March 17, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is with great pleasure that I share the news of the calling of Jessica Ives as the new Executive Assistant to the Bishop in the Diocese of Western North Carolina.

For the past eight years, Jessica has served as the Parish Administrator for St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Fairbanks, Alaska. St. Matthew's is the second largest parish in the Diocese of Alaska. For a significant period of her tenure at St. Matthew's, Jessica was the only employee during two Rector’s Searches, deftly supporting the work of the Vestry, Wardens, and interfacing with the Diocesan Office.

In the fall of 2017, the Diocese of Alaska was honored to host the House of Bishops meeting. The Rt. Rev. Mark Lattime, Bishop of Alaska, relied on Jessica's skill in event coordination and hospitality to welcome bishops from all across The Episcopal Church as they spent a day in and around the St. Matthew’s campus.

Jessica was born and raised in Fairbanks. She is a life-long Episcopalian and grew up in the St. Matthew’s parish community. Jessica is an Alaskan Native from the Village of Tanana. Her tribe is Koyukon Athabaskan of the Caribou Clan.

Jessica has ties to North Carolina through her husband Mike, who grew up in Asheville and Chapel Hill as a small boy. Their love of all things Carolina sports as well as the outdoors, has kept their minds wanting to move to the state for some time.

Jessica's creativity, attention to detail, resilience, and compassion flows from a love for God and a love for bringing communities together. In her downtime, Jessica enjoys being creative and can usually be found painting by numbers, building a piece of furniture or creating art with resin. 

Jessica is honored to be a part of the bishop's staff and hopes to serve the people of Western North Carolina's Episcopal churches with sincerity and joy. She will join us at the Diocesan Offices April 24-May 5 to get acquainted with the staff and her new duties and then she returns on July 1, 2023 to begin full-time.

Please join me in extending a warm diocesan welcome to Jessica and the entire Ives family!

Faithfully,