Team

Alissa boasts 15 years of hotel experience prior to joining the Arrowhead team. Alissa began her career in hospitality as a junior in college at the University of Kentucky (Go Cats!) with Marriott International in the Food & Beverage department. After graduation, Alissa accepted a career opportunity with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and moved to Indianapolis. Throughout her 10 years with the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, she held roles from Sales Administrative Assistant, Meeting Connections Sales/Service Manager, Sales and Senior Sales Manager. She then moved on to work in roles for 5 years as a Senior Sales & Senior Account Executive for Marriott Place Indianapolis, a 1300 room multi-branded hotel cluster. Alissa specialized in the faith and “SMERF” markets and grew to love the missions and goals of the organizations she worked with. In 2015 Alissa joined the Arrowhead team after feeling the calling in her heart for more meaning in her career and to be more available for her young children.

Originally from Centerville, Ohio, Alissa now lives in the suburbs of Indianapolis, and her husband of over 22 years, Eric, is an engineer in the Aerospace Industry. Alissa is a mother of 2; she has a daughter who loves art, conservation and animals, and a son who loves math, basketball and baseball. Most of the time you can find Alissa taking her kids to gymnastics, soccer, basketball and travel baseball practices and games as well as leading her elementary school’s PTO. In her free time (what free time?) Alissa enjoys cooking, working out, running and learning about health and nutrution. She has a passion to spread the joys of a healthy lifestyle (inside and out) to increase life’s harvest!

Amanda joined Arrowhead in 2018 as an administrative assistant, bringing experience from a wide variety of industries. She is passionate about serving others and working behind the scenes to make sure the team shines. She gets giddy over a good spreadsheet and finds great joy in praying for our team and for our ministry and hospitality partners. Amanda loves to learn and is always up for a new challenge.

Amanda has two adult children and loves spending time with them. She enjoys hiking, gardening, and live music. She believes that life makes more sense when you sit on the front porch swing for a while.

Becky joined Arrowhead in the 1990s after responding to a newspaper want-ad. She served FamilyLife’s “Weekend to Remember” marriage getaways alongside Arrowhead founder Enoch Williams before transitioning to Operations in 2018. Now she works to keep our infrastructure well-oiled and our operations running smoothly.

A graduate of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, Becky spent her early career at a law firm in Amarillo. In 2017, she and her husband John relocated from Southern California to Oregon, where they quickly embraced life as Duck fans and fell in love with the Pacific Northwest’s natural beauty. Their son Lucas serves as the pastor of an ELCA church in Caldwell, Idaho. Becky volunteers her time on various boards and ministry committees within her denomination.

Beth began her career in hospitality her junior year of college with Marriott International. She has over 15 years of experience working in the hotel industry, including roles as senior event manager at the Tampa Marriott Waterside and opening the JW Marriott Indianapolis Hotel as a senior sales account manager. She came to work for Arrowhead Conferences & Events in 2013, and liked that she could continue her relationship serving Cru from a different perspective. Since joining the Arrowhead team, Cru has been her primary ministry partner, assisting with any contracting and meeting planning needs for all size meetings and events.

Beth and her husband, who met while attending The Unversity of Notre Dame, live in Indianapolis with their 3 kids and love their neighborhood where their kids can walk to both school and church. Beth coaches and runs a girls lacrosse program called the Saints, and loves to coach her daughter. She enjoys traveling with her family to spend time with relatives in some of their favorite spots, including Bethany Beach, DE and Glen Arbor, MI.

Cassandra “Cassie” Coleman is a dynamic hospitality professional with over a decade of experience in the industry. Her journey began as a Front Desk Agent at Marriott Hotels, where she laid the foundation for her passion for hospitality. With unwavering dedication, Cassie pursued higher education, earning a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She expanded her horizons by interning at a charming boutique hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and orchestrated memorable experiences. Cassie’s expertise extends to the corporate world, where she thrived as a National Sales Partner for Hilton Worldwide Sales, specializing in the Association and Religious market. She now uses her exceptional ability to transform opportunities into successes by partnering on opportunities between 10 or 50 room nights on peak.

Beyond her thriving career, Cassie finds joy in life’s simple pleasures. When she’s not serving clients, you can find her immersed in quality family time, making delectable homemade ice cream, or letting loose on the dance floor. Cassie is happily married to her wonderful husband, Mario Coleman, and is the proud mother of her daughter A’Riya. Together, they call Bentonville, Arkansas, their home, nestled in the heart of an area known for giants like Walmart, Tyson, and JB Hunt. Cassie’s love for life and her strong commitment to doing things right really set her apart in the hospitality world.

