Kevin Jacobson (he/him)
Director of Global Personnel

Session: Accompaniment & Mission
Email: kevin.jacobson@elca.org 

Franklin Ishida (he/him)
Director, Asia Pacific - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: franklin.ishida@elca.org

The Rev. Dr. Y Franklin Ishida serves as Director for Asia and the Pacific with the Service and Justice Home Area of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He was ordained in in 1990 and served parishes in Tinley Park and Elmhurst, Illinois. He worked at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland with the communications department from 1984-1986. Prior to his current position, he was director for leadership development with ELCA Global Mission.

Ishida has published devotional materials, Bible studies, Christian education curricula (youth and confirmation in particular), social ministry materials, and sermons. He has previously served as board director for the Centre for New Beginnings (grief counseling); a board member of Love Christian Clearinghouse (social ministry network); and delegate to the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches in the USA. He currently is the ELCA representative to the Asia Pacific Forum (formerly associated with Church World Service) and the Foundation for Theological Education in Southeast Asia. In the past he has served on the board at Heifer International.

Born in Kurume, Japan, Franklin Ishida grew up in Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. He has a B.A. in human rights from St. Olaf College in Minnesota; an M.A. in international relations and strategic studies from the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom; a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary, St. Paul; and a Doctor of Ministry from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He also received a Doctor of Divinity -  Honoris Causa from the Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration. Franklin and his spouse, Emily Demuth Ishida, have three children: David, Hans-Martin, and Louisa.

As director for Asia, he travels extensively, engaging with churches and institutions throughout Asia and Australia, overseeing missionary work, and visiting development projects. In his leisure, Ishida practices Aikijutsu, a Japanese martial art, and enjoys photography and trains.

Rachel Eskesen (she/her)
Director, Europe - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: rachel.eskesen@elca.org 

Benyam Kassahun (he/him)
Director, Africa - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: benyam.kassahun@elca.org 

Jen DeLeon (she/her)
Director for Racial Justice, ELCA

Session: Race, Power & Privilege
Email: jennifer.deleon@elca.org

Jennifer DeLeon is director for Racial Justice for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She began that position in April 2021.

Before that, she served as director for justice for Women of the ELCA from 2018 to 2021, where she designed, developed, evaluated, and implemented justice-related resources and learning opportunities. She also managed and grew a network of individuals interested in learning more about human trafficking, domestic violence, immigration, and racial justice.

Prior to serving with WELCA, she was the director of government relations and advocacy for Lutheran Social Services in Chicago. 

DeLeon has more than 20 years of community organizing experience with several organizations in Chicago. As an employee and volunteer, she has dealt with various social issues, including hunger, immigration, housing, child welfare, and health care. 

Her passion lies in finding faith-based solutions to systemic injustices. 

For more than 10 years, DeLeon has served as a consultant with faith-based and denominational organizations on justice-related leadership issues. Those include multicultural competency, advocacy, and theological reflection on how faith, justice, and culture intersect.

A member of Trinidad Lutheran Church, Chicago, DeLeon has a master’s degree in theology from the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago. She has a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, where her concentration was nonprofit management. Fluent in English and Spanish, with some Portuguese.

Christina Montgomery (she/her)
Racial Justice Manager, ELCA

Session: Race, Power & Privilege
Email: christina.montgomery@elca.org 

Rev. Christina Marthield Montgomery is a self-described Black Disabled Fat Femme Queer Cis-gender Woman who was ordained in Metropolitan Chicago Synod in July 2022. She received her MDiv in May 2021 from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) and is a trained End of Life Doula. She currently serves as Racial Justice Manager in the Office of the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA. She lives in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago and loves elephants, crafting, and traveling. 

Venis Hamb (she/her)
Global Services Manager - ELCA

Session: Logistics
Email: venis.hamb@elca.org

Vance Blackfox (all)
Director, Indigenous Ministries & Tribal Relations - ELCA

Session: Blanket Exercise, An Indigenous Orientation II
Email: vance.blackfox@elca.org

Vance Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, serves the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Vance has previously served the ELCA in multiple capacities, from being elected and serving as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization during his TLU days, to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he is at present the Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, as well as creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium hosted at LSTC.

Vance is also the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country, and also previously served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the Director of Communications for Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission. Vance teaches about many things Indigenous as founder and primary of Blackfox Institute, he has served as the Guest Curator of the Indian Museum at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, and presently serves as the Indigenous Theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio, where he currently resides.

Tess Tait (she/her)
Development Assistant, Congregational Generosity - ELCA

Session: Communicating Your Global Experience
Email: tess.tait@elca.org

Tess is the Development Assistant for the Congregational Stewardship and Generosity team, where she has served for a little over a year. She works in coordination with the Service & Justice and Christian Community and Leadership home areas to implement fundraising strategies for ELCA churchwide ministries, especially in support of global mission personnel. 

She establishes, tends, and nurtures relationships with congregations that sponsor ELCA global mission personnel, including long term missionaries and Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteers.

Prior to working for the churchwide organization, Tess was an office administrator for an ELCA congregation in Ventura, California and an Administrative Assistant for a Lutheran Outdoor Ministry, Lutheran Retreats Camps and Conferences in Southern California. A first generation Lutheran and college student, she graduated from California Lutheran University with a B.A. in Theology & Christian Leadership. Since starting her new position, she has moved from Ventura County in Southern California and now resides in Oakland in Northern California. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading and attending live music shows.

Ben Hogue (he/him)
Director, Mission Funding

Session: Communicating Your Global Experience

Email: benjamin.hogue@elca.org

Rev. Ben Hogue (he/him) serves the Office of the Presiding Bishop as the Director of Giving for Christian Community & Leadership. In his role, Ben engages with donors and congregations who give generously to the ELCA's mission programs. His favorite part of his work is hearing from and sharing stories with passionate Lutheran leaders about the way God is moving and working in the world through ministries of the ELCA. Ben joins us from West Hartford, Connecticut, where he lives with his husband, Marshall, and their pets. Before working at the Churchwide Organization, Pastor Ben served a congregation on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC and served in the Peace Corps Ukraine before seminary.