Ken Perez was born in Mobile, Ala., in 1960, but grew up primarily in Bakersfield, Calif. He attended Stanford University, where he majored in international relations and was active in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, attending Urbana 79. After graduation, Ken worked for two years in banking and then spent a year as the librarian at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity before attending business school at UCLA Anderson. After business school, Ken served in a variety of financial and business development positions for Hewlett-Packard Company over an eleven-year period. After HP, he served as vice president of marketing at CyberCash, an e-commerce payment service provider, Omnicell, Inc., a healthcare technology firm, and Jacent Technologies, Inc., a provider of order automation software for the restaurant industry.
Ken was the chair of the board of the Foundation for Advanced Christian Training (FACT) when it merged with JSM in 2001. He served as vice chair of JSM’s board of directors from 2001-2003 and as chair from 2004-2007. Ken serves on the boards of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, Jesus Institute (an organization with Web sites designed to help people of all spiritual and cultural backgrounds learn about the person of Jesus), and the Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program (an educational ministry in Los Angeles).
Ken and his wife Janet have three children. They live in Menlo Park, Calif., and attend Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.