Prior to joining Arrowhead, Desirea had her hospitality debut at the Holiday Inn Research Park in Huntsville, AL, where she started as an administrative assistant and worked her way into sales as both the catering and sales manager. She then joined an amazing team at the Von Braun Center, a convention center, also in Huntsville. It was here that she specialized in faith-based meetings for over a decade and where she was introduced to Arrowhead. She knew after working with Arrowhead on a city-wide event that one day she would be a part of the Arrowhead team. A few years later, in May of 2019, she made the transition and she says, “my family and I have been blessed ever since!”

Desirea and her husband of over 20 years, Brad, both Auburn University graduates (War Eagle) and their young son, Jackson, reside in rural Alabama on a cattle farm. Living on the farm has allowed for ample opportunities to create lasting memories. It is here that her passions thrive: love of animals, gardening, working cattle and just being outside in all of God’s beauty with her boys! Abundantly grateful for the ministry she has both within her home and her workplace, she strives to do her best to spread the goodness of HIS love.

Emily came to Cru in January 2017 and began working in US LDHR (Leadership Development Human Resources). Within her first year at Cru she was asked to take on Arrowhead and our HR and Professional Development needs. Emily says often that working with Arrowhead has been one of the greatest joys and delights of her career at Cru. Emily has her master’s in Human Relations with an emphasis on Organizational Development and she loves developing people.

Emily is a mom of 3 boys: one engineer-minded son, who also loves being on the football team, and two basketball players. Watching her boys play sports is one of her favorite things to do, along with watching her oldest create a zip line in the front yard using the materials at hand. Emily also is a Music Minister at a Methodist church in her community and has been able to use her gift of music at Arrowhead staff retreats.

Erin began her career in the hosptiality industry in New York City. She worked as a sales assistant to coordinate the rooming requests for 24 professional baseball teams. With a move to Florida, her career excelled and she pursued working in hotel sales and was a Director of Sales for Marriott for close to 10 years. With starting a family, she found work life balance was difficult and joined Arrowhead and has enjoyed serving Cru for over 26 years.

Erin is married to Bill, a retired hotel general manager, and they have two beautiful daughters. It’s good their family has a passion to travel because Julia, her youngest, lived in Ireland for a year playing basketball and obtaining her Master’s. Kathryn, her oldest, completed her Master’s degree in Australia and now lives there full time. Traveling and spending time with family and friends is what Erin enjoys most in life, along with retail therapy.

Gina Gonzalez joined Arrowhead Conferences & Events as a part-time sales and administrative assistant in 2007 and in 2009 became a full-time staff member serving Arrowhead’s account managers and ministry partners with online registration and housing management. Since then she has built and managed over 425 registration sites and provided customer care to thousands of event registrants. Prior to working with Arrowhead Gina worked at Alvord Unified School District in Riverside, CA as an administrative clerk. She also served at her home church coordinating youth, children, single and marriage events while working as administrative assistant to the lead pastor for over five years.

Gina grew up in Southern California and lives in Riverside, CA with her husband Fernando. Married for over 31 years, they have an adult son named Jamie. Gina graduated from Phillips Junior College in Riverside, CA in 1993. Because she loves to study the Bible, in 2019 Gina obtained an Associate’s degree in Biblical Studies from the Rock Bible College in San Bernardino, CA and currently serves the local body of Christ at Elevate Life Church in Riverside by leading pre-service prayer on Sundays and Wednesdays. She also teaches Sunday School for 1st-5th grade children and is a member of the California Branch of the National Day of Prayer.

Jamie brings over 20 years of conference planning experience to her position at Arrowhead. Her previous experience as senior sales manager with Hilton Hotels and as event coordinator for the Presbyterian Church in America has provided her a variety of experiences to pull from as she guides other ministries toward successful events. Jamie’s particular passion is evaluating ministries’ overall conference budgets and finding ways to drastically cut their costs. She serves a variety of denominations and parachurch ministries, partnering with them in their conference planning efforts but donor events and city-wide conventions are where she really shines.

Jamie is a graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia with a degree in Public Relations. She and her jet-setting pilot husband, Brian, live in Auburn, Alabama with the love of their life, Oliver. When she isn’t running carpool to school or baseball practice, she’s hopping on a plane with her family, organizing or redecorating a room in her house, cooking, or reading.

Joe has been with Arrowhead’s parent company (Cru) for almost 20 years as a Director in Cru U.S. Finance, and he currently serves as the Director of Business Finance, working closely with Cru’s CFO. He is excited to be working directly with Arrowhead Conference & Events.

Joe is a CPA, with an MBA from the University of Central Florida. He obtained his Accounting degree from Stetson University. Joe started his career at a large, international CPA firm. Just prior to joining Cru, Joe was the CFO for a medical Real Estate development company that was both a licensed architecture firm and licensed General Contractor. 

Joy has been with Arrowhead since 2012 and has worked in the accounting field for over 30 years.

Joy has 2 adult sons and 7 grandchildren. She loves spending time with family and friends. Joy also has a passion for dancing, photography and community theater.

