Stan Perea, President and Founder

Stan Perea is the executive director of HIS Ministries, a nonprofit organization formed to assist pastors in dealing with the New America. Since its inception, HIS Ministries has expanded to include training for school districts, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and churches. HIS Ministries is also the home of Casa de Paz, a multicultural training center in northwest Denver. After pastoring The Church of the Rockies in Denver, Stan served as director of urban ministries for the United States and Canada for the Reformed Church in America, helping to oversee the ministries of 218 urban churches. Prior to his pastoral experience, Stan practiced as a Certified Public Accountant for many years. He is the author of The New America: The America of the Moo-Shoo Burrito and Christianity in America: From a Kingdom to a Republic. Stan and his wife Glenda make their home in Denver, Colorado.

Karen Herrera-Joseph

Karen was born in Monterrey, Mexico. She lived most of her life in Mexico City until she married and came to live in the United States. Her heart is in her family, which consists of her husband and four children. Karen majored in Political Sciences and later earned an Alternative Certification to become a Bilingual Teacher. This this is when she discovered her true passion, teaching. As an entrepreneur, Karen developed her own business, Amigos International, in 1996 to help people learn Spanish as second language. Through the years she has developed language services, as a consultant for various industries. Recently, she launched, along with a group of early language development experts, an innovating neuro-linguistics curriculum for infants and children. Karen is an altruistic and optimistic person; she thrives to make a difference and contributes to a better society by inspiring others to be more culturally aware.

David Maldonado

David Maldonado, President Emeritus of Iliff School of Theology (2000-2004), earned a B.A from the Univeristy of Texas at El Paso, a B.D. from Southern Methodist University, and a M.S.W and D.S.W. from the University of Californa at Berkeley. He was a Professor of Church and Society and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Health and Human Services of California State University, Los Angeles, and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington. David also served as Director at the Center for Chicano Aged. David is the author of Crossing Guadalupe Street, The Editor of Protestantes/Protestants: Hispanic Christianity Within Mainline Traditions and Co-editor of Hispanic Christianity Within Mainline Protestant Traditions. He has written numerous articles and contributed to many other books. He served on the National Advisory Council on Health Professions Education, Health Resources Administration, H.H.S., Washington, DC, the White House Conference on Aging. Technical Committee on the Family, Social Services and Other Networks. Washington, DC: 1980-81. He has served on numerous other councils, task forces and organizations. He and his wife Charlotte have two sons, David Maldonado, III and Carlos Maldonado.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

Butch Montoya is a news media consultant. He recently acted as the News Consortium Coordinator for the Kobe Bryant trail coverage in Eagle, Colorado. He coordinated over 50 local print and broadcast, national print and broadcast/cable news organizations, national news magazines, and national radio services in logistical planning and development, including CNN, FOX News, ABC News, New York Times, LA Times, MSNBC, KUSA-TV, KCNC-TV, KDVR-TV, KMGH-TV, KWGN-TV, AP WIRE AND RADIO. Butch previously worked at KUSA-TV in Denver, where worked in many areas, including Vice President/News Director. Butch has also taken an active role in the City and County of Denver, serving as Deputy Mayor under Mayor Wellington Webb. He was on the Mayor's Management Committe, and he held the positions of Deputy Manager of Revenue/Motor Vehicle, Manager of Safety, Acting Director of Corrections/Undersheriff. He has been very active in the community, serving as a founding member of the Hispanic League, and held key positions in Noth Metro Denver Young Life, Colorado Uplift, Project PACT, Latino Education Coalition, Citizens for Quality Education, Denver Urban League, Denver Justice Systen Task Force, City and County of Denver Criminal Justince Coordination Committee and many other organizations and task forces. Butch studied at Regis University and the University of Denver.

Cher Smith

Cheryl A.(Cher) Smith is a writer and speaker. She has spoken to groups about film, writing, philosophy and social issues. She has led workshops on writing fiction, non-fiction and screenplays. She has spoken to church groups on film, women's issues, and theology. For a number of years, Cher was an instructor at Colorado Christian University, teaching Philosophy and English. In those classrooms, she developed her distinctive style of illustrating her speeches with film and literature references. Her upcoming book Heroes, Whores, and Hobbits: Faith Through Film began its development in her class "Faith and Film." The Falcon and the Serpent was Cher's first published novel, and her most recent novel, Justified Means, was released in 2005. She has also written many short stories and has ghostwritten a number of books and articles, as well as co-authoring Stan Perea's books The New America: The America of the Moo-Shoo Burrito and Christianity in America: From a Kingdom to a Republic.

George Straface

George Straface earned his Masters in Educational Administration and his Doctorate of Education: Adminstration Supervision, and Curriculum from the University of Colorado. He attended National Superintendent Academy at the University of Southern California. He has been Supterintendent of Adams County School District 50, Mesa County Calley School District 51, Adams County School District 14 and Deputy Superintendent of Demver Public Schools. He was also an Adjuct Professor at the School of Education at the University of Denver. George led and implemented a three-year and on-going District Strategic Plan in two school districts He also led the development and implementation of standards based classroom instruction, focus on standards based classroom system focused on literacy and student achievement and staff development on standards implementation, literacy improvement and six-trait writing. George received training to be a trainer for Balanced Leadership and effectively delivered training in the model to 70 administrators. Some of his other achievements include the implementation of an authentic assessment system to measure student proficiencies of specific standards and the establishment of an exemplary primary school focused on utilizing best practices for the learning of young children in grades K-2.