About
The Center for Faithful Business is a leading think tank working on the integration of faith and business. We are a trusted partner, a compelling and prophetic voice in society, calling business leaders to integrate their faith with their work. We create numerous resources that advance a Christian understanding of business.
Our Approach
As a think tank, we incorporate research, scholarship, and best practices from the academy, business, and the church to answer challenging questions. The questions we’re asking include:
- Can business be a holy calling?
- Is there a Christian framework for participating in business?
- Who are a business’s major stakeholders and how do we serve them in Kingdom advancing ways?
We want to help both business practitioners and those who minister to them wrestle with the question of how to serve God through their work in business. We seek to inspire, encourage, and equip the business community in Seattle, across the United States, and around the world.
Timeline
2001
In 2001, Jeff Van Duzer, as dean of the School of Business, Government, and Economics at Seattle Pacific University worked to promote the idea that Christian theology is relevant to business practice and scholarship. The result was the launch of the Center for Faithful Business (originally named the Center for Integrity in Business).
2004
CFB’s first director, Al Erisman, started in 2004. During Erisman’s tenure, Ethix magazine came under the auspices of CFB, and SBGE developed its signature philosophy, “Another Way of Doing Business.” Toward this end, CFB hosted a summit for business practitioners titled “Bridging Sunday and Monday.”
2008
CFB under Terrill’s leadership secured—the endowment of the Hammond Marketplace Library Collection into SPU’s Ames library, the establishment of Bruce R. Kennedy Endowment for Ethical Business Leadership, and the hosted six conferences that included a conference on microfinance, and Bottom Billions Bottom Line.
2015
In 2015 Gene Kim was appointed director after serving as interim director for six months. Under Kim’s leadership, CFB secured a large donation to be used for the creation of documentary films and the development of an online course that integrated faith and business. This project, Faith & Co., became CFB’s primary focus since 2016.
2019
In 2019 and during the COVID pandemic, Ross Stewart and Kristine Robertson provided interim executive leadership for the Center. Leading efforts to rename the Center, adding more clarity to CFB’s mandate, while inaugurating a CFB Fellows program, and led a national search for a new executive director.
2021
In 2021 JoAnn Flett was appointed as executive director. Under Flett’s leadership CFB embarked on a robust dissemination strategy by refreshing events like the Frank Haas Award, Bruce Kennedy Lecture, Bill Pollard Scholars, extending Faith & Co by co-producing season five, inaugurating the Center’s social media presence and launching newly revised websites. CFB has collaborated with faith leaders in Seattle, nationally and globally to promote faith and work integration.
Center for Faithful Business Team
JoAnn Flett
Executive Director, Center for Faithful Business
Education: BA, Prairie College, 1989; MBA, Eastern University, 2006; PhD, Eastern University, 2019. At SPU since 2021.
Dr. JoAnn Flett started in her role of Executive Director in August 2021. She is a frequent speaker, collaborator, and organizational consultant, teasing out the intersection of faith and business that promotes human flourishing. JoAnn was a 2019-2020 Fulbright Teaching Scholar to Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests are B-Corps, Faith and Business, Entrepreneurial Support Organizations, and Leadership Development.
JoAnn has served on and advised numerous nonprofit organizations, including The Accord Network (120+ faith-based international development agencies), The Ormond Center at Duke University, and the Coalition for Christian Social Innovation (a collaborative effort between Compassion International and Baylor University). She was formerly Board Chair of Capital for Good – Geneva Global (a performance philanthropy firm) and Broad Street Ministry (a non-profit serving the most vulnerable Philadelphians). JoAnn continues to serve as a Business Advisor to Everence Financial (Philadelphia Initiative), Initiate Australia (a social enterprise in Melbourne, Australia), the Network of Christians in Business, and US Embassy’s E-Hub in -Trinidad and Tobago.
JoAnn holds a Bachelor of Biblical Studies (Prairie College, Canada), an MBA (Eastern University), and a PhD in Organizational Leadership (Eastern University). Her PhD dissertation is titled Reshaping the Goals of 21st Century Business: A Study of the B-Corporation Movement.
Ashley Alter
Program Coordinator, Center for Faithful Business
Education: BA Seattle Pacific University
Ashley is a former SBGE student with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and Management. She was Captain of SPU’s Basketball team for three years until 2023.
Ashley’s professional background includes working as a Social Media Assistant with the Seattle Seahawks and a Social Media Growth Coordinator with The Female Edge.
Emma Bailly
Administrative and Social Media Assistant, Center for Faithful Business
Major: Exercise Science and Psychology | Class of 2027
“I have enjoyed working as an administrative assistant for CFB because I have gained valuable experiences and met so many people! I am lucky enough to attend events, listen to speakers, and gain so much wisdom through different perspectives and lenses of the Christian faith. I appreciate working with my fellow colleagues at CFB because you can see the care, intention, and love that goes into each decision and event. I am lucky to work alongside such passionate and capable people!”.
