Rescue Mission gets a new director

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

James G. Echement is the new executive director of The Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley.

Echement replaces the Rev. David L. Sherrard, who Rescue Mission Board President Ronald Midgley said resigned for personal reasons. The Rev. Mr. Sherrard was executive director for 23 years.

Echement, whose appointment by the board of directors was effective March 22, has served since 2003 as director of development for the ministry, and he has spent his career in consulting, management and marketing leadership positions in Pittsburgh and Youngstown.

As director of development, he was responsible for foundation, corporate and individual giving, growing the volunteer base and instituting policy for the mission.

Echement was selected for the position “based on his track record of leadership, commitment to serving the needy and knowledge of the ministry of rescue in the Mahoning Valley,” said Midgley.

A graduate of Duquesne University, Echement’s credentials include certification as a fundraising executive.

He is a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Mahoning/Shenango Chapter and of the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership (MYCAP), serves as co-chairman of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley’s Senior Vision Council, and volunteers on Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business masters in business administration program.

Echement and his wife, Phyllis, live in Poland and are the parents of three grown children.

They are members of Kingdom Community Church in Struthers where they team-teach an adult Bible study class, and he is one of the founding elders.

They both have been on mission trips to China, support a number of missionaries in Asia and enjoy traveling.