Who's Who - Foothills Unitarian

About Betsy

Betsy is very excited to be the Family Ministry Assistant at Foothills Unitarian Church! Having grown up in Fort Collins, she knows the area and community well. Her background includes being a Youth Services Specialist at Platte Valley Juvenile Detention Center, where she supervised and provided support to incarcerated youth for the State of Colorado. She is also an avid volunteer for Partners Mentoring Youth and has worked with at-risk youth for many years. Prior to working for Platte Valley, Betsy worked at AT&T Mobility in sales. She is currently working towards getting a Master’s Degree in Social Work so that she can become a counselor for at-risk youth. In her time off, Betsy enjoys reading non-fiction books and spending time with her pug mix, Igor. She also hikes on weekends and is very passionate about fitness. Betsy’s always open to getting to know new people, so if you see her around please come say hi!

About Kara

Kara moved to Colorado in 2006 to study at Northern Colorado and Colorado State earning her Masters in Music Therapy. She works as a music therapist and music educator in the Fort Collins area. She joined Foothills in the Fall of 2017. While still new to Unitarian Universalism, the message of spreading courageous love is what resonated most with her. She enjoys furthering that message with families at Foothills through moving, playing instruments and singing. When not making music, she tries to spend time hiking, skiing, running or reading as many books as she can.

About Christopher

Nature, music and beloved community inform Christopher’s budding ministry. A lifelong UU from Knoxville, Tennessee, he brings his experience in UU camps and conferences, hospital and university chaplaincy, and worship-crafting to serve Foothills. Christopher earned a Master’s of Divinity from the Iliff School of Theology in 2017, and a BA in French from Middle Tennessee State University. He enjoys spending time outdoors and playing in his band Crispy Watkins and the Crack Willows.

About Dyane

Dyane Rogelstad is a Southern California native, but has adopted Colorado as her home. She grew up on an avocado ranch, loves the outdoors, and has three grown children and two grandchildren. Dyane’s first love is music! She teaches music at her home studio and regularly performs as an accompanist-collaborator in the Northern Colorado area. She also serves as a Project Manager and Accountant at a locally-owned advertising firm in Fort Collins. Dyane is excited and grateful to be part of the Foothills community!

About Lauren

Lauren grew up in Maryland, DC, and Virginia, and moved to Colorado in 2014 with her husband Chris and their two children, Sylvia and Jack. She has worked as a consultant and educator in leadership and organizational development, communication, and diversity and inclusion. She loves bringing those skills together with her experience as a parent and partner to serve Unitarian Universalism and all the youth and families at Foothills. She believes in the power of our church to cast a wide circle of loving support around us as we navigate the tangled gorgeous chaos of our lives. Lauren likes to talk a lot, play word games, and dig in to great novels. She loves the Muppets. She is an ardent friend and focused parent; a gardener, yogurt maker, nature explorer, and dog lover; as passionately devoted to nurturing all those lives around her as she is to sometimes being blessedly alone. Lauren found her true home in Colorado but still feels the pull of the Atlantic Ocean, the Potomac River, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Rev. Gretchen Haley

Senior Minister
gretchenfoothillsuu.org

Rev. Gretchen Haley has an audacious ambition for the liberal church, believing in its capacity to transform lives and our world by way of hyper-local relationships and partnerships that inspire the unleashing of courageous love. She oversees worship, stewardship, and leadership development, which includes serving as chief of staff, and ministry lead to the Board. In all of these, she is inspired by the commitment of the countless people who show up to do the sometimes-messy work of the church, and who are leading us to live into our mission for Northern Colorado as it is growing and changing. Her ministry is infused with her relentless curiosity about most things, especially the big stuff of theology, the beauty of creation, the magic of collaboration, and the joy of pop culture. She’s all in on adrienne maree brown’s emergent strategy, and finds solace in the trails in and around Fort Collins. She moved to Colorado from Washington state over 20 years ago for grad school in theatre, and knew immediately that she would never leave. She and her amazing partner, Carri, have 2 kids, Gracie and Josef, who both relish and resent being PKs, and who keep her grounded, frustrated, inspired, and humbled, everyday. She is basically obsessed with her dog, a large-sized mutt, Charlie.

