Boston, Mass. -

In March, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) Board of Trustees voted to create the role of Vice President for Communications & Development, which will supervise the UUA’s Stewardship & Development and Communications staff teams and oversee an aligned strategy for our fundraising and public messaging, and appointed Rev. Ladd to the position. She previously served as the UUA’s Director of Communications and Public Ministry since 2024.

“Nancy is uniquely positioned to take on this new leadership role because of her impressive professional background and the investments she has already made in collaborative relationships across staff teams of the UUA,” said Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, the UUA’s President. “As more people seek out the shared religious values and sense of community that Unitarian Universalism represents, it is vital for the UUA to share one powerfully united story when it comes to its Communications and Development work. We’re delighted that Nancy is answering this call.”

Prior to coming to the UUA, Rev. Ladd served as Senior Minister of the River Road Unitarian Universalist congregation beginning in 2012. Along with the Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti, she co-edited a volume (published by the UUA’s publishing imprint Skinner House Books), Seeds of a New Way: Nurturing Authentic and Diverse Religious Leadership, which explores the unique demands and possibilities such collaboration can bring to leadership in the progressive faith tradition of Unitarian Universalism.

Informed by her longstanding service as a national leader in broad-based interfaith community organizing, her first book, After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism engaged the tragic dimension of history and explored the liturgies of lament that can sustain people in the hardest of times.

Rev. Ladd was raised by big-hearted, justice-centered Catholics in the rural Midwest and credits a Jesuit education steeped in liberation theology as the impetus for her path toward Unitarian Universalism. Nancy holds a Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School and a degree in Theology and Communications from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her spouse Jon and her two children.

“Unitarian Universalism has powerful and transformative stories to share, both among UUs and to the outside world,” said Rev. Ladd. “I am so pleased that this role will help the UUA increase its capacity to tell those stories to more people and to think strategically about the future of our lifesaving faith tradition.”

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