LCC Board of Directors
Tricia Lewis
Chairman |
As Chairman of the Board at Lutheran Church Charities, Tricia has applied her personal belief in building consensus to cultivate success, whether it be with leadership, partnerships, or the ministries themselves.
Tricia has a strong business background with multi-vertical experience in both for-profit or nonprofit sectors of healthcare, consumer, financial, education, and technology. She has worked on both the client and consultancy side as a strategist with both national and regional corporations from Fortune 500 to pro-bono work for community groups. Her work in marketing, operations, product development, e-commerce and technology-based platforms gives her the unique ability to support LCC in positioning of its ministries. Beyond her more than fifteen years involvement with LCC, she has in the past or is currently an elected board member of the Advocate Aurora Health Charitable Foundation, Advocate Aurora Health Good Samaritan Governing Council, Advocate Aurora Health Good Samaritan Development Council as well as her involvement in industry related organizations, giving her background in fundraising and the ability understand how to create passion and energy behind a good cause. |
Leah Collister
Secretary |
Leah is a veteran Lutheran Church Charities board member who currently serves as Board Secretary. In the past she has participated in LCC’s constitution committee, hiring committee, program planning, and volunteering. Her support of LCC’s mission is evident by her long-standing dedication to the ministry.
Leah’s professional accomplishments are as an attorney and real estate broker. Her family has been members at Immanuel Lutheran in Palatine for almost twenty years where she has been involved in bible study, youth ministry leadership, vacation bible school, and serving on a call committee. Leah enjoys volunteering at school, church and with a refugee organization. Currently, Leah also serves as the vice president of the Barrington 220 school board. Leah and her husband Peter have three children. Leah has a BA in Marketing from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. |
Dr. Devin Custons
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Dr. Devin Custons, LPC is a licensed professional counselor practicing in Arizona, Missouri, Texas, and the District of Columbia. Custons brings experience in delivering trauma-informed care to children, youth, adults, and families in private practice and community settings. Her specialties include developing personalized care plans to address depression, anxiety, trauma, and crisis intervention.
She holds a Doctor of Education in Community Care & Counseling from Liberty University with an emphasis in Traumatology and a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Webster University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing at Concordia University Irvine. |
Rev. Dan Gilbert
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Serving on the Lutheran Church Charities Board of Directors, Dan provides counsel on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod theological teachings and extensive ministry experience to support LCC Ministries. He is passionate in servant-minded ministry.
Dan served as pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Readlyn, Iowa from 1978 to 1983 and at Cross Lutheran Church and School in Yorkville, Illinois from 1983 to 2006. He served as district president of the Northern Illinois District from 2006 to 2018. He has also served on several administrative boards over the years, including chair of the Northern Illinois District LCMS board of directors for twelve years, and for twelve years as a member of the Concordia University Chicago Board of Regents, six of those years as chair. Dan and his wife Jan are now semi-retired and living in St. Louis, Missouri where many of their family members are. They have two daughters and two sons, all married, and they have twenty-one grandchildren. Dan is a graduate of Concordia Teachers College (now Concordia University Nebraska) in Seward, Nebraska and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He and Jan both volunteer with Lutheran Bible Translators and other ministries and both work part time for LCMS organizations. They are members of Messiah Lutheran Church in St. Louis. |
Deac. Noemí Guerra
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Deac. Noemí Guerra is the Mission Support Specialist and Evangelist Trainer/Coach for the Texas District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Hispanic ministries program developer for Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Born and raised in Panama City, Panama, Guerra graduated Concordia Seminary St. Louis with a Deaconess certification through the Center of Hispanic Studies and a Master’s degree in Practical and Systematic Theology. She served three LCMS churches in music, children, and youth ministries before joining the Texas District. She also taught Spanish and Religion in Lutheran schools, as well as English as a Second Language. She has written for Portals of Prayer, Portales de Oración, and Lutheran Mission Matters. |
Dr. Kent Schlichtemeier
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Dr. Kent Schlichtemeier is the Director of Servant Leadership Institute at Concordia University Irvine. Formerly the dean of Irvine’s School of Education and an education professor, Schlichtemeier is an ardent practitioner of teaching and coaching.
In 2006, he was inducted into the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame after leading Irvine’s women’s basketball program to two Golden State Athletic Conference Championships and two appearances in the NAIA Basketball Tournament. He was twice named Coach of the Year in NAIA District III. Prior to Irvine, Schlichtemeier taught and coached at the middle school and high school levels in California and Florida and was teacher and assistant principal at Orange Lutheran High School. He earned his Doctorate of Educational Leadership at UCLA and a Master’s degree in Sports Science at the University of Denver. As an undergrad at Concordia University Nebraska, he studied mathematics and physical education. |
Tim Schmitt
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Tim has over thirty-five years' experience in multiple industries. He also serves as Treasurer on LCC’s Board of Directors ensuring donations received are used to support and further all LCC Ministries.
Tim held various financial positions in Fortune 200 companies including Motorola. He has concentrated in Health Care for the past twenty-five years starting up two Independent Practice Associations growing the second one to the 11th largest in Chicago. He also was the Chief Financial Officer of two healthcare companies. Tim has a heart for helping people in need. He was a board member of Crossways International and served as its Chairperson for the past eight years. He is currently the President of his Lutheran congregation, Secretary of Immanuel Lutheran School Education Foundation, and an at large board member of Good Samaritan Ministries. He oversees meals for members of his church who recently had surgery and also heads up a community meal for 200 people four times a year at Immanuel. Tim and his wife Elaine have two grown sons. Tim has a BS in Business Administration, an MBA, and is an Illinois CPA. |
Lynda Streich
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Lynda is a passionate leader who helps both profit and non-profit organizations achieve their mission. She has served as an LCC Board member for twelve years, previously as its Chairman of the Board. She applies her diverse leadership experiences to help LCC continue to advance their mission of serving those in need nationally and internationally.
As a highly experienced Human Resources leader, Lynda brings a well-rounded, diverse set of skills in a variety of public and private industries with large global companies as well as small family-owned businesses. She is known for developing trust, collaboration, and engagement of leaders and employees across all levels of organizations to align capabilities, talents, and business strategy that create value in world-class organizations. Specific focus and expertise include establishing, building, and redesigning HR functions and teams in rapidly growing environments, and integration and change management leadership for organizations during times of transition and change. Lynda is a former Board member of Crossways International, the former VP of HR on the Board of Trustees at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine, Illinois, for eight years. She has also served on various Human Resources organization boards. Lynda and her husband Jim have two grown daughters and two grandchildren. Lynda has a BS in Speech Communications from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. |
Rev. Kris Whitby
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Rev. Kristopher Whitby is the Assistant to the President for Mission and Ministry at the Northern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Pastor Whitby works with the district president, NID staff, and district congregations on initiatives that support centering Lutherans on God’s Word and promote vitality among churches, schools, ministers, and lay leaders.
Whitby also encourages congregational engagement within the community and fosters partnerships with the NID. Whitby served for 24 years as a parish pastor in Florida and Illinois before joining the NID, including 16 years as pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Mount Prospect, Illinois. Previously, he served as the national LWML pastoral counselor and the NID’s North Region Vice President. He hosted the radio talk show “Faith Talks” and served as a volunteer chaplain for the Association of Retired Intelligence Officers during the days of 9/11 |
LCC Honor Roll
The following individuals have been honored with the title Board Member Emeritus in recognition of their distinguished service and lasting impact on LCC.
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Dale Kuhfahl
Emeritus 18 years of service |
Phil Bandy
Emeritus 18 years of service |