CALVARY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Children & Family Ministries
Alison Faison is the Director of Children and Family Ministries. Alison works closely with caring and qualified childcare team teachers and trusted adult volunteers to provide safe and age-appropriate spaces for children, ages infant to 11 years. She invites children to notice God's presence, question, play, sing, and fellowship. Every Sunday, children are welcome to participate in Childcare and Sunday Studio (for ages 4 - 11) where children connect with a story linked to the narrative lectionary verse focused on in worship, as well as a corresponding game, craft, or free play activity. She and her husband Westy have been Calvary members for over 20 years and have served with the community by working with children and youth and leading youth service opportunities. They enjoy spending time with their two teen youth. Alison holds a Certificate in Early Childhood Education from San Francisco City College, a Master's degree in Art History with a B.A. in Art History and Italian, and taught ancient art history to freshman high school young women for six years. She was an academic tutor and instructor of prenatal and postnatal yoga, hatha yoga for teens and adults, and children's dance and music.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Worship & Music
Job Titles:
- Chief Administrative Officer
David Foster has been working at Calvary since 2013, after spending 30 years working in the medical and biotech industries. He has previously served as a CFO or GM in several companies, co-founded and served as CEO of a start-up company, and has managed a wide variety of organizational areas and departments, including financial, HR, IT, facilities, legal, manufacturing, and product development.
David has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives with his wife Katherine in San Mateo. His daughter Emily, works in the software industry, and his son Alexander works in the consumer products industry.
Job Titles:
- Digital Communications Manager
After almost two decades of working in advertising/marketing with for-profit companies and a global ad agency, Jess settled into the nonprofit world and loves to share her skillset to help to elevate nonprofit organizations' design, branding, and communications.
From 2015-2022, Jess spent several years "digital nomading," where she freelanced remotely while traveling. She's been fortunate to live in places like Thailand, Bulgaria, Japan, Italy, and Mexico and work on hundreds of projects with dozens of brands from various industries. One of her startup freelancing clients has raised over $130M+ in venture capital.
In her spare time, she is the (volunteer) Chief Marketing Officer & Creative Director of For Goodness Cakes, a nationwide nonprofit that matches volunteer bakers to bake birthday and graduation cakes to celebrate the lives of foster children and youth facing adversity. In August 2022, they opened their 22nd chapter in Memphis, TN, and are looking to expand internationally.
Outside of that, Jess enjoys hanging out at the park, wandering around looking for street art, making hygiene kits for the homeless, scooting around town on her moped, and, on occasion, getting her butt kicked in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Job Titles:
- Associate Pastor for Community Formation
John Walko studied Theory and Composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and Huntingdon College; he studied with Russian-American pianist Annette Freeze, Lithuanian pianist Andrius Kuprevicius, Russian pianist Tatyana Tsukanova, and Haitian pianist Liliane Quéstel; he studied Organ and Harpsichord with German organist/composer Dr. Harald Rohlig, and Gene Jarvis, and Organ with John Balka. He coached with French organist Marie-Claire Alain and Hungarian pianist Lili Kraus, both legendary recording and performance artists.
John performed on location with the symphony orchestras of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Havana, Cuba, for the five-hour silent film Napoleon, to audiences of 30,000 people. He worked with composer Carmine Coppola and director Francis Ford Coppola in the preparation of film scores, and can be heard accompanying the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in the Oscar-nominated film Godfather III.
John is Organist at San Francisco's historic California Palace of the Legion of Honor; and accompanies the San Francisco City Chorus, Diablo Choral Artists, and Bella Musica. He has performed with Masterworks Chorale, Cantare Con Vivo, Baroque Choral Guild, San Francisco Boys Chorus, OAKE National Children's Choir, and WomenSing, among many others. John performed many solo recitals in the USA; also in Paris, Prague, and on the famed Riga Dom organ in Latvia. John has lead many organist's tours throughout France, Holland, England, and Switzerland. He was the sole American adjudicator for the Bank District English/American Organ Festival Playing Competition in London.
Job Titles:
- Director of Music Ministries
Michael Conley has earned a notable reputation in the United States and abroad for his multifaceted career as conductor, pianist, organist, singer, and composer. The New York Times has said of his work, "first-rate conducting," and of his compositions, "tuneful," "handsome," "ambitious," "piquant," and "surprising." After two decades in New York City, for the past six years he has been the Director of Music Ministries at Calvary where he oversees an active and diverse music program. Over the course of his three decades in music ministry he has had the great privilege of serving a wide array of churches representing numerous denominations and a great diversity of geographical locales and cultural and spiritual traditions.
