Plenary Speakers

Jeannette Maré (pronounced Mar-ay)

The simple kindness of strangers and friends sustained Jeannette Maré and her family after her son, Ben, died just before his third birthday. Inspired by these gestures, she created Ben’s Bells, a community art project that encourages and celebrates kindness. After years of teaching discourse analysis and sign language interpreting at the University of Arizona, she now works full time as the Executive Director of Ben’s Bells. Serving as the spokesperson for Ben’s Bells combines her two passions, teaching and community building, and she feels very fortunate to have the opportunity to connect with so many people across the state and the nation. Jeannette is very active in the Tucson community and loves to be physically active as well. She is a member of Ford Aquatics Masters Swim Team and enjoys participating in local swimming, cycling, running and multi-sport events. She is mother to four children: Matt, Leeza, Nika and forever, Ben.

Terry Crist

Terry Crist, a fifth generation pastor, has a lifetime of experience in helping hurting people. In addition to founding and pastoring four churches. He has traveled extensively into over sixty nations speaking in local churches, leadership conferences, and on university campuses. Terry and his wife, Judith, serve as the senior pastors of City of Grace a thriving, five-thousand member, multi-site congregation with campuses in Scottsdale, Mesa, and soon launching in Phoenix.

 

 

Clarence Carter

Clarence H. Carter, Director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, is a veteran social-service administrator with nearly 20 years of experience at the local, state and federal level. His track record is one of successful innovation in the delivery of entitlement programs, homeless services and prevention, child care services, adult protective services and teen pregnancy prevention.

Prior to coming to Arizona he was Director of the Department of Human Services for Washington, D.C. for 3 1/2 years. He also served as Deputy Administrator for the Food Stamp Program with the United States Department of Agriculture and was Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services.

During his federal tenure he managed the $30 billion federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program and implemented the program’s provision of emergency food stamp program for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

He also served as Director of the Federal Office of Community Services (OCS), where he managed the development of a new construct for the delivery of human services in the United States.

In Virginia his program was instrumental in an effort to bring more citizens to self-sufficiency. In his first five years more than 25,000 public assistance recipients obtained gainful employment, earning in excess of $200 million. During his tenure Virginia’s public assistance rolls were reduced by more than half, from an all-time high of 74,000 families to a 30-year low of 31,000.

Carter has long been a voice for transformation of the Nation’s social safety net from and aggregation of single-purpose programs to an integrated, person-centric model focused on growing the capacity of the socially and economically challenged in our society. His work in the Administration of George W. Bush and the District of Columbia have allowed him to lay the foundation for this transformative model; work he continues in the Department of Economic Security in Arizona.

Carter has testified before Congress, appeared on several public affairs programs including; Crossfire, and BET’s Our Voices, and shared his views on America’s human services challenges before an International assembly.