CONCORD CHRISTIAN ACADEMY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Interim Head of School & Academic Dean
- Interim Head of School, Dean of Academics
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Consultant
- Finance Director
- CFE
Ben Hiers lives in Bedford, NH with his wife Jill, his three children, Emily, Joshua, and Ezra, and their yellow lab, Lily. A graduate of CCA in 1995, he went on to be Valedictorian of Babson College in 1999 and later completed his Master's Degree (Summa Cum Laude) at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. Ben is thankful for being able to attend Christian schools growing up, and is grateful his children now have the opportunity to attend CCA.
Ben is the President of a regional financial planning firm, supporting a network of financial advisors throughout New England. He and his family are actively involved in Shiloh Community Church, where Ben is an elder. The family serves together in their food ministry, hosts a small group, and teaches in the children's ministry. Ben enjoys basketball (both playing and watching), grilling and smoking meats, and all things technology.
Caleb Kirby has advised clients on financial planning and insurance strategies for nearly twenty years. A Certified Financial PlannerTM practitioner, Caleb works with individuals, families and business owners to learn their current financial situation, understand their financial goals and needs, and create a comprehensive plan that helps them work towards the financial freedom they deserve.
Caleb and his wife Karena have four children: Noah, Chloe, Isaac, and Jordan. They live in Hopkinton, NH and attend church at Centerpoint Church in Concord. In his free time, Caleb enjoys watching Patriots football, boating on Squam Lake, and skiing around New Hampshire's mountains.
Job Titles:
- Vice - Chair
- President and CEO of Granite Edvance
Christiana Thornton is President and CEO of Granite Edvance, a nonprofit whose mission is to support New Hampshire students and families in navigating their education and career pathways.
Christiana serves as a Trustee for the University System of New Hampshire and as Vice Chair of New Hampshire's College Tuition Savings Plan Advisory Commission. She serves as a Director for the Business & Industry Association, New Hampshire's statewide chamber of commerce; as Chair of the Founding Advisory Board of the Ethics in Government Forum at St. Anselm College; and as a Director of NH Mutual Bancorp, a mutual bank holding company. In this capacity, she also serves as a Director for Merrimack County Savings Bank and NH Trust Company.
Christiana is Past Chair of the National Council of Higher Education Resources (NCHER) board of directors and Past President of the New Hampshire Bankers Association, a nonprofit trade association representing all FDIC insured banking institutions in the state. During that time, she served in several national appointed positions for both the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America. She formerly served on the New England Community Development Advisory Council (CDAC) for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Prior to joining NH Bankers, she served for six years as a staff member for former United States Senator John E. Sununu, both in New Hampshire and in Washington, D.C. She worked as a Legislative Aide focusing on education, labor, banking and housing policy issues.
Christiana graduated from Rollins College with a BA in Political Science. She lives in Pembroke with her husband and two children.
Craig lives in Chichester, NH with his wife Kelly and three children; McGregor, Abigail and Annabelle. All three children have attended CCA since Pre-K. As a strong supporter of Christian education, Craig was a charter member of Cornerstone Christian School in Manchester, CT. He graduated from Eastern Nazarene College, located in Quincy, MA with a BS in Physical Education. He taught physical education at Cornerstone Christian School before returning to ENC to join the men's basketball coaching staff. Since joining the CCA community over 9 years ago, Craig has been actively involved in coaching baseball, basketball, and boys' varsity soccer.
Craig is a lifelong member of the Nazarene Church. He and his family now attend One Church in Bedford, NH. He serves on the New Hampshire Fellowship of Christian Athlete's board of directors and holds weekly huddles at CCA.
While Craig likes to consider himself a farmer, he has been working in the insurance industry over the past 25 years and currently operates Anthony Adjusting, an independent adjustment company, which provides property and casualty adjustment services in NH and MA.
Derek Depelteau has spent the last 20+ years as an executive global leader in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industry where he has been honored to lead several large groups of diverse individuals internationally. Derek's efforts have been focused in driving the development of new drug therapies across a number of therapeutic areas including Ophthalmology, Cardio-metabolic Diseases, General Medicine, Rare Disease and Oncology. He currently holds the position of Executive Director of Oncology Drug Development with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. In this role, he is responsible for all strategic planning, program management, and execution of clinical drug research. Derek is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, ME and holds a degree in Biochemistry and Pre-Medical Studies. Derek aspires to employ these skill sets to support CCA's Christ-centered mission and its continued growth and direction.
Derek lives in Concord, NH with his wife Sarah and their two young children, Isaak and Faith. Both have been blessed to attend CCA since 2021. They are members of Tower Hill Church in Auburn, NH. In his free time, Derek enjoys spending time with his family, weight training, and paddle boarding on Newfound Lake.
Job Titles:
- Director of Fine Arts / Teacher / Writer
Doug has a deep belief that every person deserves the opportunity to breakthrough to become their best selves. He is an adviser to civic leaders, senior executives & entrepreneurs seeking a trusted advocate who helps them realize their maximum impact.
