Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees acts on behalf of the congregation as the overall governing body of the church. The board is responsible for providing strategic leadership in the achievement of the church’s mission. Board members are elected to staggered  three-year terms; three new board members are elected each year. The board meets monthly, on the third Wednesday of each month. Board meetings are generally open; members are welcome to attend and observe.

trustees@mluc.org

trustees’s blog

You can find reports, minutes, and agendas from board meetings online.

Yassara Antar, President (2020-2024)

Yassara became a member of MLUC in 2015, having longed searched for a non-denominational community centered around action. She has been active with Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), ushering, Small Group Ministry (SGM), AFE, and Worship Visuals in some capacity since joining the church. She received her undergraduate degree from Villanova University, her graduate degree from University of Pennsylvania, and is currently teaching Physics and Prob/Stat. She is also presently back in graduate school working toward a STEM Endorsement at Immaculata University. When not doing church, Yassara loves learning, reading, arting, crafting, hiking, and volunteering. Some of her volunteerism includes: the Blind Dog Rescue Alliance, Conshohocken Environmental tree planting, Missionary Sisters of Charity soup kitchen (lasagna weekends only), Eldernet, and Subaru’s United By Blue water cleanup, to name a few.

Mark Hurle (2021-2024)

Mark and his wife Julia have been members at MLUC for 15 years. They live in Harleysville after a long residency in Radnor. Their two grown children, Joan and Jason, were active church participants throughout their youth in Faith Development and associated activities. Raised into the United Methodist Church, where his father is a longtime Board of Trustee member, Mark is happy to have found a church home that reflects his values and beliefs. Mark taught Faith Development classes, including Neighboring Faiths, and values how this experience encouraged him to further listen to and embrace different viewpoints. Mark was born in Massachusetts, received his bachelor’s degree from MIT, his PhD from Penn State and has worked for GlaxoSmithKline for over 30 years, leading teams of researchers in computational biology. Mark and his wife Julia enjoy traveling, hiking and kayaking. Mark is also a passionate baseball fan and music collector, and enjoys listening live to the wide variety of talented musicians at MLUC.

 

Dilip Kumar (2020-2023)

Even though Dilip became a Unitarian officially in 2016, he has been always been a Unitarian – following aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism that align well with Unitarian principles. Inspired by our mission, Dilip has volunteered with the Interfaith Hospitality Network, volunteered at and coordinated MLUC activities for the Norristown Hospitality Center, and is also active on the Environmental Justice team. Dilip was a Coming of Age teacher last year for the MLUC youth programs. He has a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and an Executive MBA and retired from the Boeing Company after 37 years. He has tried to bring social awareness among the privileged and their obligation to the less fortunate and has used his managerial and organization skills in supporting works of social and religious organizations. Since 1980, he has been active in a Seattle based organization that works with NGOs in India to bring sustainable programs to help the poor.

 

Joseph Lipton (2023-2024)

Joe and his wife Donna Monturo have been attending MLUC since April 2001. Their adult son Jacob was raised in the church. Long-time residents of Wayne, they relocated to Chester Springs in May 2022. Joe was brought up in the Jewish faith but as an adult sought a more inclusive faith community with an unlimited world view. Over the years Joe has served or participated in MLUC’s Father and Son Group, Men’s Group, Youth Adult Committee (YAC), Bookkeeper, Men’s Book Group, Men’s Breakfast Group, Annual Auction, Board Member and Finance Chair. He is a retired financial executive and is presently the Treasurer of MLUC as he’s been for most of the past ten years. He is also a former President of Interfaith Hospitality Network of the Main Line (IHN), now re-branded Family Promise, with whom he still volunteers and is a Financial Advisor.

 

Nancy McDowell (2023-2024)

Nancy and her husband Peter joined MLUC in 2002, after Nancy’s job transferred her back to her home town. Their initial goal was to expose their two young children, Tyler and Julia, to the values of a liberal church. It wasn’t long before they developed their own love for and commitment to tMLUC. As the kids went through RE all the way up to being presidents of their respective YRUU youth groups, Nancy participated as teacher, RE Committee member, then member of the Board of Trustees—all while working full time running a private investment firm. Nancy continued her commitment to the church through a stint as Vice Chair of the Capital Campaign and chair of the QC2 Committee. After her retirement in 2021, she joined the Nominating Committee to help elect Church leaders and the current Search Committee. She looks forward to contributing again as a veteran Board member.

Jann Nielsen (2022-2025)

Jann has been coming to MLUC for over 15 years and is a proud member. He has a PhD in pharmacology and spent his career in Pharmaceutical Research & Development. Retired now, Jann spends wonderful time with his wife Pat, daughter Carrie and family (also members of MLUC), son Adam and family, volunteering in various organizations in the community, and doing things at MLUC including Meditation I and II, Small Group Ministry, Theology Explorers, Mens Breakfast, the Child Faith Development Committee, Environmental Justice Team, gardening at MLUC, teaching in the Religious Education program, Conscious Aging gathering, and Lecture Luncheon. Jann is also an avid hiker, biker, sportsman, and general nature lover.

 

Marlies Singh (2021-2024)

Marlies was introduced to MLUC by a friend in 2004 and has been a member since 2014. She started out in the church school program where she taught for 3 years while working as the MLUC Accountant. Later she became a member of the Finance, Audit, and Legacy and Endowment Committees, finding it refreshing to see how our seven principles reshape everything, even rather dry financial matters. Marlies’ other activities at MLUC have included ushering, planting trees, helping with the auction, and volunteering as a Planned Parenthood escort through the Reproductive Justice task force. She has also been one of the members of the Used Bookstore team for the last few years. Her favorite aspect of church life is the Small Group Program. She loves to spend her spare time with her two daughters here in the area, with her family in Germany, and reading and birdwatching.

 

Barbara Welsh (2023-2024)

Barbara, her husband Dusty, and two sons Alex and Teddy began attending MLUC in 1976. Her first church involvement was co- teaching several church school classes. Other MLUC contributions have been with Sunday speakers, holiday workshops, close to 20 years as a personnel committee member and chair, many pledge campaigns, ushering, greeting, helping with numerous social events and serving on three search committees. Current committees are Partner Church Committee, which was inspired after a trip to visit our Várfalva, Transylvania, Romania, partners; Family Promise, MLUC choir, MLUC book group and Coming of Age mentor.
Barbara earned her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and a masters degree in information/library science at Drexel. Her career was as the placement director in the information college at Drexel. She also has responsibilities with the Radnor Township League of Women Voters.
Barbara and her husband Dusty hiked and sometimes backpacked in national parks from Alaska to Hawaii to Isle Royale to Everglades and most of the parks in between, as well as hiking in international locations.

Jansen Wendell (2020-2023)

Jansen was four years old when his parents, Doug and Nancy Wendell, helped establish the Main Line Unitarian Church. He has been a member ever since. He attended religious education (RE) classes through his teen years and credits his experience in the youth group with having an important role in forming his sense of self. He and his wife, Elisa Lang, were married at MLUC and served as youth advisors for two years. They raised their daughter Rosalee (Lee) in the RE program. Jansen had been a painting contractor for many years, but his work on the Youth/Adult Committee drew him to pursue a career change into religious education. For 15 years he served several UU churches in the region before retiring last year. He is an avid fiddler, mandolinist and singer, playing in several bands that perform regularly for MLUC services.