MICHAEL AHEARN,
TREASURER
Michael Ahearn, a member of Park Street Church for 33 years, has served as its Church Administrator since 2019. He worked for nearly ten years at Gordon College as its Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Finance & Administration and was a Financial Program Manager for Massport during the redevelopment of Logan Airport. Mike holds an MS in Finance & Applied Economics from the University of Rochester Simon Business School, an MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and a BA in History from Colgate University. Mike also serves on the boards of Amira and Elevate New England.
EMMANUEL AKYEAMPONG
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Akyeampong is the Ellen Gurney Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the Minister for Worship and Formation at Harvard University Memorial Church. He served as the Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard Center for African Studies from 2016-2023. Akyeampong is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK). He obtained his PhD in History from the University of Virginia in 1993 and his MDiv from Andover Newton Theological School in 2014. He was ordained as a Minister in the United Church of Christ in 2017. Akyeampong is the author and editor of several books and articles including most recently, Independent Africa: The First Generation of Nation Builders (2023). He served as co-chief editor, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the Dictionary of African Biography, 6 vols. (2012).
JEAN ALEXANDER
Rev. Jean Alexander is a retired pastor with extensive leadership and board experience. She was the Maine Conference Minister in the United Church of Christ from 1997-2005 and has served on the UCC Insurance Board and the UCC Executive Committee, as well as two terms on the board of trustees of Bangor Seminary. As a member of the First Congregational Church in Washington, DC, she has played a pivotal role in keeping and sharing their history. Jean received a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin and her MDiv from Chicago Theological Seminary. Now retired, she enjoys gardening, singing, traveling, and reading anything and everything she likes.
DIANA BUTLER BASS
Dr. Diana Butler Bass is an award-winning author, popular speaker, and inspiring preacher. She holds a doctorate in Religious Studies from Duke University and is the author of eleven books. Her bylines include the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader’s Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented on religion, politics, and culture in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and in multiple global news outlets. Diana’s passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world through informing the public about spiritual trends; challenging conventional narratives about religious practice; and writing books that help readers see themselves, their place in history, and God differently.
RICHARD BOLES
Dr. Richard J. Boles is an Associate Professor of History at Oklahoma State University. He received BA and MA degrees from Boston College and a PhD from George Washington University. His first book, Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North (New York University Press, 2020) examines the transition from racially diverse churches during the early eighteenth century to separate American Indian and African American congregations by the early nineteenth century in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Richard is working on a new book about religious interactions among Native Americans and African Americans in early America. He teaches courses in early North American and United States history, including African American history, Native American history, and American religious history. His book and article publications have been supported by a Huntington Library Fellowship, American Philosophical Society Franklin Grant, New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Grant, Albert J. Beveridge Grant, Oklahoma Humanities Grant, Gilder Lehrman Research Fellowship, and Massachusetts Historical Society fellowships.
CAROLYNE CALL
Rev. Dr. Carolyne Call is the Conference Minister of Penn Central Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC). She oversees 170 churches located in 11 counties in central Pennsylvania. Prior to serving as Conference Minister, Carrie worked as the Executive Director of Development and Communication at Lancaster Theological Seminary. She also worked for 10 years at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, as an instructor in the departments of Psychology and Education and director of the Office for Civic and Social Engagement. Carrie holds three degrees from Cornell University: BS in Rural Sociology (1986), MS in Development Sociology (2000), and PhD in Education (2004). She received an MDiv from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in 1990 and was ordained in 1994. She lives in Lancaster, PA with her husband Randall Zachman (Prof. Emeritus, U. of Notre Dame, Theology). They love hiking, time in the Adirondacks and Michigan, and history.
DAVID CLEAVER-BARTHOLOMEW
Rev. Dr. David Cleaver-Bartholomew is an Enrolled Agent specializing in clergy tax preparation and the founder of DGCB Tax Service. Previously, David served as the Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, the Association Minister for the Eastern Ohio Association of the United Church of Christ, and has been the minister for churches in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, and New York. He has also held several positions at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. David has a PhD and an MA in religion from Claremont (CA) Graduate School, an MDiv from Yale University, a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas, Austin, a BA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and a BS in Accounting from the State University of New York at Oswego.
