For our 236th Diocesan Convention on October 29-31, 2026, we are excited to welcome two dynamic speakers to our gathering, a convention speaker and a keynote speaker. Please read more about them below.

Our convention speaker is Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright, an Atlanta-based author, dynamic speaker, and strategic thought partner who inspires and drives transformation in communities, institutions, and individual lives—all while centering human dignity. She serves as the Acting Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing. She is already well-known to many in the diocese as our primary partner in our Holy Pilgrimage to Cape Coast, Ghana program and as the guest speaker for our 2026 clergy retreat.

As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Thrive With Dignity, LLC, Dr. Wright partners with organizations to build authentic, thriving communities. She works with a wide range of institutions—schools and universities, corporations, nonprofits, and faith communities—using her signature DIGNITY Lens©. Dr. Wright has delivered keynotes and consulted with a range of organizations including Veolia Group, the KPCEL Conference for Character and Equity for Flourishing Communities, Anglican schools in the Diocese of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), the National Association of Episcopal Schools, and the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest, among many others.

She is the author of seven influential books, covering topics from organizational integrity and adaptive leadership to depression, healing, and spiritual growth. A former professor at NYU and Spelman College, she currently serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU, an MPhil in Anthropology from Cambridge University, and a BA in Sociology and Afro-American Studies from Princeton University. Originally from Jamaica, Dr. Wright has lived, studied, and worked around the globe. She is married to the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Wright, Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, and together they have five adult children.

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Jenny Te Paa Daniel (Te Rarawa), is a scholar and a teacher, a public theologian and professional consultant in higher education. Always a pioneering indigenous woman, she taught for 5 years and was then appointed Ahorangi or Dean of Te Rau Kahikatea at St John’s Theological College in Auckland for 18 years from 1995 until 2013. She was the first Maori to earn a Ph.D. in theology, and she was the first indigenous lay woman appointed to lead an Anglican seminary anywhere in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

From 1995 until 2012, Jenny was Convenor of the global Anglican Peace and Justice Network. During her tenure she led international delegations and participated in many peace-making educational and humanitarian projects within Palestine, Sri Lanka and the Great Lakes Region of Rwanda, Congo and Burundi, in North and South Korea, Kenya, South Africa and throughout the Pacific.

Writing on Race Politics and Theological Education, she was awarded her PhD in 2001 by the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley California and was named GTU Alumna of the Year in 2010. That same year she was awarded a prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Auckland. She was awarded honorary doctorate degrees by the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2003) and Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia, DC, (2008), Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California (2010), General Theological Seminary, New York (2015) and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale in 2020 in recognition of her commitment to global peace and justice through theological education and for service to the Anglican Communion.

Jenny has written and researched extensively on gender and social justice, indigenous rights, theological education and race politics. She has taught theological and secular students in New Zealand, Australia, throughout the South Pacific, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the United States and in various parts of Asia. She is popularly sought after (nationally and internationally) as guest speaker, lecturer, facilitator, media commentator, preacher and panellist, on a wide range of political, human rights and theological issues.