Jana Purkis-Brash

Dr. Grant G. Karsner joined the United Methodist Communities Foundation, Board of Directors in 2017. Motivated by servant leadership and a desire to help others in their earthly journeys, he feels, “UMC serves the most vulnerable with abundant life choices. Their challenge as leaders is to discern God’s plan in a rapidly-evolving world.”

While still in high school, Grant joined the labor pool at Mobil Oil in 1970 for summer employment. Forty-seven years, three degrees, seventeen positions, fourteen patents, and six locations later, Grant retired as vice president of ExxonMobil’s global Product Technology organization. In his last assignment, he led 500+ people in twenty-five countries and nine laboratories.

The three degrees include a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and Master and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Grant has devised “four pillars” to his evolving role as a servant leader, reflected by how she uses her time: president of the South Seaville Camp Meeting, an organization founded in 1863 which holds an annual two-week camp session amid 90 gingerbread cottages surrounding an open-air tabernacle; lay leader and member of St. Peters United Methodist Church and its Praise Team; growing skills and following Jesus’ footsteps as a carpenter; and lastly, a board member with United Methodist Communities.