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Our conference schedule is designed for publishers, retailers, artisans, suppliers, nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurs and other ministry professionals. CMN speakers and special guests will offer practical information and actionable inspiration to jump-start your business or ministry during tough times
DAVID BEREIT is an experienced leader, inspiring communicator, strategic advisor to high-impact nonprofits, mentor to ministry leaders, and CEO of a new tech startup that helps organizations conduct successful online events. David has become the go-to resource for nonprofits, ministries, and faith-based businesses wanting to expand their reach, impact, and results utilizing digital tools.
Previously, David founded and led the global 40 Days for Life movement through its first decade, building it into the largest grassroots pro-life initiative in the world. David is an internationally sought-after keynote speaker, and his presentations in more than 600 cities around the world have inspired audiences as large as 70,000 people. David’s work has been featured in nearly every major media outlet.
Kendra Von Esh is known for her contagious joy as she speaks of her reversion to the faith and the sacramental graces of the Catholic Church. As an executive for decades, Kendra has years of experience on global stages as a speaker, panelist, facilitator and master of ceremonies. She is an entertainer by nature. Her humorous down-to-earth style sprinkled with her raw vulnerability wins over audiences as she evangelizes and inspires them to deepen their relationship with God and the Faith.
Father Richard Heilman is a devoted pastor, passionate football fan and champion for the cause of courageous Catholicism. He is the author of six books calling men, especially, to "Special Forces Training for the Life of Christ” and is the creator of the “Combat Rosary,” which is now the Official Rosary of the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Fr. Heilman’s online teachings can be found at his website, RomanCatholicMan.com. He is the Spiritual Head of the United States Grace Force. The USGF is a “special operations force” focused on spiritual battle and intercessory prayer. Fr. Heilman is also a leader, with Cardinal Burke, of the Catholic men’s movement, “The Holy League.”
Father Chris Alar, MIC, is the Catholic Marketing Network Spiritual Advisor, providing spiritual advice, guidance, and encouragement to the leadership team of CMN. Father Chris, a former wrestler and engineer with a Master's in Business Administration, is a priest equipped with an analytic mind and a seemingly bottomless wellspring of zeal to help laypeople to become effective apostles for Christ. We are honored to bring Father Chris's wisdom and passion to the CMN membership community in person at CMN MOMENTUM Events, and online through articles in the CMN Marketplace News.
Father Chris is a priest with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Chris wrote and produced the popular ""Explaining the Faith"" dvd and is the author of the bestselling book After Suicide: There's Hope for Them and for You. He is a regular host and guest on EWTN and he also hosts the online ""Divine Mercy Matters"" series at DivineMercyMatters.org. Currently he serves as the director of the Association of Marian Helpers, and is the head of Marian Press, located on the grounds of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Will Hickl is the owner of NOVUM RECORDS - a grassroots music label forged with a passion for excellence and a heart of service, with the mission of bringing the work of talented Catholic artists to listeners around the world. Will also serves as the Youth and Young Adult Worship Leader at Prince of Peace in Plano, TX.
Karen Walker is a seasoned, award-winning journalist and an award-winning public relations professional who has also worked as Director of Marketing for multiple different companies. A partial list of publications for whom Karen has penned over 150 articles includes: the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, National Catholic Register, OSV, and the CMN trade publication. She is the Founder and Executive Editor of CATHOLIC BUSINESS JOURNAL, an online publication integrating faith, ethics and business; the Founder and Executive Producer of THE CATHOLIC BUSINESS HOUR, with Dick Lyles, that had an eight-year run airing on EWTN radio. Karen is also the Founder and Executive Producer of THE MENTORS RADIO SHOW. She graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, California, and Laval University, Quebec.
Josh Mercer works full-time as Editor of the Loop for CatholicVote. He and his wife also run the Marian Center in Petoskey, Michigan. This couple is an impressive example of how a husband and wife can serve the cause of Catholic evangelization and discipleship as a through both face-to-face and technology based experiences.
The Children's Rosary is an international prayer group movement for children. It is an effort to establish and guide Rosary prayer groups by, for, and with children in schools, parishes, and orphanages.
