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For more than 100 years, CPG has worked to meet the changing needs of The Episcopal Church by staying closely connected to those who serve it. For more than a year, CPG has been in conversation with those who serve the Church in various ways.
Listening closely to those experiences has surfaced important themes about where the Church is today and what may be needed in the years ahead. These conversations are helping CPG shape a vision-relevant point of view, one grounded in real voices and real realities, that will help ensure that we can continue to effectively serve the Church, now and deep into the future.
The Director of our Research & Data team, which is also responsible for The Church Pension Fund’s role as the Recorder of Ordinations, Luke Douglas reflects on his efforts since joining CPG in the fall of 2025. He took over following the retirement of Matthew Price, PhD, who guided our research for nearly 20 years. Luke shares how he is building on the team’s strong foundation, his priorities for the work ahead, and how research and data inform decisions and support CPG’s service to the Church.
My background was in finance and investing before I moved into management consulting, research, data analytics, and strategy. Across all of that, the common thread has been helping organizations work smarter and better. I’ve also spent time in government and nonprofit settings, and I’ve found I really enjoy bringing those different experiences together to support decision-making.
What drew me to CPG was the opportunity to build on an already strong foundation. I stepped into a team with deep expertise and a powerful set of tools, and that was incredibly energizing. It also gave me a chance to bring together my experience across sectors in a way that supports a vision I care deeply about. I’m a lifelong Episcopalian, and connecting my professional work to the Church makes this role especially meaningful.
My main priority is continuing to leverage Research & Data to support CPG’s strategic plan and decision-making. I’m working with a client- and process-driven team that consistently delivers high-quality insights. We are investing in tools such as artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to shift how we approach our work in responsible, effective ways.
It’s not enough to say what’s happening. In order to provide real decision support, we need to clarify why it matters and what comes next. Ultimately, our role is to supply the insights our colleagues need to make informed choices about the future direction of CPG.
At its core, our research is about understanding what’s happening in the interactions between CPG and The Episcopal Church. Much of our work focuses on those touchpoints—client experiences, survey feedback, focus groups, and integrating Church and CPG data.
From there, we turn data into something useful and actionable. We translate information into insights that help guide decisions. One of the most powerful things we do is track client feedback in real time, so instead of waiting for periodic reviews, we can see what’s happening daily.
We strive to provide clarity—giving teams across CPG a distilled view of what we’re seeing so they can act quickly and confidently.
Most of our work falls into two main areas. Two-thirds of it is technical: data analysis, surveys, and reporting. This ranges from creating datasets, building dashboards, and assessing performance to providing deeper analytical support on complex questions.
The other major area of work is managing and sharing information on clergy. We receive a significant number of questions about clergy data and demographics, along with a smaller but steady set of requests related to canonical residency, retirement dates, and official clergy lists.
The Recorder of Ordinations maintains the Church’s official clergy records. My team is responsible for maintaining up-to-date information on things like ordinations, canonical residency, and status, so there’s a clear and reliable understanding of who serves where. It’s a foundational dataset for both the Church and CPG, and it must be completely accurate.
