2010 Rally Month Dinner September 14, 2010

An attorney/economist with roots in Central California and Europe will keynote the September men’s auxiliary meeting at California’s oldest Armenian Church.
Justin A. Dermon, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Finance at Fresno Pacific University, will be the featured speaker at the 2010 Rally Month Dinner of the Men’s Fellowship at the First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno.
The dinner meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, at the FAPC Campus, 430 South First Street at historic Huntington Boulevard near Downtown Fresno. The evening will begin with ethnic appetizers at 6:30 p.m. and continue with a barbecue dinner at 7 p.m. Reservations are $12 per person (half-price for students) and may be made by calling George Karkazian at (559) 434-9009.
A native of the San Joaquin Valley, Dr. Dermon was 12 when he and his missionary parents relocated to the Republic of France. Between 1975 and 1977, Dermon earned undergraduate degrees in economic and social administration, finance, and economics from the Université Paul Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence, one of the oldest universities in France. In 1978, he received a bachelor of arts degree in accounting from the Ministry of National Education as well as a postgraduate degree in economics from the Université Paul Cézanne. Three years later he earned a doctoral degree in economics from the Faculty of Applied Economics at Paul Cézanne.
Between 1977 and 1980, Dr. Dermon served as adjunct instructor for different continuous learning institutions and taught at the Lycée Privé Charles Péguy in Marseille. From 1985 through 2008, Dermon was an attorney at law in Marseilles, specializing in business, corporate, and employment law. During that same period, he taught finance and business law at the Euromed Marseille School of Management, a historic educational institution located in the capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
In the fall of 2008, Dr. Dermon accepted appointment as Professor of Economics and Finance at FPU, the only accredited Christian university in the Great Central Valley of the Golden State. His subjects include business statistics, managerial economics, cost accounting, business law, financial risk and strategic financial management, public finance and global managerial accounting. He also serves on the FPU Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and Undergraduate Academic Committee.
Dr. Dermon is a member of Gideons International, the Union of European Lawyers, and the Avocats Conseils d’Entreprises (A.C.E.). He and his wife, Colette, have three children.
Forty immigrants from Marsovan chartered the First Armenian Presbyterian Church in a rented Fresno hall on July 25, 1897. The congregation formally joined the family of Presbyterian Churches in October of that same year. The boyhood church of authors William Saroyan and A.I. Bezzerides, FAPC today is a multigenerational evangelical congregation drawn from the Old and New Worlds.
Reverend Mgrdich Melkonian is the Senior Pastor of the congregation, Reverend Aren Balabanian is the Associate Pastor, Samuel Khatchikian is the Summer Seminary Intern, and Edward N. Esajian is Chair of the Men’s Fellowship Executive Committee.
FAPC is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America. The 2010 theme of the congregation is “A New Creation.”