SARAH DRUMMOND
Rev. Dr. Sarah B. Drummond serves as Founding Dean of Andover Newton Seminary and Professor in the Practice at Yale Divinity School. She has been part of Andover Newton, a graduate theological school focused on ministry in locally governed faith communities, since 2005. She leads the seminary, mentors and advises students, and teaches courses on ministerial leadership and United Church of Christ Polity. Sarah earned her PhD in Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with a specialization in administrative leadership, her MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and her BA in Ethics, Politics, & Economics at Yale. During and after seminary, Sarah served on the staff of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. She has written six books, the newest being Cultivating Competence: The Ministry of Leadership Development (Fortress Press, 2025). She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and resides in New Haven, CT.
BRETT FREIBURGER,
SECRETARY
Brett L. Freiburger has been working in cultural heritage institutions for over a decade. Currently, he is the Local History Librarian at the West Hartford Library in West Hartford, CT. He previously worked as the Institution Archivist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where he fulfilled documentary footage requests from National Geographic, PBS, and others by initiating a digitization program for the Institution’s tens of thousands of items in the analog moving image collection. Brett has worked as a Contract Archivist at the Congregational Library & Archives, as Print Department Project Supervisor for the Boston Public Library, as Library Director at Babcock Library, and as a Manuscript Assistant at the Schlesinger Library, part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University. His career began at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, CT as an historic interpreter and collections assistant. Brett has a MS in Library & Information Science from Simmons University as well as a MA and BA in History from Central Connecticut State University.
JESSE GARNER
Rev. Jesse Garner is a retired Presbyterian minister currently living in Philadelphia. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he received his undergraduate education at Yale University (BA, 1973), and his seminary training at Harvard Divinity School (MDiv, 1977). Rev. Garner is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and served churches in Tennessee and Alabama before moving in 2001 to First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia where he was pastor until his retirement in 2018. Jesse has long been very active in the work of Interfaith Philadelphia, having served on its board since 2009 in a number of capacities, including as Board Chair from 2018-2021. His wife Allen is a retired schoolteacher. They have two daughters, Allen and Lela, who work for schools in California and Virginia.
SARA GEORGINI,
VICE-CHAIR
Dr. Sara Georgini has worked for the Adams Papers editorial project at the Massachusetts Historical Society for 15 years, where she is series editor for The Papers of John Adams. Committed to the preservation of and access to rare primary sources, Sara has worked on the selection, annotation, indexing, and team production of nearly 20 scholarly editions drawn from the Adams Papers (Harvard University Press, 2009– ), covering the history of American life in the era from the Declaration to disunion. Sara is the author of Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family (Oxford University Press, 2019), Our Library in Paris (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), and is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Family History and Genealogy. She writes about American history for Smithsonian and acts as Reviews Editor for The New England Quarterly.
MAXWELL GRANT,
CHAIR
Rev. Dr. Maxwell Grant has been the Senior Minister at Second Congregational Church (UCC) in Greenwich, CT since 2012. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, where his family attended Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (NACCC), he has a long-standing interest in public history, with fellowships at the Historic Deerfield Museum and the Mark Twain House. Max has also held positions as School Minister at Collegiate School in Manhattan, Chaplain for Pediatrics and Obstetrics at Yale New Haven Hospital, and Pastor of Community Church of the Pelhams in Pelham, NY.
He is a graduate of Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale Divinity School (where he earned the Mersick Prize in Preaching), and the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), where he earned a PhD in Practical Theology. Previously on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, he currently serves on the Committee on Ministry for the Fairfield West Association of the UCC, and Day 1 Radio, a Christian preaching ministry.
