Trustees
Listed alphabetically by last name.
Barbara de Leeuw
Barbara de Leeuw
(Position #2; Term ends 6/26.)
This is Barbara's second year on the UUA Board of Trustees with the UUA bylaws rewrite in her portfolio. She's also a member of the Values and Alignment Team (known in other spaces as the Finance Committee).
In past lives, Barbara chaired or sat on all the same UU church committees as her Board colleagues and many of you. She is honored to have served as Moderator, President, Vice President, and board member for each sibling, First Universalist Church of Rochester, NY (last century) and First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY (this century). The mid-sized church "formed" her and the large church "forged" her.
Both congregations made Barbara a better human and are responsible for sparking joy in the collective work of building great communities.
Barbara is a clergy mom (Episcopal) and partner (Society of Humanistic Judaism), an idea generator, an anti-racist, anti-oppression accountable champion, and a happy, still learning, elder. She believes change is a fact and that UUs must be laser focused on the evolving Vision, Mission and Values of our Beloved Community. She believes resilient and accountable relationships - covenantal work - are hard and fundamental in a thriving community. She believes trust and adaptability are critical for a healthy, successful UUA future. And she absolutely believes Unitarian Universalists working in collaboration with like-minded others can change the world.
Rev. Suzanne Fast
Rev. Suzanne Fast
(Position #7; Term ends 6/25.)
The Rev. Suzanne Fast (she/her) joined the Board of Trustees in 2019. She serves on the Values and Resources Working Group, the Governance Working Group, and the Bylaws Working Group. Rev. Suzanne has previously served our faith at the local, district/regional, and national levels, including serving on the Accountability Group for Justice GA 2012 in Phoenix. She is a facilitator in the UUA’s Beyond Categorical Thinking Program. Her passion for youth, young adult, and campus ministry traces back to her own experiences and her service in the leadership of the Continental UU Young Adult Network many years ago. She has a background in business, including systems analysis, accounting, and human resources.
Rev. Fast is a community minister focusing on disability justice, advocacy, education, and pastoral ministry, primarily through EqUUal Access. Rev. Suzanne is one of the creators of the Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry Program for congregations and serves on its Coordinating Committee. She is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples, FL.
A graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School, Rev. Suzanne is also a certified Spiritual Director. A life-long UU, she traces her call to ministry to the foundational lessons in meaning making learned in UU Religious Education. Rev. Suzanne is particularly interested in the spiritual journeying of adults and children, and the connections we make between our inward journeys, our daily lives, and our shared work for a just society.
Suzanne was fortunate to work on two sacred art projects with the Nyingma Institute, where she studied for many years, and which lives on in her interest in creative expression as a spiritual practice. She also enjoys escapist mysteries, cooking, and tending the occasional tomato plant. Suzanne and her husband share their home with two imperious and impish cats.
Rev. Sherman Logan
Rev. Sherman Logan
(Position #9; Term ends 6/25.)
The Rev. Sherman Z. Logan, Jr. was installed as a member of the Board of Trustees at General Assembly 2019, and is currently serving a three-year term. He is a member of the Values and Resources Working Group, the Board liaison to the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, and the Financial Secretary in-training.
Rev. Logan has served the Association in many capacities. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, served as a member of the Beyond the Call 3 designed team, and is a Vocational Advisor for the Ministerial Formation Network. Rev. Logan served on the Commission on Institutional Change Laboratory Committee and on the Mountain Retreat and Learning Center's board and nominating committee.
A native of Richmond, VA, Rev. Logan attended the University of Virginia and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. After a twenty-one-year career in business, he answered his call to ministry. He entered the Samuel D. Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, earning the Master of Divinity degree in 2005. He has a certificate in congregation-based spiritual direction.
Licensed to the Baptist Ministry in 2004 and ordinated in 2006, Rev. Logan served as Associate Pastor of Economic Development and Finance at the Trinity Baptist Church of Richmond. He joined the First Unitarian Universalist staff and has served the Congregation since 2008, where he currently serves as the Executive Minister. In addition to his current role as Executive Minister, he also served as the church business manager, Assistant Minister, and acting Senior Minister. In 2014, Rev. Logan was granted Preliminary Ministerial Fellowship by the Unitarian Universalist Association, and in 2019, was granted Full Ministerial Fellowship.
