Speakers
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, President, Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)
The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt is the 10th president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She was elected in June 2023. As president of the UUA, 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 20-year ministry has included serving as a parish minister, seminary professor, scholar, 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 combating 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.
Kathy Burek, former member of the UUA Board of Trustees
Ms. Kathy Burek currently serves as treasurer for EqUUal Access. She recently served as a member of the UUA Board of Trustees and as its financial secretary.
As an adjunct consultant for the MidAmerica Region, Ms. Burek facilitates retreats for small UU congregations in the Midwest. She also served as a board member of the International Women’s Convocation, an international organization of UU women working to empower women.
Ms. Burek was a member of the UUA’s Employee Benefits Trust Board and chaired the board three times. In her role as president of the Prairie Star District, she was elected president of the District Presidents’ Association, and was part of the team that led to the creation of the MidAmerica Region. She was then elected to the first MidAmerica Region Board. In her home congregation, Merging Waters UU Congregation in New Brighton, MN, Ms. Burek served in many leadership positions, including president of the board. Kathy received the UUA President’s Award for Volunteer Service in 2014.
Rev. Carol Thomas Cissel, Minister of Social Justice and Congregational Development, UU Church of Arlington (VA)
Rev. Cissel holds a master of divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion and a master of science in nonprofit and association management from the University of Maryland, University College. Before joining the UUCA congregation, she served UU congregations (as a settled and interim minister and in other roles) in PA, MD, CA, WA, OK, and NJ.
Rev. Cissel is currently chair of the UUA Commission on Appraisal, a member of the Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) Steering Committee (2nd Vice President), and serves her colleagues as the treasurer of the UU Ministers Association (UUMA).
She is passionate about interfaith activism, seeking justice, crafting exuberant worship, prophetic preaching, travel, and small-batch bourbon. Some of her writings include: Here are a few pieces of her writing: Saving Democracy, Words Matter, and An Awful Magnificent Truth.
A fan of thrillers and contemporary poetry, she also loves day hikes and live music in small venues (blues, folk, classic rock, and a bit of country). She finds joy in collecting the masterworks of Native American and First Nations Peoples artists, rooting for the Washington Nationals, parenting two amazing adult children, and stealing kisses from her delicious grandsons as often as she can.
Charles Du Mond, Co-Moderator, UUA
Mr. Charles Du Mond, along with the Rev. Meg Riley, was installed as the UUA’s Co-Moderator and Chief Governance Officer at UUA 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), Mr. 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.
Mr. Du Mond served on the UUA Pacific Central District Board, District Presidents’ Association/Regional Leaders Group, the Board of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), the Board of the Starr King School for the Ministry, 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 joined the UUs of San Mateo in 1993. He has served on its board of trustees, holding the positions of 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 worship services.
Mr. Du Mond has a PhD in statistics, which he uses to design, analyze, report, and present the results of clinical trials to regulatory agencies. He lives in San Mateo, CA. He has been married to Barbara for 40 years. They have two adult children, Jennifer and Emily, and one grandchild, Rio.
Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, Senior Minister, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Bethesda, MD
Rev. Janamanchi has been serving as Senior Minister of Cedar Lane UU Congregation since 2013. He is a third-generation member of the Brahmo Samaj, a liberal Hindu reform movement. Before coming to Bethesda, he served UU congregations in Florida, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Rev. Janamanchi has been actively involved in international interfaith and multicultural work for over two decades including as president of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). His Unitarian Universalist-Hindu faith, his Indian heritage, and his American citizenship inspire and guide him in this work. He says he also resonates strongly with the central teachings of Islam: the oneness of God (“or that invisible creative force that undergirds existence”), religious tolerance and human equality, and showing compassion for the poor.
Rev. Sara Lewis, Director of Community and Faith Development, Olympia UU Congregation (WA)
The Rev. Sara Lewis has been a professional religious educator since 2008. She has a masters in teaching from The Evergreen State College and earned her Leadership Level Religious Education Credential from the UUA in 2014. She was ordained as an Interfaith Minister by the Chaplaincy Institute in 2022, is a certified spiritual director, and is a curriculum creator including co-writing the Theology Spark Module. Sara is the parent of two grown-but-not-yet-flown young adult children and lives with dogs, cats, goats, turkeys, and chickens and a large garden that is all frankly too much to keep up with but keeps her feeling very grounded.
Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, Director of Communications and Public Ministry, UUA
The Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd leads the development and implementation of the UUA’s communications strategy, ensures that strategy addresses the UUA’s intersectional justice priorities, and manages the UUA communications staff. Previously, she served as senior minister at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 2012 to 2024. Under her leadership, River Road became both a beacon and a beta-test for new forms of lay, staff, and clergy collaboration within and across congregations.
Along with the Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti, she co-edited a new 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 progressive faith traditions. She is also the author of “After the Good News: Progressive Religion Beyond Optimism.”
Rev. David A. Miller, Senior Minister, UU Congregation of Fairfax , VA
The Rev. David A. Miller became UUCF’s senior minister at the UU Congregation of Fairfax in August 2015. He is the congregation’s lead minister and is responsible for the programs and staff related to worship, social justice, pastoral care, and stewardship.
Before coming to UUCF, Rev. David was the settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship of San Dieguito in Southern California.
Rev. David was raised Jewish in the Skokie/Evanston area just north of Chicago. He has a B.S. degree in political science from the University of Utah and received his master of divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology in 2008 with an emphasis in social transformation. Before he was called to the ministry, Rev. David spent more than 25 years in executive management, strategic planning, marketing, business development, and fundraising with private sector and non-profit organizations.
Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker, Theologian, Author and President Emeritus of Starr King School for the Ministry
Grounded in ministry, the arts, scholarship, teaching, and activism for racial equity, eco-justice, and LGBTQIA+ liberation, the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker educated a generation of ministers, scholars, artists, and activists during her 25-years at Starr King School for the Ministry, the UU and Multi-Religious Theological School then at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is author (or co-author) of several ground-breaking books, including “Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire” and “Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us,” both with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock; “Blessing the World: What Can Save Us Now (essays edited by Rob Hardies);” and “A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the 21st Century,” co-authored with John Buehrens.
In 2012 she co-founded the Braxton Institute, whose mission is to co-create strategies to repair and heal harms and traumas of historically oppressed communities and to lift up legacies of resistance and joy. Currently, she is a Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress, researching the intersections of spirituality, ecology, and community health and as a team member of the Braxton Institute’s “Reparations for Lakeland, Now!” she is working on reparations for this historically black neighborhood in College Park, MD, and supporting the national movements for reparations.
Rev. Dr. Parker, a fourth generation United Methodist minister, holds ministerial standing in the Unitarian Universalist Association as well as the United Methodist Church. She served congregations in the Pacific Northwest as a young minister, and from 2016-2019 was Theologian in Residence at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. An accomplished cellist and occasional composer, she has performed nationally and internationally as a member of Orchestra Seattle and with the Rose Trio. She lives in Washington, DC, and Gig Harbor, WA, with her spouse, Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton.
Rev. Dr. Parker is also Professor of Theology Emeritus of The Starr King School for the Ministry.
Rev. Connie Simon, Interim Minister, River Road UU Congregation, Bethesda, MD
An Accredited Interim Minister in Training, Rev. Connie Simon previously served as interim minister at the UU Church of Davis (CA) and as settled minister at the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati (OH). She joined the HOPE for Us conflict engagement team in August 2023.
Rev. Simon’s record reflects a deep commitment to the Unitarian Universalist tradition. In addition to serving on the Bylaws Renewal Team, she was a co-author of The Promise and The Practice of Our Faith worship materials, the UUA Ordination Manual, and a frequent contributor to both Worship Web and Braver/Wiser. She was the 2019 alum panelist on the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and has even volunteered at the InSpirit Bookstore.
Rev. Connie is a former facilitator of the Ministerial Formation Network and member of the Board of Trustees of the UU Ministers Association. She is on the board of the Meadville Lombard Theological School and is the co-chair of the UU Studies Network. A history enthusiast, she is also editor of the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography and teaches Unitarian, Universalist, and UU History courses and webinars for the Mid-America Region and other organizations. She is also a member of the Association of UU Music Ministries, the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), and DRUUMM.
