Become a Student of Honor

Rivendell Leadership Team

Robert (Bobby) Norment, Co-Founder & CEO
Mr. Norment has a history of successful entrepreneurship and organizational leadership in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He was the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Norment Industries for thirty years. There, Mr. Norment led and managed the company’s growth from a very small company to a multimillion dollar international conglomerate made up of four divisions doing work around the world. The divisions included:

  • Norment Security Group- the largest detention systems contractor and manufacturer in the United States
  • Norshield Company, the world’s largest manufacturers of bullet, attack and blast-resistant products
  • Trentech Company, the leading US electronic security systems manufacturers and installers
  • Norment Glass Company, a contracting company specializing in protective curtain walls.
Mr. Norment sold Norment Industries in 1990. These businesses still exist doing work all over the world.

Following the sale of Norment Industries, Mr. Norment became the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the University of the Nations Kona Campus (UofN-Kona). The UofN-Kona is the flagship location for an international university and missions training organization (UofN International) with over 400 locations in 200 countries. The UofN-Kona campus is one of the largest all-volunteer, land-based operations in the world—serving over 1700 students and more than 700 staff and family members annually. Mr. Norment, working closely with the Chancellor, led this educational facility for ten years.

Mr. Norment’s unique career and history, working in both for-profit and non-profit organizations, has equipped him to provide the broad and strategic expertise necessary for this education venture.
Davis Norment, Co-Founder & Vice President of Academics
Mr. Norment received his undergraduate degree in Christian Ministries from Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. He went on to complete additional post-graduate work in Biblical Studies from the University of the Nations where he spent fourteen years as an accomplished teacher and curriculum developer.

At the UofN-Kona, Mr. Norment shared leadership and teaching duties in a 36 credit-hour master’s level Biblical Studies course, and a 20 credit-hour Discipleship Training Course. During this time, Mr. Norment began to identify a core set of unanswered questions that is leaving a void in the lives of many young Christians today. Mr. Norment realized that this void is the result of students being taught “what” to believe without the context for “why” to believe it. Burdened to solve this issue, Mr. Norment developed a 12 credit-hour Biblical Worldview curriculum focused on answering life’s most fundamental questions. The course quickly became one of the most popular classes at the UofN-Kona.

Mr. Norment partly attributes its success to his own personal frustration and struggles in learning. As a student, the institution’s forms, methods and curriculums left him bored and uninspired. Yet, these early struggles and frustrations with learning were the experiences that made Mr. Norment a successful teacher and curriculum writer. He understands today’s culture and student body and knows how to build curriculums that can inspire this generation to excel.

His strength lies in his ability to take the underachiever—young men and women who never excelled academically—and generate within them a passion for God and learning. As a result, Mr. Norment has seen numbers of his students, many of whom gave little thought to continuing their college education, go on to excel in their studies, with a significant number completing their masters or doctorate degrees, including one at Harvard University. This experience profoundly impacted Mr. Norment’s life and is the springboard to his being one of the founders of Rivendell Worldview Education Company.
Pete Lackey, Vice President of Curriculum Development
Pete Lackey, M.A., M.Div., received a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies as well as a master’s degree in Theology and History from Criswell College (Dallas, TX) before receiving a second master’s degree in Philosophy of Religion from Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT). He has also completed a number of additional studies in the areas of language, culture, and religion from the University of Georgia, the University of Minnesota, and Luther Seminary (to name a few), and is currently pursuing two doctoral degrees in Theology, Art, and Culture and the Great Books respectively.

With a heart for the community at large, Pete has filled a number of academic, administrative, and ministry posts with various organizations such as the T.A. Patterson World Mission Center (Dallas, TX), the Overseas Ministries Study Center (New Haven, CT), InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the MacLaurin Institute (a Christian study center serving the University of Minnesota). He has also worked with developmentally disabled inner-city children at a St. Paul charter school. His overseas experience includes humanitarian relief efforts with theological instruction in Sri Lanka, Chad, Brazil, and Chile.

Along with serving as VP of Curriculum Development, Pete is Rivendell Sanctuary’s Faculty Advisor and Resident Scholar.
AJ Hofstetter, Vice President of Marketing & Enrollment
Mr. Hofstetter received his undergraduate degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Crown College (St. Bonifacius, MN), and later completed a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Northwestern College (St.Paul, MN). He has also completed additional courses at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii.

Mr. Hofstetter has experience in full-time missions work in Fiji, social work with the developmentally disabled in the Minneapolis suburbs,carpentry and the trades for residential as well as low income and government-subsidized housing, full-time youth ministry on the West Coast, teaching with the University of the Nations, and has also served on both the business and enrollment sides of higher education. In each of these venues, the process of equipping and empowering people has been the ambition of his career, having developed curriculum and taught in both classroom and seminar settings to advance this goal. 

Mr. Hofstetter and his wife (Rachel) have two daughters, Ava and Sage, and live in White Bear Lake, MN.  He is a skilled dog trainer and also enjoys playing the guitar, the ukulele, and the harmonica.
Travis Coleman, Associate Director of Curriculum Development
Travis Coleman, MA, earned his BA in Biblical Studies from York College in York, Nebraska. He has been involved in studies of God’s word from his youth, being the son of a minister, and he has had opportunities to speak in various capacities since his teen years. Recognizing the great need to combat the effects of secularism both in society and within the Body of Christ, Mr. Coleman completed his MA in Christian Apologetics at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He also took undergraduate courses of personal interest in biology, physics, chemistry, human anatomy and physiology, and mechanical engineering.

God gave Mr. Coleman a priceless gift in his lovely wife and best friend, Kara (a native of South Korea) who deeply loves Jesus and supports and encourages Mr. Coleman in his every endeavor. Together they share a passion for advancing the Kingdom of God.

Mr. Coleman has been involved in foreign mission work through the highly effective, Let’s Start Talking program (LST), where students practice conversational English using the Gospel of Luke as their textbook. Mr. Coleman has taught via LST in Japan, Madagascar, and France. He has also been exposed to a variety of subcultures in the U.S. while traveling in his youth with his family all over the western part of the country. Mr. Coleman has a unique perspective on dealing with people, having worked across the United States in the demanding role of Catastrophe Claims Representative for 9 years prior to joining Rivendell Sanctuary.

Mr. Coleman has an exhilarating attitude towards his work at Rivendell, and his faith and enthusiasm for God and His word touch everyone around him. He enthusiastically shares Rivendell Sanctuary's vision to raise up a generation in this country with a sound Christian world view, men and women who love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and who, as genuine apprentices of the Master, will function in every area of society out of a robust, foundational Christian worldview.