Meet our Creators

  • Mark McIlraith

    Host/Founder/CEO

    The Rev. Dr. Mark McIlraith has been serving in leadership, ministry, and the academy for over 20 years in California, New York City, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. His experience includes keynote speaking, teaching at the university level, mission planting, staff leadership, conference directing, and publishing. Mark earned his BA at Whitworth University, his MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and his PhD from Gonzaga University. He served as pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs (Colorado), Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church in Spokane (Washington), Moorpark Presbyterian Church (Southern California), and Lake Grove Presbyterian Church in Lake Oswego (Oregon). Mark launched soma.digital in 2023, innovating spiritual formation in the digital space and enjoys spending time with his three children and his wife, Paige.

  • James Dirksen

    COO

    James Dirksen has over 30 years of experience working in nonprofits, start-ups, and public companies bringing products and services to the global market. He began his career as an internet security engineer in 1994 at Northrop Grumman and PwC. James specialized in performing needs analysis, designing systems and software to achieve organizational goals, and leading teams to develop and deploy the right solutions. Since 2011, James has specialized in helping non-profits and social enterprises research and deploy cost-effective tech solutions that allow them to achieve their organizational and growth goals. James lives with his wife Dana and near his six grown children in Portland, Oregon.

  • Ben Wilson / Cuaseway Collective

    Producer

    Ben Wilson has been filmmaking since before he could drive. What started out as cheesy superhero spinoffs made with neighborhood friends turned into his life’s work. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Communications/Cinema Arts, Ben began working as a videographer and editor, producing and editing content for small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofit organizations, and various clients in fields like theater, reality television, music, acting, and sports. Ben has been a key player in developing immersive VR capabilities for soma.digital since the ministry's inception.

Meet the Board


  • Emeritus Board Member

    Amy Carter received her BS in Nursing at South Dakota State University and MS in Nursing Leadership in Healthcare Systems at Regis University. She worked many years as a Registered Nurse and now enjoys fitness, gardening, reading, and cooking. She is a wife, mom of two grown children, and grandmother of two little ones. Amy finds community, family, and friendships wherever she and her husband Steve are living.


  • Board Member

    Donna Davis is an expert in virtual reality (VR), digital embodiment, tech equity and inclusion, and digital social capital. At the University of Oregon in Portland, she is an associate professor and director of both the Oregon Reality Lab and the new Immersive Media Communication Master’s program that launched in Fall 2023. Her ethnographic research focuses on the potential uses of social virtual worlds, gamification, and other emerging immersive media, with a special interest in marginalized and vulnerable communities.


  • Chair of the Board

    John Ewert values collaborative business relationships and leading technology companies through sustained rapid growth. As a business partner his over 25-year tenure includes Fortune 500 companies (5X), initial public offerings and numerous buy-side and sell-side acquisitions. Early in his career John earned his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and as COO/CFO has led operations, development, legal, finance and administration, customer facing and investor relations functions. More recently he has served on non-profit and for-profit boards in both board chair and committee chair roles. When not indoors focused on business partnering, John enjoys spending time in the great outdoors adventuring with his wife and four daughters.


  • Secretary of the Board

    Ian King, former Beaverton city council member, earned his doctorate at George Fox University. He has his Master of Business Administration from Chapman University and Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Southern California. He currently instructs in the Management Department at the Oregon Institute of Technology.  His teachings focus on Business Administration, Ethics, and Economics.


  • Treasurer of the Board

    John Kurdelak is the Executive Director at Trinity Academy, a Christian school serving students in grades 6-12 in North Portland, OR.  Before that, he was the Senior Director of Advancement at Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, IN.  John has been known to take on singing projects from time to time, and he has a specific passion for bringing Christians together across denominational lines. He brings a breadth of advancement and nonprofit governance knowledge.  John is Vice President and Secretary of the Oregon Federation of Independent Schools, and as a 2X Notre Dame graduate, he serves on the board of the ND Club of Portland. John and his wife Claire have seven children.


  • Board Member

    Tyler McKinley is a senior product and intellectual property executive who has delivered digital products and technology within data, imaging, analytics, signals, mobile, SaaS, and connected devices. He is an inventor or co-inventor on twenty-one patents in fields of precision timing and geolocation, mobile devices, steganography, smart meters, synchronized metrology in power systems, and video encoding. He is dedicated to the craft of product design, development and growth, and loves building strong teams. He is a multi-time start-up founder and CEO, having his most recent venture acquired in 2017. Tyler is currently a Managing Director at GTT Group, a strategic patent advisory and transactions firm and serves as a Managing Director of Ideaship, its venture fund.


  • Emeritus Board Member

    Chris Murphy is the pastor at Newberg First Presbyterian Church in Newberg, Oregon. He received his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to pastoring, Chris is a spiritual director and retreat leader who occasionally teaches with Renovare, CFDM Northwest (Christian Formation and Direction Ministries), and Portland Seminary. He is excited to partner with SOMA Digital in providing creative ways to bring spiritual formation to people on a journey to know and love God deeply. Chris is also grateful for his wife Karen and two daughters, Cate and Chiara.