Rev. Logan is married to Franka Logan, and together they have four daughters and a son. They are also doting grandparents to three girls and two boys.
Rev. Elizabeth Mount
Rev. Elizabeth Mount
(Position #3; Term ends 6/24.)
The Rev. Elizabeth Mount (pronouns: they, them, theirs) joined the UUA's Board of Trustees at the 2021 General Assembly, and currently serves the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Indiana, PA as its minister. As a lifelong Unitarian Universalist who grew up in the First Unitarian Society of Denver, CO, Rev. Mount has a deep understanding of both the power and pitfalls of religious organizations and a deep commitment to this religious faith and the possibility of a better world that our shared religion offers. For this reason, they have been consistently a part of local, regional, and denominational work since the 1990s, when they began serving on congregational and district committees as a Youth.
Rev. Mount's understanding of Unitarian Universalism is as a religious faith founded not on a shared statement of belief in a higher power, but on a shared commitment to work together to make our values alive in the world. Prior to seminary studies, they were a community organizer with environmental and Latine community projects in Western North Carolina, the Appalachian coal fields, and the highlands of Guatemala. They currently participate in environmental justice, anti-racism, and disaster relief work within and beyond Unitarian Universalism, and most recently served as co-chair of the Conflict and Covenant Team at General Assembly prior to election to the Board. Rev. Mount also finds joy in work with the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA), Transgender Religious profession Unitarian Universalists Together (TRUUST), and Allies for Racial Equity (ARE).
Rev. Mount's time on the Board of Trustees is a continuation of their calling to help UUs live out our values by giving support to the Association and its member congregations in understanding who we are and where we want to go, together. To that end, they hope to be especially attentive to ongoing collaboration and dialogue with people of color, Youth and Young Adults, and trans and nonbinary members of our congregations and communities.
John Newhall
John Newhall
Vice Moderator
(Position #5; Term ends 6/26.)
John B. Newhall is currently a Master of Divinity student at Boston University School of Theology. He entered this program after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and film studies from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. He plans to pursue a life dedicated to the study of the function and practice of religion.
As a life-long Unitarian Universalist, he has participated in a great number of the Unitarian Universalist Association programs for youth and young adults. Some of these experiences include serving on Youth Caucus staff and participating in programs like Summer Seminary and Meaning Makers. John is a member of First Church in Salem, MA, and attended Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, WI throughout his time in college. He has served as a religious education teacher and on the worship planning committee.
John lives in Salem, MA.
JeKaren Olaoya
JeKaren Olaoya
(Position #6; Term ends 6/24.)
JeKaren Olaoya (she/her) is a life-long UU, poet, mixed-media artist, and Georgia-native who started her service in the UU community as a Nursery Caregiver and then Interim Director of Religious Education (DRE) at High Street Church in Macon, GA. She went on to serve as DRE at the Modesto, Fremont, and Alameda, CA congregations. She also served at Congregational Administrator at the Rockville, MD congregation. She holds a Masters in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University and is an MDiv student at Starr King School for the Ministry. She is also a certified End of Life and Grief Doula, providing virtual end of life support and art-based grief workshops in addition to providing support to Beloved Conversations, a program of the Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard Theological School.
JeKaren lives in Winter Park, FL with her schnauzer mix, Maysee Moon.
Rev. Dr. Adam Robersmith
Rev. Dr. Adam Robersmith
(Position #10, Term ends 6/25.)
The Rev. Dr. Adam Robersmith is a Unitarian Universalist minister, spiritual director, artist, and scholar. He serves as the Senior Minister of the Universalist Church of West Hartford, CT, while also supporting the work of spiritual formation for laypeople and clergy within our movement. He has been a member of Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM), the Covenant of UU Pagans (CUUPS), the UU Spiritual Directors Network, the UUA Appointments Committee, and the UU Ministers Association (UUMA). He also served as one of the 2017 Berry Street Lecture panelists. Educated at Cornell University, Starr King School for the Ministry, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Fielding Graduate University, he has studied science, theology, history, human development, and the arts. The range of his interests and breadth of his education allow him to support the spiritual and religious lives of people with a wide variety of beliefs and spiritual practices. When he isn't ministering, he is also a gardener, fiber artist, and cook who loves a good workout. He lives in the woods of Connecticut with his partner of 25+ years.
