Wendy McCaig

Advisory Circle Member - Executive Director

Wendy McCaig is the founder and Executive Director of Embrace. In 2009, Wendy was trained in Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and in 2021 was invited to become a steward (faculty) for the ABCD Institute.  She is also the author of From the Sanctuary to the Streets and Power Shift: A Field Guide for Community Cultivators Everywhere which serves as the core curriculum for our network's ABCD training. 

She has spent the past thirty years cultivating strong communities - initially within faith communities, then across Metro Richmond, and now through a global network.  Since 2012, Wendy has been coaching and training institutions in how to strengthen communities from the inside out using ABCD. As a coach and a trainer in ABCD, Wendy has gained experience working a variety of stakeholders including community leaders, congregations, non-profits and governmental agencies. 

Wendy holds a Master’s degree in Divinity from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and a Bachelor's in Accounting from Texas A&M University. Wendy started her career as an auditor, initially with Ernst and Young before finding her way into leadership in the local church where she served for more than twenty years. 

Cheryl Groce-Wright

Advisory Circle Member (training and support)

Cheryl has joined the Embrace team as a member of our Advisory Circle helping to develop a network of support for community builders who are working to strengthen communities from the inside out. She is the founder and CEO of Kaleidoscope Collaborative RVA, a Richmond-based consulting firm serving as a proactive and effective relationship steward and champion for racial equity, empowered communities and inspired citizens. Cheryl Groce-Wright is a seasoned non-profit executive with a career spanning over thirty-five years in education, program management and community development. She has held positions in nonprofit management, youth programming and development, fund-raising and fund development, academic and social science research, substance abuse and family counseling, and college student development.  Cheryl was the 2015 Pat Asch Fellowship for Social Justice Recipient awarded by the YWCA and used the fellowship to delve more deeply into the area of Asset-Based Community Development and brought that knowledge and experience back to Richmond VA to continue working toward community change that involves community residents in every aspect of community development work. 

John Maher

Advisory Circle Member - President

John Maher is a retired Episcopal Priest. John serves as a member of our Advisory Circle and and President of our Network Mission Circle.  John has been serving with Embrace for more than a decade and practiced ABCD while he served as the Vicar for St. Francis Episcopal Church .  John retired from the Diocese of Arizona in 2012 after serving as the Vicar of Prince of Peace Episcopal Church.  Before accepting the call there, he served as Rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Elverson, PA.  Following his retirement, John became involved as a part-time Vicar at St. Judes Episcopal Church in Phoenix, AZ.  John received his Master of Divinity from General Theological Seminary in 1979 and his Doctorate of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1992.  

Susan Custer

Advisory Circle Member

As an occupational therapist, Susan has over twenty-four years experience encompassing home health care, hospital and outpatient settings, nursing home, rehabilitation, and school system settings, dealing with a wide spectrum of disabilities.  Susan has a broad background in public relations gained from extensive patient interactions, and liaison activities involving physicians, nursing/hospital staff and patient families.

Susan served as Mission Chair for Woodlake UMC (1997-2003), Assistant Chair of Missions (2012-2013) as Church Council Chair (2004-07), Lay Leader at Woodlake 2008-16; Lay Leader of Three Notch'd District 2019-2022,  Associate Lay Leader, 2023 to present. PACE Board, 2024.  During her time as the Mission Chair at Woodlake UMC, Susan engaged the church in CARITAS, led international mission trips, North American missions trips, and local mission engagement. 

Katie Gooch

Advisory Circle Member - Treasurer

Katie Gooch is the Executive Director of the Pace Center where she utilizes ABCD to strengthen community among university students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Katie advises our network in the area of youth and young adult development, is a member of our Faith-rooted Workgroup and serves are our network Treasurer.  Katie is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and has a passion for setting the stage for relationships and community to thrive. Prior to Pace, Katie B. served as the Executive Pastor of Reveille United Methodist Church. During seminary, she served as a hospital chaplain at Duke University and as a pastor in both Durham and Mamers, North Carolina. In an earlier life, Katie B. was a communications consultant in Washington D.C. and a Division I field hockey player. 

Bruce Wilson

Advisory Circle Member - Vice President

Bruce Wilson is the Executive Director of Coastal Bend Community Empowerment (CBCE).  Bruce is advising our network in the area of health and wellness and serves as the Vice President of our Network Mission Circle. Bruce is a retired Episcopal Priest and was first introduced to ABCD in 2017.   He is a member of the Texas ABCD Regional Network and is active in many other network sponsored groups. Through CBCE, Bruce has been engaged in community organizing and development in neighborhoods across Corpus Christi, TX as well as among those experiencing “among those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. 