Prior to coming to San Francisco, for 15 seasons he was the Artistic Director of the West Village Chorale, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, for eight seasons the Artistic Director of the Hudson Chorale in Westchester, NY, and for five years the Assistant Conductor of the Collegiate Chorale, founded by Robert Shaw. For almost a decade he was the Music Director at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square in Manhattan, and for four years was the Assistant Director of Music at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Manhattan's Upper East Side. For nine years he directed the High School Choir at the prestigious Dalton School. He has led choirs and orchestras on numerous international tours, including performances in Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Greece, Switzerland, and Spain.
As a singer, Mr. Conley has been a soloist with The Gregg Smith Singers, The Dessoff Choirs, the Woodstock Fringe Festival, with the professional chamber chorus Manhattan Voices, The Collegiate Chorale, and was a singer/conductor/composer member of the award-winning contemporary music ensemble C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective. He holds an undergraduate degree in Composition from James Madison University in Virginia, and completed his graduate studies at Westminster Choir College, where he was a student of renowned conductor Joseph Flummerfelt. Mr. Conley is a published composer and has written numerous works in a range of mediums from chorus, orchestra, and chamber ensemble to hymns, cabaret songs, and musicals.
Job Titles:
- Reverend
- Associate Pastor for Community Formation
Joann Haejong Lee is Calvary's Associate Pastor for Community Formation. She was born in New York City to Korean immigrant parents and grew up in Houston, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin and a Masters of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Joann was ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) while she served as a Lily Pastoral Resident at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. She then served as an Associate Pastor at The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Joann and her partner Mike live in San Francisco with their three rambunctious kids: Austin, Rose, and Josephine. She loves that the Bay Area offers many wonderful places to drink boba, walk among the redwoods, and hear the crash of the ocean waves.
Job Titles:
- Reverend
- Pastor & Head of Staff
Marci Auld Glass is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
Before joining us at Calvary, Marci served as Pastor & Head of Staff at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. Before moving to Boise, she served in Youth Director roles at churches in New Mexico and Washington state.
She serves on the Board of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, Planned Parenthood's Clergy Advocacy Board, Columbia Theological Seminary's Alumni Board, and the San Francisco Interfaith Council.
Marci and her husband, Justin have two sons: Elliott, in Idaho, and Alden, who lives with his wife Katrina in Charlotte, North Carolina. Marci also has an older son, Eric, who she placed for adoption when she was in college. He and his wife Ashley live in Dallas, TX, with their daughter Audrey.
In her free time, she studies the Enneagram, hikes as much as her new bionic knee will allow, and plays the cello. She occasionally blogs at www.marciglass.com.
Job Titles:
- Reverend
- Minister of Spiritual Car
- Minister of Spiritual Care
Rev. Victor joined Calvary's staff in 2013. He offers pastoral care for the congregation and our popular Tuesday Senior Center. He is the former pastor of the historic Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco and has served on the staffs of Many Journeys MCC in San Mateo, First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto and North Decatur Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. An authorized minister of the United Church of Christ, Victor holds an M.Div. from the Pacific School of Religion, a certificate in Integrative Medicine (CPE) from the Institute for Health & Healing (CPMC) and Master of Music from Indiana University.
Victor serves Calvary through a gracious covenant that includes College Heights Church (UCC) in San Mateo. In 2007, he received the first Marcella Althaus-Reid Award in Queer Theology from the Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies of the Graduate Theological Union. An alumnus of the Robert Shaw Institute and Merola Opera Program, he likes to explore the intersectionality of music, justice and spirituality. Rev. Victor supports the work of Faith in Action Bay Area, PICO California, the SF Coalition on Homelessness, the LGBT Asylum Project and SEIU Local 2015. He grew up near Rome, Georgia and is married to Lou Grosso.
Job Titles:
- Director of Development
- Director of Development & Volunteer Ministries
Robin L. Morjikian is Calvary's Director of Development and Volunteer Ministries. A life-long Presbyterian, she has been a member of Calvary for more than 26 years, having served in a number of volunteer and leadership roles. Robin described this opportunity as, "The intersection of my three greatest passions and professional areas of expertise: placing my Christian faith into action; establishing and maintaining the trust of donors; and increasing charitable giving to improve the lives of all people." She earned her master's degree in Public Administration from New York University and her bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College. She lives in San Francisco with her daughters, Olivia and Sophia.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Church - Wide Nominating Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Stewardship / Annual Giving