Rev. Justine Sullivan
Rev. Justine Sullivan
(Position #11; Term Ends 6/25)
The Rev. Justine Sullivan grew up in Scituate, MA, and got her start in church life playing and singing at the “Folk Mass” on Saturday afternoons at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Scituate Harbor. Justine found Unitarian Universalism as an adult after many years of being unchurched. She has worked as a manager in high technology and as a social worker and psychotherapist, and in 2013 she entered seminary and was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister in June of 2017. Before entering seminary, Justine joined the Clara Barton District Board, serving as District President and then as president of the District Presidents’ Association. Justine has also served as a congregational facilitator and consultant and currently serves as a Good Officer for the Northern New England chapter of the UUMA. Justine lives in Northborough, MA with her wife Dale and a wonderful dog named Callie, and is currently serving as interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick, ME.
Rev. Sam Trumbore
Rev. Sam Trumbore
Financial Secretary
(Position #8; Term Ends 6/24.)
The Rev. Sam Trumbore was elected to the Board in June of 2021. Previously, he served on the UUA Electronic Communications Committee (1994-1998) and the Open UUA Committee (2011-2015).
Rev. Trumbore serves as minister of the First UU Society of Albany, NY (1999-present). He grew up UU in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark, DE. He moved to California to work in Silicon Valley and finish his Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Degree at UC Berkeley. While there, he was a member of the Palo Alto and Oakland UU Churches. The call to ministry came and he left his computer engineering career to enter Starr King School for the Ministry. He served in ministerial capacities at Rochester Unitarian (NY) as an Intern (1988-1989), Niagara Falls doing pulpit supply(1990-1993), and was ordained there in 1992. His first settled ministry was in Port Charlotte, Florida (1993-99).
Rev. Trumbore also serves on the board of the UU Buddhist Fellowship and is a devoted practitioner of Insight Meditation (Theravadan 1984-present). He has been active in congregation-based community organizing (ARISE) and UU State Action Networks during his time in Albany. His most recent work was helping the NY UU Justice State Action Network get started in 2020.
Philomena Moriarty and Sam have been married since 1990, and together they have an adult son, Andrew.
Rev. Amanda Weatherspoon
Rev. Amanda Weatherspoon
(Position #1; Term ends 6/26.)
Rev. Weatherspoon had the joy of serving River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, MD as their Associate Minister. Her time on the UUA Nominating Committee (2015 - 2020) allowed her to work closely with the Board of Trustees as well as UUA staff and leadership, giving her insight to the care, dedication, and faithfulness needed to serve our Beloved Community. UUs are diverse and multifaceted, and as our shared faith grows and changes, so do we (or is it the other way around?). Serving on the UUA Board of Trustees allows her to be connected to those changes — bearing witness to the beauty of evolution and transformation unfolding before us. Rev. Weatherspoon is excited for what our shared faith has to show us and for the ways that we get to shape our faith, together.
Bill Young
Bill Young
Secretary
(Position #4; Term ends 6/26.)
Bill Young (he, him) joined the UUA Board of Trustees as a trustee at General Assembly 2020. He also currently serves as UUA Secretary. A UU since 1981, Young has been a member of three congregations including the UU Society: East in Manchester, CT, the Unitarian Society of Hartford in Hartford, CT, and the UU Meeting of South Berkshire in Housatonic, MA. Young has served in numerous congregation and district leadership roles. Most recently, before joining the UUA Board of Trustees, he was a member of the UUA Appointments Committee since 2017. Prior to that, Young was President of the Clara Barton District. He has also been a member of the EqUUal Access leadership circle since 2013. He is a member of the UU Addiction Recovery Ministry Team. Areas in which Young has been most directly involved and is especially interested include congregation-level planning and management, disability matters, lay leadership development, and anti-oppression/anti-racist transformation initiatives.
Young is a Connecticut licensed professional counselor (LPC) and national board-certified counselor (NCC). He currently works with a number of nonprofit behavioral health organizations with a focus on clinical and administrative effectiveness, quality, technology, and governance. Young also serves as chairperson of the board of directors of a large Hartford, CT based nonprofit community health center organization, with a focus on mental health and addiction recovery.
Originally from Chicago, Young is married to Martha Page, the executive director of Hartford Food System, a nonprofit organization engaged in local and regional action on food security and food access. Martha and Bill share their space with an energetic young dog and senior cat. Bill is a person in long term addiction recovery and active in community recovery work.
