Who We Are
The Coordinator of Diversity Development and Inclusion assists the Western PA Conference to live more fully into the goal of Dismantling Racism, one of its Five Areas of Focus.
The Coordinator develops and facilitates training events that raise awareness of implicit bias and increase cultural competencies, and works with individuals and local church/Conference committees
to highlight the importance of diversity in fulfilling the mission of the church.
The Coordinator also works with ethnic clergy under appointment in the Conference, assisting with the development of support systems, meeting with church leaders to share best
practices and conversation, regularly visiting and supporting those in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments, and facilitating crisis management where needed.
Debra Mason
Coordinator, Diversity Development and Inclusion
724.776.2300 x265
email
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Debra Mason has worked in large corporations, nonprofits, higher education, and as a business owner. She relocated to Pittsburgh in 1993 with the Xerox Corporation, where she worked as a senior staff member in sales, staffing and development, and client operations.
In 2004 she started her own firm, Victory Management, an organizational management and employee consulting/training business specializing in diversity, leadership, and process improvement.
In 2015,after working in education and training at the Seton Hill University Women's Business Center, she was named the University's first Diversity and Inclusion Officer and previously had served in a similar post for the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh.
Debra earned a BA from Wayne State University in Detroit and an MA from University of Phoenix.
The highlight of Debra’s career was when she was appointed pastor of John Wesley UMC in Washington, PA in 2012.Preaching, teaching and providing pastoral care created a desire in Debra to be in full-time ministry.
She is currently a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary working on her Master of Divinity degree (2021).
