Chris Singer
Chris Singer is the President/CEO of Lutheran Church Charities. Chris spent over twenty five years working in senior pastoral leadership roles within The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He is a
graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, with a Master of Theology and Culture and Ordained Clergy Certification. He also studied at Concordia University, Irvine, California, obtaining a BA in Sociology/History.
His background spans community and congregational work with localized and regional cultural/ethic program development, international missions, disaster response, and crisis management. During Hurricane Harvey his home was flooded with 51 inches of water. He led a recovery and rebuild effort despite the personal setback and was recognized as a Harvey’s Hero and Helping Hand by NBC’s Today show.
Chris’s volunteer work includes serving as a founding board member for both Kenyan Schools of Hope, an organization providing safe environments and education for children, and for Grace Works, a 501(c)(3), working to break the cycle of poverty for orphans and vulnerable children. He also served as a sworn Tustin Police Department Chaplain, giving him an understanding of the roles and stresses of first responders.
He is a known keynote speaker connecting with groups on multiple topics and is a certified Executive Coach and has counseled hundreds of pre and already married couples.
Chris’s wife, Jeanette Singer, is a certified Life Coach and School Counselor with over twenty years of experience in Children’s Ministry in the LCMS. Together they have five adult children, living and studying in Texas and California, and a chocolate Labrador named Harvey.
Liesl McConchie
Liesl McConchie is an international expert on how the brain learns, and co-author of best-selling book Brain-Based Learning with Dr. Eric Jensen. She has been published in ASCD's Educational Leadership journal and been the guest on over a dozen podcasts. With over 20 years of experience in education, Liesl bridges her knowledge of how the brain best learns with her experience of teaching math to create tangible strategies to support teachers and schools across the globe. She has a rich background in education that includes creating new schools, leading whole-school reforms, delivering workshops to educators, and speaking at conferences. Liesl brings the highest quality of research, professionalism, and engagement to all her contributions to the field of education.
LeeAnne Lavender
I have loved stories since I was a young child. I was always reading and writing, and loved working as a journalist with my local newspaper through high school and college.
My husband Brian and I created a news magazine in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, in 1993 and told local stories for 10 years before becoming teachers and channeling our love of storytelling into our classroom practice with students.
For two decades I taught in Canada, South Korea, Kenya, and China as a high school English literature teacher and service learning coach & coordinator. In 2021, when I had the chance to launch my own work to marry the power of stories with global citizenship, I leapt at the opportunity.
Stories have defined my personal and professional journeys and I love partnering with educators and students around the world to celebrate and amplify how stories can create positive, purposeful change.