Joe Bock is Bethlehem University Foundation’s Executive Director. He worked in the Holy Land from 1997-2000, when he was Country Representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Jerusalem/West Bank/Gaza. He also served as CRS Country Representative in Islamabad, where he built a partnership with the Irish Catholic agency, Trócaire, securing major in-kind and financial support from the European Union.

Joe represented CRS on the Working Group on Reconciliation of Caritas Internationalis, based in Vatican City.  He also represented Catholic Relief Services with the Interfaith Hunger Appeal in New York.

Joe is a graduate of Archbishop O’Hara High School of Kansas City, Missouri, which was founded and run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers.  He has a bachelor’s and master’s in social work from University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Ph.D. in International Relations from American University in Washington, D.C.

Joe internalized the Lasallian emphasis on social justice, leading him to run for public office. He served in the Missouri General Assembly for six years, where he eventually became Vice Chair of the House Commerce Committee, and Chair of the Energy and Environment Committee.

Joe has stewardship and reporting experience. He was Founding Executive Director of the Secure World Foundation and Arsenault Family Foundation (now One Earth Future).

Joe’s fundraising experience includes securing major gifts at Catholic Relief Services, American Refugee Committee, and Haverford College. At American Refugee Committee, he led a staff that raised approximately $28 million per year primarily from the U.S. State Department and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, but also from private donors and foundations. They also secured bi-lateral aid from the governments of Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

As Vice President at the American Refugee Committee, Joe oversaw operations with approximately 1,500 staff members in 13 country programs in Africa, Asia, and the Balkans.

Joe has taught at William Jewell College, Hebrew University, Eastern Mennonite University, University of Notre Dame, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Kennesaw State University, and at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the Cascade mountains. He has been a consultant to The Asia Foundation and the World Bank. He was a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Malta, to support their new master’s in humanitarian action, and with the Mayor of Athens, Greece, and his staff, to develop a strategy to assist refugees and migrants flowing into the city.

Joe is on the Advisory Committee of the War Prevention Initiative, and is an Editorial Adviser to Development in Practice, a journal founded by Oxfam Great Britain. His most recent research and writing has focused on violence prevention and the use of Information and Communication Technologies in humanitarian settings. He has published in both peer-reviewed journals and in the popular media. He is the author of three books, the most recent of which was published by MIT Press in 2012. He blogs periodically on MIT Press’ website.

Joe is a practicing Catholic and is benefitting greatly from his ecumenical marriage to Sue Lyke. They enjoy kayaking.