Jim Swartz / Co-Chair

Jim and Susan Swartz are the visionaries and enablers of the Christian Center. They first located  in  Park City in the 1980s, buying a condo as a central location to unite their family for  vacations. Jim is a successful venture capitalist. He has been active in venture capital since the  early 1970s. Experienced in the operating needs of young companies, he particularly enjoys working with start-up teams that are defining new industries. He has served as a Director for over forty successful companies and has been closely involved as lead investor with the emergence of numerous industry pioneering firms including Avici Systems, BroadBand Technologies, FastForward/Inktomi, FVC.com, Illustra/Informix, Medical Care America, Netopia, PictureTel, Polycom, Remedy Corporation, and Ungermann-Bass.

Current private company directorships include Comstellar Technologies, Gen3 Partners, InGenuity Systems, MetraTech, and NBT. In addition, Jim is working closely with the Accel Europe team as a founder/mentor of Accel’s European business.

Before founding Accel Partners, Jim was founding General Partner of Adler & Company, which he started with Fred Adler in 1978 after his tenure as a Vice President of Citicorp Venture Capital. Early in his career Jim worked as a management consultant, entering the venture capital industry in 1972.

Active in industry affairs, Jim is a former Director and Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and a former President of the New York Venture Capital Forum. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics (he mostly remembers something about playing football) and holds an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jim’s current interests include serving as Chairman of the Swartz Foundation Trust, Chairman of the Christian Center of Park City Board, and as a Board Member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation. From 1999 to 2002, he served on the Management Committee of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics of 2002 (SLOC). He is also a member of the Board of Advisors to Silicon Valley Community Ventures and the Western Governors University. He is the recipient of a Merit Award from Carnegie Mellon University and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Western Governors University.

Son Scott is President of MetraTech, daughter Karin is a medical doctor, and daughter Kristin is a teacher of learning disabled children.

Susan Swartz / Co-Chair

Susan Swartz is the visionary behind the Christian Center of Park City. Through her heart, the Center  came into being in 2000, built on Susan’s life of insight and sensitivity to God’s leading.

Susan was blessed in birth, being born into a family of musicians and artists. From childhood, she remembers the power of music to touch one’s soul. A high school teacher, to whom she is forever grateful, recognized and encouraged her painting, ultimately influencing her decision to major in art education in college. As a young mother she taught art in her basement and in a high school. Her formal training and love of exhibition was postponed, but she never stopped painting. Raising children and seeing the world through their eyes helped her wonder out loud or to myself how she would paint a sunset, or do justice to freshly fallen snow. The miracle of nature always astonishes her.

Who thought of changing the colors of leaves in autumn and why is every snowflake different but still white? These are the mysteries for which I don’t ever want answers—but they are the questions I aspire to capture in my painting.

Today I paint from those memories and my own experience in nature. It is in nature that I am quiet and still. We live in such a fast paced world that we sometimes forget the gifts of stillness. I try to capture them on canvasses and carry them with me. I yearn for those moments when life gets overwhelming and pray that my grandchildren will know the same freedoms and lessons that nature provided us as a family.

We live in a fractured world. When I am in nature I am soothed and awed by its perfection. I see God’s hand everywhere and I am reminded of how sacred and fragile life is.

As Susan grew older, she realized her painting has been a metaphor or instrument for her own growth and discovery. It had also been an expression of a deep and abiding faith in God. She signs her paintings “Glory To God”, for He has been her teacher in life and before a canvas.

I yearn to paint what He has created and hope that when people look at my work they will feel His peace. Standing before a blank canvass, I am forever humbled and inspired. I start my work with prayer, fill my studio with music and hope that I can be used as a vessel that will touch and inspire others. Sometimes I stare and wait and wonder. Sometimes I paint throughout the night, alone with my music. I have come to accept the fear and excitement that comes with the mystery in not knowing, as a parallel to the mystery of being in nature and in mystery of learning to know and trust God. I am grateful for every moment, every false start and fresh beginning. The journey has blessed me with abundance and a lot to fall back on when life tests us with pain, sorrow and opportunities for forgiveness. My painting continues to change. That change continues to comfort and confound me. The journey has been a wonderful ride.

While living in Princeton, NJ Susan regularly opened her home to the Bible teaching of Millie Dienert. Hundreds attended each year. But they also had a condo in Park City. Susan wanted to introduce Millie to Utah, and in 2000 invited Millie to her newly completed home in Park City.

Jim and Susan had prayed for Utah for a dozen years. They had a vision to launch a Christian resource center, a facility that could operate a bookstore, offer counseling, stage events, and serve the needy of Park City, all in cooperation with local churches. Millie’s visit to Utah became a focal point to launch their vision of a Christian Center. Their dream became a reality in 2000 when the Center was leased and staff members hired to operate the program.

