Kelly Chestnut

Kelly Chestnut serves as the Chair for forums in Northeastern North Carolina to include the Outer Banks and Elizabeth City. He is a seasoned servant leader and distinguished professional in financial government accounting, operations research, cost estimation, and strategic planning. Kelly served as a Senior Analyst for the Army National Guard Headquarters in Arlington, VA, where he oversaw the statistical analysis and financial modeling of an $11.1 billion portfolio within the Department of Defense’s Planning, Programming, Budget, and Execution (PPBE) framework. His analytical leadership supported critical resource planning, cost forecasting, and budget execution guidance across the Army National Guard’s personnel programs.

Kelly brings a rare blend of military, governmental, non-profit, and private-sector experience. His career spans roles of increasing responsibility, including leading multi-disciplinary teams, supervising federal and contract employees, and managing operations across diverse settings—from the Pentagon to senior level operations leadership at RaceTrac Petroleum. As an Operations Research/Systems Analysis (ORSA) expert, he provided strategic insight to senior decision-makers in both peacetime and high-pressure fiscal environments, defending multi-billion dollar programs and optimizing performance through data-driven decisions. Noteworthy is his groundbreaking non-profit work that helped set the stage for veteran transition programs now widely adopted by the Department of Labor and other organizations.

In addition to his federal service, Kelly is deeply committed to ministry leadership. He currently serves as the Director of Men’s Ministry at Church of the Outer Banks in North Carolina and has held similar positions at Centreville Baptist Church in Virginia. Having come to Christ later in life while putting his military career ahead of his family and marriage, Kelly vowed to not to allow that to happen again by surrendering everything to Jesus, and being fully devoted to his new spouse Monique (who also served our country), and their three daughters, who now make a full quiver of 5 daughters. Kelly’s transformation has come from other Godly men pouring their lives out for him during great difficulty. Kelly now has that same desire to serve the Church (body of Christ) by pouring into other men, who pour into men; making disciples that make disciples. He is passionate about loving men and loving others as Christ first loves him. Kelly and Monique are grateful for the opportunity to live and love the community in OBX. 



Kelly holds a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Troy University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also pursued graduate theological studies at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.