Professionally, Doug is a managing partner at Accelarise, a strategic consulting firm that comes alongside leaders to build for both profit and purpose. Doug has led executives & their teams at Google, Goldman Sachs, BNYMellon, LinkedIn & Siemens and dozens of other well known companies. Prior to that, Doug was COO of Own The Room, building and leading a global team responsible for exponential growth during the Covid years, by providing custom coaching, learning and development solutions at scale for F100 clients all over the world. He is a world class speaker & facilitator on topics like Executive Presence, Communications, Courageous Conversations, & Leadership.
Doug is also a Pastor, having led and planted churches for 15 years, prior to his marketplace work. Today, he and his family call Crossway Christian Church their home, where he and his wife both serve actively. Doug has also launched a non-profit with other local friends called Evergreen, which invests in the next generation of pastors and ministry leaders through an intentional cohort built around spiritual formation, spiritual friendship and kingdom leadership. He holds his masters from Fuller Theological Seminary and his undergraduate degree from Grove City College. He is a member of the AMC 4K Footer Club & lives with his wife Amy Gagnon Melder (CCA class of 1998) and four boys (Koen, Tavin, Penn and Jansen) in Bedford.
Job Titles:
- EL Spanish Teacher, 4th Grade Aide
Job Titles:
- Music Teacher, 4th Grade Aide
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Registrar
John McGrath III lives in Hampstead, NH with his wife Bonnie. They have 3 children, Rebecca Maggiano, 24, John McGrath IV, 23, and Grace McGrath, 15. Grace has attended CCA the past 3 years.
John and Bonnie have attended Manchester Christian Church for the past 7 years. John served on the finance committee. He is employed with LeaderOne Financial as a Regional Vice President & Stockholder. John graduated from University of South Carolina with a major in Political Science. He graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with his M.B.A. in Business.
Job Titles:
- Director of Admissions
- Admissions Director, HS Teacher
Lynn is a nurse who has been working in the business side of Healthcare for the last 20 years. During that time she has held various management, business development and executive leadership positions. She is currently the SVP Customer Success for MCG Health, LLC. Lynn has a minor in Christian counseling that she obtained while pursuing her business degree at Liberty University. She has done lay counseling for people in crisis for many years. She is actively involved in her local church. She has served in marriage and women's ministries over the last 30 years.
Lynn and her husband Gary live in Loudon NH where they have raised their 3 children. She has been connected to CCA for 33 years as a parent and grandparent. All of her children attended CCA and now her grandchildren are students.
Nate is the oldest of four and was born in Texas and raised in Spain, where his parents were church planters. He's traveled to over forty countries and speaks two languages (although his English could use some work). He and his wife, Heidi, have three kids, Grace, Bella, and Isaac, and a Corgi named Lexi. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, fishing, riding his bike, and food - especially ice cream.
Nate is the President/CEO at Berea Ministries in New England. In addition to his role at Berea and serving with NNYM, he is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant, and serves on the boards of other non-profits. If there were a single word to describe Nate Parks, it would be "influential." Nate has spent over two decades investing in ministry as a pastor, director, national speaker and consultant - encouraging, teaching and leading. Nate loves to talk strategy and vision, and his personality is defined by energy and enthusiasm. He is passionate about leading people - both professionally and spiritually - and has a keen eye for seeing God at work around him.
Nathan lives in Pembroke, NH with his wife Jocelyn and son Samuel. Samuel has been at CCA for 4 years and is currently in 5th grade. As an alum of CCA class of '90, he is excited to serve as one of the newest members of the CCA board and looks forward to seeing what God has planned for the students and faculty of CCA. Nathan and his family have served faithfully at Joy church in Pittsfield, NH since 2015 where they have seen firsthand how God's love has impacted the community. Nathan has built a career in the insurance industry over the past 20 years and enjoys the challenges presented in a constantly changing landscape of the healthcare industry. Nathan and his family are passionate about spending time outdoors, whether at the beach or wandering around the mountains of New Hampshire, you can be sure nature has nurtured his family.
Neil joined the CCA Board of Directors in 2019, and he is an alum of CCA ('94) and the University of New Hampshire. He is a CPA and a Managing Director in the Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Having been blessed to attend Christian school for much of his education, he is passionate about serving CCA--to help see it and its students achieve everything God has for them.
Neil lives in Bedford with his wife Erika and their three young children. They attend Shiloh Community Church. Before children, Neil has vague recollections of a variety of hobbies he once enjoyed. While he certainly wouldn't have it any other way, he does hope at least some of his kids eventually grow to love fly fishing and ineptly working on cars.
Job Titles:
- Technology Coordinator / HS Teacher
Job Titles:
- Interim Head of School & Academic Dean
Job Titles:
- Admissions Director, HS Teacher
Steven Gore lives in Windham, NH with his wife Kimberly and their three children. His two older children are recent graduates of Concord Christian Academy. Steven has been a member of Calvary Bible Church in Derry, NH for more than twenty years. He has served on the New Hampshire Fellowship of Christian Athlete's board of directors since 2010. He is the President and CEO of the Connecticut-based Alinabal Group of companies. Steven holds two undergraduate business degrees and a Master of Business Administration degree.