Rachel has worked in the hospitality industry for over 25 years, including serving on the Arrowhead team since 2007. Her journey started by attending a national Lutheran youth gathering in high school and being captivated by the logistics of it, which led her to pursue a career in the industry. She graduated summa cum laude from Kansas State University with her Bachelor’s degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management and worked in sales, catering, and convention services for Hyatt and Hilton brand hotels. Rachel met Arrowhead’s president, Scott Falk, on a site visit and upon learning about the ministry she felt a calling to utilize her skills and knowledge of the industry to live out her passion to serve ministries.

While with Arrowhead she earned her Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and Certified Faith-Based Meeting Professional (CFMP) certifications and has served on the Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA) Board of Directors. She also engages in speaking opportunities at industry conferences and serves on several advisory boards, including the Christian Meetings & Conventions Association (CMCA) Advisory Team. Her other hobbies include real estate investing, traveling, and exploring nature while off-roading with her husband, Justin.

Scott Falk became president of Arrowhead Conferences & Events in January 2018 after more than 21 years with the organization. In his previous role of vice president, Scott provided leadership and direction to all Arrowhead account managers and associates, directed marketing efforts, and implemented new business strategies and technology advances. Before joining Arrowhead, Scott worked as a convention center director of Concordia University Chicago and as a director of Christian education at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School in Santa Monica, CA. He is a graduate of Concordia University Chicago.

Scott and his wife Suzanne married in 1998, and they have six children with a 10-year age span from teen to early adulthood. When not spending time with the family, you will find him reading, going for long walks, and investing in real estate. Scott is currently a board member of the Garuna Foundation and is the current president of his home church in Vista, CA. He is a founding member of the Christian Meetings & Conventions Association (CMCA) and has also served on the advisory councils of the Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA), Rejuvenate (now Connect Faith), InterContinental Hotels, and Associated Luxury Hotels, as well as numerous convention and visitors bureau advisory boards.

Sonia joined the Arrowhead team in 2012. She has served in a variety of capacities, including directing the site-selection and contract negotiation process for Lifeway’s women’s arena events and helping develop new business initiatives to expand Arrowhead’s service to ministries. In 2018 she became Director of Account Management, and now serves as Arrowhead’s Director of Services.

Sonia attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, and spent a semester in Spain, studying at the University of Salamanca, before graduating in 1995. After graduation, she moved to Atlanta to look for a job with the 1996 summer Olympics and landed her first dream job with the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau where she assisted with welcoming visitors and promoting the city for the Olympics. She then transitioned to trade show sales, and eventually moved into hotel sales with the Hyatt Regency Atlanta where she spent three years as a sales manager. She then decided to try the other side of conference planning and joined Resort Marketing Associates as an account executive, helping corporate clients with site selection, negotiation and on-site logistics. With Atlanta still her home, Sonia enjoys spending time with family, exploring new hiking trails in the Smoky Mountains, and a warm cup of coffee and good book.

Sheila has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Prior to working with Arrowhead, she worked with Hyatt Hotels for over a decade. She started her career as an event coordinator in Austin at a resort and spa and then moved to Indianapolis to join the sales team at Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. She began as a meeting connections sales manager booking and servicing groups and worked her way up to senior sales manager booking conventions and large conferences for national associations, non-profit groups, and sports teams. In 2012, she left the industry to raise her two young boys. After a few years, she missed the hospitality world and was excited for the opportunty to come back and combine her passion for planning conventions with ministry to work for Arrowhead.

Sheila and her husband Brian live in the suburbs of Indianapolis with their boys. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em). Brian’s job in the corporate agriculture industry moved them from Texas to Indiana, but they still claim to be Southerners. In her free time, when she’s not shuttling kids to sports practices and school activities, Sheila likes to travel the world attending musical festivals, planning girls’ trips to the beach, exploring the outdoors with her kids, and working out.

Tommy has over 45 years of experience in event planning. He served for 31 years at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee, retiring as the senior lead event coordinator for all national events. Upon his retirement from Lifeway in 2013, he joined the Arrowhead team as an account manager. Tommy graduated from Louisiana College in Pineville, LA with a BS degree in music education and went on to pursue a Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He has also earned the CMP and CFMP certification. Through the years, he has served as a bi-vocational Minister of Music, church pianist, children’s choir leader, handbell director, and choir member.

Tommy is married to Sandi, a retired educator, and they have two married daughters, Katie and Mary-Wallace, two great sons-in-law, and the two smartest and cutest grandchildren in the world, Sam and Ellie Grace. In his spare time, Tommy enjoys playing the piano, reading, working in his flower beds, and working jigsaw puzzles, the latest one having over 2000 pieces. Tommy and Sandi also love to travel, having traveled to Europe numerous times, as well as Alaska, Panama, and the Caribbean. He has traveled to 49 of the 50 states.