About Us

catalyst team

brad lomenick

Brad Lomenick leads the Catalyst team, and although his official title is executive director of Catalyst, he’s really more like the Hannibal of the Catalyst A-Team. He was once struck by lightning while installing a barbed wire fence in Colorado, and fortunately for us, he survived with supernatural powers that make him supremely attuned to the needs and desires of next generation leaders. Before leading the charge on Catalyst, he helped lead a cool magazine called Life@Work and did consulting with lots of companies. He really enjoys convening and networking with leaders, and for several years after college, he rode horses for a living in Colorado. His favorite road trip snack is diet coke, wheat thins, and original corn-nuts. Brad considers it his personal mission to ensure that everyone everywhere understands the greatness of a Joey burrito from Moe’s. And he hopes maybe someday he can be a professional golfer.






melissa kruse

Melissa Kruse joined the Catalyst team as an intern shortly after graduating from Stetson University. Just to show how far your dreams can take you in life, she now serves on the team as the Quarterback of All Things Catalyst. She makes a wicked good cake and will absolutely be on some kind of Food Network Cake Challenge one day. Everyone who knows her loves her, and not just because of the cake thing. She also has a slight addiction to coffee. And by “slight,” we mean severe.






chad johnson

Chad Johnson is a Catalyst veteran, having served on the team for over five years, most recently as the head Concierge and leader of the sales team. He has an infectious personality, a funny little habit of twisting his hair, a really sweet and patient girlfriend named Kim, and a nice mom. Chad holds the record for wearing a different Catalyst t-shirt every day for consecutive days (21 days, if you’re interested in challenging him). He loves everything sports and is known as the company athletic director.






dwayne melton

Dwayne Melton serves on the team as a Catalyst Concierge, a fitting role for a guy who loves both Catalyst and concierge-ing. He is a sports fanatic and openly, freely admits his addiction to ESPN. Growing up, Dwayne wanted to be a pro baseball player – he loves the game and couldn’t think of anything better than having Camden Yards as his office. Instead of baseball, Dwayne traded up to the Catalyst team and loves being part of a movement that has such an incredible impact on people’s lives. Dwayne and his wife Becky have a beautiful 3-year-old daughter named Norah.






LV hanson

LV Hanson’s name really is LV, with no periods. It’s not an abbreviation – his name is LV, and he has a brother named DR. He technically has an office on the Catalyst sales team, even though a lot of the time he’s set up in a 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon, fully wrapped with Catalyst insignia. Towering above the rest of the team at 6’ 5”, he’s a former professional volleyball player who was once mentioned on The Price Is Right by his roommate, who made it on stage with Bob Barker.






beth nelson

Beth Nelson loves things that are shiny and colorful, and thus serves as the chick in charge of Catalyst marketing. She is also the editor of the Catalyst GroupZine, having an unnatural affection for good grammar and punctuation usage. Beth is currently saving up to book her spot on the first commercial flight to the moon, having always wanted to be an astronaut (yes, when she was 8, but also at 29). She is married to her best buddy, Mike Nelson, and besides their living room, there’s nowhere on earth they’d rather be than Italy.






jesse phillips

Jesse Phillips is the Catalyst Special Projects Ninja and editor of Catalyst Monthly. He loves graphic design, scavenger hunts, and creative innovation. He’s a church practice nut, and he’s always reading the latest book, magazine, or blog. Jesse’s greatest desire is to see the Body of Christ effectively loving outsiders and building itself up in love “by what every joint supplieth.”






windy thompson

Windy Thompson is hands-down the best dancer on the Catalyst team. She’s done choreography for several different stage productions, and she has tried and tried to help her co-workers get a groove on, but with only marginal results (our fault, not hers – see her work on the Road Trip Blog in the Catalyst Office Fun video around minute 9:10). Windy serves on the team as the Girl Who Gets Stuff Done, because she can make just about any project happen. Her guilty pleasure is cinnamon swirl cheesecake, and she’s an unofficial member of the Junky Car Club.






