Leadership - The Executive Director

Rev. Matthew David González, J.D. was born in Chicago on a cold day in February, 43 years ago, the only child of Robert, a Vietnam veteran, and Elizabeth, a widely-published medical journalist and editor (including at the Journal of the American Medical Association, where she was an Asssociate Editor who also wrote over 200 stories, and Medical World News, where she was Managing Editor), nonprofit executive (including at the American Academy of Pediatrics), immensely gifted writer of poetry and prose, visual mixed media artist, health lawyer, and radiantly loving mother. Through his maternal line he is descended from seven Protestant pastors and ordained theologians. His father's family is also profoundly religious, with three of his aunts, his paternal grandmother, and two of his great aunts, having their respective lay ministries edified by glossolalia (tongues). His father's sister Ann Camelia Bugliani, Ph.D. (née González) was a longtime romance languages professor (she has educated fluency in all of the romance languages), and eventual chairperson of the Modern Languages and Literature department at Loyola University, Chicago.

Matthew grew up in Skokie, Illinois, where he attended wonderful public schools. In 2000 he matriculated as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, where he pursued a broad liberal arts education, majoring in history (Americas concentration) and preparing to be certified in Illinois as a middle and high school history and social sciences teacher. He also, as an undergraduate, was involved in extensive tutoring and teaching efforts. After graduation he spent three years teaching history and political science in the Chicago public schools. He then entered the private sector, founding and running a corporation, Grether & Company, that earned revenue from several sectors. "Grether" was the surname of five of his ordained ancestors. He then attended Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2021. In lieu of practicing law he embraced the call to pursue ordained ministry and matriculated at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2022. He will be taking the bar exam during late July of 2025, and intends to start his own law firm focusing on commercial litigation.

More about Matthew's professional background can be found on his LinkedIn page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewdgonzalez