Board of Directors

Steven J. Kean, JD

Director / Board Chairman

Steven J. Kean holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a law degree from the University of Iowa. He has worked in the energy industry since 1985 in various commercial, operational and legal positions, primarily in the wholesale energy and pipeline sectors. He is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Office of the Chairman of Kinder Morgan, Inc., one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. He also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited. Mr. Kean is responsible for developing and executing the company’s vision and strategy and allocating capital to Kinder Morgan business units in a disciplined manner.

Melissa Kean, PhD

Director / Vice President

Melissa Kean is a member of St. Joseph Orthodox Church in Houston, Texas. During her time as the Historian of Rice University, she was named one of “Houston’s 41 Most Fascinating People” by the Houston Chronicle. Dr. Kean holds a BA from Iowa State, a Master’s degree from Creighton University, another Master’s degree from Rice University, and a PhD from Rice University. In addition to four history degrees, she also earned a JD from the University of Iowa. Dr. Kean’s leadership experience extends from her work with a private religious school for children to her service on a university board.

Shell Keim

Director  / Secretary 

Shell Keim holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from Gardner Webb University and is a graduate of the Classical Teaching Apprenticeship at the CIRCE Institute. In 2015, after spending 25 years homeschooling her six children through sixth grade, Shell joined the administration and faculty of Holy Youth Christian Academy in Chapel Hill, NC, a Coptic Orthodox parochial school, where she serves as principal and teaches kindergarten. Shell is also a long-term member of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Raleigh, NC, where she attends with her husband, Protodeacon David Keim, their children, and their growing families. Shell was the director of church school education at All Saints for 20 years, managing teachers, developing curriculum, and teaching middle school classes.

John Sobchak

Director / Treasurer

John Sobchak served for over twenty years as Chief Financial Officer of various public and and private corporations. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering from The Cooper Union and an MBA in finance from NYU.

Archpriest Richard Petranek

Director 

Father Richard Petranek served as the pastor of St. Paul Orthodox Church in Katy, Texas until his retirement in the summer of 2018. He possesses valuable experience working with parish day schools. Fr. Richard functioned as a chaplain in a parish day school of 450 children in grades K-8. He was a member of the Southwest Association of Episcopal Schools for over ten years. As a pastor, Fr. Richard oversaw a school of 750 students in grades K-8. In both schools, his responsibilities included supervision of multi-million dollar capital campaigns, and has raised over $21 million in building projects during his tenure. His responsibilities also included interviewing and approving future board members. Fr. Richard was invited by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to join the Order of Saint John for his commitment to service. 

Fr. Joseph Huneycutt

Director 

Fr. Joseph Huneycutt, a priest of the Antiochian Archdiocese, is the Dean of the East Texas Deanery in the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America and the pastor of St. Joseph Orthodox Church in Houston, Texas. He is the host of the Orthodixie podcast on Ancient Faith Radio and sometimes blogs at Orthodixie on Patheos.

Nick Massad, Jr.

Director 

Dragos Neacsu

Director 

Dragos Neacsu holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Bucharest and a Master’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of Oregon. He has worked in the energy industry since 2006 as an analyst in natural gas and power markets. He is currently a Fundamentals Advisor at BP North America Gas & Power, based in Houston. Dragos is responsible for generating long-term supply views on North American natural gas and natural gas liquids, as well as supporting BP’s power markets views, including basin deliverability, market consumption, infrastructure developments, competing fuels and regulatory trends. Dragos has served as the treasurer and president of the Parish Council of the Church of Saint Joseph.

John Pyrovolakis

Director 

Gordon Shahin, PhD

Director 

Gordon T. Shahin Jr. holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester, a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Bio-medical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Gordon was Manager for Shell’s Improved Oil Recovery engineering group and laboratory supervisor for over 14 years of his 33-year career.  He was the Shell Training Center Instructor for advanced reservoir engineering processes, and Senior Technical Consultant in Reservoir Engineering for Royal Dutch Shell group.  He has worked for Shell in the Energy Industry in various upstream development roles internationally and in the Gulf of Mexico. Gordon holds over 60 patents and has numerous publications. He is currently Vice President of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors in Houston, serves on the Parish Council of St. George Orthodox Church Houston, and is an active SCUBA diving instructor.