OUR TEAM + BOARD

ANNETTE OLTMANS

Founder and CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Annette Oltmans is a philanthropist and passionate human rights advocate. Annette’s personal experiences of long-term emotional abuse in marriage and her extensive journey of recovery including comprehensive field research into the topics of Original Abuse and Double Abuse® ignited her passion to founding The M3ND Project in 2016. While seeking the help of professionals and responders, she experienced Double Abuse® in the form of spiritual and institutional abuse. These harmful encounters compelled Annette in her relentless pursuit for solutions that involved interviews with hundreds of victims and survivors. She uncovered common threads that cause victims prolonged states of confusion as well as what ultimately led them towards healing. Her journey also involved interviews with hundreds of faith-based leaders and therapists which led her to discover that most are untrained and ill-equipped to identify and help victims of covert emotional abuse. In working to prevent and remediate such harm, Annette developed protocoled models that are now being taught and implemented with therapists, churches and professional organizations across the United States. She consulted with esteemed experts in abuse, trauma, and healing to ensure the materials align with the highest professional standards. Annette also serves on the Board of Pepperdine University’s Boone Center for the Family and is a Board of Trustee member of Northrise University in Zambia. Her writing on these topics of abuse, domestic violence, and bullying has been published in AACC, Teen Vogue, and other publications.

STEPHANIE BYERLY

Executive Director

Stephanie Byerly’s heart and long-time passion is in serving abused, neglected or abandoned children and their families by providing pro bono legal work, volunteering, and serving on various trustee and director boards. She is a philanthropist and advocate. She also is a trained community pastor and has pastored and mentored many women healing from various abuses and trauma. Stephanie is a litigator by trade and spent almost 15 years doing complex business litigation, along with a dedicated pro bono practice, with appearances in California State and Federal Courts, as well as the United States Supreme Court. As a passionate advocate and philanthropist, the M3ND Project vision and mission completely align with Stephanie’s experience and speak to her heart; she thoroughly enjoys watching people come into healing and a life of freedom through the education The M3ND Project provides.

Stephanie is married to her husband, Sean, and mother to their three children. She and her husband love hanging out at the beach together on the weekends and watching their kids play sports. A hallmark of their family life is a dry sense of humor and a lot of laughter!

JILL RICE

Director of Training and Curriculum

Jill Rice is the Executive Coordinator at The M3ND Project. She has over 15 years of experience working in the nonprofit world, including Church ministry and serving alongside the Chaplain of a University. Her degree is in Family Systems and Child Development, with graduate courses completed in Marriage and Family Therapy. Jill is fervent about the unique mission of M3ND to reach all those impacted by abuse, especially the Church and other responders on how to interface with victims of abuse. Jill is devoted to spending her time identifying and building meaningful connections with impact partners for training, educating, and serving the community regarding the effects of abuse and responses that heal.

Jill is a mom of two young boys and a native of Southern California. When she’s not at work, she can be found at the beach, enjoying time with her family and friends, or adventuring on bikes with her boys.

LAUREN HATCH

Social Media Content Manager

Lauren is The M3ND Project’s Social Media Content Creator and Manager. She also is the founder of Live Fearless Media, a media production company specializing in Social Media Strategy, Advertising and Content Creation. Lauren is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a BA in Communications and Rhetoric–specializing in political and visual rhetoric. She built her skills through a diverse professional background in communications, politics and finance. In June 2019, Lauren’s work in communications and social media reached over 5.5 million people. She has created hundreds of posts and captured thousands of followers to continue to spread the message of M3NDing worldwide.

Lauren is excited about contributing to The M3ND Project’s continued growth as we seek to end the cycle of abuse and Double Abuse®.

KENNY LUCK

Founder and President, Every Man Ministries
Leadership Pastor, Crossline Church Laguna Hills

Director: The M3ND Project

Kenny Luck is the founder and president of Every Man Ministries, which helps churches to develop healthy men’s ministries with the goal of protecting women and children and ending social problems such as fatherlessness and child abuse. He is also the leadership pastor at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills, California. From 1997 to 2014, Kenny served as the men’s pastor under Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California and is a recognized expert on men’s issues. He also is the author or co-author of 21 books, including “Dangerous Good,” “Every Man,” “Every Young Man,” and “Sleeping Giant: No Movement of God without Men of God.” Kenny also authored the Every Man series of Bible studies and the “Sleeping Giant” program of videos, Bible studies and meetings, of which Saddleback’s Warren praised, saying it “gives you a local church blueprint for moving men from being an audience sitting in a seat to becoming an army marching on the field in your congregation.”

Kenny has contributed to many publications and websites, including The Christian Post, Charisma, Christian Mingle, Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, New Man and Men of Integrity and frequently speaks at conferences organized by Every Man Ministries. He hosts the “Every Man Show” on KKLA radio in Los Angeles and regularly blogs at everymanministries.com. He earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and has served with Campus Crusade for Christ and the Josh McDowell Ministry. He was previously the CEO of New Life Clinics West.

Kenny enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Chrissy and their three children. Together, they like to travel and see the world and the beauty of all the people it holds.

TERRI PONCE DE LEON

Founder, Arise & Shine Transitional Living

Director: The M3ND Project

Terri’s passion is to inspire individual transformation and to help people steward God’s calling in their lives. Coming out of this passion, she and her husband, Randy, founded Arise & Shine Transitional Living for women who graduate from substance abuse recovery programs ready to take the next steps to relaunch their lives. Arise & Shine wraps its arms around the entire family providing them much-needed relationships and services to help them succeed. Terri is house “mom”, “grandma”, case manager and advocate, court monitor, mentor, and advisor to these women, their children, and their families.

Mrs. Ponce de Leon brings her expertise in charitable giving coming out of her 13-year career at the National Christian Foundation (one of the largest charitable giving foundations in the world) as a speaker, coach, and gift advisor. She currently serves as a Chaplain & Deaconess at Hosanna Christian Fellowship and leads in its Advocacy Program, Addiction Recovery Program, and Women’s Outreach Ministries. She is a CA state licensed facilitator for court-ordered Domestic Violence Programs, teaching The M3ND Project models to her teams. She served on the leadership team for Ruby Women, at Biola University, and has volunteered on multiple nonprofit boards. Currently, she is a student at the Sheriff Clergy Academy at Lakewood Sherrif Department, and in the Biblical Trauma Sex Trafficking training program to be able to minister in safe houses as well as to take part in human trafficking rescue missions in the Inland Empire and Orange County.

In her free time, Terri enjoys riding her Harley Davison motorcycle up the coast alongside her husband of almost 30 years and her family, including their extended family members from Arise and Shine.

CORINNE SPURRIER

Director: The M3ND Project

Corinne Spurrier brings a wealth of experience in both the private and nonprofit sectors. With a 12-year career in marketing and graphic design, Corinne designed corporate identities for Fortune 500 companies, worked on new product development and packaging, and led strategic market analysis. Matching her skills with her passion to end human trafficking and other injustices, Corinne has volunteered her expertise with churches, charities, and nonprofits such as Restore (NY), First Resort (San Francisco), AVAIL (NYC), Generosity New York, and Next Generation Nepal. Corinne has a particular gifting for event planning, chairing 800-person galas and helping organizations grow their fundraising events. Corinne is an advocate for generosity to better support nonprofit organizations. As a director for The M3ND Project, Corinne is grateful for the opportunity to expand M3ND’s reach as it educates the public on covert emotional abuse and Double Abuse®, equips first responders of all types on how to respond to abuse in a compassionate and healing manner, and to restore victims of abuse by providing clarity and encouragement during their journey toward healing.