Indianapolis

Karen Goley uses her resource knowledge and relational style to work closely with congregations as a resource consultant and behind the scenes with our robust database of resources and doing project work.  Prior to joining the Center, Karen spent over fifteen years in the human resources field, serving nonprofit and financial services organizations in the Indianapolis area and the suburbs of Chicago.

With faith as her foundation, Karen enjoys spending quality time with her family and is a very proud Purdue University alum.  Having earned a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision, Karen put her pride on full display by naming the family pup Mackey- after Purdue basketball’s Mackey Arena.  Boiler Up!

Ashley Ivy is the Director of Finance for the Center for Congregations. Ashley performs all financial and accounting processes, necessary for the efficient operations of the Center. Ashley has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Ball State University and an MBA-Accounting Specialization from Indiana Wesleyan University. Ashley brings more than 12 years of accounting and management experience; specializing in not-for-profit accounting, strategic planning, and operations. She also has 5+ years of experience in human resources, managing compensation and benefits packages, as well as fostering positive work environments. Ashley also serves as an independent small business consultant and is experienced in teaching college level accounting courses and training others to utilize various Microsoft Office applications.

Ashley is a member of Repairing the Breach Ministries in Muncie, Indiana, where she serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors. She is very active in her community; serving on the Thrive Credit Union supervisory committee, the Whitely Community Council education committee, and is a member of other various service organizations. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their children.

Noemi Cifuentes hails from Guatemala City as the youngest of nine children.  She became a resident of New York in early 2001, however, shortly after 9/11 Noemi relocated to Indianapolis, IN.

Since being in the great city of Indianapolis, Noemi has served the Christian community in multiple capacities both personally and professionally.  For nine years, she served as the Director of Hispanic Ministry at Old Bethel UMC. She later became a Case Manager at Wheeler Mission Ministry as the Family Coordinator and the Office Manager for SENDCDC. After working with the Center for Congregations as a Contract Resource Consultant for several years, Noemi joined the team full-time as an Associate for Resource Consulting.

Noemi enjoys interacting with people and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her passion for teaching the Bible to beginners is unparalleled.  She is married to the love of her life, Temo, is the mother of three children and a proud Grandmother. In her free time, Noemi loves to drive and listen to music, paint, and sew and has been noted for having quite the sense of humor.

Susan Weber coordinates the evaluation processes for Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Religion Division. She spent several years as the Indianapolis Center for Congregation’s director of evaluation and congregational learning, as well as a resource consultant to congregations.

Susan is a Roman Catholic lay woman. Prior to her work at the Center, she served the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as coordinator of boards of education, office of Catholic education from 1976-1985. For almost 20 years thereafter, she was an independent consultant and group facilitator for dioceses, churches, religious communities, and schools nationwide. Sue has degrees from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and Indiana University, Bloomington and is professionally certificated as a group facilitator through Indiana University.

Tim Shapiro is the Indianapolis Center’s president. He began serving the Center in 2003 after 18 years in pastoral ministry. For 14 years, Tim served Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio. Prior to his pastorate at Westminster, he was pastor of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Logansport, Indiana. He holds degrees from Purdue University and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Tim’s interest in how congregations learn to do new things is represented in his book How Your Congregation Learns. After his extensive work on the Center’s Sacred Space initiative, Tim co-authored the book Holy Places: Matching Sacred Space with Mission and Message. He has also authored several articles, including Applying Positive Deviance and The Congregation of Theological Coherence.

Diana Poirier is the Center’s Executive Assistant to the President and Executive Board as well as the Grants Administrator for both Resource and Special Grants. Her undergraduate degree is in secondary education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the staff at the Center, Diana passionately worked in the food banking industry for nine years, while also volunteering at a food pantry in her free time. She has spent an extensive amount of time helping congregations establish food pantries making it a natural fit to continue supporting congregations at the Center.

Kelly Minas designs and directs evaluation processes for grants, resource consulting, and educational programs at the Center for Congregations. Kelly received an undergraduate degree in American culture from Vassar College, where she was active in interfaith work on campus, and a master’s degree in contemporary sociology from the University of Leicester in England.

Ben McKibben is the senior web developer for the Center for Congregations. His primary responsibility is the development, enhancement and maintenance of the Congregational Resource Guide (CRG). The CRG is provided by the Center as a service for anyone seeking to find the right resources for their congregation.  Ben has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and an MBA from Indiana University. He has more than 20 years of experience developing internet applications. Ben lived in Malaysia for ten years while serving as an associate director for a cooperative program between Indiana University and a Malaysian university.

Christal Johnson is the Center’s Director of Marketing & Communications.  While in this role, Christal will also serve as a resource consultant to congregations throughout Indiana. Before joining the Center, Christal garnered more than 25 years of experience in Advertising, Brand Strategy, Communications, Creative Design, Event Planning, Radio & TV Production and Marketing.  She has worked in both the public & private sectors and is thrilled to be a part of the team at Center for Congregations.

She is a proud Ball State University and Leadership Academy Alum and is in a servant leadership role with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Christal is a woman of strong faith; grew up in the Methodist Church and later joined a small Baptist Church where she eagerly served in several capacities.

Catharine Green develops and maintains the Center’s database system. This system is an essential tool in the Center’s mission of identifying the right resources for congregational needs, and learning how congregations make effective use of specific kinds of resources.