Jeff Hickman is a Global Diversity & Social Justice Advocate. He speaks also speaks about diversity in families, with the help of his wife and former Miss Teen USA 1987, Kristi Addis Hickman. The two are also the co-authors of the family diversity book, Mixed Harmony. Jeff also serves as the Minister at North River Church and he has enjoyed the privilege of serving with a phenomenal church family for the past twelve years in the Atlanta area. Prior to that, he served as Minister for the Los Angeles International Church for nine years.
Jeff is very passionate about his faith, however, he did not grow up with aspirations to be in the ministry. He had dreams to play for the Dallas Mavericks or Dallas Cowboys but reality dealt a significant blow to those desires. After graduating from Princeton University, he worked doing Sales for Oracle Corporation, an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. The company specializes primarily in developing and marketing database software and technology, cloud engineered systems, and enterprise software products, particularly its own brands of database management systems. In 2018, Oracle was the third largest software maker by revenue, after Microsoft and Alphabet. Jeff achieved Education Sales Representative of the Year in his third year with the company. He received great training and was able to present Oracle’s suite of products to prospective customers all over the Western US.
As he was ascending the corporate ladder, he had an unexpected change of heart and felt compelled to resign from his position and enter the full-time ministry. While he took a significant pay cut, he has never regretted that decision. Since then, he has been able to speak all over the US as well as in Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Costa Rica. He strives to inspire people of all backgrounds and provide the authentic hope that he believes all hearts long for. Some of his accomplishments are listed below.