State VOAD leadership is comprised of Members from across the State. For information on how to get in contact with our team, please visit our Contact Us page, or click on the team member that you wish to contact.
Pastor Phil is the Chairperson of Maryland VOAD. He is a member representative for Lutheran Disaster Response (Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries).
Pastor Phil has been a disaster consultant for the Lutheran Church since 1985, when he responded to his first disaster as a parish pastor in West Virginia following the remnants of Hurricane Juan depositing 24″ of rain in 30 hours on the Potomac Highlands. Since then he as responded to 18 Federally declared disasters throughout the eastern United States and Caribbean. He now serves as Disaster Response Coordinator for Maryland and Delaware for Lutheran Disaster Response through Diakon Lutheran Disaster Response.
He provides expertise in assisting communities to establish and form Long Term Recovery Committees and Disaster Staff, Disaster Management and Logistics, and Disaster Case Management. At the request of the Somerset County Long Term Recovery Committee, he helped lead their efforts after Superstorm Sandy, from October 2012 through September 2015.
He has served as Chairperson of Maryland VOAD since March 2017. He can be reached by cell phone or text messaging at (410) 375-5053 or by email at chairperson@marylandvoad.org.
Christina is the Vice Chairperson for Maryland VOAD. She is a member representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When Unmet Needs Committees are formed by the Board of Directors, Christina, by virtue of her position, becomes the Chairperson and Lead for them.
Jenn Dorsch-Messler is the Communications Coordinator for Maryland VOAD. She is a member representative for Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries.
Bruce Morgenstern is Treasurer for Maryland VOAD. He is a member representative for Anne Arundel County & City of Annapolis Community Emergency Response Team.
Curt Luthye is the Executive Director of the Montgomery, Howard and Frederick Counties chapter of the American Red Cross. He comes to this role from the San Diego region where he served as the Regional Volunteer Services Officer for the San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross. There, he led his team in recruiting and engaging a workforce of more than 1,300 volunteers. Curt develops volunteer leadership to serve in all areas of the Red Cross.
Previously, Curt served as a Senior Manager in Disaster Services at the Red Cross. Specializing in mass care, spiritual care, and information & planning, Curt helped lead 11 national-level disaster responses, including California wildfires; the Oso, WA mudslide; Moore, OK tornadoes; and Hurricane Sandy. Locally, Curt created two regional conferences focused on serving people with access and functional needs, resulting in the San Diego County Access and Functional Needs workgroup, designed to serve the whole community. In 2013, Curt kick-started the Prepare San Diego initiative, more than doubling the first-year goal with more than 250,000 disaster preparedness actions taken.
Prior to the Red Cross, Curt served for nine years as a minister with the Church of the Nazarene’s Caribbean regional office, helping both to strengthen local leadership development and coordinate hundreds of volunteer teams that built churches, homes, schools, and medical facilities in 20 Caribbean countries. He also served in Haiti during the earthquake response in 2010, overseeing volunteer teams who came to assist with rebuilding.
The Recording Secretary position for Maryland VOAD is currently vacant.