Executive Leadership Team

Christian Union

Matt Bennett

Founder and CEO

Matt Bennett is founder and CEO of Christian Union, a Christian leadership development organization with the mission to bring sweeping spiritual and cultural transformation to our nation and the world by developing and networking Christian leaders to make an impact for Christ. Christian Union focuses its activity on America's most selective and influential universities and on professionals in the nation's key cities.

A native of Houston, Texas, Matt earned BS and MBA degrees from Cornell University and holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He worked for Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Princeton University for 12 years, and developed the ministry into one of the largest in the history of the Ivy League. In 2002, he founded Christian Union. The ministry has been featured in The New York Times, PBS, NPR, Christianity Today, and World Magazine. Matt currently resides in New York City.

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Lorri Bentch

Vice President of Operations

Lorri graduated magna cum laude from Princeton with a degree in Politics. She served in missions in Mexico and Russia, then in 1994 she and her husband moved to Hungary to launch a new ministry among fine-arts professionals in Eastern Europe. She earned a Masters of Law in Constitutional Law from Central European University and helped plant a church. 

Lorri joined Christian Union in 2007 and served as a ministry fellow for five years before assuming her current role. Lorri and her husband, Tim, have three daughters.

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Scott Crosby 

Ministry Director, Christian Union New York

Scott is a graduate of The American University in Washington, DC. During 30 years of residence in Asia he has worked in diverse areas of the arts, publishing and missions.

Scott established a gallery for Chinese contemporary art in Shanghai, as well as models of urban ministry in some of Asia's global cities.

In 2010, Scott returned to the US to establish the New City Commons Foundation to work with churches and networks in developing sustainable and effective models of Christian engagement of culture.

Scott and his family have travelled extensively and are on a perpetual quest to locate new sources of authentic Chinese cuisine.

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Patrick Dennis 

Vice President of Communications

Patrick oversees Christian Union's communication efforts. His career has uniquely prepared him for this role, as he has spent more than twenty years helping for-profit companies and non-profit organizations communicate well. Along with his wife, Karey, he also spent eight years on staff with Cru, ministering to college students on a full-time basis.

From 1999 to 2009, he served as the president and creative director of a brand strategy and commmunciation design firm that he co-founded in Northern Virginia. During that time, he had the opportunity to consult with and serve a wide range of national ministries, as well as organizations ranging from well-funded startups to Fortune 500 companies. Upon selling his share of the firm in 2009, he began consulting with a very select handful of clients across America. Over the last several years, he has invested a growing majority of his time in serving with Christian Union.

He and Karey live in Northern Virginia and have three children. They enjoy skiing and diving together, and Patrick has been known to be found on the golf course occasionally.

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Daniel P. Elwell, Sr.

Vice President of Development

Dan brings more than 15 years of experience in development, higher education advancement, fundraising, sales, marketing, branding and organizational management.

Prior to Christian Union, Dan served as Vice President of University Advancement at New Jersey City University. He also served as Executive Director of the NJCU Foundation. Overseeing multiple departments in its Advancement Division, Dan led development, alumni relations, marketing, communications, advancement services, public relations, community relations and government relations.

At The Ohio State University Dan served as Senior Director of Advancement, responsible for OSU's 35,000+ constituents in the greater New York Metropolitan area. Dan also spent five years in development at his alma mater, Rutgers University, which included serving as Director of Regional Campaigns.

Dan spent seven years in various sales and business development roles for corporations, such as Vonage, where he was responsible for the North American retail sales team. He helped position the company for a successful VC funding drive and IPO.

Dan, his wife, Laura, and their children live in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

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Carol Fausnaught

Associate Vice President of Development

Carol grew up in Indiana, attended Princeton University, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in History in 1994. She worked as an intern with Campus Crusade for Christ at Princeton University from 1994-1996 under Matt Bennett.  From 1996 - 2006 Carol worked for the business consulting divisions of PriceWaterhouse, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and IBM. Carol left IBM in 2006 to join Christian Union.  

Carol lives with her husband, Todd (Princeton '94), and their three children in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 

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Quincy "Wolfgang" Watkins