Hector Molina is a dynamic and much sought-after International Catholic speaker and evangelist who has proclaimed the gospel of Christ and the teachings of the Church throughout the United States and on four continents for over 30 years. Hector began his ministerial career in his home Diocese of Brooklyn & Queens where he served as a Pastoral Associate before relocating to the Archdiocese of St. Louis where he served as Director of Hispanic Ministry and later as founding Director of The Office for the New Evangelization. A former apologist for Catholic Answers, Inc. and CEO of Casting Nets Ministries, Inc., Hector continues to bring his compelling proclamation of the gospel and powerful witness of faith to the world through his digital media ministry and outreach.
Elizabeth Westhoff is Press Secretary for His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.
Known for her dedication to the Faith along with her humor and wit, Elizabeth is a strong believer that the Church should use every communications tool available in order to evangelize and share the beauty and truth of Catholicism.
The father of five, Marcellino is a world-renowned commentator on Catholic issues. His book The Guide to the Passion, answering 100 questions about Mel Gibson’s film, hit #6 on the New York Times best-sellers list with over a million copies sold. He appears frequently on a variety of Catholic TV and radio networks where he is known as “Dr. Italy.” Years of university teaching and extensive, world-wide travel provide him with a wealth of knowledge on a variety of spiritual, historical, and cultural topics. But it is his uncanny ability to make profound subjects understandable and relevant to everyday life, expressed with a down-to-earth, and humorous perspective, that makes an encounter with Dr. Italy and instructive and enjoyable delight.
Mosongo Osong is CEO of Catholic Brain, the company whose mission is to improve faith formation by designing modern tools & digital resources for catechesis. They are constantly pursuing new and improved ways, often enhanced with the use of technology, for Catholics to learn & live their faith.
“THE MENTORS” RADIO SHOW is where three remarkable, successful, and ethical CEOs, from three very different industries, unite their voices each week to interview and discuss business principles, career paths, personal experiences, challenges and decisions with other remarkable ethically-minded business leaders. This personable trio of professionals share first-hand, real-world stories, examples and discussions showcasing that ETHICS IN BUSINESS is the path to genuine success in business and life.
Emily Ricci is the owner of Gloriam Marketing, a Catholic marketing and creative agency that works with businesses, ministries, and churches as a partner in evangelization. She holds a master's degree in Theology from the Augustine Institute and combines her knowledge of marketing and communications through an evangelistic lens to serve the unique needs of today's Church.
At Cornerstone Payment Systems, Brendan works directly with hundreds of organizations on digital fundraising and ecommerce solutions, ranging from small organizations to some bringing in over $100 million a year online. He was previously at Students for Life of America for seven years, where he served as Vice President of Strategy. He is currently also working on an MBA at the University of Illinois. Most importantly, he is married to Kate and they have a newborn baby boy named Joseph.
“THE MENTORS” RADIO SHOW is where three remarkable, successful, and ethical CEOs, from three very different industries, unite their voices each week to interview and discuss business principles, career paths, personal experiences, challenges and decisions with other remarkable ethically-minded business leaders. This personable trio of professionals share first-hand, real-world stories, examples and discussions showcasing that ETHICS IN BUSINESS is the path to genuine success in business and life.
Zip rose to national fame as the witty sportscaster whose funny sports video clips delighted viewers before Youtube ever existed. Now, Zip brings his joyful passion to come alongside and act as a catalyst to help authors, film makers, and musicians make Jesus Christ more known, and more loved by more people through media.
As an entrepreneur and coach with 35 years of business experience, Janine Evanish helps develop what is good, true, and beautiful in people and organizations. Converting to Catholicism in 1992, she loves strategizing with the Holy Spirit to evangelize, especially in the marketplace.
Father James Phalan, C.S.C., is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross who served as a missionary for many years travelling the globe to help people come to Jesus through Mary as part of the Family Rosary team and now serves back home in the USA.
Mr. Luke Donahue, C.S.C., is a seminarian of the Congregation of Holy Cross from Brentwood, TN, who studied Theology and German at the University of Notre Dame. He professed his vows as a Religious of the Congregation one year ago.
