GPA Board & Committees

Officers/Executive Committee
Dan Balow, Chair
Sonia Weston, Vice Chair
John Eames, President & CEO

John DePree, Secretary
Mark Kuyper, Treasurer and CFO


Board of Directors


Dan Balow, Associate Publisher, Oasis Audio
Dan has served three years as Executive Director of Tyndale's international publishing division. In addition to his role with GPA, he is also on the board of Oasis International, a company publishing books and Bibles in English speaking sub-Sahara Africa and a seminar leader at the Litt-World conference in Sao-Paulo, Brazil to be held in November 2006.

John DePree, President and CEO, Bethany Press International

The son of missionaries to Brazil, John has worked with Bethany Press since 1988 and has served as President/CEO since 2002.  John teaches missional business, oversees a Christian product retail/distribution chain in Mexico and a publishing services division in India, and he is actively involved in mentoring emerging leaders to create new business models in the global marketplace.

John Eames, President and CEO, Global Publishers Alliance, Inc.
John's company is involved with literary representation and publishing consulting. He played a major role in the establishment of a publishing entity in Moscow and has been involved in publishing initiatives in China, South Korea and other countries.

Kelly Gallagher, General Manager, Business Intelligence, RR Bowker LLC

As the General Manager of the Business Intelligence unit at RR Bowker, Kelly manages the implementation of several  business intelligence products, including sales data reporting tools in the Christian publishing market.  Previously he worked for ECPA as the Vice President of Business Development for six years and for Beacon Hill Press as Publisher for four years.  Kelly currently serves as the Research Chair for the Book Industry Study Group.

Rolf Garborg, Marketing & Sales Consultant, Garborg and Associates
In 40 years, Rolf has visited 83 countries on six continents for purposes of selling, training, and establishing channels for the distribution of Christian literature.

Tina Jacobson, President and CEO, The B & B Media Group, Inc.

In the twenty years since she founded this full-service public relations firm, Tina has represented some of the most recognized names in Christian publishing and established strong relationships with both Christian and general publishers. Through her work and travels, Tina has become a passionate independent advocate for the orphans and oppressed Christians of India.

Steve Johnson, Global Publisher, IBS-STL

Steve Johnson currently serves as the Global Publisher for the newly merged IBS-STL.  His responsibilities include the oversight of the global translation ministry, the publishing and distribution of Bibles and Scriptures for worldwide ministry, and the publication of trade books and other products for retail and direct-to-consumer distribution.  Johnson joined IBS-STL (formerly International Bible Society) in 1996, and has served in a number of roles including Vice President of Development and Group Vice President of the Americas.  Prior to serving with IBS-STL, Johnson served with Compassion International for 10 years.

Mark Kuyper, President and CEO, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
Mark Kuyper is the President and CEO of ECPA. He has over 20 years of experience in the Christian resources industry. Previously he served as the VP of Business Development and Marketing for CBA (the trade association for Christian retailers) and Sales Director for NavPress, as well as manager for Family Christian Stores.  He currently serves on the board of the Book Industry Study Group.

Dean Merrill, Free-Lance Writer/Editor
Dean is a veteran of Christian publishing for more than 38 years. He was Vice President of International Publishing at the International Bible Society where he oversaw start-up publishing in places as varied as Ethiopia, Sri-Lanka, the Philippines, and Brazil.

Bill Oechsler, Executive Vice President, Zondervan

Bill Oechsler is the executive vice president of marketing at Zondervan, where he oversees all marketing efforts spanning the company's Bible, book, children's and new media groups. Prior to joining Zondervan,
Oechsler served as president and chief strategic officer of Hanon McKendry/The Brand Consultants, and at Leo Burnett USA, then America's largest advertising agency.  He has served on three nonprofit boards,
Life International, Catholic Human Development Outreach, and Orphan Justice Mission as well as the board of Grotenhuis, a Michigan-based managing agent for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Cindy Riggins, Owner, Riggins International Rights Services
Cindy provides global rights sales, and management / consulting services to U.S. Christian publishers for management of proprietary property from a legal, financial and ministry perspective. She has 13 years experience working with the international licensing community; 10 of those years at Thomas Nelson. Cindy was a founding member of the ECPA International Rights Managers Association. She also co-authored the ECPA International Rights Guide, an educational booklet for foreign publishers seeking rights arrangements with U.S. Christian Publishers.

Tod Shuttleworth,  Sr. Vice President, Specialty Product, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Tod worked for RR Donnelley for 15 years in sales and manufacturing in Crawfordsville, Chicago, Nashville, Santiago and São Paulo. In 1994, he started an export business for Donnelley in Santiago, Chile. Tod’s family then moved to Brazil, and through acquisition and plant expansions built the largest book manufacturing platform in Latin America. He has been with Thomas Nelson for three years. He has started operations for Nelson in Brazil and China, and is also responsible for the Spanish, Gift, Children and Entertainment divisions. Tod graduated from Purdue in 1987, has an MBA from Vanderbilt, and is fluent in Portuguese and conversant in Spanish.


Keith Stonehocker, Executive Vice President, Research & Development, Christianity Today, International
In his 30 years at CTI, Keith has directed circulation development, new product research and development, Internet development, strategic alliances, and international partnerships.

Sonia Weston, Marketing & Publishing Consulting
Sonia served for 15 years with Cook Communications Ministries in training and consulting with publishing ministries in India, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.