Our Team
Will serves as the Executive Director for Behind Every Door. He began his career by serving with CRU on the University of Texas campus, which included a role as the Director of Greek Summit: a leadership development project for college students involved in the Greek system. After leaving CRU, Will worked with a small start-up company in Austin, Texas to establish the day-to-day operations, marketing, and customer relations. He also spent time in the Real Estate industry, focusing on multi-family housing. Once in Dallas, Will helped launch two companies: THINX Integrated Technologies and Thrive Intelligence, serving as the Chief Operating Officer. Will graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Corporate Communication. He and his wife, Allison, and their three children live in Dallas, Texas.
WILL DOWELL
President & CEO
Executive Team
Darrion spent five years as a probation officer with Dallas County before joining Behind Every Door as the Community Director at Roseland. He volunteered with Behind Every Door throughout his time with Dallas County, helping mentor kids, host basketball tournaments, and recruit his church to serve the community. Darrion grew up in Pleast Grove, attending Spruce High School. He then went on to play quarterback and graduate from Langton University
DARRION LEWIS
Vice President
Executive Team
Cierra, a native of Baltimore, MD, joined Behind Every Door in 2016 to serve as the Community Director at The Hive. In 2018, she was promoted to Assistant Community Director at Roseland to build the Kids programming and work with adults. She graduated from Fordham University in NYC with a degree in dance, where she discovered a love for working with youth. Since then, Cierra has worked as a dance educator for over fifteen different schools & organizations across five different states. She also spent time in Atlanta, GA, where she served as an administrator and founded both a women's and dance ministry for a newly planted church. Cierra's heart for ministry and people grew in Atlanta and developed her into a writer and speaker who now loves to encourage and equip others with God's Word. Her journey of faith led Cierra to move to Dallas in 2016 and she is excited to be a part of what God is doing in this city! Cierra desires for young people to know their value and identity in Christ, become who God has destined them to be, and rise up to be leaders in their community.
CIERRA COTTON
Community Director
The Rose
Executive Team
Fiona has held a variety of roles in her 15 year career in media industry, all of which stem from a desire to understand people and to make great work. This includes 3 years on an Oscar-nominated animation feature, International film festivals and her current project, a WW2 documentary film. Her interest in communication grew into a degree in Japanese and has led her to pursue a Masters in Cognitive Psychology. She is also a Director at WWCodeDFW which aims to change the demographic of women in technology fields. She has been connected to Behind Every Door for 4 years as a volunteer, with a desire to encourage the love of learning and literacy. She is from the North-East of England and Scotland, which is where her faith took root. It gives her a love of the sea, creativity, and adventures. She now lives in Dallas with her animator husband and two children, who are a driving force in teaching her how to love well every day.
FIONA HALL
Lead Producer
Myne Software & Community Outcomes
Executive Team
AMANDA KNODE
Director of Development
Executive Team
Keith began his career in commercial real estate in 1985 for the former LaSalle Partners, and The Prudential Realty Group's subsidiary, Premisys, where he simultaneously managed Bank of America Plaza and Renaissance Tower, two of the largest corporate office buildings in Dallas' Central Business District. In 1997, Keith joined Macfarlan Real Estate Investment Management where he was a partner serving on the Investment Committee and responsible for all of the firm's commercial asset management and corporate operations. Keith is an active member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, has served on the Associate Board of the Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business Administration, and is past Chairman of the Board of the Providence Christian School of Texas. Keith graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor's degree in business and from Southern Methodist University with an MBA. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Kendall, and two children.
KEITH WAGGONER
CHIEF fINANCIAL OFFICER
co-FOUNDER | Executive Team
Suzanne joined Behind Every Door Ministries in 2009. Suzanne graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in biology and a teacher's certification in secondary education. She is also a Certified Language Therapist. In 1990, she and a friend began a ministry to East Dallas Hispanic gang youths now called Cross Fire Ministries. In 1999, she and her husband, John, closed down their suburban church to establish Blood and Fire Ministries on the streets of Deep Ellum, caring for the poor and homeless. They also operated a residential discipleship house for young people needing a radical life change. John and Suzanne have three grown children, Jason, Brennan, who is currently serving in Iraq, and Lindsey.
SUZANNE WALLACE
Director of Loving People
co-FoundeR | Executive Team
Kea began working with Behind Every Door in 2014 through our partnership with Big Thought, and then joined the Behind Every Door team in 2015. Kea serves as the Community Director at Village Oaks apartments. Kea graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana with a degree in Business/Marketing and from Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology with a Masters of Divinity. Kea is passionate about discipleship, she is a gifted teacher and speaker, and her mission in life is to "war a good warfare" (1 Timothy 1:18). Kea grew up in San Antonio and currently lives in Dallas, Texas.
KEA WESTBROOK
Director of Changing the Narrative
Foundational Member | Executive Team
Samantha joined our team in 2018 as an Executive Assistant. She was born and raised in Fort Worth but her love for Dallas began when she attended CFNI in 2010. She and her husband moved here in 2018 and are involved in local non-profits. Samantha is passionate about worship, prayer and seeing the move of God in families and upcoming generations.
