferences and events. She most recently served as an Associate Investment Program Manager for Northern Trust Global Advisors, where she was responsible for developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating custom investment programs for institutional and ultra-high net worth clients. Prior to that, she was a Senior Investment Performance Analyst within Northern Trust’s Investment Risk and Analytical Services department. She received a B.S. degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her MBA from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Contact: kmanczko@wespath.org
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Rev. Dr. Ken Sloane
Director, Stewardship & Generosity
Discipleship Ministries
The United Methodist Church
The Rev. Dr. Ken Sloane is the UMC's Director of Stewardship & Generosity housed at Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) in Nashville, TN. He is a clergy member of the Greater New Jersey Conference, where he served 20+ years in local church ministry (including a successful new church start) and 5 years as the Director of Connectional Ministries. In 2006 he was appointed to serve as Director of Communications Ministry at United Methodist Communications, and traveled extensively across the denomination doing presentations on how to interpret connectional giving to our local churches. He moved into his Stewardship role on October 1, 2011. He is the author of the 2017-20 Local Church Guidelines for Stewardship (Cokesbury), and a collaborator on the 2017-20 Guidelines for Finance and the Lay Servant Advanced Course, Connectional Living, Connectional Giving, Most recently he has written the content for an inter-agency collaboration, The Generous Church Leadership Course. Ken lives in Nashville with his wife Bridget; they have four grown children, some of whom may be living with them depending on when you ask.
Contact: ksloane@umcdiscipleship.org
Rev. Jeff Taylor
Foundation President
Jeff Taylor is the President of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia. He received his undergraduate (B.S.’83) and law degrees (J.D. ’86) from West Virginia University. He received his seminary education from Methodist Theological School in Ohio, where he serves on the Board of Trustees. He is a member of the West Virginia State Bar. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation.
Jeff serves as Immediate Past President of Charitable Gift Planners of West Virginia, a consortium of charitable organizations that focuses on strengthening our communities through bequests and other planned gifts. He is a past president of the National Association of United Methodist Foundations, past president of the Cabell County Bar Association, and past president of the KYOWVA Planned Giving Council. Jeff is an ordained deacon in the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Jeff is married to Mary C. Taylor. They have two adult daughters, Erin Taylor and Hanna Taylor.
Contact: jefftaylor@umfwv.org
304-342-2113
Kim Matthews, CLM
Foundation Vice President
Kim Matthews is the Vice President of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia, Inc. Kim graduated with honors from Marshall University in Huntington, WV, where she received her Bachelor’s of Science and her Master’s of Science degrees in biology. Prior to joining the staff of the Foundation in 2008 as Associate Director, she served for 19 years as Research Associate with Marshall University School of Medicine and its affiliates, co-authoring several peer-reviewed journal articles.
Kim is a member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners and is active in the National Association of United Methodist Foundations. She is Vice President of Charitable Gift Planners of West Virginia
Kim is a Certified Lay Minister who is active as a volunteer in her Church and District. She serves as the Annual Conference Associate Lay Director and Director of Lay Servant Ministries.
Kim is married to Steve. They have two adult sons, Grant and Josh.
Contact: kimmatthews@umfwv.org
304- 342-2113