2027 SPEAKERS
Dr. Uli Chi’s career is a testament to his unique approach to leadership. He has navigated the realms of for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, the theological academy, and the local church, gleaning a wealth of wisdom from each. As an award-winning technological entrepreneur, he founded a software company that developed 3-D virtual reality software, revolutionizing decision-making for consumers and businesses. His insight and experience are in high demand, with senior executives seeking his advice and multiple non-profits benefiting from his board service.
Currently, Uli holds key leadership positions in several prominent institutions. He is the board chair of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health System in the Pacific Northwest. He also lends his governance expertise to the Benaroya Research Institute and the Virginia Mason Institute, both in Seattle. Previously, he chaired the Board of Governors at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, and was vice chair at the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.
ULI CHI Entrepreneur, Author, + Professor
Daniel and Megan Tavani are professional musicians based in Boston, MA. Their diverse musical interests and service in worship ministry naturally brought them together while completing their cello performance studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. After school (and a couple of years of Daniel working in campus ministry), they got married and moved to Boston in 2019, sensing God’s call to pursue other avenues of music-making. Daniel went on to complete a second degree in Music Production & Engineering at the Berklee College of Music, and Megan received her Master of Music at the Boston Conservatory. Together they write, record, and perform as the indie-folk band davy, weaving their classical background with indie-folk & alt-pop idioms to depict stories of life, grief, faith, and love. Megan and Daniel also direct the music at Church of the Cross, an Anglican church near Fenway Park with a vibrant arts ministry. As a duo and independently, they have enjoyed collaborating and touring with artists including Jon Guerra, Sandra McCracken, Josh Garrels, the Porter’s Gate, and Owl City.
DAVY
JOANN FLETT Executive Director
Dr. JoAnn Flett is the Executive Director of the Center for Faithful Business at Seattle Pacific University, advancing thought leadership on the integration of faith in business and society. A three-time Fulbright award recipient, she co-founded the Entrepreneurship Hub in Trinidad, serving over 2,000 entrepreneurs. Her previous non-profit board service includes the Accord Network, Broad Street Ministry, Capital for Good, and Everence Financial - Philadelphia. She currently serves on the board of advisors for World Relief and has been a faculty contributor to the Leading with Character course at Oxford University, U.K. JoAnn worked with M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust on developing leadership capacity among nonprofit executives and the advised the Academy of Management on a project to build scholarly capital for periphery scholars in the Caribbean.
Haejin Shim Fujimura is a creative strategist, futurist, and justice advocate with two decades of legal experience, board governance, and organizational leadership. She serves as outside General Counsel and legal strategist to a range of nonprofit organizations and mission-driven companies—from startups to publicly traded corporations—while leading a global team of 35 staff and multiple partner organizations to solve one of the greatest challenges of our world today.
Haejin has litigated a wide range of civil matters in both federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey. Drawing from a proven track record of resolving hundreds of disputes, she now equips leaders with resilient governance frameworks and operational clarity—helping organizations shift from reactive dysfunction to proactive, sustainable growth.
In addition to her legal work, Haejin is the CEO and co-founder of Embers International, a global NGO working to protect, restore, and empower victims of injustice to break cycles of intergenerational exploitation and prevent human trafficking.
Haejin is the co-author of Beauty x Justice: Creating a Life of Abundance and Courage (Brazos Press, 2026) and the creator of the Estuary, an innovative and imaginative ecosystem where law, art, advocacy, and business converge to generatively transform culture.
HAEJIN SHIM FUJIMURA Lawyer, CEO, + Author
MAKOTO FUJIMURA Contemporary Artist + Author
Makoto Fujimura is a leading contemporary artist whose work has been featured in galleries and museums around the world, including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library, the Tikotin Museum, Belvedere Museum, C3M North Bund Art Museum, Pola Museum, and the ALIEN Art Centre Museum. His process-driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of The New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time.”
Fujimura is the author of five books: Art Is: A Journey Into the Light (Yale University Press, 2025), Art+Faith: A Theology of Making, Silence and Beauty, Refractions, and Culture Care, and the co-author of Beauty x Justice: Creating a Life of Abundance and Courage (Brazos Press, 2026). He is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2023 Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life and the American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Religion and the Arts award. From 2003 to 2009, he served as a Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts. He is a celebrated speaker and advocate for the arts. Fujimura has received five Honorary Doctor of Arts degrees.
Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent some years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age seven with his family. He is the author of several books, including Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story), winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Middle Eastern Book Award, The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams, winner of the Newbery Honor, and The Teacher of Nomad Land, winner of the Newbery Honor and the National Book Award. He lives in the U.S. with his wife and son.
DANIEL NAYERI Author
Dr. O. Alan Noble is Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, a fellow at the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, and author of four books, including: To Live Well: Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times. Dr. Noble has published articles at The Atlantic, The Gospel Coalition, First Things, and Christianity Today. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and three children.
ALAN NOBLE Professor + Author
Rev. Dr. Donald D. Opitz got his start in campus ministry with the CCO, and now at the other end of his career in higher education he is the chaplain and senior director of Christian formation at Grove City College. Most of his work during the between years has given attention to Christianity and culture, with attention to social theory, leadership studies, higher education, and the various challenges of the integration of faith and learning.
DON OPITZ Professor + Campus Pastor
Dan is animated by the power of generous, risk-forward capital to transform culture. At Praxis, Dan helps cultivate a community of funders, builders, creatives, and thinkers committed to activating their talent, expertise, and capital towards redemptive aims.
From causes ranging from public education to free enterprise to animal health, Dan previously served at National Right Work Committee, Denver Public Schools Foundation, and Morris Animal Foundation. In 2015, Dan founded Seed, a training and coaching company designed to help social entrepreneurs design and fundraise for scale. He loves the work of building new things and the people that put their hands to the task.
Dan lives in the small town of Beaver, PA, with his wife, two kids, and dog (Norma the Newfie).
DAN REED Partner, Praxis Capital
Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt is Professor of Art and Art History at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Her research and teaching focus on representations of race and gender, material culture, and the role of art in spiritual formation. In addition to her scholarly writing, she is author of two books: the award-winning Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art (Baker Academic 2023) and Look Like a Lady: Five Visual Tropes of Womanhood and How to See Ourselves Differently (Brazos 2026). Dr. Weichbrodt lives with her husband and two sons in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they enjoy hiking the Cumberland Plateau, biking along the river, and hosting big parties with good food.