Susan continues to be the visionary behind the Christian Center, even as she uses her talent for art as a witness to her faith. She serves, together with her husband Jim, on many boards including the U.S. Ski Team and The Utah Symphony. Her passion is painting and her works have been shown in New York and other major markets, with a permanent display in Park City. Susan was one of only two officially selected to render Olympic paintings for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Geralyn Dreyfous / Board Secretary

Geralyn White Dreyfous began her career at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as  a special assistant to Dean Graham Allison. In this capacity she helped raise $22M for three new public policy initiatives, The Taubman Center for State and Local Government, The Weiner Center for Social Policy, and Marvin Kalb’s Meet the Candidates, Press and Politics Initiative. While working at the Kennedy School she began exploring the unique relationship between philanthropy, non-governmental organizations and social innovation.

At the invitation of Alfred Taubman, philanthropist and real estate entrepreneur and Frank Stanton, founder of CBS, Geralyn began consulting privately on special philanthropic project initiatives in New York City in 1988. For Stanton she served as a special liaison to The Center for Communications, a non-profit he and Thorton Bradshaw started to examine the policy and ethical implications generated by rapid technology changes in the communication industry. For Taubman, she helped incubate the first public private school reform initiative in his home state of Michigan. In 1989, she and Peter Karoff founded The Philanthropic Initiative, a consulting business for people of wealth and corporations interested in strategic advice and staffing for their philanthropy. The Rockefeller Foundation financed the company. Today TPI represents over 40 family foundations and 20 corporations. Last year it helped deploy over $50M of new philanthropy.

In 1992 Geralyn was awarded a Lyndhurst Prize for her work in philanthropy. The prize, modeled after the MacArthur award, was a three-year “no strings attached” grant of $40,000. Geralyn used that grant to be trained as an Outward Bound instructor, and teach with Robert Coles at Harvard University. In 1994 she left TPI, taking two private foundation clients and began devoting half of her time to working with Dr. Robert Coles on establishing a Center for Community Service and Documentary Studies. This work was the precursor to what is now the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, which birthed DoubleTake Magazine and the DoubleTake Film Festival.

In 1995 Geralyn was married and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. In Utah, she is active on several boards including The Reebok Human Rights Foundation, Peter Gabriel’s Witness, the Utah Symphony/Opera Olympic Aid and the Moab Music Festival. She is a founding member of the Social Venture Network and remains active connecting businesses and philanthropies to social causes.

In 1998 the Institute for Civil Society, a private foundation, hired Geralyn to help spin DoubleTake Magazine out of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. DoubleTake Magazine has won every coveted literary and photographic award, including the General Excellence Award. It also produces an award winning on-line classroom companion for educators. In 2001 she launched a DoubleTake Summer Institute for teachers, activists and emerging documentarians. The Institute was held at Hampshire College and led by Ken Burns and Robert Coles. Geralyn has co-produced with Witness and Andrew Levine Productions a ten minute expose on forced child prostitution and is currently producing an hour long documentary film entitled The Day My God Died—Stories from the Child Sex Slave Trade between Nepal and India. Winona Ryder narrated the first film with original music donated by composer Philip Glass. The feature documentary has played in festivals around the world and is being distributed by Tapestry. She founded The Salt Lake City Film Center in 2002 and serves as its Executive and Artistic Director. Geralyn lives in Salt Lake City with her husband Jim Dreyfous and two children McKarah and Jake. She graduated with honors from Harvard College.

Jim & Judy Bergman / Board Members

Judy and Jim run the Bergman Family Foundation which supports World Vision, Opportunity International, International Justice Mission, UCLA, Fuller Seminary, the Christian Center of Park City, and other local organizations working to feed, clothe and educate the homeless.

Jim spent over 30 years as a venture capital investor, helping early stage companies in the high technology area.  He currently serves on the Boards of the Christian Center of Park City, OIBM ( Malawi ) and OI/SASL ( Ghana ), two Micro Finance Banks, Concordia University (Advisory), Opportunity International and several other church and charitable board and committees.  He and his wife have taken more than forty field trips to Third World countries with World Vision, Church Resource Ministries, Opportunity International and other organizations. After raising three sons, Judy became active in supporting a number of charities and earning her Master’s Degree in Theology at Fuller.  Her passion became Women of Vision, a group supporting World Vision programs focused on women and children’s issues in the developing world.  Judy helped Women of Vision grow from one small chapter in Orange County to 15 Chapters around the U.S.  She has dedicated the last 18 years traveling in the Third World to visit and work with World Vision projects and to educate and motivate women nationally to do the same. Judy also works to raise funds for these projects as well as the inner city warehouses World Vision supports in LA, NY, Chicago, Houston and Pittsburgh.