Responsible for: Worship, Stewardship, and Leadership Development.

Eleanor VanDeusen

Director of Family Ministry
eleanorfoothillsuu.org
Eleanor is a Colorado native who grew up in a lay-led Unitarian Universalist congregation in western Colorado. Her Colorado childhood and her background in the performing arts have influenced her love of nature and the sacred human experience. She completed the Religious Education Credentialing Program of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) in 2013 and is an active member of LREDA (The Liberal Religious Educators Association.)

As Director of Family Ministry, Eleanor is passionate about helping families connect at Foothills to experience mystery and awe, find community and purpose and manifest courageous love in their lives and in the world.

Responsible for: Family Ministry which includes children, youth, parents and families as well as our Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs.

Rev. Sean Neil-Barron

Assistant Minister
sean@foothillsuu.org

Rev. Sean’s dream’s of a time when progressive people of faith are as equipped to impact society as our conservative siblings. That together we can proclaim and live our core conviction: that all are worthy of love & belonging and that we are all in this together. Sean was born on Treaty 7 land in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and comes to Foothills after four years in New England where he completed seminary at Harvard Divinity School where he studied alongside future imams, rabbis, justice activists, and other Unitarian Universalists. Sean is a self-proclaimed nerd — particularly about history, current politics, science, and Star Wars. Outside of ministry you will find Sean hiking or cooking up a storm with his partner Charles, and their dogs Dollie and Fiona.

Responsible for: Pastoral Care, Adult Ministries, Small Groups, Newcomer Ministries.

Kristen Psaki

Ministerial Resident
kristen@foothillsuu.org
Kristen is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY. As a life-long seeker of Wisdom and Justice, Kristen’s Unitarian Universalist identity sits on the shoulders of a formative Christian childhood and an earnest adult search for the sacred. Called to work at the intersections of healing and justice, Kristen finds guidance in daily spiritual practice and the prophetic voices of queer people and people of color. She trusts in the transforming power of Love and believes church is where we come to remember our truest selves and to reconnect with each other.

She loves chocolate and coffee, separately or together, and savors every opportunity to gather around a table for a shared meal.

Responsible for: Kristen supports lay leaders and teams in justice ministry, small group ministry, and pastoral care to deepen in their own faith and work. She leads monthly alternative worship experiences and supports the threads of connection that allow us to deepen into faith community.

Melissa Monforti

Interim Music Lead
melissa@foothillsuu.org

Melissa Monforti is a UU singer-songwriter and worship leader. She has twice performed her original, contemporary songs at GA. UU congregations across the country sing Melissa’s songs. She has designed and delivered powerful worship in a wide variety of settings. Most recently, Melissa served as Music Ministry Intern at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, and joins us for a one-year interim role.

Melissa lives in Golden, CO with her husband and their blended family. Along with all the work and joy of raising three kids on their way to adulthood, Melissa loves hiking, playing board games, cooking, and hanging out with the baby bunnies in her backyard.

For a peek into Melissa’s personality, and for samples of her music and writings, visit www.melissamonforti.com.

Responsible for: Melissa is responsible for making music happen at Foothills. Melissa’s vision of UU worship is intergenerational, intersectional, inclusive, and contemporary. She is committed to a long-term goal of co-creating worship experiences that thread seamlessly through the important themes of our shared UU values. In her experience, music is integral, in fact critical, to worship that takes us beyond the heady work of words and into the unifying space our hearts long for.

Emily Conger

Youth Minister
emily@foothillsuu.org

Emily is a nearly lifelong Unitarian Universalist, originally from New Jersey, and now based in Boulder, CO. She has a real passion for helping people to connect to Unitarian Universalism in innovative ways.

