Board members work throughout the year to formulate policy, keep in contact with our retired ministers and partners, plan advocacy projects, and assist in developing activities for the membership. Please feel free to contact any Board member with questions or ideas. (Their contact info and brief bios follow below; terms of office extend through June of the indicated year.) Your input, enthusiasm, and creativity are the energy sources of our UURMaPA community.
Key Governance Documents:
UURMaPA Purpose (and latest amendments)
Endowment Fund
Leadership Position Job Descriptions
Leadership Service History
Bylaws
Operating Procedures
Board of Directors
Rev. Dr. Richard Speck, President (2027)
Wilmington DE
president@uurmapa.org
Richard is the retired District Executive (DE) for the Joseph Priestley District (JPD) of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. He was named Minister Emeritus in 2019. Previously, he served nine years as minister to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach FL, before coming to the JPD in 2000 as Acting DE. In his last two years in Florida he also served as the music director for the church. He graduated from Meadville/Lombard Theological School with a Doctorate in Ministry in 1990. He was hired as the regular DE in 2001. He served 14 years as DE before retiring from full-time ministry in 2014.
Richard has been active with UURMAPA since his retirement in 2014. He has attended almost all in-person and virtual conferences since then. He joined the Conference Planning Team and has been the registrar for conferences for several years. He has also helped lead the Conference choirs in several conferences. He has helped UURPAMA adopt its current membership software and improve our communications with each other. See the rest of Richard’s bio HERE.)
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Dr. Susan V. Rak for her recent years of service as our President!
Rev. Charles Stephens, Vice President (2027)
Blue Hill ME
vice-president@uurmapa.org
Charles grew up Lutheran in a Northern WI town not unlike the Garrison Keillor’s “Lake Wobegone.” He was ordained as a Lutheran Minister in 1973. After serving several Lutheran Churches he realized Lutheranism had one Reformation and that was all they wanted, so he transferred into the Unitarian Universalist Ministry 1981. He was motivated by the theological perspective of the UUA. He served UU congregations in Eastport, Ellsworth and Castine ME, Concord NH and Washington Crossing NJ. from 1981–2012. Since retiring he served as an interim and has preached at a number of UU congregations. In recognition of his service both the Ellsworth and the Washington Crossing UU congregations designated him as Minister Emeritus. See the rest of Charles’s bio HERE.)
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Ned Wight for his recent years of service as our Vice-President!
The Rev. Anne Marsh, Secretary (2026)
Albuquerque NM
secretary@uurmapa.org
Anne grew up UU, and her first career was as a reference librarian. She loved that job, but loved congregational work even more, and met her spouse, Wade Wheelock, while helping to start a new UU congregation. They changed careers together, and after graduating from Meadville/ Lombard, were called as co-ministers to Canton NY, where they served for 16 years and were named Ministers Emerita/us when they retired in 2009.
They moved to New Mexico to be closer to family, living first in the mountains of Los Alamos and now in Albuquerque. Anne has been on the planning team for the past three UURMaPA conferences, serving as scribe and writing the obituaries for the Remembrance Service. In addition to being a doting grandmother, Anne likes doing pretty much anything that gets her outdoors. She also enjoys swimming, knitting, and covenant groups, and is learning to play the piano.
The Rev. Richard Nugent, Treasurer (2026)
treasurer@uurmapa.org
Richard served as the Director of Church Staff Finances (CSF) of the Unitarian Universalist Association from August 2008 to December 2025. In that capacity, he led a team managing the UUA’s retirement plan, national health plan, and other employee benefit plans. In addition, the CSF serves as a HR resource to UUA member congregations including recommendations regarding staff compensation, benefits, and staffing practices. In addition, CSF administers the UUA Living Tradition Fund and various other institutional aid funds providing financial assistance in times of economic need to religious professionals and other congregational staff.
From 1997 to 2008, Rev. Nugent served as interim minister to seven congregations. Richard was ordained to the UU ministry in April 1997. Richard earned a B.A. in Economics from George Washington University, Washington D.C. and a Masters of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley CA. Before attending seminary, he spent 22 years working in public policy. He has worked as a staff assistant to two United States Senators (Senator Gaylord Nelson and Senator Joseph Biden) for 11 years (1972–1983); as a political/market research consultant (1983–1984); as Director of Government Affairs for the Epilepsy Foundation for seven years (1984–1991); as administrator of a health care project in Indonesia (1992–1993); and as a lobbyist for the Unitarian Universalist Association (1996–1997). Richard resides in Washington D.C. with his wife, Eileen, and his son, Asa.
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Paul Johnson for his recent years of service as our Treasurer!
Janet Tillman, Connections Coordinator (2027)
Wilmington DE
connections@uurmapa.org
Janet, an Alabama native, received her master’s in social work from The Ohio State University in 1973. She has 50 years of social work experience with nonprofit organizations spanning the fields of mental health, disabilities, health care, and domestic violence. From 2007 until her retirement in 2023 Janet ran a consulting business focused on building nonprofit organizations’ capacity to align services with their vision/mission and communicate program effectiveness.
In retirement, Janet is a member of two book groups, collects (and occasionally uses) old and new cookbooks (especially those focused on Mediterranean dishes), exercises (including yoga) when she feels like it, and plays MahJongg.
Janet lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her partner, Richard Speck, retired UU minister. They enjoy traveling, delicious meals with friends, zoom happy hours with old friends from afar, and watching Great Courses over what they call “lunch & learn” sessions.
Janet is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington and is active in its Independent Living for Young Adults program that provides support to young adults aging out of foster care.
Janet is an avid UURMaPA conference attendee having attended three in-person conferences pre- covid and all the virtual conferences. In December 2024, she started the first Partners’ Connection Group that meets monthly on Zoom. It is her hope that more retired ministers and partners will join Connection groups, especially those who do not have retired colleagues and partners nearby.
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Fritz Hudson for his recent years of service as our Connections Coordinator!
The Rev. Christine Robinson, Member-at-Large for UUMA/UUA Relations (2027)
Albuquerque NM
chaplain@uurmapa.org
Christine Robinson retired from full time ministry in 2017, then worked part time for five years, working for the Pacific Western region with large congregations, and doing one targeted and one Interim ministry during the pandemic years. Previous to that she served our congregations in Albuquerque NM and Columbia SC for 29 and eight years respectively. In full retirement she has been active with UURMaPA and the retired ministers chapter of the UUMA, having taken a special interest in the relationships between retired and working ministers. She and her husband enjoy family in Albuquerque and Denver.
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Wayne Arnason for his recent years of service as our wider UU Liaison!
Joy Atkinson, Passages Coordinator (2027)
Beaverton OR
passages@uurmapa.org
The Rev. Joy Atkinson was ordained in 1974 after a year-long consulting ministry at the Humboldt UU Fellowship in Northern California. She went on to serve for 24 years as parish minister in Duluth MN, Davis CA and San Mateo CA.
Upon leaving a 14-year ministry in San Mateo in 2002, she was named their Minister Emerita. Not ready to retire at the time, she moved into interim ministry, and served 10 congregations in California and one in Arizona as interim senior minister over the next 16 years.
She retired in 2018. In retirement she has pursued writing, choral singing and amateur astronomy.
The Rev. George Buchanan, Elderberries Editor (2026)
Perth, Ontario, Canada
elderberries@uurmapa.org
George is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. He is Canadian—born in Ottawa, Ontario—with childhood and teenage years growing up in the Montreal suburbs. After decades in high technology work, George decided to become a UU minister. George was ordained in 2006. He moved to the US for 16 years where he served in several UU ministries in Northeast Ohio and Western New York.
George and Carrie are retired now and live in Perth, Ontario. They have two adult children and three grandchildren. George’s ongoing ministry interests include deep adaptation and the wisdom of the Indigenous nations of North America.
The Rev. Barbro Hansson, Member-at-Large for Conferences (continuing, 2026)
Peterborough NH
conferences@uurmapa.org
Since her retirement in 2014, Barbro has found new purpose through her involvement in planning UURMaPA fall conferences. She also discovered the art of needle felting and during the COVID pandemic, knitting became her spiritual practice.
Barbro is a naturalized US citizen whose Swedish heritage is at her core. On vacation in 1973, Barbro met her first husband, who was stationed with the US Army in Greece. He introduced her to Unitarian Universalism and Barbro attended her first UU gathering in Berchtesgaden, Germany, in January, 1974. A month later, she arrived on US soil. While acclimating to a new culture, Barbro worked as a layout artist at the Swedish-American newspaper in Brooklyn NY. Her daughter, Karin, was born in 1976 and when she was two, the family moved to Virginia and began attending the Waynesboro UU Fellowship.
In 1982, Barbro decided to pursue a college degree and two years after graduation from Mary Baldwin College (Staunton VA), she was hired as Director of Alumnae Projects there with the primary responsibility of planning events, like class reunions and homecoming as well as the College’s Sesquicentennial celebration.
During the 1980s, Barbro became active within UUism, both locally and regionally. In 1987, she was elected to the Board of the then Thomas Jefferson District. Her call to ministry came amidst racial tension at the 1993 GA in Charlotte NC. When her term as TJ District president expired in 1994, she enrolled at Meadville Lombard Theological School.
After serving as Extension Minister in Plattsburgh NY, where she met Tom, her second husband, Barbro accepted a call to All Souls Church in Brattleboro VT, a congregation recently traumatized by a fatal shooting. Her ministry there focused on healing, re-establishing trust and mending the fabric of community.
After 12 rewarding years at All Souls, Barbro retired to spend more time with family. Tom & Barbro have three adult children and two grand-children and split their time between Peterborough NH and Staunton VA.
OTHER OFFICIALS:
Webmaster
The Rev. Jaco ten Hove
Bellingham WA
webmaster@uurmapa.org
Nominating Committee — nominations@uurmapa.org
The Rev. Beth Miller (2026), chair
Sarasota FL
Barry Finkelstein (2026)
Alexandria VA
Kathleen Hunter (2027)
New London NH
The Rev. Marni Harmony (2027)
Winter Park FL
The Rev. Leslie Westbrook (2027)
Kensington MD
Membership Coordinator
The Rev. Pallas Stanford
Colorado Springs CO
membership@uurmapa.org
UURMaPA Historian
POSITION OPEN (Contact NomCom, above, if interested)
historian@uurmapa.org
MANY THANKS to The Rev. Susan LaMar, Uxbridge, MA
(recently finished long service as Historian)
Registered Agent
The Rev. Lilia Cuervo
Medford MA
agent@uurmapa.org