CCEO Team

Andy Wileman | Executive Director, Founder & Board Member
Andy Wileman has held leadership positions in the church, academia, and in business since graduating with a business degree from the University of Texas in 1976. Most recently, he served as the Senior Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Dallas for nineteen years, after nine years as the Associate Pastor. Prior to that, he worked in several businesses, focusing on real estate and the staffing industry. He also holds a degree from Dallas Theological Seminary (1982), where he served in the administration, worked in fund raising, and taught a course on leadership. He and his wife also owned and operated a small business in East Texas. Presently, Andy is active as a board member and volunteer in several nonprofits, including serving as President of the Cornerstone Center for Economic Development and Kingdom Servants, Inc. Andy and Julie have two married daughters and five grandchildren.

Chris Jones | Business Coach
Chris Jones, 72, is a retired executive from the financial services industry.  He grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and graduated with a BBA from Texas Tech University, followed by a diploma from SMU’s graduate school of banking. For 34 years he served as a risk executive and private lending executive in several states with Bank of America and predecessors, and post-retirement as a community banker in St. Louis, MO. and Chief Lending Executive for a suburban Chicago financial institution. He served as the national product executive for Farm and Ranch Lending for Bank of America, and has been a speaker at corporate and client events around the nation.  He manages family farms and ranches in Texas and Louisiana post-retirement, and serves as a financial advisor for Cornerstone Center for Economic Opportunity in Dallas, Texas. Jones is married to his college sweetheart, and they have two grown children. His passion is taking the dreams of entrepreneurs and molding them into actionable businesses that last for generations.

Barbara Biddle | Executive Administrator
Barbara Biddle is the Executive Administrator for Cornerstone Center for Economic Opportunity (CCEO). With more than 35 years of proven experience, she is a high-performing, results-driven leader with extensive experience in human resource management, event management, business operations management, and executive administrative support. She has worked for companies including Meeting Professionals International, Texas Instruments, Vanguard Commercial Group, and Andersen Consulting. 

Chris Simmons | Founder & Board Member
Chris L. Simmons serving at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in the inner-city community of South Dallas/Fair Park, Dallas, TX in May, 1988.  The church was located in an area that was a infamously called the “war zone” because of the gang activities, drive by shooting, drugs, prostitution, and other societal ills prevalent in inner-cities across America.  Although the church had in its DNA community outreach and ministry long before Chris became the pastor, it has been under his leadership that many of these ministries have been expanded and additional ones added in order to reach those in the community at an area of a “felt need” in order to share with them their “real need” – a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Under Chris’ leadership, Cornerstone started the Cornerstone Community Development Corp., Inc. which has as its mission of bringing about community development and revitalization in one of the most blighted area on South Dallas/Fair Park.  New homes are being built and residents are moving back into the neighborhood.

Cornerstone has acquired a number of properties in the South Dallas community that we were once community nuisances and transitioned them into facilities that currently contribute to the growth and development. 

Chris is married to Janie.  They have three children and four grandchildren.

Susan Bliss | Board Member
With over 35 years of experience in specifications writing, construction contract administration, interior design, and accessibility consulting, Susan Bliss now focuses on specifications writing as Principal of Spec Services, LLC. Her experience includes healthcare, educational, commercial, hospitality, senior living, and multifamily. Because of Susan’s passion for sharing her knowledge and experience with others, she developed a proven, repeatable process for training specifiers from newly entering the industry to achieving CCS status and beyond. In 2020 she launched Spec-LAB, an educational library with the mission of improving construction documents through knowledge. Susan presents monthly live streaming sessions teaching about construction products and transferring that knowledge into the development of specification sections. Susan has had the opportunity to speak at several industry conferences. In the past few years, Spec Services has grown to 11 employees and over 75 clients.

Thana Hickman-Simmons | Board Member
Thana is a former teen mother and the Founder/CEO of Viola's House. Viola's House is a Maternity Home for teen mothers who are homeless and facing an unplanned pregnancy. Thana is also the founder of the Baby Benefit Boutique. The BBB currently has over 5,000 visits a month from mothers in the community that take pregnancy and parenting classes. In return for taking classes, mothers receive vouchers to shop in the beautiful boutique. Thana has found her greatest joy in serving homeless teen mothers as they transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Thana has three adult daughters and currently resides in Dallas, TX.

Greg Lamb | Board Member
While serving as an Elder at Grace Bible Church, Greg Lamb continues to practice real estate law and manage a title insurance company. He has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations and has finally begun writing his family history on immigrating to America.  He and his wife, Ann, a master gardener, have three grown sons and four grandchildren.

Joe Henry | Board Member
Joe Henry is an educator and coach for the Dallas Independent School District. He has worked for the district for eleven years. He assists students in ninth through twelfth grade academically, socially, and emotionally. Due to his passion for athletics, he also coaches baseball and football. Among his proudest moments is watching his students graduate high school and enrolling in college. Joe aspires to motivate his students to become lifelong learners and problem-solvers.

Before teaching, he was an entrepreneur responsible for home building and renovation.

He is a Cornerstone Baptist Church member, serving as a Deacon and Sunday School teacher. Joe is married to Sheila Henry, and they have six children, Brandon, Christopher, Joshua, Sheldon, Crystal, and Christian.

Dr. Sherian Smith | Board Member
Dr. Sherian L. Smith is a Dallas native and the youngest of nine children. She is a secondary school special education teacher. She has been an educator for 40 years and retired from Tarleton State University. Her past positions included Secondary Counselor, Middle School English Teacher, Grade Level Principal, and Area Director for Special Education Central Office. She is a former board member of the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County and Rhema Academy.