Vice Presidents
Brian Becker, Vice President for Ministry Programs -- Bio
Holly Harrison Fiala, Vice President of Advancement -- Bio

Mr. Brian Becker
Vice President for Ministry Programs
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As the Vice President for Ministry Programs, Brian Becker manages Wheat Ridge Ministries’ program efforts, including grant programs and other resources and services designed to assist leaders who are developing new health-related ministries.  He also provides leadership for Wheat Ridge Ministries’ efforts to promote health and wellness and assists the president in the areas of planning and meeting facilitation.

Before joining the Wheat Ridge staff in January of 2006, Brian served as Senior Director of Development for Concordia University Chicago for six years.  In that capacity, Brian served as campaign coordinator for the $40 million comprehensive Campaign for Learning and Leadership.  He also worked directly with alumni and community relations, as well as interacting with the marketing department to coordinate events, publications and all fundraising functions for the university.

Prior to joining Concordia University, Brian was a self-employed consultant to a wide variety of organizations throughout the world, including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Cigna, Merck, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Kansas City Royals and Swiss Valley Farms.  His expertise in the areas of leadership, sales development and strategic planning are helping individuals to maximize their skills to have a dramatic positive impact on their organizations.

Brian received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University (then Concordia Teachers College) and his master’s degree in music performance from DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.  He and his wife, Kim, reside in Maywood, Illinois, and are the parents of two children, Anna and Jeff.  They are members of Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois.

Holly Harrison Fiala
Vice President of Advancement
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Ms. Holly Harrison Fiala joined Wheat Ridge Ministries in January 2007 as Vice President for Advancement. In this position, she directs the development functions, including major gifts, planned giving, donor relations and special events.

Prior to her arrival at Wheat Ridge, Harrison Fiala had served as an independent consultant since 2004. Among her clients, she worked with the Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska (ROSSIA) in Anchorage, Alaska, regarding campaign readiness for restoring landmark church properties in the state. Harrison Fiala also consulted with a Chicago-area non-profit that serves the elderly to help the agency reconstitute their board of directors while positioning them for effective fund raising in the private sector.
From 1999-2004, Harrison Fiala was the Regional Director for the Western Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is dedicated to protecting America’s irreplaceable historic buildings and the neighborhoods they anchor. As regional director, she was responsible for an eight-state area of the West, including Hawaii and Alaska, providing program services and launching fund raising efforts.

From 1991-99, Harrison Fiala served as the Executive Director for Inspired Partnerships, an organization founded to assist congregations in the Chicagoland area with the care of their religious properties so they could serve the community’s civic needs. Launched with an initial $1.5 million grant Harrison Fiala secured from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., Inspired Partnerships doubled in size while increasing the annual operation budget and also its membership program to nearly 800 congregations. The organization also received numerous national and local acclaim, including awards from the National Park Service, the National Center for Appropriate Technology and the Chicago Leadership Award for Technology.

Harrison Fiala has authored several articles including, “Landmark Churches Preserving a Legacy of Faith and Community,” “Conservation of Surplus Schools” and co-authored “Conservation of Urban Religious Properties,” which was distributed nationally by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

A member of the Association for Fund Raising Professionals, Harrison Fiala graduated from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, with a bachelor’s degree in education and earned a master’s degree in art history from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a certificate in non-profit management from the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, and certificates in fund raising planning and major gift development from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana.