DWRC Advisory Board
Jane Willard practiced as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) for over 25 years. After receiving her M.A. from Azusa Pacific University in 1976, she began her practice at Shepherd’s House, a Christian counseling center in Van Nuys, CA. There she specialized in treating adults who had experienced childhood trauma, utilizing what she termed imagery prayer. She has presented several papers on the topic at conferences for Christian therapists.
Currently, Jane is a certified spiritual director. She has led groups through the 30-week Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and, with joy and gratitude, meets with directees via Zoom and in her home in Southern California where she and Dallas lived for most of their 57 years of marriage. As the owner of Dallas Willard Publications LLC, Jane continues to work with publishers and organizations to continue Dallas’s message of “living in the Kingdom now.”
Jane and Dallas have an adult son, a daughter and son-in-law, and one very precious granddaughter.
During a career in commercial publishing in London, James Catford published a number of global leaders as well as the adult works of CS Lewis. During his fourteen years leading the British Bible Society he set up a think tank on public Christianity called Theos. A frequent visitor to China, he served for ten years as vice-chair of the Amity Printing Company, the largest provider of Bibles in the world. And, until recently, he chaired the third oldest publisher in the UK, founded in 1698.
Today, James supports Christians in leadership around the world as Global Ambassador for American Bible Society and he chairs the newly established Center for Christianity and Public Life in Washington D. C.
A former chair of the renewal ministry Renovare, James now serves on the board of the Martin Institute at Westmont and chairs the Cultura initiative for emerging leaders. He is also a member of the Dallas Willard Research Center advisory board and is a judge for the annual Dallas Willard Book Award.
James lives in London with his wife Sue, a former TV news journalist and anchor who worked for the BBC.
Mark Nelson grew up near Chicago, graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in philosophy, and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to Westmont in 2006, he taught at the University of Leeds in England. He studies ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of religion. His many publications include: “What the Utilitarian Cannot Think,” “Ethical Theory and Moral Practice,” “Non-contradiction: Oh Yeah and So What,” “Think,” and “Y and Z are not off the Hook: the Survival Lottery made Fairer.”
Rebecca Willard Heatley has been engaged in furthering the teaching of Dallas Willard since becoming his ministry assistant in January of 2000. She established DWillard.org in 2001, through which Dallas was happy to make his work freely available around the world.
Today, Becky’s efforts are primarily directed toward expanding the availability of Dallas’s work in partnership with Dallas Willard Ministries (equipping people to do what Jesus said), and through Dallas Willard Publications (expanding the reach of Dallas’s books and helping to bring about more posthumous publications). Her editorial work includes The Great Omission, The Allure of Gentleness, Life Without Lack and The Scandal of the Kingdom. She is honored to be serving on the on the boards of Dallas Willard Ministries, the Dallas Willard Research Center and the Apprentice Institute.
Becky’s undergraduate studies were at USC and Northwest College (BA, Sacred Music), with post-graduate training in computer technology, and a certificate in spiritual formation from the Apprentice Institute. She and her husband Bill have had the joy of raising Dallas and Jane’s only “grand daughter,” Larissa.
Diane Ziliotto has been at Westmont College for over twenty years and has served in several different roles in the library during that time. Currently, she is the Special Collections librarian as well as the College Archivist. She also provides instruction to students during the academic year and is the Liaison Librarian to Sociology and Anthropology, Modern Languages, English, and Theatre Arts. Her interests (if she could ever find enough free time) include local history, genealogy, cooking and cookbooks, local birds, ceramics, and quilling.
Dr. Jana Mayfield Mullen holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a PhD in the history of Christianity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her coursework included Spiritual Formation and research in the monastic and mystic traditions of the church. While at Southern as Visiting Professor, she taught several courses, including the Classics of Christian Devotion. In 2001 she joined the Westmont faculty as a part-time instructor in History and Religious Studies. Since 2013 she has served as a Westmont librarian, providing information literacy instruction, research guidance, and collection development for several academic departments, including Religious Studies. She was deeply involved in the initial reception and processing of the Dallas Willard Library. In 2020 she became Director of the Voskuyl Library.