Gary Tenpas, Past President
Gary Tenpas moved to the Treasure Coast with Mary, his wife of 50 years, in 2014 though their visits to the area date back to the early 1980’s. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.
Gary holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and an MBA in marketing from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
After attaining his bachelor’s degree, Gary entered the military where he served 33 months, including a year in Vietnam. Upon completion of graduate school Gary entered the sales field and was employed by the Diebold Corporation, providing products and services to the financial industry.
Gary’s passion for helping children dates back to 1991 when he joined the board of Bethany Christian Services in Wisconsin. He served on the board for nine years, six of those as president. He left the board for five years but was called back to lead it again in 2004 and served as president until 2013. Bethany’s primary mission is providing services for couples looking to adopt. In recent years, their mission expanded to include post adoption services. One of his proudest achievements was starting a golf fundraiser that has now gone on for 23 years and has raised in excess of $1 million. Upon moving to Florida, Gary researched other volunteer opportunities and, responding to a classified ad in the local paper, became a Guardian ad Litem volunteer. While the work is quite different than his role at Bethany, there is one constant and that is the desire to help put families together in such a way that the children thrive and are able to fulfill their God-given potential. In adoption we call them forever families. As a Guardian ad Litem, that should be our goal as well. Gary joined the Board of Voices for Children in January, 2017.