Rev. Leslie Takahashi, Lead Minister, Mt. Diablo UU Church, Walnut Creek, CA
The Rev. Leslie Takahashi has served at the Mt. Diablo UU Church for 16 years. Before entering into the ministry, she worked as a journalist and in public policy and leadership development. Her previous positions included serving as assistant vice president for the 59-institution North Carolina Community College System and as the executive director of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative, a statewide leadership program focused on building a network of leaders across a diversity of backgrounds.
Rev. Takahashi is a contributing author of two books related to the impact of race and her faith and has an upcoming book called “Truth, Trauma, and Transformation.” She has held numerous national leadership positions in the UUA and currently serves as the president of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. She lives in Martinez with her two bully breed pups and is the mother to two remarkable adult children and is a new grandmother to two grandchildren.
Rev. Cheryl M. Walker, Co-Chair, UUA Article II Study Commission
The Rev. Cheryl M. Walker has served congregations in Philadelphia, Wilmington, NC, New York City, and Montclair, NJ.
Rev. Walker recently served as the co-chair of the UUA’s Article II Study Commission and is a past president of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association.
She has published essays in several Unitarian Universalist collections including, “Turning Point - Essays on a New Unitarian Universalism” (2016), “Centering – Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry” (2017) and “The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide” (2019).
Rev. Walker is a longtime member of the Community Church of New York, where she first fell in love with Unitarian Universalism. She is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, where she was awarded the Maxwell Fellowship for Excellence in Parish Ministry. She also holds a degree in Mathematics from Springfield College, MA.
A native New Yorker, Cheryl currently resides in Philadelphia with her spouse, Elizabeth Ann Terry, and their two fierce and fluffy cats, Ntohzake and Octavia.
Rev. Dr. Kate R. Walker, Minister, First Unitarian Church, Pittsburgh, PA
The Rev. Dr. Kate Walker began serving the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh in August of 2021. Previously she served the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church in Alexandria, VA, and the Meadville Unitarian Universalist Church, in Pennsylvania. She was raised Unitarian Universalist as a double UU preacher’s kid. She received her BA in communications from the University of Denver, an MA in social ecology from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, and an M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA. She received her Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. She is an avid bicyclist, hiker, and traveler. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Mark, two deeply loved Springer Spaniels and a mixed rescue who resembles a large clown.
She has been involved in a lot of activities on behalf of the larger UU faith, but for this event brings her former roles as President of UU History and Heritage Society, President of UU Women’s Heritage Society, and Scribe for the UUMA Ministerial Conference at Berry Street. She is the contributing editor of “The Throughline: 200 Years of the Berry Street Essay,” 2021, Skinner House Books.
Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson (he/they), Spark Convocation Worship Director
Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson is a newly fellowshipped Unitarian Universalist minister who holds degrees in history, African American studies, voice performance, and divinity from SUNY Brockport University, SUNY University at Buffalo, Boston University, and Meadville Lombard Theological School. He is currently an Assistant Minister for Growth at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, and the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of East Aurora. Prior to ministry in Rochester, NY, Rev. Verdis worked as a college professor teaching history and African American studies, and he was a national leader in advancing civic learning and democratic engagement in community colleges.
Since 2022, Rev. Verdis has served central Vermont as the executive and artistic director of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir, sharing the hope, joy, and inspiration of African American gospel music in Vermont, and is the founder of The JUUbilee Singers, First Unitarian Church of Rochester’s first gospel choir. Rev. Verdis also serves, Unitarian Universalism as General Assembly coordinator for DRUUMM), and on the Appointments Committee and the Funding for a Just Society Panel for the UUA,
bēheld, Thursday evening’s worship musicians
The musical collaborative, bēheld, is fierce and free women creating music, community, and sisterhood. The musicians are Jen Hayman, Julie James, Norah Quinn McCormick, Loyce Pace, Meg Parker Young, Rochelle Rice, Nicole Rumeau, and Melinda St. Louis. They perform for worship services, events, conferences, public demonstrations, and even at the vigil honoring the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Their repertoire spans social justice songs from the past 75 years, combined with pop and soul songs of today that honor the work of women, the challenges women face in an increasingly demanding and cruel world, and the joy women experience when finding a community that recognizes and celebrates all that women are, all they hold, and all they bring.