Emerging Leader Award

O'Donavan K. Yarde, MDiv, APC-BCC

ACPE is proud to honor Chaplain O’Donavan Yarde as the recipient of this year’s Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes early-career professionals demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment to the ACPE community.

Chaplain O’Donavan Yarde manages the Clinical Pastoral Education program at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Previously, he served as the Manager of Spiritual Wellness. He is a Board-Certified Chaplain (BCC) with the Board of Chaplaincy, Inc. He is ecclesiastically endorsed for healthcare ministry by Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. He holds a ministerial license from the Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He is also a Certified Educator Candidate (CEC) with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).

Chaplain O’Donavan brings a wealth of experience to his role, having graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University. Before his call to ministry, he earned a Master of Business Administration. He has previously served as Chaplain at AdventHealth hospitals in Ottawa, Kansas, and Tampa and Carrollwood, Florida, providing spiritual care to patients and families of all faiths and spiritual backgrounds during times of crisis, grief, and loss.

As Manager of Clinical Pastoral Education and a Certified Educator Candidate, he leverages his valuable insights, skills, and experience in healthcare ministry to train the next generation of chaplains. He believes God called him to provide spiritual care to people in the margins.  His vision is to train chaplains and spiritual caregivers to extend culturally sensitive spiritual care. O’Donovan passionately promotes CPE, having conducted virtual training for chaplains in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa interested in CPE. He also serves on the ACPE Professional Wellbeing Committee (PWB).

He loves taking road trips with his wife Melissa and their teenage daughter, Jovanna. O’Donavan was born in Saint Lucia and raised in Barbados before coming to the US as a teenager. As part of his Caribbean heritage, he enjoys baking traditional Bajan sweet bread and listening to Caribbean music, notably the late Bob Marley.

Chaplain O’Donavan exemplifies the spirit of this award through his dedication, service, and growing impact within ACPE, and we look forward to the continued contributions he will make to our field. O’Donavan will accept this honor on Wednesday, May 21, at the ACPE Annual Chair’s Banquet in Minneapolis, MN.