Jim Dreyfous / Board Member

Jim Dreyfous is married to Geralyn Dreyfous and together they have served on the Christian Center  Board since its beginning in 1999. Jim co-founded and has been a General Partner of Utah Ventures (UV) Partners since 1986. He has worked with every one of UV Partners’ portfolio companies and has been a Board member of 12 of those companies. Mr. Dreyfous exemplifies the UV focus and approach: active with founders and directors; experienced in building and developing management teams; adept at accessing relationships which allow for attraction of expertise and capital at every stage of a company’s growth.

Jim’s earlier career experience was focused in commercial banking, private investments, and small business management. He was an officer of Citicorp and Bankers Trust, and was Director of Finance for a privately held oil and gas company. He holds a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.

For relaxation, Jim enjoys skiing, golf and tending to his backyard garden—which has such an abundant crop each year that he makes many people happy with the overflow of vegetables.

Bob & Annie Lewis Garda / Board Members

Bob and Annie-Lewis Garda are retired, and live in Park City, Utah, Bob is a retired director of McKinsey  & Co. where he headed their world-wide marketing practice. He is also retired from being Executive in Residence in the Marketing Department of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He continues to serve on three corporate boards as well as committees at Duke.

Annie-Lewis’ last jobs were working for the now-Senator George Voinovich—first creating and running a loaned executive and volunteer program (Project MOVE) for the City of Cleveland when he was mayor there, then leaving the City Hall staff to join his first campaign for the Senate. Additionally, while in Cleveland, she served on a bank board and seven non-profit boards, including The Cleveland Foundation and The Cleveland Orchestra. Since leaving Cleveland, she has been very happy being a Grandmother.

Thomas R. Wells / Board Member

In 2007, Tom and Donna moved to Park City, after 4 years of enjoying visits to their second home and a decade of winter travel to ski “The Best Snow on Earth”. After 30 years in Seattle it was time for a new home in a small community with year round world class outdoor recreation…Park City is it! Their life is actively engaged with traveling, gardening, golfing, biking, hiking and, of course, skiing…as well as hosting family and friends at their home to enjoy all that Park City offers.

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tom grew up in Penticton, Okanagan Valley. Subsequent to studying architecture at the University of British Columbia, he spent 15 years in the corporate construction business in Canada and USA managing a range of projects…from large industrial plants to multi-residential projects, planned residential communities and commercial projects.

In 1982 Tom left the corporate sector in Seattle to start Wells Development Corporation, succeeded by Wells Realty Advisors, LLC. Since then Wells has developed (a) residential projects (subdivisions, apartments & condos) and (b) commercial projects (general offices, medical/dental clinics, and business/industrial parks) primarily in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to its own projects, Wells was retained by property owners, investors and asset managers to conduct feasibility studies, acquisitions, rezones, asset evaluations and full turnkey development/site construction management. Tom continues to be actively involved in the business.

During the time in Seattle, Tom continued studies in real estate and business balanced with community involvement in Antioch Bible Church, Bellevue Downtown Association (director), Bellevue Community College Foundation (director), City of Bellevue CBD Advisory Planning Committee, North Seattle Boys & Girls Club (director), and various industry associations.

In 2009, Tom was the volunteer project manager for the building remodel of the 1283 Deer Valley Drive Building…now the “new” home of the Christian Center of Park City as of January 2010.

Peter & Gail Ochs / Board Members

Peter Ochs serves as Chairman of the Board with his wife Gail as Vice Chair of their personal foundation, First Fruit Inc. Peter also serves as Chairman of the Board of The Fieldstone Corporation, a residential development company with operations in California, Utah and Texas, and of the Fieldstone Foundation, Fieldstone’s charitable giving arm.

Their strong Christian principles are seen in their individual participation on numerous non-profit boards, including Prison Fellowship Ministries, The Wycliffe Seed Company, Board of Governors of United Way of America, The Gathering, Wycliffe Bible Translators US, and BEE (now Entrust). They have been members of Mariners Church in Irvine for over 30 years where Peter has served as an Elder and Gail has counseled and mentored young women and been involved in women’s ministries. She sees herself as living out God’s call as daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and servant of the Lord.

They have been married 42 years and live in Corona del Mar but spend the winters in Park City. They have four married daughters and nine grandchildren and enjoy biking, skiing and international travel.

Millie Dienert / Honorary Board Member

Millie is a dynamic conference and seminar speaker from the Philadelphia area. She is known and loved for her inspirational messages and her devotion to teaching the timeless truths of the Bible.

