Zondervan is directed by a leadership team led by Moe Girkins. Bringing years of experience and knowledge from diverse backgrounds to the company, this team collaborates to make mission-based decisions.
Maureen Girkins, President & Chief Executive Officer
Maureen Girkins is president and chief executive officer for Zondervan and heads the leadership team. Moe is responsible for managing all of Zondervan's business operations, and works with Zondervan's parent company HarperCollins Publishers on strategic planning and cooperative operations initiatives.
Coming to Zondervan in 2008, Moe has spent 25 years in high tech, where she held a number of senior executive positions including Senior Vice President, Wireless: Office of the Chairman at Dell and Senior Vice President and General Manager of Strategic Marketing at Motorola. She has also held numerous positions at AT&T and Bell Laboratories, and led their multibillion dollar international Electronic Switching Systems and Intelligent Network Businesses. Girkins spent a year as a loaned executive to the Mayor's Office of Chicago. She has worked as an advisor to Investor Growth Capital and served on multiple corporate boards including Media Arts Group, Vallent, Kemet Electronics, and Broadcom.
Moe has completed the first half of her Masters of Divinity program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She is also a published author; Mother Leads Best details the positive impact of motherhood on senior executive women. She serves as Chairman of the Board of Loving Neighbors, a volunteer organization spawned to aid in the recovery of Katrina victims. Additionally, she volunteers on several boards including: Northwestern University and The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago.
Gary Wicker, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Gary Wicker is executive vice president and chief financial officer, responsible for all company fiscal operations including Finance, Inventory/Cost, Credit, and Facilities. He also serves as finance liaison with parent company HarperCollins Publishers.
Prior to joining Zondervan, Gary spent ten years with The Thomson Corporation, most recently as senior vice president of finance and group controller with Thomson Learning.
Verne Kenney, Executive Vice President of Sales
Verne Kenney leads the entire Zondervan sales organization as the executive vice president of sales. He is responsible for the development of growth strategies for all distribution channels to improve revenues, market share, and profitability on a global basis. In addition, he oversees a portion of supply chain management.
Verne joined Zondervan in 1991 as special sales western regional manager. He was then promoted to various management positions throughout the sales group.
Steve Sammons, Executive Vice President of Consumer Engagement
Steve Sammons brings more than 20 years of experience in worldwide marketing, creative development, product design and management, and operations experience to this position. He joined Zondervan in 2008 from Calumet Photographic Inc., the world’s largest specialty retailer of professional photographic, digital imaging, and video equipment. At Calumet, Sammons served as chief marketing officer and senior vice president of global marketing, responsible for all global marketing, brand positioning, and market expansion.
Prior to Calumet, the majority of Sammons’ career was spent at Nissan North America where he managed the company’s Infiniti luxury brand. During his decade of service at Nissan, Sammons directed planning and implementation of all Infiniti marketing communications and oversaw coordination of the brand’s marketing partners and media strategy group. Prior to joining Nissan, Sammons spent seven years at The Aerospace Corporation where he served as director of publications and media services.
Al Kerkstra, Executive Vice President, Support Operations and Human Resources
Al Kerkstra is executive vice president of support operations and human resources for Zondervan. He is responsible for managing the company's inventory, distribution, production, customer service, and human resources departments.
Al is a 30-year veteran of Zondervan. First hired as a freight-order packer, he has worked his way to the top of the distribution and operations departments.
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