Four officers have been elected by the Board of the Global Episcopal Mission Network at its monthly meeting in June.
The Rev. Paul Rajan, vicar of Good Shepherd Church in Wantage, N.J., was reelected as President, having been reelected to a second three-year term on the Board at the network’s Annual Meeting on May 1, held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He chairs the newly formed Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Newark and is member of General Convenion’s Standing Commission on World Mission. Hailing from Tirunelveli Diocese in the Church of South India, Paul was a cross-cultural missionary in the Indian state of Karnataka. In New Zealand he worked among migrant communities of Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, Fijian Indians, Sri Lankans, Ghanaians, Nigerians and the Asian and Indian diaspora communities under the umbrella of Global Peace Mission, Ethnic Voice New Zealand, and the New Zealand government. In the USA he has pioneered InterChristian Initiatives, a mission to reach and teach. In addition to a B.Th. degree, Paul holds an M.A. from Madurai University, India, an M.Div. from Interfaith Seminary in New York, where he served as dean of students, and a D.Min. in chaplaincy from Liberty University. He is a member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and serves on the executive committee of the Association of Episcopal Chaplains. Paul succeeded Ms. Ayda Patricia Martin of the Dominican Republic as GEMN President.
The Rev. Nancy Searby was re-elected Vice President. A deacon at St. Francis Church, Great Falls, in the Diocese of Virginia, Nancy brings special interest in mission with the church in Tanzania and in South Sudan. She is participating in reviving the global mission involvement of her diocese. She worked for 36 years at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), and at the time of her retirement in May 2025 she was program manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Capacity Building Program at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. She championed applying Earth science data to decisions that improve society. Her program built individual and institutional capacity both domestically and globally to improve disaster resilience, biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability, water resources management, public health surveillance, food security and sustainable agriculture. Nancy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a Ph.D. from Stanford. Nancy succeeds Ms. Molly O’Brien of the Diocese of New Hampshire as GEMN Vice President.
The Rev. Sister Sarah Margaret of the Society of St. Margaret, a monastic order of women, was elected Secretary. She was professed in 2003 and has served at convents in Roxbury, Mass. (2000-2011); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (2011-2013); and Duxbury, Mass. (2013-present). As one of the sisters in Haiti, she participated in work at Foyer Notre Dame and Holy Trinity Cathedral, headed the altar linen project, and taught spirituality and English at the seminary, serving on its board for a year as secretary. A graduate of the Episcopal Divinity School, Sr. Sarah was ordained to the priesthood in 2011, serving her first year of ordained ministry at St. Luke’s-San Lucas in Chelsea, Mass. After returning from Haiti, she spent two years coordinating the Diocese of Massachusetts’ relationship with the Diocese of Tanga, Tanzania. She holds a B.A. in French from Yale University and an M.A.T. in French from Vanderbilt University. Sr. Sarah spent ten years teaching French and English as a second language at Chatham Hall, an Episcopal girls’ school in Virginia, before entering the community. Elected in May to a first full term on the GEMN Board, Sister Sarah succeeds the Rev. Walter Brownridge as Secretary.
Mr. Bill Kunkle of the Diocese of Southwest Florida was re-elected Treasurer. He is executive director of the Province IX Development Group (PDG), which assists dioceses in Province IX and beyond to develop sustainable programs and diocesan self-sufficiency. During his decades as a mission leader Bill has organized, led and/or facilitated more than 500 short-term mission teams. He served as executive director of the Dominican Development Group, which carries out a wide range of mission work, program support, development and self-sustainability initiatives with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic. His work included dozens of short-term mission trips each year from dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church and from other denominations. Bill served as an appointed missionary to the Diocese of the Dominican Republic through the DFMS and then as an Episcopal Volunteer in Mission (EVIM). Bill has long served on the Companion Diocese Committee of the Diocese of Southwest Florida. He studied at the University of Cincinnati. He is the founder and president of Kunkle Contracting, Inc., a Florida-certified construction firm based in the Tampa area. The treasurer need not be a GEMN Board member; Bill served two terms on the Board and is not currently a Board member.
The four officers constitute GEMN Executive Team, which also includes Executive Director Titus Presler. The GEMN Board has 12 members serving 3-year terms (to maximum of two terms). Officers serve for one year at a time, but can be re-elected year by year.