– Emma Bailly
Emma Wheat
DECA Ambassador, Center for Faithful Business
Major: Business Administration, Management | Graduating Class of 2028
“As someone who just stepped into the role of DECA Ambassador for the CFB, I’m genuinely excited to start partnering with local high school students. I’m looking forward to helping them explore how their faith can shape the way they think about business, leadership, and competition. It feels meaningful to walk alongside these students as they learn to integrate their values with their ambitions and discover what it looks like to lead with integrity in our world.”
– Emma Wheat
Quinton Pho
Photographer
Major: Business Administration, Marketing | Graduating Class of 2027
“Working at the CFB has given me much insight into the intersection between faith and business. Between our digital work highlighting how real businesses integrate faith into their operations; and physical events that teach and inspire others to live their faith through their work, I’m proud to be a part of this team. Being able to capture such moments and share the amazing work my colleagues have done make this job worth it!”
– Quinton Pho
Fellows of the Center for Faithful Business
Katherine Leary Alsdorf
Founding director, Redeemer’s Center for Faith & Work; co-author (with Tim Keller), Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s
Chris Armstrong
Program Fellow in Faith, Work, and Economics for the Kern Family Foundation, and Senior Editor of Christian History magazine
Luke Bobo
Co-Owner, Pursuing the Greater Good, LLC; Educator; and Author, Stories, Statistics, Solutions: Toward Understanding and Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities; Race, Economics, and Apologetics; Worked Up: Navigating Calling After College; and Living Salty and Light-Filled Lives in the Workplace
Uli Chi
Senior Fellow, Fuller Seminary’s De Pree Center for Leadership; Sessional Faculty, Regent College’s Master of Arts in Leadership, Theology and Society
Chi-Ming Chien
Principal and Co-Founder, Dayspring Partners, a San Francisco digital consultancy firm
Denise Daniels
Hudson T. Harrison Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship, Wheaton College; author, Working in the Presence of God
Bruno Dyck
Norman Frohlich Professorship in Business Sustainability, University of Manitoba; author, Management and the Gospel: Luke’s Radical Message for the First and Twenty-First Centuries and Management: Financial, Social, and Ecological Well-Being
Al Erisman
Co-Chair, Theology of Work Project; former Technology Director, Boeing; author of numerous books including The ServiceMaster Story
Steve Garber
Senior Fellow for Vocation and the Common Good for the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and Senior Advisor “Economics of Mutuality”; author, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good
David Gill
Executive director, Workplace 313; former professor of Christian ethics at New College Berkeley, North Park University, St. Mary’s College, and Gordon-Conwell Seminary; author of nine books, including It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically Healthy Organizations
Jeff Haanen
CEO and Founder of Denver Institute for Faith & Work, an educational nonprofit; author, An Uncommon Guide to Retirement: Finding God’s Purpose for the Next Season of Life
David Hataj
President, Edgerton Gear, Inc.; author, Good Work
Helen Hayes
Founder, CEO of Activate Work; Founder, Colorado Inclusive Economy Movement; former portfolio manager at Janus Worldwide Fund
Henry Kaestner
Co-founder, Faith Driven Entrepreneur and Faith Driven Investor; Co-founder, Bandwidth/Republic Wireless and Sovereign’s Capital; co-author Faith Driven Entrepreneur
Michaela O’Donnell Long
Executive Director of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership; Assistant Professor of Marketplace Theology at Fuller Seminary; author, Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World
Will Messenger
Executive Editor, Theology of Work Project
Jason Myhre
Founding Member and Director of Advocacy at Eventide Asset Management; Executive Director of the Eventide Center for Faith & Investing
Mitchell Neubert
Chavanne Chair of Christian Ethics in Business and Professor of Management at Baylor; regular contributor to scholarly journals; co-author of the textbook Organizational Behavior
Barry Rowan
EVP & CFO, Gogo (Business Aviation inflight internet); Chair, Harvard Business School Christian Fellowship & Alumni Association; Trustee, Gordon College
Linda Rowan
Chair, Amigos de Jesus Home for Children in Honduras; World Vision National Leadership Council; Board Member, Legatus Denver
Amy Sherman
Senior Fellow and Director, Sagamore Institute’s Center on Faith in Communities; author, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
Eric Stumberg
Co-Founder|CEO TengoInternet; President, Patio Ranch; Mentor, Praxis Labs
John Terrill
Executive Director, Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin
Jeff Van Duzer
Former Dean, School of Business Government, and Economics at Seattle Pacific University; author, Why Business Matters to God
Missy Wallace
Managing Director of Redeemer City to City and its Global Faith and Work Initiative; formerly founder, Nashville Institute for Faith and Work