Brock Oyler
President and Executive Director

Brock Oyler is the founder of The Convergence Project and is also its Executive Director. Brock has a 26-year background as a group facilitator and a conflict management specialist. He has also been involved in curriculum development for colleges and universities and has taught at the university level in the areas of interpersonal communication, group dynamics, conflict resolution, and public speaking.

Brock graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds an M.A. in Organizational Communication from Purdue University.

As an undergraduate he participated in “Semester at Sea”, a 46-year-old program that provides shipboard education to college students as they earn college credit and travel to various ports around the world. Impressed by the interconnectedness and interdependence of the cultures that he observed, Brock’s belief that we are more alike than different was fostered.

Brock’s work in conflict management further shaped his beliefs as he frequently saw the lack of long-term results when groups were asked to “give up” or compromise something of who they were or what they believed. This lead to a focus on the “area of existing agreement” as the meeting point for engagement between groups.

In his free time, Brock enjoys ethnic cooking, collecting Pre-Columbian art, and spending time at his cabin.

“It’s probably not that we are so terribly different from one another as much as the fact that we focus more on our differences than on our similarities. The Convergence Project hopes to change that.”

Dr. Jeff Stuyt
Vice-President

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Jeff Stuyt obtained a B.S. and M.A. in the Sociology of Recreation and has had a passion for the outdoors ever since. He received a Fulbright exchange study grant and used it to study for a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Management at Texas A&M University. After getting married, he was hired by Texas Tech University where he spent a number of years teaching in his professional field.

  In 1999, he and Libby moved to Pueblo, Colorado where she was hired as a psychiatrist by the State Hospital and he obtained a teaching position at then USC, now CSU-Pueblo. The courses he has taught include Leadership and Ethics, Program Design, Facility Design, Therapeutic Recreation, Research and Evaluation, Commercial Recreation and Tourism. Dr. Stuyt advises all of the majors in this field at CSU and supervises their practicums and internships . As an adjunct of the Presidential Leadership Program (PLP), a member of the 7-college Colorado Leadership Alliance (CLA), he conducts service learning projects that benefit minority groups and community organizations in the region.

  As a native of the Netherlands, he was brought up in a political system that built coalitions in order to govern, and a social justice system that favored the underdog. This has made him a firm believer in the concept of Convergence, in the sense that we can disagree without being disagreeable. At this time, he has been involved in The Convergence Project and the challenge to establish a supportive group in the Pueblo area.

“TCP is valuable to me because it aims at reducing and eventually eliminating disagreement, distrust, misunderstanding, war and xenophobia in the world as we know it. Getting those with opposing viewpoints to respect and trust each other is a challenging, yet rewarding idea that we should practice in our daily lives. Hopefully, this organization will create the synergy that multiplies the sum of individual efforts that have been undertaken already.”

 
Scot Zellmer
Treasurer

Scot Zellmer was born and raised in Minnesota and after high school served for seven years in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman and Criminal Investigator. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Alternative Education from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He and his wife Robbie have three adult children and three grandchildren.

Scot has worked with at-risk children and teens in a variety of settings including an alternative high school in Minneapolis, a grant funded outdoor education program that he created and managed, and as an instructor in Outward Bound in both Minnesota and Colorado. He also worked as a facilitator promoting team-building and improved group dynamics with numerous organizations including educational entities, (including the University of Minnesota), law enforcement, businesses, and non-profits.

In his free time, Scot enjoys a number of outdoor activities like tennis, skiing, and snowboarding. He also serves as a Path Guide for The Convergence Project.

“My belief in the need for social change is that so much time and energy is wasted on proving how different we are. Instead we need to embrace the needs we have in common as human beings and global citizens. I see the ‘common ground’ approach embodied within The Convergence Project as a clear way to implement, and be the basis for, change that I can believe in.”

John Nichols
Secretary

John Nichols is the Director of the William T. Driscoll Student Center at the University of Denver. Since joining the University in 1986, John has held a number of positions including the Director of the University Center Operations, Programs & Student Judicial Affairs and as the Director of the University Center/Conference, Meeting & Event Services.

Currently John is responsible for administering the comprehensive service, program and fiscal operations of the Student Center. He is currently working on the University’s academic Commons Project, a major building project for the Library and Student Center.

John holds a B.A. from Central Michigan University and an M.S. in College Student Personnel Administration from Western Illinois University. Previous board service includes the University Cooperative Credit Union, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of Colorado, and the Denver Arts Alliance.

