Novo Leadership Team
Mark Thrash
President
Mark became the third Novo-US president on January 1, 2023. He directed Novo’s Partner Development team for eight years and then Novo’s Resource Development and Strategic Initiatives team since 2020. Mark loves his work with Novo as he gets to mix four things that he is passionate about: people, the Kingdom of God, strategy, and starting new Kingdom initiatives. He loves walking alongside our faithful ministry partners and also ensuring that our missionaries are fully resourced as they fulfill their calling around the world. He has a BA in Business Marketing from Biola University (where he played basketball) and was an Area Director with Young Life before coming to Novo. He lives in San Juan Capistrano, CA, with his wife, Jamie, and their three children: Hazel, Hank, and Mae.
Kevin Brown
Chief Operating Officer
In 1998, Kevin joined Novo to spearhead the communications efforts in the area of website and video production. Since that time, Novo has doubled in size, and Kevin's role has adjusted accordingly. He has managed several teams including IT, Communications, Finance, and the Staff Training Team and led a variety of initiatives including staff conferences. He holds a degree in Communication from Biola University. Kevin and his wife, Colleen, live in Vancouver, Washington.
Chris Marshall
Director of Mission Advancement
Chris Marshall joined Novo’s Partner Development Team in 2019 with a primary focus on Middle East Initiatives. Today, he leads Novo’s Mission Advancement Team. Previous to Novo, he served for 14 years as VP of Global Advancement with Kids Around the World, a ministry focused on disciple making among children. During that time, Chris became passionate for the unreached and unengaged people groups around the world. Chris, his wife, Katie, and their four children live in San Clemente, CA.
Lee Price
Gospel Movement Division Leader
Lee and his wife Jana have served as missionaries for over 20 years in Colorado pursuing the work of gospel movement. They have a deep love for seeing new disciples raised up out of the harvest and new churches planted. They have also spent a number of years starting non-profits and working alongside local community leadership to bring about grassroots community transformation. More recently Lee and Jana have relocated to the Texas Panhandle to support Novo's efforts of seeing gospel movements launched across the world. Lee has bachelor degree in Communication from West Texas A&M University and a masters degree in Christian Ministry.
Darren Prince
Novo Senior Vice President
Darren lives in Whitechapel, London where he has served among asylum seekers, immigrants, and twelve-step recovery communities with London’s InnerCHANGE Team since 2007. Prior to that, he directed a ministry to homeless young people in San Francisco, California. Darren served as the InnerCHANGE General Director from 2014 – 2022 and is currently Novo’s Senior Vice President, shaping internal communications and organizational culture. Darren is passionate about making disciples, teaching the Bible, reading good books, befriending people on the margins, and enjoying quality time with his family.
Bill Randall
Gospel Movement Division Leader
In the three decades prior to joining Novo in 2014, Bill served as a church planter, planting disciple-making churches that planted disciple-making churches. Through the years, he and his wife Jill raised up thousands of multiplying leaders that are activated in mission around the world. Beyond pioneering new churches, Bill launched numerous Kingdom advancing initiatives, including a ministry leadership degree program at a university, a spiritual formation retreat ministry, and a unique equipping school for ordinary believers to become licensed church planters and missionaries. In 2016 Bill launched Pioneering Initiatives which grew to 13 teams of gospel movement practitioners serving in the US and western Europe. After Novo’s reorganization, Bill took on a new role working with the Novo Lead Team serving as Co-Director of the Gospel Movement Teams division (along with Jill and Lee Price). Bill and Jill live in Boise, ID close to their three married kids and six grandchildren.
Jill Randall
Gospel Movement Division Leader
Prior to joining Novo in 2014, Jill enjoyed a multifaceted career serving as a high school special education teacher, director of the Life Equipping Community (a holistic equipping ministry for emerging leaders) as well as working with her husband, Bill, to found and lead several disciple-making churches. After joining Novo, Jill leveraged her three decades of ministry experience to design and oversee a unique shepherd/care ministry for Novo’s front-line workers that has impacted the whole organization. Jill and Bill love their new role serving together on the Novo Lead Team as Co-Directors of the Gospel Movement Teams division. They continue to spend much of their time equipping and coaching leaders and teams serving around the world helping them flourish in their missional contexts. Jill and Bill live in Boise, ID close to their three married kids and six grandchildren.
Chris Somogyi
Director of Integration & Special Projects
After serving on the Novo board of directors for two years, Chris Somogyi joined Novo staff in 2018. She currently serves with the Resource Development and Strategic Initiatives team, focusing on staff development and strategic initiatives for the organization. Chris is a nurse by profession and worked as the Associate Vice President of Clinical Development for Allergan Pharmaceuticals for many years. Passionate about strategy and big picture thinking, she feels called to help create, launch, and curate formational and equipping platforms. She believes that these ministry tools and resources will better enable staff’s ability to flourish and grow in effectiveness in life and ministry as they reach new and better followers of Jesus in their contexts. Chris, and her two Golden Retrievers, reside in Santa Ana, CA, near her two grown children and one grandchild.
Matt Weston
Director of Field Operations
Matt Weston has been on staff with Novo since 2009 and currently uses his field operations expertise to give leadership in both the Resource Teams division and the Gospel Movement Teams division. He has a Master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and served in both the local church and denominational contexts before finding his place and his people in Novo. Matt, his wife Jennifer, and their two kids are deeply planted in the city they love, Memphis, Tennessee, where they get to develop leaders and see the Kingdom of God advanced in their corner of the world.
