President’s Cabinet

Matt Barnes

Vice President of Formation

Rev. Dr. Matt Barnes serves as the Vice President of Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He previously served as Director of Community Formation under former Vice President Donna Covington, now retired, and brings a wide variety of gifts, talents, and expertise to the community.

Prior to coming to Asbury Seminary, Rev. Barnes served the Church for more than two decades in a variety of posts. Most recently, he served as senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Alhambra, California. Rev. Barnes holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hardin-Simmons University, an MDiv from George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, and a PhD in New Testament from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Rev. Barnes and his wife, Alida, have been married for twenty years and are the proud parents of three boys: Myron, Smith, and Tobias. He is passionate about preaching, leading, training volunteers, engaging in staff and leader development, and providing pastoral care and counseling.

Kevin Bish

Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services

Kevin Bish joined Asbury Theological Seminary in 2009 as the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Services.  In this role, Kevin oversees Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Services, Housing, International Services, the Registrar, and the newly formed Global Learning Platform, the Seminary’s non-residential program for online, hybrid, and extension site students.  As a member of the President’s Cabinet, he has a passion for serving the Seminary and being part of the leadership team. His greatest passion in this role is coming alongside students from first contact through graduation and beyond.

Kevin has nearly 30 years of experience in higher education and non-profit organizations.  Before arriving at the Seminary, he served as Vice President of Development for the Advancement Group, a for-profit consulting firm that specializes in helping non-profit organizations implement sustainability and strategic planning initiatives.  Prior to that he served in the areas of enrollment and advancement at Oral Roberts University, where he obtained both his Bachelor of Arts degree, and later graduated with a Master of Education Administration degree.

In 2016, Kevin received the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s highest title of honor, Kentucky Colonel, for his outstanding service to the Seminary and the community.

Kevin and his wife, Nicole, have three children.

Bryan P. Blankenship

Vice President of Finance & Administration and CFO

Bryan Blankenship is a graduate of Greenville College (BA, 1989), the University of Kentucky (MBA, 1995), and Asbury Theological Seminary (MA in Leadership, 2007).  At Asbury Theological Seminary, Bryan has responsibility for four directors and their respective departments – Auxiliary Services, Controller/Business Office, Facilities & Security, and Human Resources. In addition, he has direct responsibility for numerous other functions including the annual budget, benefits management and negotiation, capital planning, endowment administration, legal matters, and risk management among others. He serves on the President’s Cabinet, as well as the Seminary’s Title IX Coordinator.

Bryan began his vocation in higher education in 1995, when he was hired as the operations manager for a Federal Highway Administration grant project at the University of Kentucky Transportation Center.  A year later he moved to Central Christian College in McPherson, Kansas where he served as a faculty member in the business department, network administrator, development officer, and finally chair of the business department before becoming the college’s chief financial officer, a position he held from 2000-2004.  Bryan came to Asbury Seminary on April 1, 2004 to serve as its executive director of finance, and on March 1, 2007 he was promoted to the vice president’s role.

In 2007, Bryan completed the Leadership Jessamine County program, as well as received the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s highest title of honor, Kentucky Colonel, for his service to both the Seminary and the community. He currently serves on the Board of The Martha R Jones Foundation for Health Education, Inc.  In addition, he also serves on the Board of Directors of The Foundation of Central Christian College as its Secretary/Treasurer.  In the summer of 2021, Bryan was invited by TIAA to serve a three-year term (2022-2024) on its national Select Client Advisory Council, which provides a forum for the voice of Independent Institutions as well as other mid-market institutional clients to the TIAA executive leadership.

Bryan is a member of his local Free Methodist Church. He and his wife, Carol, have three adult children and three grandchildren. He enjoys traveling, reading, and working on small construction and repair jobs around the house.

Tammy Hogan

Vice President of Advancement

Tammy Hogan has served Asbury Theological Seminary since 2003. She enjoys serving alongside the Development team to further the mission of Asbury Seminary. She loves to connect the students who are called into ministry with those who are called to invest in them. Tammy began her career working in Washington, D.C. as a contractor to the Navy on the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. She also owned a business in Morgantown, W.V. as an Arby’s franchisee. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Geneva College. She is the mother of three children and two grand dogs.

Jay Mansur

Executive Vice President

In Jay Mansur’s role as Executive Vice President of Asbury Seminary he performs Seminary-wide project management for President Tennent and provides direct oversight of the Vice President of Advancement. As he represents the President in all matters, Jay works collaboratively with all members of the President’s Cabinet to accomplish the President’s agenda and vision for the 2023 Strategic Plan Implementation and the post-2023 trajectory. He also serves on the Asbury Global management team to assist in the growth of the hybrid/online educational model, works with the board of trustees, and assures the ongoing economic viability model for the Seminary.

Since 2009, Jay has served as the Vice President of Advancement for Asbury Theological Seminary. He has a solid background in organizational leadership, relationship management, financial services sales, comprehensive fundraising and communications. He sets the vision and strategic direction for the entire advancement team that includes Alumni and Church Relations, Communications, Major Events and Development. During his time at Asbury Seminary, he has assisted the president in achieving the highest total giving to the Seminary three years in a row. He has also grown unrestricted giving by 65 percent and has successfully created and implemented a $100 million comprehensive campaign that embeds the Seminary’s theological tradition, as well as supports the 2023 Strategic Vision, into the development process. Through his initiative, the campaign has exceeded its goal and current sits at $154 million.

Prior to coming to the Seminary, Jay has more than a decade of experience in growing annual funds, major donors, planned giving, external relations and advancement operations. In addition, he is a certified financial planner and certified fund specialist. He and his wife, Penny, have seven children and 12 grandchildren. They currently serve at the Great Commission Fellowship in Wilmore.

Dr. Gregg Okesson

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Before coming to Asbury in 2011, Dr. Okesson was a faculty member for 10 years at Scott Christian University, Kenya, East Africa, where he served as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and a lecturer in theology. Prior to this, he was a pastor in upstate New York, worked in Student Development at Wheaton College, and was a church-planter amongst a Muslim people-group in north-central Tanzania. Dr. Okesson and his family lived in East Africa for 13 years.

Dr. Okesson has authored numerous articles and serves on the editorial committee for the Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology and the Africa Study Bible. He is the author of “Re-Imaging Modernity” (Wipf and Stock, 2012) and co-author of “Advocating for Justice” (Baker Academic, 2016). He is also the author of the Christianity Today 2021 book award for “A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World” (2020). He is a Board of Trustee member of the Baltic Methodist Seminary in Estonia.