Craig Gilliam

Senior Faculty & Director of the Faith Leadership Program

Dr. W. Craig Gilliam is a Senior Faculty & Director of the Faith Leadership Program. In this capacity, he contributes to the cutting-edge work at the Mentora Institute, helping religious leaders, both ordained and lay, to drive more generative, transformative interaction and forge deeper connections for positive ministry.

Craig is an ordained elder in the LA Conference of the United Methodist Church. He has served as faculty directing the Center for Clergy and Congregational Care at the McFarland Institute in New Orleans, LA; as an adjunct instructor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; as a consultant, mediator, and facilitator for JustPeace, a Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation in Washington, DC; as a Senior Consultant & Conflict Specialist for Arbinger Institute; and as the director of a center for clergy and leadership excellence in the Louisiana Conference, UMC. He completed his doctoral studies at SMU. His research focused on leadership and the effects of chronic anxiety and conflict in congregational life.

Craig’s passions are his family and poetry, and, as an expression of his art and artistry, he is a 5th-degree black belt (Godan) in traditional Japanese Karate (Shotokan). His worldview is best summarized by his own words: “To live fully is our call / On this grand adventure, / our mere being here / says that we are invited. . .”