Stephanie Toney

Advisory Circle Member (Health & Wellness)

Stephanie Toney is the Founder and Visionary of CHW Strength where she trains and coaches Community Health Workers (CHWs) from across the globe.  Stephanie advises our network in the areas of health and wellness. Stephanie was first introduced to ABCD while working for the Richmond Henrico Health District and has been connected to our network in various ways since 2009. Stephanie has 23 years experience as a nurse and 13 years experience working in public health. Stephanie aims to strengthen the CHW workforce through CHW Strength & CHW Strength Foundation. 

Suzanne Bonefas

Advisory Circle Member - Secretary

Suzanne Bonefas is the secretary and treasurer of ARC, the Association for Regenerative Culture.  Suzanne is advising our network in the area of regenerative culture and also serves as the secretary for our network mission circle. After many years in the higher education sector and nonprofit board leadership, Suzanne Bonefas (PhD) returned to her hometown of Houston, TX, where she completed her PDC and co-founded the Southeast Texas Permaculture Network. Her passion is social permaculture (particularly in urban environments) and how permaculture principles and frameworks apply to community organization and networking. She works as an education and nonprofit consultant and yoga instructor.

Heather Keam

Advisory Circle Member (Training & Support)

Heather Keam is the Consulting Director of Asset-Based Community Development with the Tamarack Institute and a steward of the ABCD Institute.  Heather is advising our network in the area of training and support for current and emerging ABCD practitioners. Heather leads ABCD strategies at Tamarack with 22 years of community community development work.  She's a lifelong learner, volunteer, and advocate for community belonging.

Torrie Patterson

Advisory Circle Member (Youth & YA Development)

Torrie Patterson is the Executive Director of We Understand Youth.  Torrie is advising our network in the area of youth and young adult development.  Torrie has served as a probation and parole officer for Prince Edward County Department of Juvenile Justice for more than a decade. She is talented singer, performer and recording artist.  She believes that by nurturing creative expression gifts in youth and young adults we can bring about healing in the lives of youth and in our communities. 

April Doner

Advisory Circle Member (Network Weaving)

April Doner is the steward for the ABCD Institute and is advising our network in the area of network weaving and storytelling.  April is a community-builder, storyteller, artist and connector who blends ground-level practices of asset-based community-driven development with writing, photography/video, teaching, and network-building. She has provided trainings, coaching and consulting to a variety of organizations, and most recently served as Project Director of the ABCD Coaching Team for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)’ national 5-year Community Catalyst Initiative. April is passionate about cultivating equity, justice, and healing by centering the efforts, gifts, and voices of people who are most often marginalized. She has long felt that neighborhoods and cultivating hyper-local collective action and relationship-building among neighbors are key to preserving democracy as well as individual well-being. 

Corey Turnpenny

Advisory Circle Member (Regenerative Culture)

Corey Turnpenny is the pastor of the Church of the Wild.  Corey is advising our circle in the area of regenerative culture and is a member of the United Methodist of Upper New York ABCD Network. She is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and in 2019, Corey started an alternative church for those who, like her, feel closest to the Divine in nature. Corey also coaches and trains others in the wild church movement.

Jacob Dolence

Advisory Circle Member (Network Weaving)

Jacob Dolence is a Co-Founder of the SEED Innovation Hub. Jacob is advising our network in the area of network weaving and is a member of the Heart of Virginia ABCD Network. He is an entrepreneurship educator and community developer who believes in the power of people to co-create sustainable and just communities. Jacob serves as Faculty for the Longwood University Honors Collage, Consultant for the Longwood Small Business Development Center, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder for the RISE Collaborative.

Kristen McCaig

Digital StoryTelling Specialist

Kristen McCaig is a long time member of the Embrace Communities team and supports the network through her gifts as a digital storyteller as well as her assistance with print stories and curriculum development. 

Jim Allen

Board Emeritus

Jim is our first Board Emeritus. Jim has served Embrace for over a decade! He was with us in the early days as we hauled furniture up and down those steps at what used to be Highland Park United Methodist Church.  Jim set up our accounting system and co-authored our bylaws during his term as our Board Treasurer, serving for over 10 years. He and his wife became our first monthly donors and are now our longest running financial supporters. While all of these gifts made a lasting mark on our organization, it is Jim’s patient presence that created a lasting impact on Embrace.