Meet Our Team

RMnet™ Solutions, Inc. has teamed up with the staff of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center to provide you with some of the most qualified risk management trainers and consultants in the country.

Here is some background on our trainers and consultants:

David W. Adams, Esq.
RMnet Solutions, Inc.

David practices law just outside of Boston, providing counsel to churches, mission societies, and church associations. He began his career as a church administrator where he served for nine years working with an association of churches throughout New England and Europe. During this time he learned that most church administrators are expected to know or find quite a deal about a great variety of issues, often with extremely limited resources, both staff and financial!

Helping church leaders with the broad scope of legal issues that arise from ministry, David has a particular passion for helping church leaders in the areas of church governance (and forming new entities), youth ministry and youth protection, and helping ministry leaders navigate the challenges of difficult pastoral counseling situations. He also enjoys the opportunity to speak and train on these issues at conferences around the country.

In 2004, David founded the pre-cursor to RMnet™ Solutions, Inc., recognizing the need for effective, but affordable resources for church and religious nonprofit leaders. David’s vision is that church administrators can implement effective policies and provide top-notch training to their staff and volunteers, without breaking the bank. Using online training and the RMnet™ policy tool serves toward that end.

David is a graduate of Harvard College (B.A., 1990) and Northeastern University School of Law (J.D., 2002). Active in his local congregation’s ministry, David also loves working with his wife and partner Eva, is a zealous coach for both his son’s and his daughter’s soccer teams, and enjoys his early morning walks with his black lab Buddy.

Adrienne N. Newsom, Esq.
RMnet Solutions, Inc.
ANNLaw

Adrienne is our HR and employee handbook guru/consultant, in addition to knowing a ton about most every legal area affecting churches and religious nonprofits, including formation issues, governance, pastoral counseling, youth protection, church litigation, insurance, and general church risk management.

Adrienne spent over eight years providing legal services to churches and missions organizations around the world, working as the associate general counsel for an international denominational office. She has been practicing law in California since 1993, currently with a focus on providing counsel and training to religious organizations on formation and tax-exempt issues, employment practices, and risk management strategies. She also has extensive civil litigation experience with expertise in claims handling and insurance issues.

Adrienne graduated from Tufts University ('90) and UCLA School of Law ('93). She and her husband lead their local congregation's singles ministry. Adrienne also enjoys learning to golf with her daughters and occasionally appearing with them on a few TV sets as “an extra”. (You have to start somewhere!).

Melanie Lockwood Herman
Executive Director
Nonprofit Risk Management Center

In a world that is fraught with danger, it is comforting to know that Melanie Lockwood Herman is holding on tight to the handlebars of the D.C.-based Nonprofit Risk Management Center. The Center provides training, technical assistance and informational resources to help nonprofits take a practical approach to managing risk so that they can fulfill their missions and stay out of trouble.

A prolific author of a more than a dozen comprehensive (and comprehensible!) guides on various risk management topics, Melanie has delivered countless workshops, seminars, and keynote presentations for organizations simply unwilling to leave success to chance. Melanie earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Urban Affairs from American University (Washington, DC) and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University (Arlington, VA). She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association.

In August 2007 Melanie was named to the 10th annual NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50, a list of "executives and thinkers ... selected for the impact they have now and for the innovative plans they are putting in place to evolve the charitable sector."

A calculated risk taker, Melanie loves raw fish, scalding coffee, and riding her 1964 Norton Electra or 1970 BSA Bantam motorcycles (she always wears her helmet). To be on the safe side, she also serves as Lay Leader and organist of her church.

John C. Patterson
Senior Program Director
Nonprofit Risk Management Center

John is our staff member with the longest tenure. In a sense, he is the institutional memory of the organization but we all know about memories and senior moments. John has been with the Center for over a decade, but even before joining our staff, he had a long career with nonprofit organizations and government agencies. John is our staff "has been." He has been a lot of different things in his more than four decades of service. He has been the executive director of a community-based nonprofit serving people with developmental disabilities, a school teacher, a staff member of a nationally affiliated youth-serving organization, director of volunteers for a juvenile offender program, project director for a juvenile justice research project, and director of planning for a state criminal justice agency. In addition, he has been a consultant in juvenile justice and youth protection for many federal and state agencies as well as a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations. You can see that John has truly earned his title of staff has been.

During his tenure with the Center, John has written several of our publications and serves as a consultant on child sexual abuse issues with many of our clients. He regularly delivers training and technical assistance.

John grew up out West in New Mexico. Despite being in the East since 1980, he still misses the scenery, culture, people and, of course, New Mexican cuisine. There is nothing like Hatch green chilies. He has a BS Ed. from the University of New Mexico.

Click here to watch an 8-minute overview on how RMnet™ can help your church.