Her ministry has taken her around the world addressing groups as diverse as Congressional wives in Washington, D.C. and audiences in Africa, India and China. For many years, Mrs. Dienert has been a vital leader in prayer efforts for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Through her leadership, a prayer chain of more than a million Christians in 94 countries has been established.

Millie has served as International Consultant for Christian Women’s Clubs of America, as Chairwoman for Billy Graham’s Amsterdam 2000 Conference, was voted “Churchwoman of the Year”, and teaches at the Billy Graham School of Evangelism.

Millie’s late husband, Fred, was instrumental in getting the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team on the radio years ago with the “Hour of Decision” broadcast. We are honored to have Mrs. Millie Dienert as a part of the Center’s Board of Directors.

Rob Harter

Email: rob@ccofpc.org

I am very excited and humbled to serve as the new Executive Director here at the center. My wife and I are from the Denver area. I have over 17 years of ministry experience from serving in megachurches (Willow Creek in the Chicago area and Flatirons in Colorado), medium-sized churches, to starting churches from scratch. I have most recently served as a Senior Pastor for the last 5 years in Colorado. I went to Wheaton College for my B.A., received my Masters from Denver Seminary and I’m currently pursuing my doctorate at Fuller.

I absolutely love deep powder skiing, hiking 14-thousand feet mountains, devouring great books, traveling to new places and coaching my kid’s sports teams.  Most of all, I love spending quality time with my amazing wife and kids.

I look forward to continue building upon the rock-solid foundation of what the Dahlins have established, and expanding the Center’s impact even further, reaching one life at a time as we seek to meet people at their point of need as an expression of God’s love.

Terry Farrell

Email: terry@ccofpc.org

Terry Farrell came to us in 2009 and is our Executive Administrator and Business Manager. She has retired from a long career in telecommunications. Terry has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and brings expertise in the areas of office management, administration and customer service.

David Johnson

Email: david@ccofpc.org

David joined the Center staff in 2006.  He is our Operations Manager.  He oversees the building operations, facility maintenance, helps manage the support staff and assists Traci with the Thrift Shoppe. He also works extensively with the international students each fall and winter.

Traci Johnson

Email: traci@ccofpc.org

Traci has been with the Christian Center since April, 2000. She serves full-time as the Thrift Shoppe and Boutique Manager. She is married to and works with David Johnson and has 2 children: Alice and Eleora. Traci is an avid collector and enjoys finding hidden treasures at garage sales. Their house is a dynamic example of her eclectic pursuits.

Mary Reese

Email: mary@ccofpc.org

Mary joined us in August 2002 to assist in the many details of the store. A former bookstore owner and long-time bookstore operator, Mary is well versed in the needs of a discerning public.

Bernadette Rothman

Email: bernadette@ccofpc.org

Bernadette Rothman joins us as Office Administrator after several years of being a stay-at-home mom. She feels truly blessed to be part of the team at the Christian Center and seeks to honor God’s call to serve her community. Bernadette has a degree in Analytical Chemistry, but was called to ministry and has volunteered and worked with children and their families, both in the school system and as her church’s Children’s Ministry Director. Bernadette, her husband Richard, and their two daughters, Cassie and Gabrielle are originally from South Africa and became US citizens in 2008. They have lived in Park City for 13 years and love being in the mountains. Richard runs his own successful business. Cassie is attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York and Gabrielle is a senior at Park City High School, training to be a certified nurse assistant. In her spare time, Bernadette loves to write, read, take long walks and spend time with her family.

Matthew Sheets

Matthew Sheets, is 25 years old and is married to Carter (daughter of our own Carol Flippin). He was born and raised in Virginia and moved to Midway, UT in July 2011. He is a great magician and loves building and riding mountain bikes. He is working with Dave and Traci, helping with incoming donations of food and clothing.

Michel Boroff

Michel Boroff moved to Park City in 1999 and bought Bad Ass Coffee. She started Room Mate Roundup for international students working at the resorts to help them find housing. Michel is married to Jeff, a retired navy submarine captain and has three grown children, Dan, Laura Michel and Ariel.
Michel works fulltime as Concierge at the Ski Lodge and part time at the Christian Center, Park City Clothing Company and Coldwater Creek. Her family originally moved to Park City because of the sense of community their family felt during their first ski trip in 1982.

Mare Piper

Mare Piper, is our Boutique Sales Associate.  She has been married to Patrick for 10 years. They moved to Park City 4 years ago from New Jersey, originally from North Carolina. Mare has been volunteering for the last year and joined our staff because she loves the energy. Her husband loves that she comes home from work even happier than when she left.