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Article of interest
Catholic Church turns to NKY's Gebbie
1:54 AM, Apr. 3, 2011 |
lbaverman@enquirer.com
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Business
A $100 million complex
under construction in Israel’s Holy Land will let a million worshippers from
around the world trace the steps of Jesus each year.
And one Northern Kentucky
businessman is helping bring that project to life.
Bob Gebbie
of Erlanger’s Natural Bridge Group was recruited by an order of the Catholic Church
to help bridge a $70 million financing gap for the Magdala
Center on the Sea of Galilee.
The Vatican-endorsed
project is considered one of the Church’s most significant investments in the
Middle East in recent history, incorporating ruins from one of only seven known
first century synagogues with a hotel, worship and meeting complex open to
Christian, Jewish and Muslim visitors from around the world.
Gebbie’s
business experience made him a good choice to manage the Church’s fundraising
in the United States.
His deep connections stem from his roles as an executive at the
Guggenheim Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the United States
Tennis Association (USTA), as an investment banker on Wall Street, a consultant
to Kentucky state legislators, and as an entrepreneur.
“It’s a very, very
important project,” Gebbie said. “There are a lot of
eyes on that part of the world. We think the center can promote world peace
through a religious dialogue.”
Since last September, Gebbie has spent
time visiting individuals, corporations and religious organizations to raise
money. Once the hotel is complete in December 2012, he hopes more U.S.
residents will make the trip to Israel to experience the rich historical and
religious context of the region.
“I’m not a Catholic, but there has always been an attraction to
the good works of the Church,” Gebbie said.
From Wall Street to Union
Gebbie is a
Northern Kentucky transplant. He moved to Union in 2006 from Bowling Green,
Ky., where his wife was a physician at the Bowling Green Medical Center.
He spent much of his career in New York City, serving in various
financial and operations roles at Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits.
He ran the U.S. Open tennis event as chief operating officer and
financial officer of the USTA. He spent four years as COO and CFO of the
Guggenheim, leading the effort to fund its major renovation and the
construction of a museum in Spain.
Before that, he held the title of CFO of the natural history
museum.
Gebbie
performed merger and acquisition work on Wall Street for Exxon and Chemical
Bank. He’s also a former Olympic athlete, serving as an alternate to the U.S.
diving team in the 1972 Games in Munich.
Gebbie met Rich
Hempel, now his partner in Natural Bridge, while
consulting with Kentucky legislators on economic development issues in 2002.
The next year, they formed Natural Bridge Mobile with a plan to commercialize
up-and-coming information technology products and services. They’ve since
managed early stage and startup technology ventures, advised firms on capital
formation and consulted with governments on the creation of private-public
partnerships to spur economic development.
“We like to align with projects that support our core
fundamental beliefs,” Hempel said. “We support
education and the economic development efforts of the church, and the history
aspect is just fascinating.”
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Relationship started in 2003
Natural Bridge Group’s connection to the Legionaries of Christ
came through a joint venture with the organization in Mexico in 2003. Together,
they hoped to launch in the United States an online education program that had
been successful teaching children in South and Central America to speak
English. The joint venture is no longer active today, but the groups remained
in contact.
Gebbie
traveled to Israel with the order in 2007 and met Father Eamon
Kelly, who helps to run the Legion’s Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of
Jerusalem Center, a historic Jerusalem hotel and center for pilgrims visiting
the Holy Land. The two became instant friends. Kelly, ironically, had spent
four years in Union working with youth and served as a chaplain at Northern
Kentucky University in 2005 and 2006 before taking his appointment at the Notre
Dame Center.
In 2004, the Legion had earned control of the Notre Dame Center
from Pope John Paul II. The order worked over several years to upgrade the
quality of service and boost pilgrimages there. In recent years, the Vatican has seen a need for another
center in Israel to serve pilgrims and settled on a 20-acre plot for sale two
hours away in Galilee, where few hotels operated.
The land is near Magdala, thought to be a key stop for Jesus during his
public ministry and the place where he first met Mary Magdalene. According to
the Bible, she was the first to see Jesus after he rose from the dead.
The Vatican chose the Legion to develop the new center and
operate it when complete. The Legion would also be responsible for raising
funds for the project. As it assembled a worldwide fundraising team, Gebbie was brought aboard to help Kelly raise funds and
support in the United States.
Friends like Mark Ritchey of downtown’s Draper Triangle Ventures
weren’t surprised by the appointment.
“This is an entrepreneurial effort,” Richey said. “You’ve got to
bring discipline to it, build a team, raise the money and execute on a business
plan. His skills apply to something like this.”
'Very powerful
experience'
Key elements of the Magdala Center include its 122-room hotel, an ecumenical
chapel, an International Center for Women’s Studies, four independent chapels
for international pilgrims, and a $30 million multimedia center, which will
provide an interactive experience for Christian believers. That will be added
in a second phase, to be complete in 2014.
“You get immersed in the
culture of the biblical moment,” said Father Kelly during a recent trip to the
United States. “You’ll get wet, smell the lake, hear
the rippling waves. You’ll see Jesus performing his ministry. It’s going to be
a very powerful experience.”
Before any construction
could begin, a massive excavation took place. Last May, archaeologists and
volunteers dug up a coffee table-sized stone with a menorah engraved in the
stone. They quickly uncovered just inches under the ground artifacts of a small
first century synagogue, only the seventh to be discovered in the world. More
than 250 coins dated between 42 and 67 A.D. were found, along with mosaics,
frescos and stone carvings.
In recent months, the
archaeologists found remnants of the town surrounding the temple.
“Our first prayer was not
to find anything that would hold up planning. The second prayer was if we do
find something, that it be worthwhile,” Kelly said.
Those remains have been
salvaged and will be incorporated into the center when the hotel is complete.
Right person for the job
The walls of the hotel on
the site are going up now, thanks to early commitments from the Vatican, donors
in Europe and Latin America, and a grant from the country of Israel. The Magdala Center supports the country’s goals to expand
tourism, as well as spur job growth. The center will employ up to 500 people
when complete.
Gebbie is
helping procure the remaining funds to finish the project and to raise an
endowment for its continued operations. Gebbie’s
strategy initially is to target corporations with interest or operations in
Israel and individuals interested in making large gifts. He’s visiting with
people such as Henry Gordon, a Denver investor in oil and energy companies, who
visited Israel in 2010 and met Father Kelly.
“Father Kelly is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met in
my life,” Gordon said. He was also drawn to Gebbie,
and offered to help make introductions in Colorado.
“It seems like they have the right men leading the project,”
Gordon said.
In June, they’ll host a gala for all religious sects at the
Denver Museum of Nature and Science to celebrate the archaeological findings
and raise funds for the project. Other major efforts are under way in New York
City, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, where volunteers who have visited Jerusalem
have gathered to support the project.
Gebbie
hopes to eventually start a campaign locally, too.
“Once we start building momentum, we hope to be in all of the
major cities and build some rapport here,” he said.