Pat Weikart’s Biography

I have had the privilege of serving in a number of careers that have shaped me and given me gifts of skills and experience that I continue to draw upon in ministry.  As a political science major at Albright College in Reading, PA (B.A. 1974) and as a graduate student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ (MS in Labor Economics, 1980), I learned how government programs function on the local, state and federal levels.  I worked as a legislative assistance in Congress and as a federal policy evaluator for the US Department of Labor while a student at the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers.  As a Client Executive for IBM Corporation (1981-1995) I learned how to help people reach their professional potential and how to break difficult, multi-layered problems down into manageable, consensus-based solutions.  I began Seminary part-time in 1994, after completing the IBM Client Executive Certification Program at the Harvard Business School.  From 1995-1997 I worked on a special assignment for one of my former customers at IBM, Bell Communications Research.  I helped this privately held company become a publicly held company as General Manager for Sales and Marketing.  I began seminary full-time in 1997 and graduated from Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, NJ, in 1999.  I was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in March 2000.  I have served the Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, NJ and the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge, NJ as Associate Pastor and the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman (currently) as Pastor.  During my time in Basking Ridge I was part of the 2004-2007 Interfaith 4-house build that was completed in Bernardsville, NJ, under the auspices of Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity.  My husband David and I have been married for 19 years.  David is Principal in the Weikart Group, a small computer-consulting business.  We are blessed to be the parents of our 11 year old daughter Julie.