For the first time, an African-American and a woman were elected as two of the three top officers for the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) at its constituency session on Nov. 7.

Gerald D. Penick, Sr., is president and Sandra Roberts is executive secretary. They are serving with Thomas G. Staples, who was reelected as treasurer.

Penick’s administrative experience includes 12 years as executive secretary and three years as assistant to the president for black ministries in SECC. Roberts has been associate youth director for the conference since 2000, a pastor, and manager of Pine Springs Ranch. With roots in South Africa, Staples has been treasurer of SECC since 1994. His experience includes serving as secretary-treasurer in the Ethiopian and Middle East Unions and treasurer of the Southeast Asian Union.

Gerald Penick

Preaching runs in Gerald Penick’s blood. His father and the four uncles who married his mother’s sisters were preachers. He followed in their footsteps along with one brother and five cousins. Today, his son Eric is also an SECC pastor.

Penick graduated from Oakwood College with majors in music and theology, and later earned a a master's degree in music at Mississippi Valley State College.

Beginning his pastoral career in 1971, Penick worked in Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio. He was called to SECC in 1981 as senior pastor of the Kansas Avenue church in Riverside. Before joining the conference office staff in 1989, he ministered to the 31st Street Church in San Diego.

Sandra Roberts

Sandra Roberts is a can-do person. Mission trips exemplify how she co-mingles planning and organizational skills with a heart for ministry. Each of her 30 trips has touched and changed the youth volunteers.

The variety of Roberts’ experiences—pastor, Bible teacher, school chaplain, women’s dean, youth resource center director for the Pacific Union and North American Division, and manager of Pine Springs Ranch—have made her a unique asset in the SECC youth department. One colleague says, “No matter what situation arose, she had experience to draw on. She is also totally committed to supporting pastors in local churches with resources, encouragement and lay leadership training.”

Roberts earned a bachelor's degree in clinical dietetics from Loma Linda University, a master's in religious education at Andrews University, and will complete a Doctor of Ministry degree at Claremont School of Theology later this year.

Tom Staples

Tom Staples is a citizen of the world. His Belgian maternal grandparents pioneered Adventist work in Rwanda before World War I. He was born in the Belgian Congo where his parents gave 35 years of service.

Staples graduated from Pacific Union College with a double major in religion and business, and later earned an M.B.A. at La Sierra University. He entered denominational employment in 1970 as an accountant for the Northern California Conference. The next year, he and his wife, Karen, became missionaries, accepting a call to Beirut, Lebanon.

During college, Staples took a sailing course and discovered a life-long hobby. Later, he and Karen arranged to spend 18 months sailing around the world in a 43-foot ocean-going ketch from Singapore via Africa. An early typhoon season squelched the trip, but not the desire. He loves working with lay members and pastors in SECC, but looks forward to someday setting sail for distant ports.