Neighborhood Houses — a premier social services agency and mission of the United Church of Christ that has educated, enriched and empowered children and families in St. Louis City for nearly 100 years — elected Ronald L. Jackson, Reverend Jerry W. Paul, Christine Smith and Reverend Steven Westbrook to its Board of Directors. They are all first term appointees. The depth of skill, range of expertise and evidenced dedication to public service that the group of new Directors possesses is representative of Neighborhood Houses commitment to recruiting only the most devoted leaders to serve on its Board and guide the organization. The knowledge and enthusiasm of these individuals will be invaluable to Neighborhood Houses as it prepares to celebrate its centennial year in 2013.

Ronald L. Jackson has an extensive record of community involvement and nonprofit leadership experience. Mr. Jackson is the recently retired Executive Director of St. Louis for Kids, an organization that advocates for and raises awareness about the well-being of children and youth. Prior to his affiliation with St. Louis for Kids, he led efforts to fight bias, bigotry and racism, to ameliorate prejudice and to foster diversity as the Executive Director of the National Conference of Community and Justice. Mr. Jackson has served as an assistant to Senator John Danforth, held leadership positions at Washington University and volunteered on numerous nonprofit boards. He and his wife, Hattie, have three children and live in the Central West End.

Rev. Jerry W. Paul is the President Emeritus of the Deaconess Foundation, a grantmaking and partnership-building body that strives to improve the health and well-being of children from low income backgrounds in the region. A noted figure in the faith-based and nonprofit community, Rev. Paul is an ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ and has dedicated his professional life to raising awareness about community health needs while helping design, administer and fund effective solutions to issues in human services delivery. He earned his undergraduate degree from Elmhurst College, his Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary and a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Washington University School of Medicine. He is married to Nancy Paul and they reside in O’Fallon, Illinois.

Christine E. Smith, the Vice President of BioTx Pharmaceutical Sciences at Pfizer, is a dynamic individual whose keen business knowledge and perspective will greatly aid Neighborhood Houses during future planning and development. Mrs. Smith is a graduate of the University of Missouri, St. Louis and the University of Missouri, Columbia. Prior to her affiliation with Pfizer, Mrs. Smith was a Research Specialist at Monsato and a Director at Pharmacia. She and her husband, Walter, live in St. Louis, Missouri.

Rev. Steve Westbrook is a transformational leader in the United Church of Christ who directed Neighborhood Houses from 1992 until 1998. In addition to being an inspiring preacher and worship leader, he is also adept at fund development, change management, relationship building, and program, development, implementation and evaluation. As both a student of Religion at DePauw University and a student of Divinity at Eden Theological Seminary, Rev. Westbrook dedicated personal time to doing mission work with the poor domestically and internationally. He continues to organize and facilitate mission trips to this day while also providing primary staff leadership in the areas of Christian Education and Youth, Young Adult and Family Ministry as the Acting Associate Minister at First Congregational Church of St. Louis. Rev. Westbrook and his wife, Kim, reside in Affton, Missouri.

First term Director, Mark Leadlove, who is a Partner at Bryan Cave, will serve as the Chair of the Board for 2012. With Mr. Leadlove at the helm of board governance and responsibility, Neighborhood Houses will continue to provide high quality services to infants, toddlers and pre-school aged children, after school program participants and young mothers, and will remain on track toward achievement of its strategic goals.