Co-Moderators
Charles Du Mond
Charles Du Mond
(Term ends 6/25.)
Charles Du Mond was installed as Co-Moderator and Chief Governance Officer at General Assembly 2020. He sees serving on the Moderator Team as an opportunity to continue to empower the leadership of others.
A lay leader who came to Unitarian Universalism from the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Du Mond, for many years, described himself as a Quaker who belonged to a UU Church. He experienced Unitarian Universalism as a kind of United Nations of Religion and pointed to all the members who claimed some other religious heritage in addition to UU. Now, he is simply a Unitarian Universalist.
He joined the UUs of San Mateo in 1993. He has served on its Board of Trustees, holding all the leadership positions: President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Financial Secretary. He taught religious education (RE), including every Our Whole Lives (OWL) level from kindergarten to high school, facilitated the Beloved Conversations curriculum three times, led a capital campaign, participated in a Ministerial Search Committee, and developed and led Sunday Services.
Beyond his local congregation, he served on the UUA Pacific Central District Board, District Presidents’ Association / Regional Leaders Group, the Board of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), and the advisory board for UU United Nations Office. He was asked to join the UUA President’s Council in 2008. He attends the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) Stewardship Council and Innovation Council. He has been on pilgrimages to San Mateo’s partner church in The Philippines twice (2011 and 2019). He is a new member of the Board at the Starr King School for the Ministry.
Du Mond has a PhD in Statistics which he uses to design, analyze, report, and defend the results of clinical trials to regulatory agencies. He lives in San Mateo, CA. He has been married to Barbara for 37 years. They have two adult daughters, Jennifer and Emily, and a granddaughter, Rio.
Rev. Meg Riley
Rev. Meg Riley
(Term ends 6/25.)
The Rev. Meg Riley was installed as Co-Moderator and Chief Governance Officer at General Assembly 2020. She views the Moderatorship as an opportunity to give back, after having received so much from Unitarian Universalism throughout her life.
A lifelong Unitarian Universalist, Riley grew up in congregations in Charleston, WV, and Akron, OH. Since 1983, she has served UU congregations, organizations, and enterprises in many capacities. Her primary identity throughout many roles has been as a religious educator. On UUA staff for 21 years in a variety of roles, and on the UUA’s Leadership Council for eight years, Riley directly experienced the impact of UUA Board/Administration interactions. She concluded that a strong Board and Moderator, in active dialogue and collaboration with a strong Administration, is essential to a strong UUA.
Ordained as a Community Minister in 1992, Riley has worked ever since to transform the UUA into a multiracial, justice-centered religious movement. She is thrilled about all of the positive movement at the current time, especially noting and wanting to support the strong leadership of younger people, people of color, and trans/nonbinary folx throughout Unitarian Universalism. Always deeply collaborative, Riley has worked to create new opportunities for advancing strong leadership, especially the leadership of younger people, people of color, and GLBT people, wherever she has served.
Riley lives in Minneapolis, MN. She is married to Dr. Nancy Hammond, who recently retired after 37 years as a clinical psychologist, and is the proud parent of Jie Wronski-Riley, 23. After ten years as Senior Minister of Church of the Larger Fellowship, and 37 years as a religious professional, Riley formally retired from ministry in 2020.
Co-Financial Advisors
Chris Chepel
Chris Chepel
(Appointed by the Board of Trustees for a two-year term ending June 2024.)
Chris (she/her) has been a Unitarian Universalist for over 30 years, initially connecting as a teenager through her local congregation’s youth group. She has been actively involved with several congregations, most recently a Founding Member of WellSprings Congregation in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, where she has served as both President and Treasurer and has served in numerous other leadership roles including leading small groups and serving as a Worship Leader.
Chris recently served on the UUA’s Audit Committee for eight years, including three years as Chair. During her tenure, the Audit Committee incorporated oversight of the adequacy and effectiveness of the Association’s risk management practices into its charter. She also previously served as a member of the finance committee at the District level.
Professionally, Chris spent over 24 years with KPMG LLP, the last 12 as partner, where she specialized in audits of not-for-profit organizations, governments, and employee benefit plans. She currently leads the Business Advisory practice of MFR Consultants, a full-service consulting firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Public Account, Certified Government Financial Manager, Project Management Professional, and a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential holder.
