OVP Board of Directors.
Eric Namee
Eric is the chair of both OVP and OMS. He is a founder and managing member of Hinkle Law Firm in Wichita, Kansas, and practices in the areas of employee benefits, taxation, tax litigation, and nonprofit law. He serves as President of the Virginia H. Farah Foundation, a private foundation dedicated exclusively to supporting the work of the Orthodox Church. Both as an attorney and a philanthropist, he has assisted hundreds of Orthodox Christian organizations and ministries. He serves on the board of Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry and Orthodox Youth Ministries (OYM), the new youth and young adult Agency of the Assembly of Bishops. He is also a trustee emeritus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Eric is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the National Advisory Council of the Wichita State University Endowment Association, and a guest instructor on tax procedure at the University of Kansas School of Law. He holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Wichita State University and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law.
Melissa Kean
Melissa is on the board of both OVP and OMS. Melissa and her husband Steve, who is the CEO of Kinder Morgan, are the founders of The Saint Constantine School, where Melissa is still active as vice chairman of the board. Steve is currently the board chair. Melissa is also on the board of OYM. Melissa has undergraduate degrees from Iowa State, a master's from Creighton, and a doctorate from Rice University, all in history, as well as a J.D. from the University of Iowa. She recently retired after thirty years at Rice, the last fifteen with an appointment as Centennial Historian. She’s still an active researcher and writer in her academic area, the history of American higher education.
Jon is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Denver. With over 20 years of experience advising one of the nation’s largest closely held corporations and its affiliates, Jon focuses on global M&A tax advisory with respect to both strategic and private equity investments. Jon graduated at the top of his class with his LL.M. (Taxation) from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, earned his J.D. from the University of Kansas, and taught tax courses for several years in the Master of Accountancy program at Wichita State University.
Jon de Jong
William is an owner and operator of Vranas and Chioros Real Estate investment brokerage and development firm serving Chicagoland for over 40 years. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Business, he is a Certified Commercial Investment Member of the National Association of Realtors and Realtor Emeritus. A former Board Member of Plaza and Edens Banks of the Metropolitan Bank Group, William is past president of the Hellenic Foundation and currently serves as its Grant Committee Chairman.
William P. Vranas
OMS Staff.
Nicholas Chakos
Nicholas is the OMS Executive Director and serves on its board. He is an experienced nonprofit leader and has previously served as Executive Director of FOCUS North America, Director of Development of IOCC, and Founder of the healthcare analytics company PRIMR.co. He is an adjunct professor of organizational development at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School and has trained over 250 nonprofit organizations in strategic planning, fundraising, and organizational infrastructure. He is a certified fundraising executive and a graduate of the Lilly School of Philanthropy, in addition to holding a B.A. from Washington & Jefferson College and an M.N.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Mark Arey
Mark is a senior consultant to OMS and served the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for more than 30 years as both a parish priest and in a variety of administrative positions: Director of the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Inter-Faith Relations, Executive Secretary to the Chairman of the Assembly of Bishops, General Secretary of SCOBA, Executive Director of Communications, and Ad Interim Director of the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership One Hundred Endowment Fund. In 2013, he asked to return to the ranks of the laity in order to marry. From 2014 through 2018 he was the Executive Director of The Hellenic Initiative, Inc. (THI), a venture philanthropy effort focused in Greece. He holds a BA from the University of Maryland, a M.Div. from Holy Cross (Brookline), and an M.S. from Loyola College.
Alex is the OMS Project Manager, focused at present on the Effective Parishes Development Program. He is an experienced leader with history of successful management of large and small teams in high-mix Operations environments, with a strong background in developing and executing growth-focused strategic initiatives, continuous improvement, budgeting (P&L), and recruitment and development of human resources. Alex holds a BS from Northeastern University in mechanical engineering and an MBA with a concentration in nonprofit management from Northeastern University.