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Jeffery J. Ventrella
Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel of Student Training and Development, Alliance Defense Fund
Jeffery Ventrella regularly lectures in churches, campuses, and conferences throughout the United States and has lectured on six continents. After graduating first in his high school class, he received the B.M.E. degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Northern Colorado where he specialized in trumpet performance. He then attended law school, and after serving as the Production Editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, he received the Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Serving ADF as the Senior Vice President of Student Training and Development, Mr. Ventrella oversees the design and implementation of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship and Collegiate Academy programs. He also engages the culture through formal debate, media interviews, and serves as an “approved speaker” for The Federalist Society. Prior to joining the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2000, Mr. Ventrella litigated for nearly 15 years, concentrating his work in complex commercial and insurance litigation, financial litigation, environmental and natural resource litigation, and appellate advocacy. He has presented numerous seminars for a number of organizations, including the Idaho State Bar, regarding a host of topics including motion practice, discovery practice, boundary law, legal reasoning and appellate advocacy. He is a member of the Idaho State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Ventrella has testified before a Senate subcommittee concerning the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment and his professional writings have appeared in legal journals, law reviews, and periodicals, such as For the Defense as well as Christian publications such as Citizen Magazine, Fidelity, Penpoint, Christian Culture, Jubilee, Creation Answers, and New Horizons. He is a contributing author to several books, including: The Idaho Appellate Handbook (3rd Ed.); The Standard Bearer (2001); Thine is the Kingdom (2003) and Backbone of the Bible (2004). In 2006, he served as an expert commentator for a two-part History Channel program exploring the role of the Ten Commandments in culture and law. His book, The Cathedral Builder: Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007) is part of ADF’s Blackstone Core Curriculum Project, which he also edits.
As an adjunct instructor, Mr. Ventrella taught Ethics and Apologetics at the graduate seminary level. He has held formal ordinations in the CRC and the OPC and currently serves on an ad hoc graduate thesis committee for the Department of Philosophy and Constitutional Law for the University of the Free State, South Africa. Mr. Ventrella is also a Distinguished Fellow of Law and Culture for the Center for Cultural Leadership and a Fellow with the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. His martial arts training achieved the rank of 2nd degree black belt, Tae Kwon-do. Mr. Ventrella is married, and with his wife, Heather, enjoys the challenge of rearing four very active boys and one beautiful daughter: Jefferson (22), Chandler (20), Kirklan (18), Jackson (16), and McKenzie (7).