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.)
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.)
Rev. Mary Ganz, Secretary (2028)
New London CT
secretary@uurmapa.org
Before going to seminary in her 50s, Mary was a news reporter for the AP and the San Francisco Examiner and for many years an active lay leader in the Oakland CA UU church. Her church work led her to community organizing, and community organizing led her to seminary. As a UU minister, she served our congregations in Arlington VA, Brewster MA, and San Francisco, where she also served the UU co-founded street ministry Faithful Fools. She retired in 2018 from positions as assistant minister for pastoral care at UU San Francisco and court herald at the Faithful Fools.
In 2016 Mary graduated from the Spiritual Guidance program at Shalem Institute, and in retirement she maintains a small practice in spiritual direction.
She and her spouse, the Rev. JD Benson, have three children and four grandchildren. In 2022 they moved to the East Coast to be closer to the grands. In retirement, besides playing with the babies and marveling at the teenagers, they travel a bit and look for ways to get into good trouble. They are members of All Souls UU in New London, CT.
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Anne Marsh for her recent years of service as our Secretary!
Rev. Richard Nugent, Treasurer (2028)
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.
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.
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.
Rev. 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.
Rev. Fred Wooden, Elderberries Editor (2028)
Grand Rapids MI
elderberries@uurmapa.org
Fred is cradle UU, who spent 43 years in settled service to five churches, ending at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids where he still lives. He helped edit the SLT hymnbook, served on the Commission on Appraisal and the Board of Review and on the board of MLTS as alum president.
Fully retired since 2023, he is now an author with his first novel to be published in 2027. Alongside those roles Fred has been a composer, political candidate, newspaper columnist, radio host, father, grandfather and spouse for 50 years.
Starting in 2012, he became a pilgrim walker who has traversed Hadrian’s Wall, the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago, the Kumano Kodo in Japan and the Inka Terail to Machu Picchu. He has hiked the Galilee and Bet Guvrin to Jerusalam, replicated Chaucer’s route to Canterbury, and in the US he walked the route from Selma to Montgomery AL.
Currently, he is hard at work on a sequel to his first novel, being a grandparent, and continuing his passage along the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome.
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. George Buchanan for his recent years of service as our Elderberries Editor!
Member-at-Large, Conference Liaison (2028), Currently vacant
(home town)
conferences@uurmapa.org
Bio to come…
UURMaPA salutes and appreciates The Rev. Barbro Hansson for her recent years of service as our Board Member-at-Large for Conferences!
OTHER OFFICIALS:
Webmaster
Rev. Jaco ten Hove
Bellingham WA
webmaster@uurmapa.org
Nominating Committee — nominations@uurmapa.org
Barry Finkelstein (2028), chair
Alexandria VA
Kathleen Hunter (2027)
New London NH
Rev. Marni Harmony (2027)
Winter Park FL
Rev. Leslie Westbrook (2027)
Kensington MD
Rev. Phyllis Hubble (2028)
Gaithersburg MD
Membership Coordinator
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
Rev. Lilia Cuervo
Medford MA
agent@uurmapa.org