Our Team

Mike Humphrey

Board Chair

Mike Humphrey serves as chairman of Commonwealth. His career in private equity began as co-founder of Tanglewood Investments in 1997, a private equity firm focused on hands-on investing in the global manufacturing industry. Over seventeen years Tanglewood acquired 22 businesses that were assembled into five operating groups. These groups were re-envisioned, restored to profitability, and sold to long-term owners.

Learn more about Mike here.

Chuck Bentley

Board Member

Chuck Bentley is the Founder and Executive Director of the Christian Economic Forum where focuses on advancing God’s economic principles through this annual gathering of select marketplace leaders dedicated to improving the world through the advancement of ideas that work. He is also CEO of Crown Financial Ministries. Chuck is the author of four books and he produces a daily radio broadcast heard on over 1,200 outlets in the USA. He also serves on the board of Foundations for Farming, an initiative aimed at bringing transformation to individuals, communities, and nations through sustainable agriculture and faithful stewardship of the land.

Cliff Benson

Board Member

Cliff is managing partner of American Homesmith and he works in asset management. He is also president of the Palin Foundation, chair of the National Christian Foundation-Carolinas, and chair of Mission Triangle. He and his father tell their philanthropy story in the book, The Generosity Bet. Cliff played competitive golf throughout his career and he has provided faith-infused mentoring through groups such as Telemachus.

Jay Hein

Managing Director

Jay directs Commonwealth as part of his role as president of Sagamore Institute. Between these two entities, he manages a $20 million annual budget and 50 staff who perform a series of research, consulting, and impact investments accelerating market solutions to uplift society. He also directed numerous public-private social enterprises as a senior advisor to President George W. Bush from 2006-08 and chronicled the White House compassion agenda in his book, The Quiet Revolution.

Learn more about Jay here.

John Handelsman

Managing Director, Commonwealth Ventures

With 35 years of experience in specialty finance, strategic leadership, and consulting, John has a proven track record in leading businesses to success. Most recently, he was the Operating Partner for Brixey & Meyer Capital, co-leading a $40M raise of Fund II and leading the strategic planning and execution processes of all Fund I and Fund II businesses including serving as chairman of the boards.

John won EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award during his time as Founder, President, and CEO of The Vaughn Group, Inc., a Cincinnati-based commercial equipment finance company.

John is driven to mobilize the gifts of the team members, create value for all stakeholders and tirelessly serve the client. His courage comes from knowing how to calculate risk and work interdependently with teams of smart, capable people in order to solve problems.

Rob Panos

Chief of Staff

Rob Panos serves as Director of Strategic Operations and Chief of Staff at Sagamore Institute. Prior to joining Sagamore, he helped individuals and companies make meaningful charitable investments at the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado in Fort Collins. He has worked in numerous capacities in the nonprofit sector and brings a passion for service and community engagement. Rob received his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Public Policy degrees from the University of Virginia.

Rich Westlake

Chief Financial Officer

Rich Westlake joined Commonwealth as Chief Financial Officer in 2020 upon the retirement of his longtime friend and business associate, C.E. Crouse. Rich received his degree from Greenville College and earned his CPA Certificate while employed with Capin & Crouse, a local CPA firm.

Throughout his career, Rich has served in multiple executive roles including CEO, COO, and CFO. His background includes a diverse set of industries from homebuilding and related trades to farming, staffing, and real estate.

Most recently, Rich served as CFO at Shepherd Community Center, a well-known Indianapolis non-profit ministry and partner of Commonwealth, making a positive impact on social issues with the community.

Jacob Baldwin

Program Manager

Jacob serves as Commonwealth’s Program Manager. Prior to his work at Commonwealth, Jacob was a business analyst at Red Ventures in Charlotte, NC. He studied business administration at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and is fascinated by the intersection of faith, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship.

Amy Sherman

Social Measurement

Amy directs the social measurement activities of Commonwealth. After receiving her Ph.D. in international economic development from the University of Virginia in the early 1990s, she has been one of the nation’s leading faith-based social enterprise scholar-practitioners in America. She has written numerous books including Kingdom Calling, one of the leading contributions to the field of vocational stewardship.

Learn more about Amy here.

C.E. Crouse

CFO Emeritus

C.E. serves as CFO of Sagamore Institute (501c3) and Sagamore Investments, LLC. Prior to his work at Sagamore, he was a co-founder of Capin Crouse which is one of the nation’s leading accounting firms for nonprofit organizations. He also served as chairman of Asbury University in his hometown of Wilmore, Kentucky.

Dan and Marsha Coats

Co-Founders

Dan and Marsha Coats established the Foundation for American Renewal in 1999 to increase the understanding and practice of effective compassion in America. Since then, Dan has served as US Ambassador to Germany, as United States Senator from Indiana, and as Director of National Intelligence. Dan and Marsha met at Wheaton College and remain very committed to growing and improving faith-based giving and serving.