Operations
Rhonda Gervais
Director of Human Resources
Rhonda joined Novo in 2006 and has been leading the HR team since 2007. She grew up in Illinois and after studying business administration in college, attended Bible college and joined a church planting team before she and her husband relocated to California to study church planting and leadership with the Vineyard Institute of Ministry. Rhonda holds a degree in HR Management and has worked in fitness, business management and church administration, and has served as a children's ministry pastor and in worship leadership. She and her husband, Ron, live in San Juan Capistrano, CA, and enjoy leading small group ministry and spending time with their daughters, son-in-laws, and five grandkids.
Mike LaLonde
Director of IT
Mike joined Novo in 2011 to implement a new donation management and processing system. He started his IT career in 1987 and worked in the private sector before coming on board with Novo. He served as a Missionary and Mission Builder with YWAM at University of the Nations from 1983 through 1984. His aspiration is to discover more of God’s truth through qualified sources in order to be better prepared to share and defend the faith. Mike and his wife, Christine, live, serve, and fellowship in Huntington Beach, California.
Jon Reichert
Director of Finance
Jon comes to us from sunny Florida. Prior to Novo, Jon worked with Samaritan’s Purse as an international finance manager. Jon has lived and worked all around the world and has over 20 years ministry experience in finance and operations, and even served as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. He holds a BA in Cross Cultural Studies and International Relief and Development from North Central University and an MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University. Jon lives in Florida with his wife Monica.
Mission Advancement
Sheri Aberle
Associate Director of Mission Advancement
Sheri has been part of Novo since 2010 and currently serves as the Associate Director for the Partner Development Team. Before coming to Novo, she was a Communication Instructor at Cal State Fullerton and an Associate Editor for Kidsworld Studios. Sheri grew up in Arizona and then moved to California to attend Biola University. She and her husband, Rob, live in Big Bear, CA, and have six kids, one son-in-law, and one incredibly cute dog.
Sophie Sykes
Director of Communications
Sophie has been with Novo since 2011 and currently serves as the Communications Director. She graduated from Biola University with a degree in International Communications and is passionate about inspiring people with the story of God's work around the world. Sophie and her husband, Nick, served on the field with Novo for three years in China pursuing Business as Mission. They returned to the US in 2019 upon the adoption of their daughter, Faye, and in 2021, Sophie gave birth to their baby boy, Hugo. Sophie, Nick, and their two children live in Brea, CA.
Tim Shuck
Director of Spiritual Authority Cohorts
Tim is the Director of Spiritual Authority Cohorts. After Tim enrolled in the Cohorts five years ago, he saw so much fruit in his life that it eventually led to him joining Novo full-time. Now, he gets to help steward the ministry as it continues to grow by activating participants across the US and abroad. Tim loves practicing activating prayer and the opportunities he gets to watch God at work all around him, from coffee shops to airplanes and everywhere in between. And he and Leslie enjoy having fun with their three amazing kids on their homestead farm in North Idaho.
Simeon Lohrmann
Novo Mobilization
Simeon has been with Novo since 2014. He graduated from Greenville University with a degree in Business Management and worked in the finance industry prior to joining Novo. When Simeon initially joined Novo, he was leading a nationwide ministry to musicians called RYFO. In 2021 Simeon stepped away from his artist ministry role to begin serving in a new leadership capacity within Novo. Simeon is now the head of Novo’s Mobilization team, and he also serves within the Communications team. Simeon and his wife, Johanna, live in Chattanooga, TN with their three kids and three dogs.
Partner Leadership
Sam Metcalf
Coordinator of Novo CoNext
Sam Metcalf served as the president of Novo-US (formerly CRM) from 1985 to 2022, seeking to recruit and empower leaders into apostolic ministry and to pioneer apostolic structures, like Novo, that will multiply movements of the gospel in every nation. Today, he coordinates CoNext—the global partnership of Novo-like entities in a growing number of nations that share mutual mission, vision, and beliefs—all led by national leaders. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree from the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary, and a doctorate from the Fuller School of Theology. His wife, Patty, is equally involved in ministry with a particular focus on healing prayer. Sam and Patty live in Southern California and have two adult children and six grandchildren
Luc Kabongo
Director of InnerCHANGE
Luc Kabongo has been part of Novo since 2004 and currently leads InnerCHANGE as General Director. He was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has been living in South Africa since 2002. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology and Community Development from the University of Pretoria. He is married to Petunia, and they have three children: Mosky, Bahati, and Faraj. He is a social introvert who loves sports, reading, and food.
Mark Cathey
Co-Director of Empowering Leaders
Mark and his wife, Melinda, joined Novo in 1991 to lead a team in St. Petersburg, Russia. Following a decade in Russia, Mark served in leadership on the International Ministry Team and Ethne. Currently, he directs the Empowering Leaders division. His passion is to see staff thrive as they live out their ministry callings. Mark holds BA degrees in Philosophy and Speech Communications, and MA degrees in Divinity and Linguistics. Melinda is a Global TBRI Trainer, educating orphan caregivers, social workers, foster and adoptive parents in complex developmental trauma and trauma informed therapies. Mark and Melinda live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Roger Hederstedt
Co-Director of Empowering Leaders
Roger co-leads Empowering Leaders, a division of Novo with 70 missionaries serving in a dozen countries on four continents — it exists to multiply disciples of Christ, leaders, churches and movements of the Gospel. To accomplish this, Roger seeks to keep staff focused on being Christ-centered, curious (about what God is up to in us, others and the world), connected (community) and collaborative (creative & strategic). Roger together with his wife Julie served as missionaries in Japan from 1982-2007, and Roger was Asia Director from 2007-2022. They have two sons and two young grandchildren.