extended catalyst family

Ken Coleman

Ken Coleman has been a member of the Catalyst team since 2003 and is the host of the Catalyst podcast as well as the creator and host of the Catalyst Red Carpet experience. In 2005, Ken left his full time role with INJOY to pursue his passion for broadcasting. His quick wit combined with a knowledgeable and comfortable style have earned him high praise and served him well in a variety of hosting roles. Ken has recently interviewed Hall of Fame Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski; Herman Boone, the inspiration for the film Remember the Titans; and several best-selling authors including Malcolm Gladwell, Marcus Buckingham, John Maxwell, Dave Ramsey, Kevin Carroll, and Tim Sanders.





Jeff Shinabarger

Jeff Shinabarger is the co-founder of Fermi Project and has served as experience designer for all initiatives the past three years. He is gifted at creatively communicating the needs of the poor to the greater culture and is actively launching campaigns for International Justice Mission, Hope International, Rwanda Clean Water, Suffered Enough, Gift Card Giver, International Mission Board, and Mission Year. Prior to Fermi Project, Jeff spent three years as Brand Manager and Product Developer for Catalyst. Jeff is actively restoring East Atlanta Village with his wife, Andre, and boxer, Max.





Reggie Joiner

Reggie Joiner is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of The reThink Group (formerly known as FamilyWise), a non-profit organization providing resources to help parents and children rediscover family time. The reThink Group provides curriculum for preschool, children, families, and students over the Internet to churches throughout the US and 8 other countries.

Reggie is also one of the founders of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. In his role as Executive Director of Family Ministry, Reggie developed a new concept of relevant ministry for preschool, children, students and married adults over the course of his ten years with the church. Additionally, during his time with North Point Ministries, Reggie created KidStuf, a weekly environment where kids bring their parents to learn about God, as well as Grow Up, an international conference to encourage and equip churches to create relevant, effective environments for children, families and teenagers.

Reggie is the coauthor of The 7 Practices of Effective Ministries along with Lane Jones and Andy Stanley. He and his wife, Debbie, live in Cumming, Georgia, and have four grown children: Reggie Paul, Hannah, Sarah, and Rebekah.





Lanny Donoho

President and Creative Director of BigStuf Productions, formerly Youth Ministry Resources, Lanny has been working with kids, producing events, and creating environments for ministry for … seems like 43 years, but probably more like since 1975.

He’s the brain behind the BigStuf Camps and has been the emcee/host guy for those events, as well as Atlanta Fest, DCLA, CHIC, Catalyst Conference, Orange Conference, his kid’s birthday parties, and KidStuf at North Point Community Church. He does some creative consulting for a bunch of Christian and secular organizations and his mom is really proud of him.

Most recently, Lanny founded the 410 Bridge. This non-profit organization is focused on partnering churches in America with churches in Kenya to help meet the specific needs of Kenyans. Since visiting Kenya in 2005, Lanny has had a passion to use the resources on this side of the world to help and equip people on the other side of the world.

He wrote this bio himself, and wondered why he typed it all in third person. He also figures that all the stuff in the paragraph really doesn’t mean a whole lot, but that his relationship with God does.

He and his talented and creative wife, Peggy, live in Alpharetta, Georgia, and are presently enjoying the challenge of raising their three sons: Landon, Andrew, and Evan.





Kevin Sterner

Kevin Sterner is passionate about storytelling and it’s ability to persuade, impact and “open the eyes” of the human heart. His company Brandpoet™ helps ministry organizations, non-profits, best-selling authors and Fortune 500 clients craft and tell remarkable stories that differentiate them in their marketplace. Kevin has lead the creative marketing and graphic design efforts behind Catalyst for the past 7 years. When he is not oozing some sort of creative brilliance, you’ll likely find him traveling with his wife and four kids, enjoying “kayak therapy”, continuing his self-sponsored tour of the world’s great steakhouses, or laboring to write a bio in the third person.