Leadership

Our leadership team is comprised of a group of dedicated, compassionate, and supportive individuals who have each experienced immense grief in our own way. Because of our experiences, we choose to serve others by providing them with the resources and community to travel through their journey of grief knowing that they are not alone. We invite you to contact our team with any questions or comments you may have.

Click each picture below to learn more about our ministry leaders.

FOUNDERS

Founder

Sharon Balch

Sharon began as a volunteer at Faith & Grief Luncheons. She worked at Texas Instruments for 27 years in marketing, communications, and finance. She has an MBA and a Graduate Specialist’s Certificate in Aging from the University of North Texas. She is a Stephen Minister and a Presbyterian elder.

Founder

Wendy Fenn

Wendy recently retired from being Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, TX. Previously, she was Chaplain and Director of Spiritual Care at a non-profit hospice in Dallas. She received a Master of Divinity from Perkins Theological Seminary, and a Master in Family Studies from TWU.

Founder

Fran Shelton

Fran received a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her doctoral project was “Blessed are Those Who Mourn: Offering Comfort Through Worship and Theological Reflection.” Recognizing a tremendous benefit of spiritual disciplines for those on the journey of grief, she obtained certificates in Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John A. Cuellar

John is an attorney who has had a 40+ year career in his family’s restaurant businesses, including El Chico, which has been serving Tex-Mex in Dallas since 1940. His recent civic activities include serving on the boards of the Community Council of Greater Dallas and, the Latino Cultural Center, and the Healthy Americas Foundation. He is a graduate of Notre Dame, SMU Law School, and Harvard Business School. He has been married to his wife, Susan, for 50 years, and they have 2 children and 3 grandchildren.

Marcia Grossfeld

Marcia is the owner of Spot On Consulting. She spent 14 years serving as a consultant for synagogues with the Union for Reform Judaism. She collaborated with congregations in strategic planning, lay-staff partnership, congregational development and change, and a confidential consultant for clergy going through the transition. She continues to be involved in several non-profit organizations, including the scholarship committee for the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, Temple Emanu-El’s board of trustees, and co-teaching Choosing Judaism at Temple Emanu-El. Marcia is most proud of her son and daughter and four grandchildren, all in Austin, Texas.

Board Member

Susan McDaniel

Susan, raised in a military family, attended UNT, then settled in Dallas. She worked as a sales executive and branch manager for a Dallas IT support company for 25 years. Retirement led her into volunteer work, first as an elementary school tutor. Susan’s grief around the loss of her husband, Ronn, at age 49 drew her to join the F&GM Gathering team at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. She has capably led that ministry for 6 years, and finds that her faith and understanding of grief have grown exponentially in the process.

Board Member

Lisa H. O’Bryant

Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant and Partner at Francis and Associates CPAs, a boutique public accounting firm in Dallas, Texas. The firm specializes in tax and consulting services. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of North Texas earning a Bachelor of Science Degree. She began her career at Ernst & Young serving as a senior accountant in the Dallas tax department. Lisa has also worked for a regional accounting firm during her career as well as a local company with real estate and car rental investments before joining Francis & Associates in December of 1996. In her spare time, Lisa loves to read and enjoys the outdoors. She also enjoys spending time with her two grown daughters and her grandson.

Board Member

Caesar Rentie

Caesar is a Licensed Local Pastor for North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Prior to his leadership role he began his chaplaincy with MHS in 1992. He also served as Sr. Pastor for Acadia Park United Methodist 2003-2011.

He is currently an Associate Pastor for First United Methodist Mansfield where he serves in care ministries.   He earned a BA from the University of Oklahoma in 1988; he majored in Communications, where he also played football for Barry Switzer and the Oklahoma Sooners.  He attended Texas Christian University in 1997, Brite Divinity School where he received his Master of Theological Studies. He completed six units (2 years) of CPE.  

In his former career, he played professional football in the NFL and in the world league of American football.  During that time he played for the Chicago Bears, the New York New Jersey Knights, and the Birmingham Fire.

He is active in the community where he serves as a Board member for the Golden Cross Foundation, Pastoral Counseling Center, Project Transformation North Texas, and The Board of Visitors for Brite Divinity and he is the Chair of Desoto Police, Community, and Clergy.  He is a Board member for the South Dallas Fair Park Faith Coalition Executive Committee, Advisory member of the Dallas Fort Worth Multi Faith Collaborative; he is a member of the African American Clergy Fellowship of the North Texas Conference and serves as a mentor for Big Brother Big Sister organization. 

In his role as Vice President of MHS he oversees the Pastoral Care and Faith Community Nursing; he also serves on the Corporate Ethics Committee, Corporate Palliative Care Steering Committee and the Corporate Intentional Inclusion & Diversity Council. He is the husband to his lovely wife of Cynthia Rentie and the parent to three children Dennis, Carra and Chloe.

Board Member

Patricia Stein

Pat Stein is an Assistant Attorney General in the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. She is the Managing Attorney of the Dallas Regional Office. Her practice includes litigation involving false, misleading, and deceptive marketing of foods, drugs, and devices.

 

She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University School of Law, earned a Ph.D. in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University, and attended Texas Christian University as an undergrad. Before joining the legal profession, she taught nursing and worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner.

Sherri Wood Cooper

Sherri Wood Cooper is a Program and Project Manager at UT Southwestern, focusing on volunteer management. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a veteran, she is an accomplished visionary combining outstanding sales & marketing talents with high-caliber general management qualifications. Sherri is a results-oriented, decisive leader, with proven success in establishing a lasting presence with clients, identifying growth opportunities, and initiating strong business alliances. She thrives in the management of diverse industries.