SAMANTHA ABI-HANNA
Executive Assistant to the Executive Director
ENIOLA ABIOYE
Spiritual Health Coordinator
Tierre comes to Behind Every Door with 23 years of experience serving youth. Tierre began his career as a youth specialist in 1996 for W.J. Maxey Boys Training School; there he moved into a more specialized role that he held for 8 years as a Mental Health Specialist in a high security juvenile correctional facility. He specialized in intense rehabilitation treatment for delinquent male youth 12 to 21 years old. Seeing the need a more preventative approach, he joined Phoenix house in 2011 and served as a Prevention Specialist where he gave young people and their families the education necessary to avoid substance use/abuse and take control of their lives.
Tierre has delivered programs to students throughout DISD that included facility members, parents, and high risk youth involved with the juvenile Justice system. In 2018, as an added assignment he was requested to participate and help develop a collaborative enterprise among 3 of the nation's most successful providers of youth development services; Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, and Phoenix house. The venture was known as Promising Youth Alliance (PYA) where he served as The Director of Social Emotional/Behavioral Health.
Tierre holds a Bachelor Degree in Psychology and studied Industrial Organizational Psychology in graduate school.Tierre lives in Dallas with his beautiful wife. In his leisure time he enjoys traveling and playing chess.
TIERRE BERGER
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL WELLNESS SPECIALIST
The rose
AQUETTA COLEMAN
Community caregiver
The Rose
JADE CRUTCH
Assistant Community Director
BUCKEYe
Kim joined the team in August 2017 to implement the enrichment portion of our strategy with the youth. She has over 35 years of experience in education and administration which include public and private school, as well as homeschooling her own children. She has written homeschooling and art curriculum as well as co-authored Pass the TExES, which is a test prep manual for Texas teachers exams, EC-6. Her degrees and certifications include elementary education, administration, art and dance (k-12). In addition, she had taught a variety of dance and drill team classes throughout the US. Kim's passion is instilling the love of the arts in children as well as nurturing creative play. Her goal for the enrichment component is to provide opportunities of discovery and imagination for the children at Behind Every Door through quality artists, venues and creative play that will plant seeds for creativity in later years. Kim and her husband Paul, both graduates from Hillcrest High School and Dallas natives, have been married for 38 years and have 4 grown children.
KIM ELMORE
Enrichment specialist
Travis joined the Behind Every Door team in 2017 to serve alongside Darrion in the Roseland community. Travis loves sports and has been volunteering in the Roseland community for a few years. Travis is currently pursuing a PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he and his wife live in Dallas, Texas.
TRAVIS HILL
ASSisTant Community director
The Rose
Kim joined the Behind Every Door team as an Executive Assistant in 2010. She has more than 25 years experience working for Dallas area commercial real estate companies including Macfarlan Real Estate Services, the Prudential Realty Group's subsidiary, Premisys, and Centre Leasing and Management. Kim grew up in Houston, has been married to her husband, Scott, for over 20 years, and has two children.
KIM MAULDIN
Executive Assistant
Lee Jackson Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated from Glenville High school and attend Mississippi Valley State University to play sports. Then transferred to Warner University in Lake Whales, Florida to play sports and Graduated with a degree in Sports Management. Afterwards, he attend John brown University to receive a master degree in Youth and Family Ministries. Lee worked at Kids Across America (KAA) youth sports camp for 9 years. He moved to Saint Louis, Missouri to help start Urban K-Life of STL, a follow-up discipleship program from KAA. Lee was Married in 2006. in 2008, he and his wife Kim moved to Memphis to work for Memphis Athletic Ministries. Lee moved to Dallas, Texas in the summer of 2011 to be the director of Sports at Mercy Street, which created youth sports for the community of west Dallas and built a multi-sports complex. Lee and his wife 3 daughters and love being involved in ministry, and they love Texas.
LEE JACKSON
COMMUNITY DIRECTOR
BUCKEYE
MYA ROBERTS
Development & volunteer Coordinator
Ben joined the team in 2019 as a brand manager. He has an extensive background in branding and marketing, along with a B.A. in Advertising from Appalachian State University. He moved to Texas from North Carolina in 2013 to pursue a Masters Degree in Counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary, which he completed in 2017. He is passionate about people, their stories, and their relationships. Ben sees our brand as simply a relationship between our organization and you, our audience.
BEN RUTLEDGE
Brand Manager
Keith "Smitty" Smith came to Village Oaks in 2013. He is an active member of several recovery groups and leads/teaches two each week. Smitty has given his life to helping others and he is a loyal friend to many. He has an amazing story, and if you ever meet him - ask him to share it with you!
KEITH “SMITTY” SMITH
facilities manager
RAY SOUTHALL
youth support staff
Katherine joined the Behind Every Door team in 2018 to ensure all of the "i's" are dotted and the "t's" are crossed. Since 2000, she has worked as a Certified Public Accountant in a variety of industries, with a special passion for helping non-profit organizations navigate the ever-changing landscape of financial regulation. Katherine grew up in a Marine Corps family, living in five states and two foreign countries before settling in Texas to attend college at Texas A&M University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Russian and an MBA. She currently lives in Plano with her husband and two children.