Senior Associate General Secretary and Director of Advocacy
One of America’s notable ecumenical leaders, Copeland-Tune is a tireless advocate for justice. Ordained into the Gospel ministry nearly 20 years ago, Copeland-Tune has worked for a number of faith-based organizations. She comes to the NCC after having served as the director of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice, a national conference that brings 1,000 faith advocates from across the country to the nation’s capital each year, and as Minister of Congregational Life for Clifton Park Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Md. She is also an associate minister of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va.
In the 2000s, Rev. Dr. Copeland-Tune was the NCC’s Assistant Director for Justice and Advocacy. In that role, she staffed NCC’s Special Commission for the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. She distinguished herself in 2018 serving as the Director of Mobilization for the NCC’s “A.C.T. Now to End Racism” events. In the fall of 2018, she was given the President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership at the NCC’s Christian Unity Gathering.
Dr. Copeland-Tune has held numerous other positions of importance in the ecumenical movement including that of director for the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative, an anti-poverty ministry which adds a prophetic voice and collective action to the fight to end poverty. She has also been a consultant for the Conference of National Black Churches and Faith in Public Life, a DC-based advocacy group. She is also actively involved with Grace and Race Ministries and the One America Movement, organizations that are working toward racial understanding and ending toxic polarization.
Rev. Dr. Copeland-Tune was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland with a concentration in marketing, and a Master of Theological Studies from Duke University. She also has a doctorate in metro-urban ministry from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey and studied at Oxford University in their Summer Theology Programme.