Kingsley started making rosaries in 1998 in Nigeria where he worked for five years. He moved to the Nature Island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean in 2014 where his team operated a rosary production business for four years. They then moved to Barcelona in 2008 where they worked for eleven years before moving to Fatima, Portugal in 2019, establishing The Rosary City there. Kingsley's rosary adventure is inspired by a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Cathy's passion as a creative problem-solver not only fuels her work guiding marketing & communications for Catholic Marketing Network. Her creativity has now given birth to a whole new way to HERO. Her belief that "words become flesh" also inspires her work as a virtue advocate and award-winning children's author. Discover Cathy's new menagerie of animal and insect sidekicks empower children to desire heroic virtue and holiness expressed in a fresh new way...as Virtue Heroes.
Mark Forrest is a world-class tenor who was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was awarded full scholarships to study music, and educated at The Catholic University of America. Mark could allow his exceptional talent to take him world wide with Broadway touring companies. Mark chooses instead to devote his gifts to his family, and to his life's work sharing his music through The Faith and Family Foundation.
Eric Genius is a gifted composer and musician whose goal is to be able to play in as many prisons, rehab centers, and inner city schools as possible. He longs to give hope and to present tools to help those who desperately need a path beyond prison culture. In 2020, he will have performed his 1000th prison show. Eric works to illumine the hearts of those who see prison as a way of life with the hope for a brighter future.
Believing deeply in the power of beauty to evangelize culture, Jimmy’s gifts of storytelling and piano-playing bring him to every corner of the world. He’s the founder of Love Good, a subscription company that inspires everyday consumers to raise their standard for music, books, and art. You can join him on the front lines of building a better culture by subscribing as a Love Good patron today at http://joinlovegood.com.
Fr. Frank Pavone is one of the world’s most prominent pro-life leaders. His life and ministry are dedicated full time to ending abortion, as National Director of Priests for Life and worldwide pastoral director of Rachel’s Vineyard and Silent No More. He has been an official at the Vatican and serves as National Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of “Pro-life Voices for Trump”.
As an Emmy Award-winning creative, Ryan Scott Bomberger knows how to communicate with people cross-culturally and cross-generationally. His personal story of adoption in which his life was conceived in rape–but adopted in love–is a tremendous example of beautiful possibility. Ryan has a unique way of addressing diverse topics with raw emotion, insight and humor. Ryan fearlessly speaks about creating opportunities for people to experience freedom: as he addresses abortion, adoption, Planned Parenthood, poverty, family, fatherlessness, racism, and free speech. Ryan is the author of the creative and bold book, Not Equal: Civil Rights Gone Wrong. Whether he’s talking about current events or leading workshops on creativity and messaging, Ryan has been praised by leaders and students across the country as a “powerful communicator” who is “super funny” and “loved by everyone, young and old.”
Josh Mercer currently works full-time as Communications Director and Editor of the Loop for the CatholicVote political advocacy organization. He has worked as Washington Correspondent for National Catholic Register and Correspondent for Faith and Family Magazine. He is a board member of Students for Life of America. Joshua Graduated from Hillsdale College and is a devoted husband and father.
Terry Beatley is a powerful and prolific pro-life voice. Her book What If We’ve Been Wrong? was released in 2016 and she is pursuing plans for a feature film with content from the book and more, about pro-abortion architect, Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s conversion and life story. She has been a contributing writer for The Washington Time’s “Power of Prayer” supplement and guest oped, WND, Fairfax Free Citizen and The Free Lance Star. Her radio and podcast interviews include In the Market with Janet Parshall, Relevant Radio’s “A Closer Look with Shelia Liaugminas” and the “Drew Mariani Show,” America Outloud’s “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Pleasure,” WND, Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch”, EWTN’s Pro-Life Weekly with Catherine Szeltner, Steve Deace Show, Rob Schilling Show, Radio Maria, Culture Shock Radio. Terry has been interviewed for articles in The Washington Post, The Catholic Herald newspaper, World Magazine, and Virginia Right. A former investment broker of 14 years and a retired homeschool mother of two daughters, Terry has been married for 32 years to Kenny Beatley.