Who We Are: Staff Directory

Tuomi Joshua Forrest
(email: tforrest@sacredplaces.org)
Associate Director. Tuomi has offered technical advice and consultation to thousands of congregations of all faiths on the care and active community use of their historic religious buildings since joining Partners in 1997. He has contributed to publications such as Sacred Places at Risk (1998), Open the Doors: A Guide to Serving Families in Sacred Places (2001), and Your Sacred Place is a Community Asset: A Tool Kit to Attract New Resources and Partners (2002), and he has also spoken at many conferences and workshops around the country. He is a lead designer and trainer for Partners' New Dollars/New Partners program and currently oversees all of Partners' programming efforts, including the development of regional office and grant funds. Previously, Tuomi workd at the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and as an architectural photographer. He received an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Political Science from Haverford College.

Gianfranco Grande

(email:  ggrande@sacredplaces.org)

Director, Chicago Office. Gianfranco brings over ten years of experience in development and management of nonprofit organizations, from startups to agencies with annual budgets exceeding $45 million. He served as Principal of Philantropia, Ltd, Executive Director and President of First Step Foundation, and Vice President of Notre Dame High School. A graduate in literature and philosophy from the University of Rome, Gianfranco has worked for many years as the foreign editor at a major Italian magazine. Grande has published several works of fiction and nonfiction. He is Chairman of the Board for the “Education Center” a nonprofit organization in the Greater Chicago as well he is a founder board member of the Linardakis Foundation. Gianfranco is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professional, Chicago Chapter.

Geoffrey Harden

(email:  gharden@sacredplaces.org)

Office and Information Technology Manager, Phildelphia Office. Geoffrey brings eight years of experience in nonprofit program support, administrative assistance and development. He has worked in Philabundance’s Development department and, most recently, as the Center for Responsible Funding’s Operations Manager. Geoffrey also regularly contributes time to Books Through Bars, training and supervising volunteers, planning and implementing fundraising activities and managing their database.

A. Robert Jaeger
(email: bjaeger@sacredplaces.org)
Executive Director. Bob holds a Master's degree in preservation planning from Cornell University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Prior to co-founding Partners for Sacred Places in 1989, Bob worked with the Philadelphia Historic Preservation Corporation as Senior Vice President for the Historic Religious Properties Program. He is the co-author of Sacred Places at Risk (1998) and Strategies for Stewardship and Active Use of Older and Historic Religious Properties (1996), author of Sacred Places in Transition (1994), and editor (from 1985 to 1989) of Inspired, a bi-monthly magazine with news and technical articles on religious property preservation.

Rana Gidumal McNamara
(email:  rmcnamara@sacredplaces.org)
Associate Director of Development, has been a development professional for the past eighteen years, mostly with Friends schools. Her most recent position was as director of development for an elementary Quaker school.

Marie Malloy
(email: mmalloy@sacredplaces.org)
Director of Operations, has 25 years of administrative experience in large and small non-profits, primarily religious and educational organizations. She holds a B.S. in Accounting and a B.S. in Elementary Education.

Sarah F. Peveler
(email: speveler@sacredplaces.org cell: 252-885-3902)
Senior Trainer, based in Eastern North Carolina, joined the Partners staff in 1997, bringing 10 years of field services delivery with Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. councils and 30 years of training and organization development experience to Partners. Sixteen of those years were spent with Episcopal Church institutions. Sarah received a B.A. in Sociology from Emory University and an Education for Ministry Certificate from the University of the South School of Theology. She has also pursued graduate studies in American history and historic preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. Since joining Partners, she directed the development of Your Sacred Place is a Community Asset: A Tool Kit to Attract New Resources and Partners (2002), and served as Director of Training during New Dollars/New Partners first three years. 

Elizabeth Ann Terry
(email: eterry@sacredplaces.org)
Director of Training, joins the Partners for Sacred Places staff after more than twenty years of working in the nonprofit field. She conducted hundreds of workshops for thousands of organizations through the Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University, the Center for Effective Public Policy, the Joseph Priestley District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Free Library of Philadelphia, Grassroots Fundraising Institute and through her consulting business, NIAwork. While working for the Center for Effective Public Policy she compiled and edited Corporate Resources for Community Needs, a study of volunteering and giving patterns in the Delaware Valley. Before joining the Partners' staff, she was the Executive Director of The Other Side magazine. Ms. Terry attended Temple University and Bryn Mawr College and has been a lay minister since 1994. Ms. Terry is a member of The Society of Community Ministries, a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and serves on the board of directors of Interfaith Working Group.

Suzanne Yowell

(email: syowell@sacredplaces.org)
Project Manager, Texas Office, is supporting the Texas Office through information management, activity coordination, communication, and office administration. Ms. Yowell is a Fort Worth native, and has 18 years of experience with her family-owned real estate investment company.