Ken J. Gordon, Jr.

Ken J. Gordon, Jr., known to his congregation as Pastor Ken, is a pastor, author, business executive, husband, father, and community leader whose life has centered on serving others. He currently serves as National Biotherapies Account Director at Vitalant, where he leads national partnerships focused on donor characterization and cell analytics for organizations advancing cell-based and donor-derived therapies. With more than three decades of professional experience, his path began after a medical discharge from the Marine Corps and took him through Coca-Cola into healthcare, molecular diagnostics, cancer research, biotechnology, and Life Sciences. Along the way, he has led international commercial teams, negotiated enterprise-level GPO and IDN contracts, directed global market expansions, and helped organizations achieve two to three times their previous revenue.

A graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, where he studied International Law and Military Affairs, Pastor Ken also holds advanced degrees in nonprofit administration, communication, and Christian counseling, and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at Liberty University. Licensed, ordained, and consecrated by the Church of God in Christ, he is the founding pastor of House of Light Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is a Certified Chaplain through the International Federation of Christian Chaplains. His writing includes eight books on fatherhood, resilience, relationships, and the realities of corporate life, among them Divorced But Still Dad - Faith Principles of a Father's Responsibility During and After Divorce; The Love of a Father - Faith Principles of the Power of a Father's Love; Pancake Dad; Ice Cream Dad; Bad Dogs - A Black Cadet in Dixie; Bad Dogs - The Complete Story; Combat Zone - Navigating Corporate America While Black; and Do They Make You Better - Identifying Relationships that Make You Shine Brighter.

Committed to lifelong service, Pastor Ken holds life memberships with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., The Citadel Alumni Association, and the Citadel African American Alumni Association, as well as a Diamond Life Membership with the NAACP. He serves on the board of Jazz’s Stepping Stones, a transitional housing program for women in Los Angeles, California, as well as on the Advisory Boards of Nurture Alabama - a mental health advocacy organization in Birmingham, Alabama, and Pineville Neighbors Place - an organization in Pineville, North Carolina, that helps families experiencing hardships due to housing, food, and financial insecurities. He and his wife, Leslie, have four "adulting" children and two grandchildren, and they reside in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area.