LAURA HAMBY
Laura Hamby is a lifelong member of the Congregational Church of Soquel (CCS) and served on staff at CCS as Director of Christian Education and Youth for 27 years. Her current involvement includes serving on Church Council and chairing the Board of Trustees, Vision Support Team, Media Team, and Taste of Soquel. Living in Tijuana, Mexico for two years, Laura taught English at the Instituto Pan Americano. She is retired from her 35-year career at Mission Hill Middle School as Site Program Director of technology and categorical programs, including ESL & Title I. Locally, Laura is active in the Mid County Interfaith Homeless Coalition and Soquel Pioneer & Historical Society. She is past moderator of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) and currently the President of the NACCC Congregational Foundation Board of Directors.
THOMAS KNOLES
Dr. Thomas Knoles is the Librarian Emeritus at the American Antiquarian Society, where he served as Marcus A. McCorison Librarian from 2006 to 2018, Curator of Manuscripts, 1990-2018, and Head of Readers’ Services, 1995-2000. He earned a PhD in Classics, an MLIS from Rutgers University, and has written and presented extensively on topics relating to digital humanities and manuscript editing. At present, Tom is editing The Diary of William Bentley, 1783-1819, for the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. He is also an Academic Affiliate in The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, reviewing and revising transcripts of Thoreau journals prior to their publication. Tom is a member of the Collections Committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Website Committee for the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
CHARLES PACKER
Rev. Dr. Charles A. Packer is the Senior Minister of the Pine Hill Congregational Church in West Bloomfield, Michigan (National Association of Congregational Christian Churches), and Adjunct Professor at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, for which he teaches courses in biblical interpretation, pastoral theology, interfaith dialogue, and research and writing methodology. He has also assisted with instruction in biblical Hebrew at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Congregational history and polity course, most often held in Boston, Massachusetts. Charles serves on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit and has published in the fields of biblical studies and Congregationalism. He earned a BA in Religion (with concentration in Hebrew Bible) from the University of Iowa, an MDiv from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, and a DMin from the Ecumenical Theological Seminary. Charles was Dean of the Congregational Foundation for Theological Studies for the NACCC from 2015-2023.
ERIC PAGE
Rev. Eric E. Page serves as the Pastor of Hokuloa United Church of Christ in Puakō, HI. His background with community organizations includes administrative and educational roles. He worked as an Archivist at the Lyman Museum and Mission House in Hilo, HI and at Unity World Headquarters in Unity Village, MO. He was a board member of the Association of Hawai’i Archivists and was featured in the 2013 documentary “What Is New Thought?” As an adjunct seminary lecturer, he taught contemporary trends in society. He earned an MDiv from Unity Institute and Seminary, an MA in historical administration and museum studies at the University of Kansas–Lawrence, and a BA in History from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Eric delights in sharing stories of spiritual transformation and teaches the joys and challenges of scripture, diversity, history, prayer, and spiritual principles.
KENT SILADI
Rev. Kent J. Siladi is currently the Pastor in Residence at the Congregational Church of New Canaan, CT and previously served as the Director of Philanthropy of the United Church of Christ. He also served as Conference Minister in Florida and in Connecticut and was a local church pastor for sixteen years. Rev. Siladi has been involved in all the settings of the United Church of Christ. He chaired the General Synod 25 Nominating Committee, was the host Conference Minister for General Synod 28 in Tampa, and co-chaired the Search Committee for the previous General Minister and President. Rev. Siladi is a graduate of Nasson College and Yale Divinity School. He is an author and public speaker and a strong advocate for justice.
NANCY TAYLOR
Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor is an independent trustee at Impax Funds and senior minister emeritus at Old South Church in Boston. She is a retired UCC minister, having served churches in Maine, Connecticut, Idaho, and Massachusetts. Nancy is also a founder of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights Education and of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, both located in Boise, ID. She is a former Moderator of the UCC’s General Synod and former Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC. She currently serves on several boards, including at Yale Divinity School where she co-chairs the capital campaign, The Miller Center for Interreligious Leadership (Hebrew College), and The Boisi Center for Religion in American Public Life (Boston College). She has an MDiv from Yale Divinity School, a DMin from Chicago Theological Seminary, and three honorary degrees.
