Eva Bender
Chief Operating Officer
(she/her)
Eva comes to us from Weddington Methodist Church where she served as the Executive Director of Operations (EDO) and oversaw the church’s $6.5M budget and business operations across four campuses, two schools with 500+ students, and a mental health counseling center. Beyond delivering business performance metrics, Eva is most proud of having created psychologically safe spaces and fostering a culture of trust, openness and vulnerability among the Weddington Church staff. Before serving as EDO, Eva was the Director of Communications at Weddington Church, where she led a successful rebranding initiative, oversaw the development of a new style guide, created new visual assets, and implemented cost-effective communications and marketing strategies.
Before moving into her role at Weddington Methodist Church, Eva led the professional development division of a global trade association; developed customized training programs for major banks and helped the association expand into Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She has 20+ years of private sector experience managing all aspects of live events and adult education programs, from initial concept to post-event analysis, and is professionally certified in meetings management. Later, Eva partnered with a retired English Premier League captain and England national team soccer player to open a sports recruiting agency that helped young athletes, and their families navigate the path to college athletics. Then she founded and owned a marketing agency focused on helping small (mostly women-owned) businesses grow and thrive in their local communities.
Eva has seven years’ experience as an executive coach, with multiple professional certifications, holds an active Health Coach certification and was previously a certified trainer and nutritionist serving post-operative and chronically ill clients at a health club in New York City. She has also worked closely with several fitness businesses to help market and promote their studios. In her spare time, Eva is a certified Grief and End of Life Coach who holds sacred space for clergy, lay ministers, and other “helping professionals” as they journey through personal and professional grief towards spiritual wellness. Additionally, she earned a Culinary Apprentice Certificate at CPCC and holds a current ServSafe Manager certification.
Eva’s references described her as a “compassionate, honest, generous, patient, empathetic, a creative leader, and skilled verbal communicator who is great at identifying opportunities for improved processes and developing plans to implement them.” One said, “I witnessed so many of Eva’s skills at play that I constantly found myself in awe of her. As a phenomenal verbal communicator, she asked important questions, she earned the trust of ministry leaders, had hard conversations, and was able to research and implement systems that have completely transformed how everyone has worked together. She took the time to earn trust and build relationships with each ministry leader, she became our mentor, our professional coach, conflict resolution master, and honestly, the glue that held the staff together.” Another remarked, “I’ve seen Eva calmly defuse difficult and complex situations with a calm, assertive, confidence that gets things done.”