Al and Autumn Ray
Founders
Alan and Autumn Ray were married in 1970 and are the founding directors of MarriageTeam. Alan retired from the Air Force after 27 years with his last assignment as the Professor of Aerospace Studies at the University of Portland, Oregon. He has a Master of Science in Counseling and Human Development and Autumn has a Bachelor of Science with a Social Work emphasis. Alan left county government as the training manager in April 2007 to be the full-time Executive Director for MarriageTeam.
Autumn was a social worker with her last position at the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice as the Volunteer Manager prior to her retirement in 2012.
Together they completed the Western Seminary Certificate of Transformational Coaching program and are a certified Marriage Enrichment leader couple, Seminar Directors for PREPARE/ENRICH, and skilled trainers. They lead the ministry, develop coaching materials and train MarriageTeam coach couples. Alan and Autumn have two married children and two grandchildren.
Al Ray
Executive Director
As one of the founders, Al has served as the Executive Director since 2007.
Carol Perez
Program Director
Carol grew up in Wisconsin and received a business degree from UW-Madison. After marrying Fernando in 1988, they moved to Florida where she worked for six years as a bank internal auditor. Carol and Fernando have two sons, Alex and Michael. After moving to Vancouver in 1993, Carol was a stay-at-home mom for 17 years.
During that time, she kept busy with volunteer work at church, in children’s ministry, finance and leadership development. Carol enjoys biking and running and loves to try new recipes. Making jewelry provides a creative outlet for her when she can squeeze it in. Carol especially likes long walks and deep conversations. One of the great things about her current job is that she gets to offer hope and encouragement to others on a daily basis.
Judy Holt
Assistant Program Manager
Judy joined the team in July 2019. She majored in art in college and had a career in graphic design until she settled into life as a stay-at-home mom of three children.
She currently juggles working at MarriageTeam and working from home as a designer and artist. She has been a Washington resident since 2014 and loves being surrounded by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She is passionate about helping people grow and work through the challenges that life can bring, so is grateful and excited to be part of the MarriageTeam staff.
Laura Knisley
Administrative Assistant
Laura grew up in the Pacific Northwest and has been a resident of Clark County for over 25 years. She and her husband John have been married for more than 15 years and together they have four adult children, a son-in-law, two daughter-in-laws and four amazing grandbabies. She loves being a grandma! She also enjoys gardening, decorating, cooking, and spending time outdoors with her dog. She and her husband frequently take trips to the Oregon Coast and to St. Louis to spend time with family.
Laura understands the many challenges that come from divorce and remarriage, and she is passionate about seeing marriages healed and restored. She is grateful for the opportunity to offer hope and encouragement to others and to let them know that no matter how bad it may seem, that their marriage is absolutely worth the work.
Board of Directors
Joel Huang
President
Joel Huang serves as the current President. Joel and his wife, Christine, completed MarriageTeam coach training in October 2017. They have been married for more than 40 years and have 3 grown children, including one adopted daughter. They have 4 grandchildren including 2 adopted ones. Both Joel and Christine have lived in the US and Asia. They have grown from each coaching opportunity in the past 2 years. Joel brings a corporate management perspective to the Marriage Team board. He is currently self-employed as a contract engineer.
Al Ray
Vice President
Autumn Ray
Secretary
Peter Durkee
Peter and his wife are MarriageTeam coaches. Peter is an international coach with Higher Goals Coaching (www.highergoalscoaching.com), helping people in diverse business and life situations. His clients range from Europe to South America and the United States. He holds three professional certifications including Associate Certified Coach (ACC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Certified Transformational Coach (CTC) from Western Seminary, and Certified Professional Coach (CPC) from New Vibe Training.
Peter’s background includes thirty-five years in cutting-edge, high-tech computer networking as a networking sales engineer for major telecommunications and networking communications companies. He holds multiple technical and sales certifications from IBM, Microsoft, HP, 3Com Corporation, and many others. He also holds a master’s degree in Mobile and Distributed Computing from Leeds Metropolitan University in Great Britain. Peter has worked as a high school teacher, and a computer industry trainer. Peter is the author of How to be a Champion Encourager, and he enjoys public speaking, training, and encouraging others in business and personal situations.
Nehemias Gutierrez
Nehemias and Sarah Gutierrez joined MarriageTeam as coaches in 2007. They have coached many couples as time has allowed in between having five children. Nehemias works for PeaceHealth as a strategy business analyst. He has also the marriage ministry leader and head of the Spanish/English interpretation team for Iglesia Nuevas Alturas (a Spanish speaking campus of New Heights Church in Vancouver, WA). In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors, hiking, biking and playing soccer.
Dammy and Taiwo Olopade
Dammy and Taiwo have been married since 1997. They have two daughters. Dammy has a masters in Computer engineering from USC and works for Intel as a senior principal engineer. Taiwo spent 8 years as a stay-at-home mom. She is now an American Sign Language interpreter and works for Sorenson Communication as well as an independent contractor. She has a masters in Interpreting Studies from Western Oregon University.
They both enjoy traveling and learning about new cultures around the world.
They became MarriageTeam coaches in 2020.
Brandon Ray
Brandon and Kim Ray were married in 2011. They participated in MarriageTeam’s premarital coaching and eventually became coaches themselves to help other couples experience the joy of a winning marriage. Brandon also joined the training team to help train future MarriageTeam coaches.
Brandon has a Master of Science in Management and Organizational Leadership from Warner Pacific University. He has worked in both private and public K-12 education and is the current Director of IT Services at Lower Columbia College in Longview, WA. Brandon and Kim are both blessed to have parents who have enjoyed more than 50 years of marriage together. They have one adorable cat.