Jeff Logan

Jeff Logan is a senior-level marketing executive with experience in housewares, office and school products, pet products, consumer packaged goods, sports property marketing, and shopper marketing. He is known for delivering results across all channels with concepts driven by customer and consumer insights. With a proven leadership style that develops individual capabilities while motivating his team toward maximum performance, Jeff has extensive brand-building experience while leading strategic initiatives.   For the past 10 years, Jeff has held the position of Director of Marketing at Dexas International, LTD. In Coppell, TX, a 53-year-old design and manufacturing firm of housewares items. He created the overall corporate positioning statement now used as a tagline, “The One. The Only. The Original.”   Jeff received the 2020 Global Innovation Award (GIA) from the International Housewares Association as well as “Best in Show” New Product Showcase Award from the American Pet Products Association (APPA).  He is a graduate of Iowa State University, Ames, IA   With all this expertise in his field of marketing, he also is a busy volunteer in his faith community as well as Faith & Grief.  He has a compelling and sensitive story to tell of how his faith and grief have intersected in his life and family.

Monica Rachel

Monica Rachel is a native New Mexican and transplanted Texas with undergraduate (Bachelor of Business Administration) and graduate (Master in Professional Accounting) degrees from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.  Her professional career has been focused on private equity accounting.     She is currently serving on the board of Our Friends Place, has served nonprofits such as Planned Parenthood, Junior League of Dallas, and other community organizations as an active volunteer, and strives to improve the lives of young women through activism and the political process.  She lives in the Kessler Park neighborhood of Dallas with her husband and two very loved and spoiled rescue dogs.  She enjoys playing with fire – barbecuing and relaxing around the backyard fire pits, baking, and tries desperately to improve at gardening.

TEAM LEADERS & STAFF

Executive Director

Liz Harling

Liz leverages years of experience as a nonprofit leader and former attorney to bring a framework for new growth to the ministry of Faith & Grief. Living in the Dallas area for more than 20 years, she is a longtime school district and PTA volunteer. She has championed multicultural adult and family literacy and learning in her non-profit leadership roles. She has served as a teacher, deacon, and elder in her faith community. She is humbled to bring her collective experience to guide Faith & Grief now. She received her BA from Newcomb College of Tulane University and her JD from Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans.

Facilitator

Bonni Brophy

While going through the grieving process after her husband Jack died, she attended a Faith & Grief Ministries workshop and found the tools to help rebuild her life while also giving her new friends who were also working through this difficult transition. Bonni has been facilitating for Faith &Griefsince 2013. Bonni spent 20 years in youth ministry with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, founding The Pines Catholic Camp in 1988. She has served in philanthropic leadership for 15 years in the Dallas area, helping clients create a legacy for their favorite charities.

Program Director

Shelley Craig

Shelley Craig as the saying goes, “got to Texas as fast as she could” after growing up on the East Coast. She believes ministering to those who are grieving and suffering is a vital part of loving others. She is honored to join the Faith and Grief Ministries team and to work to fulfill its mission. She served in various church volunteer leadership positions which led her to work in ministry. She has a passion for serving others and has experience in non-profit consulting, digital marketing and corporate training. She has a degree in Communications from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree in eLearning from Texas A&M-Commerce.

Community Educator

Regina Hunt

Regina grew up in Ohio and moved to Texas after the loss of her business partner. After a long career in retail buying and change management/training, she earned certificates in spiritual direction and lay ministry. In her work in spiritual direction and as an elder in the Presbyterian Church (PC) USA, she felt called to support those who have experienced the loss of loved ones. In her work with Faith & Grief, she has accompanied many on their journey through grief and continues to be inspired and honored by those who share themselves and their stories in search of healing.

Host Liaison & Administrator

Susan Ingle

Susan is a social worker by training having both an undergraduate degree (University of Oklahoma) and master’s degree (University of Kansas).  Much of her work has been in medical oncology settings where she encountered many patients and families going through the process of death and grief.  Through her work with families experiencing end of life issues, she was drawn to those who were coping with their grief and loss. She is an elder in the Presbyterian Church USA and served as a Stephen Ministry Leader.

Susan is the resource administrator for Faith and Grief as well as the Host Site Liaison.  She monitors the registrations for the gatherings/workshops, handles communications for the ministry, keeps the statistics for all the gatherings as well as serves as co-leader at one of the Dallas area sites.  As Host Site Liaison, she supports each host location through contacts and visits during the year.

Susan is married with two adult children and five “beautiful, gifted, special” granddaughters

Facilitator

Diane Pennington

Diane Pennington (CSD) is a Certified Spiritual Director, specializing in grief work. Her BA degree is in counseling psychology. Diane graduated from One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in the spring of 2021 and was ordained as an Interfaith/Interspiritual minister. Her intention is to better be able to listen and companion people of multiple faith traditions and spiritual seeking. Her intention in ministry is to create a welcoming space for people to ask their questions about grief and their beliefs.

In 1999, she founded and directed Human Animal Relational Therapies, Inc., an animal-assisted therapy organization, in Putnam County, NY, working with animal/handler teams in over 25 programs, including those who had experienced traumatic loss after 9/11.

Currently serving at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the office of Institutional Advancement, she is the development liaison for Grace Presbytery and Oklahoma.

Her ministry includes serving through Faith & Grief Ministries as a grief workshop facilitator throughout north Texas.  She has formerly served as an ordained elder and deacon and is a member of Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church in Richardson.

Her newest venture is the start of her custom crafting company, “Reimagined Keepsakes.” Diane takes treasured objects and reimagines and repurposes them into new creative forms to be enjoyed and remembered.