Comings and Goings
July 10th, 2017
The university welcomes Jekabs Bikis as dean of the College of Business. He joins the university after working as chair of the Business Administration Department at LCC International University in Lithuania since 2014. Before that, he spent eight and a half years at Dallas Baptist University, serving as an assistant and associate professor of business, in addition to working in a number of administrative roles, including as faculty liaison for service learning (2007-09), director of hybrid education (2009-11), interim associate dean of the College of Business (2011-12), and dean of online education (2012-14). In all, he has 14 years of teaching and administrative experience. Jekabs earned a PhD in public policy and political economy from the University of Texas at Dallas (2011), an MDiv in theology from Baylor University (2005), an MBA in international business from Dallas Baptist University (2001) and a bachelor of business administration in finance from Dallas Baptist (1999). While in Dallas, he was also on the board of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association for Business Economics, serving as president in 2013. He currently lives in the countryside near Scholls as his family looks for a home in Newberg. Jekabs is married to April, and they have three children: Isaac, Christian and Liva.
Adam Puckett, a 2004 graduate of George Fox and a member of its board of trustees since 2011, joined the university in June as director of athletics, taking over for retiree Craig Taylor. Adam arrives from Delap, a Portland-based accounting and advisory firm where he was a partner and worked the last 13 years as a Certified Public Accountant. He was an athlete himself at George Fox in the early 2000s, and he remains No. 4 on the school’s all-time lists in the long jump and triple jump. He earned All-American status in the long jump his senior season, and in 2014 he was honored with the university’s Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award. Adam has remained active at the university since graduating with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and accounting. In addition to serving on the board of trustees, he has worked the past year and a half at George Fox as an adjunct professor teaching corporate tax classes. Adam lives in Newberg with his wife, Brook, and their two young children, Michaela and Josiah.
Ryan Ingersoll joins George Fox this summer as dean of libraries. He arrives from Seattle Pacific University, where he has been head of library technology since 2010. Before that, he spent two years as a teaching and learning spaces liaison at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Ryan worked previously as a youth and family ministry coordinator for high schoolers and adults at Zion Lutheran Church in Kent, Washington (2007-08), and he gained higher education experience as an information technology systems administrator at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, Washington (2003-07). More recently, he taught courses on digital readiness and faculty teaching strategies at Seattle Pacific in 2015-16. Ryan earned a master’s degree in digital education leadership from Seattle Pacific (2016) and a bachelor’s degree in youth and family ministry from Trinity Lutheran College (2007). He lives in Newberg with his wife Heather and young son Theodore.
After working on a part-time basis since January, Maddy Boylan is now a full-time administrative assistant in the Graduate School of Counseling. Prior to serving in her part-time role, she was a graduate assistant in the department from November of 2015 to December of 2016. Maddy worked previously in Seward, Nebraska, where she was a sales associate for Second Closet, a secondhand store that served the local community (2014-15), and an intern and volunteer with CASA for Children, for which she served as a court-appointed advocate for children involved in family court matters. Maddy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and psychology from Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, in 2015. She lives in Portland with her husband Matthew and their two rescue pets, a cat named Simba and a dog named Nala. Maddy and Matt are still looking for a church community to call home.
Jeff Wright (IT) left the university in late May.
Thomas Peng (Admissions) left George Fox in early June.
Lizz Schallert (Social Work) left the university at the end of June.
Elise Gibson (IDEA Center) has been accepted into the university’s PsyD program. Her last day working in the IDEA Center will be Aug. 4.
Megan Gifford (Adult Degree Program) left the university at the end of June.
Dexter Ballard (Custodial) left the university in June.