When not working, John enjoys a variety of outdoor activities such as cycling, gardening, working on his home, and spending time with his Cairn Terrier, Lady.

“In a world where conflict, profound differences in values, and polarized ideals divide communities and nations, I am heartened by The Convergence Project’s unique approach to providing an environment where disparate groups come together through a process of discovery to reveal their common ground without discarding their values and beliefs.  I truly believe we can change the world and our communities if we focus our time and energy on that which unites us, our humanity.”

Dr. Lateefah Wielenga
Director

Dr. Lateefah Wielenga is the founder and Executive Director of Little Goddess, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) non-profit in Los Angeles, California. Originally founded in 2003 to serve developmentally disabled adolescent girls, Little Goddess has broadened its mission to serve developmentally disabled adult women in the L.A. area. It completes the mission by administering the program “Her Voice” which uses storytelling to assist in life decision- making as it enhances self-worth. Her Voice is a year long program that offers classes, mentoring, cultural exposure, and empowerment to all participants leading them toward feelings of worthiness, self-love, and discipline while guiding them away from poor decision-making.

Dr Wielenga has a Master’s Degree from Antioch University and a Ph.D. in depth psychology from Pacifica Institute. In addition to directing Little Goddess, Lateefah is also a life coach focusing on the areas of personal growth and communication, relationship issues, and stress and weight management. In her free time, Dr. Wielenga enjoys travel, fine dining, and is passionate about fashion.

“The Convergence Project is appropriate for today’s new energy. There is a deep positive vibration, a paradigm shift that is blanketing our world. We as a people understand that we are all in this together. Working together and focusing on our similarities opens our eyes to softly see that we are really not that different.”

Katie Symons
Director

Katie Symons is a native of Denver, CO and has spent all but five years of her life in Denver. Katie holds a B.A. in Languages & Literature from Whitman College and an M.A. in Higher Education with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Change from the University of Denver. She spent eight years working at DU as the Associate Director of the Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning and as Assistant Director of the Social Justice Living & Learning Community.

In early 2009, Katie transitioned out of higher education and is currently working for Denver’s Road Home, Mayor Hickenlooper’s 10-year plan to end homelessness. In this position, Katie serves as a homeless outreach coordinator and works to connect with shelter providers, resource agencies, and the homeless community, to address the issue of homelessness in the Metro Denver area.

Katie has enjoyed experiences both traveling and working abroad. She has lived in Chile and taught English in Brazil; she also led groups of students on service learning programs to Mexico and Nicaragua for four years while at DU. Katie is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

A passion for learning about different cultures and working with people from all walks of life has led Katie down the path of doing social justice work. In her free time, Katie enjoys reading, spending time with her partner and dog, and learning to play the piano.

“The Convergence Project and its values and goals are in line with my own philosophy about bridging the difference gap by coming together around common interests and values. Even if we are coming from opposite ends of a spectrum, we all have so much to learn – and gain – from one another. This organization has the potential to bring people together to create social change and improve the common good. We have so much work to do, and I believe this is an amazing starting point for that work!”

Rev. Dr. Gary Brower
Director

Gary Brower is the University Chaplain at the University of Denver, a post he has held since the summer of 2007. Prior to joining the DU community, he was Executive Director & Chaplain of the Berkeley Canterbury Foundation—the Episcopal campus ministry at UC-Berkeley—for eleven years. He has also served in similar positions at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and Duke University. Before his permanent move into the academic world, he spent seven years in management in the paper and allied industries.

Born and raised in Portland, OR, he earned bachelors degrees in Eugene, OR. His Master of Divinity came from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA. He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1993. And he earned a PhD in Early Christian History from Duke University.

Gary and his wife are the parents of two children, a girl and a boy, both adopted from China. Their love of cooking has been augmented by an appreciation for the nuances of the various cuisines of China. Gary is an avid cyclist (in 2005, he completed the AIDS LifeCycle, a 560-mile, 7-day ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles), and hopes, as the children grown older, to return to his other favorite hobby: bird-watching.

"In my work on college campuses over the last 20 years, I have become increasingly convinced that these environments are critical breeding grounds for cross-boundary understanding—whether religious, cultural, ethnic or philosophical. If we achieve our goal in helping that understanding come about, we will have done much to ensure a more peaceful future. I believe that the work of The Convergence Project is right on track to help make that dream into reality."