MEET OUR STAFF

Allison Isaacson Beahm graduated from Vanderbilt University with majors in economics and communications. During her thirteen years at SERVPRO HQ, she spearheaded data visibility through franchise key performance metrics, led cause marketing efforts, hosted personal development retreats, developed resources to support the business development of SERVPRO franchises, and managed communications—editorial, press, multimedia, and the intranet. She was also a founding leader of the SERVPRO Women’s Initiative. She has served on the boards of nonprofit organizations like the Sumner County Family YMCA, Restore Ministries, Pope Saint John Paul II Preparatory Academy, and the First Responders Children’s Foundation. After serving on the board of Empower Ministry, she joined the staff as CEO in 2025—eager to expand the Kingdom and help cement her father’s most important legacy.

Jason McCormick is a dynamic business leader and ministry executive with a track record of building organizations from the ground up. He holds dual degrees in Industrial & Organizational Psychology and General Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University. Early in his career, Jason demonstrated a rare entrepreneurial instinct — acquiring an underperforming Budget Car & Truck Rental location and growing it from $8,000 to over $90,000 in monthly revenue within six months. He went on to serve as a key sales leader for multiple companies, taking products international and later founding an independent sales firm. In 2013, he answered a clear call to ministry, joining the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as Area Director for Northern Middle Tennessee, where he grew his region more than 16x and developed a stellar team. Now serving as COO of Empower Ministry, Jason brings that same vision-driven, results-oriented leadership to equipping Christian leaders across the nation.

Krista Wharton brings nearly two decades of nonprofit ministry, faith-based business transformation, and Fortune 500 enterprise AI product development to her role as Chief Marketing and AI Product Officer at Empower Ministry.

She didn't set out to build a career. She set out to seek Jesus first. A single moment on a mission field in Mexico sent her to study management and marketing at the University of Central Florida — with one vision: bring organization and scale to the Church.

What followed looks like a tapestry only God could design. She's led marketing for congregations of 5,000 to 7,000. She developed the playbooks behind Explore God — a movement that united 340 Austin-area churches under one brand and shifted how an entire city talked about faith. She took mature business lines at Ramsey Solutions from flat to 3x growth. At Amazon, God opened doors for her to lead in tech — building agentic AI solutions and AI products that personalize learning and development for 400,000 people annually.

In July 2026, she joined Empower Ministry to build for the Church.

Tim Hertel brings more than 20 years of technology and operations leadership to his role as Chief Technology Officer at Empower Ministry. His experience spans financial technology, manufacturing and distribution operations, M&A readiness, and executive advisory work. He has led enterprise IT for a national lending institution, co-founded and scaled Axem Distributing from inception through a successful exit, and advises organizations on technology-driven operations, automation, and scalable systems.

Tim's passion for ministry has always been closely connected to technology and leadership. He began serving in church production and IT as a teenager and has continued serving through worship ministry and advisory leadership. Today, he supports church leadership behind the scenes as a member of the Resource Team at Long Hollow Church. At Empower Ministry, Tim is excited to use his God-given gifts to build technology and operational solutions that help ministry leaders steward resources wisely, scale with excellence, and focus more fully on the work God has called them to do.

Jason Gingerich graduated from North Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude. He went on to earn his MBA with a 4.0 GPA and a focus in financial statement analysis and strategic management and induction into the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society. A Certified Public Accountant licensed in Tennessee, Jason brings more than fifteen years of financial leadership across accounting, technology, and high-growth SaaS organizations. As Chief Financial Officer of ConnectBooster, he scaled the company from ten to more than one hundred employees, structured over $20 million in capital, lending, and funding, and led the company’s sale at a ten-times-ARR valuation. He later served as a finance leader at Kaseya, where he guided financial planning, forecasting, pricing strategy, KPI development, and product profitability across a multi-product SaaS portfolio.

As Jason has grown in faith, he has felt called to use his financial gifts in ways that reach beyond the numbers, desiring to put his God-given abilities to work for God’s glory and Kingdom. He joined Empower Ministry in 2026 to do exactly that.

Giah Kress has more than 25 years of ministry and executive support experience. She has served churches and ministries across Middle Tennessee in roles ranging from Executive Assistant to Minister of Worship and Community Life. Her background includes supporting executives at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Faith Church of Gallatin, and College Heights Baptist Church—managing everything from calendars and travel to large, complex events. With a degree in Music Education from Union University and a lifelong love for ministry, Giah is excited to combine her love of ministry and administration to further the Kingdom. She brings steady leadership, attention to detail, and a heart for people and the Lord to everything she does.

Dr. Mason earned her Ph.D. in computer science from Vanderbilt University, where her research focused on improving hearing outcomes for patients with cochlear implants. Consisting of several published papers, her dissertation introduced a novel, deep-learning application of the Mumford Shah functional for finding invisible nerve fibers in CT images, as well as a novel AI-based approach to Augmented Reality assisted surgery dependent on patient-specific anatomy. After years spent helping people in the medical field, she is grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve people as a career. She has been a long-time participant of church volunteer teams, from serving in her church's media booth in middle school to her current role on the volunteer broadcast team at her church. She is excited to use her unique passion for technology and people to empower the church to bring God's love to all.