Chris serves on the Board and is past Board Chair of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, which addresses critical issues facing the region by providing impactful research, connecting diverse leaders, and advancing shared solutions. She is also a partner with Social Venture Partners Philadelphia, which mobilizes people and leverages resources to reduce intergenerational poverty in the region.
Chris graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a bachelors in accounting and a sociology minor, and she and her family reside in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
David Stewart
David Stewart
(Elected by the General Assembly for a five-year term ending June 2028.)
David (he/his) found his spiritual home in Unitarian Universalism in 1999. He has been an active member of several congregations, including All Souls Unitarian Tulsa, Jefferson Unitarian in Golden, Colorado and Northwest Unitarian Universalist (NWUUC) of Sandy Springs, Georgia.
David served on the UUA’s Socially Responsible Investment Committee and Investment Committee for eight years from 2010 to 2018, with a few of those years as SRIC co-chair.
Recently, David has been focused on starting a preschool at NWUUC. He served as President of the congregation from 2019-2020 and concurrently served on the Board of Trustees for four years. He has served NWUUC on several other committees, including the Endowment.
David has an academic background in portfolio construction and management, having earned an MBA from the University of Tulsa in 1998. He earned a Ph.D. in organizational psychology in 2010. He has run a real estate investment business since 2012. He resides with his family in Smyrna, Georgia.
President
Rev. Sofía Betancourt, Ph.D.
Rev. Sofia Betancourt, Ph.D
(Term ends 6/2029.)
The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt is the tenth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She was elected in June 2023. As president of the Association, she is responsible for administering staff and programs that serve its more than 1,000 member congregations. She also acts as principal spokesperson and minister-at-large for the UUA.
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt’s twenty-year ministry has included serving as a parish minister, seminary professor, scholar and environmental ethicist, and public theologian. Rooted in her lived identities as a queer, multiracial, AfroLatine first-generation daughter of immigrants from Chile and Panamá, Rev. Dr. Betancourt has already helped Unitarian Universalism live further into its commitments to be a radically welcoming, counter-oppressive, pluralistic faith movement. In addition to her many years of service as Director of the UUA’s Office of Racial and Ethnic Concerns and on many denominational leadership bodies, she also has previous experience with the role of president—in early 2017 she was appointed interim co-president to finish a vacated term, making her the first woman to lead the Unitarian Universalist Association. She most recently served as Resident Scholar and Special Advisor on Justice and Equity at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
Rev. Dr. Betancourt has contributed to the education of future faith leaders at Yale Divinity School, Starr King School for the Ministry, and Drew University Theological School, teaching courses on topics such as ministerial leadership, theologies, womanism and Earth justice, and combatting oppression. Her own scholarship focuses on environmental ethics of liberation in a womanist and Latina feminist frame. She holds Ph.D., M.A., and M.Phil. degrees in Religious Ethics and African American Studies from Yale University, an M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry, and a B.S. from Cornell University with a concentration in ethnobotany. Rev. Dr. Betancourt is the author of Ecowomanism at the Panamá Canal: Black Women, Labor, and Environmental Ethics (2022). She lives in the Washington, DC, area.
Liaisons to the Board
Carey McDonald
Carey McDonald
Executive Vice President
Carey McDonald is the UUA's Executive Vice President, helping to lead the organization in fulfilling its mission and overseeing staff operations.
He previously served as the UUA's Outreach Director and as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, and is a former lay member of the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee and served on the Skinner House Board. Prior to joining the UUA, Carey worked in educational policy with the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Department of Education.
Carey is a seventh-generation Unitarian Universalist and a member of First Parish in Malden, MA, and the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, OH. He was active in Columbus as a youth leader in the Ohio Meadville District Youth Adult Committee and with Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM).
Carey holds a bachelors in Economics from Pomona College in Claremont, CA, and a masters in Organizational Leadership from Wheelock College in Boston, MA (now a part of Boston University). He lives in Malden, MA with his family.
Staff
Stephanie Carey Maron
Stephanie Carey Maron
Executive Assistant to the Executive Vice President and Board of Trustees
Stephanie Carey Maron (she/her) joined the staff of the UUA in April 2012. She first served in Ministries and Fatih Development, but quickly found her way to the Office of the President. She enjoys working with both the Administration and the Board of Trustees, and loves supporting the incredible work of this faith tradition. She lives outside of Boston with her husband and two kiddos.