Emily demonstrates innovation through her role as Organizer for The Longmont UU Presence, an emerging ministry. Emily received her Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School while serving as the Intern Minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church. In these roles, she focused on spiritually-grounded racial justice work. Before starting seminary, she was a youth coordinator and volunteer young adult leader, helping to support spiritual growth through engaging worships, connective retreats, and spiritual practices.

Outside of UU contexts, Emily worked at Planned Parenthood and Rutgers University and lived in South Africa and Chile.

Emily is married to Ted Burnham and they enjoy biking, hiking, and playing games along the Front Range.

Responsible for:

As Youth Minister, Emily will support thriving middle and high school youth programs and help the youth to feel connected to the whole congregation as well as the larger Unitarian Universalist movement!

Jeffrey Mizell

Business Administrator
jeffrey@foothillsuu.org

Jeffrey’s career in non-profit management and leadership has seen him working in various roles around the globe, from a Rescue Diver and Divemaster in Okinawa, Japan, to directing all Washington, DC operations for a global humanitarian organization.

Jeffrey has experience in leadership roles with environmental, civil rights, humanitarian, and public health NGO’s and brings to Foothills leadership in financial and business operations. His passion as the Business Administrator is to provide efficient and thoughtful leadership to the operations at Foothills to maximize the impact of the congregation’s work for its members and the community.

Jeffrey and his wife, Tori, have one beautiful son, Jay, and two rescue dogs who all love to bike around town and play in their garden. Jeffrey is a trail ultra-runner who can be found in the mountains surrounding Fort Collins, or in used bookstores hunting for rare copies of his favorite book, Treasure Island.

Anna Broskie

Communications Coordinator
anna@foothillsuu.org

Anna Broskie was born and raised in Northern NJ and is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Most recently, she was Communications Director at St. Luke’s in Fort Collins; prior to that she served churches in the Boston area, Santa Cruz, CA, and Fenton, MI. Anna splits her working time with Plymouth Congregational UCC Church. She is married, has two kids, and two dogs, the calmer of which occasionally comes to work with her.

Anna’s academic background: M.Div., Harvard Divinity School, A.B. Comparative Literature (French/English), Smith College

Responsible for: Weekly publications (The Communicator and the Order of Service) and Sunday Morning Audio/Visual.

Kathryn Boyle

Office and Facilities Manager
kathryn@foothillsuu.org

Kathryn hails from South Dakota and enjoys living in our beautiful city of Fort Collins for with her son and three pets. When not at work, she will be out salsa dancing and enjoying family and friends. Kathryn has held many positions here at Foothills and feels that the Facilities and Office Management positions taps her organizational and personnel skills. She is a member of the AUUA (Association of UU Administrators).

Kathryn sees courageous love happen at Foothills every day. From the care people have for each other, by writing caring cards and making meals for those who are in need or celebrating. To the thousands of hours giving by volunteers and teams, our people show and share love!

Responsible for: Scheduling, event coordination, building maintenance and rentals as well as reception and admin duties. As Kathryn likes to say, “I control space and time!”

Arielle Behrle

Family Ministry Assistant
arielle@foothillsuu.org

Originally from New Jersey, Arielle studied psychology City University of New York, Hunter. After graduating in 2016 she moved to Colorado. Arielle lives in Fort Collins with her ragdoll kitten, Rory. Arielle joined our team in July of 2017. At Foothills, Arielle enjoys getting to know the community, making connections and expanding her understanding of what it means to be Unitarian Universalist. Arielle has found that everyone at the church is so eager to help and loves the support that our members give, they are so caring and good it makes working at the church that much more rewarding. While working part-time at the church, Arielle is also a teller at Chase Bank. When not at work, Arielle enjoys going for hikes and rock climbing.

Responsible for: Support all religious exploration activities on Sundays as well as overseeing childcare.

Vanessa Way

Vanessa Way
Bookkeeper

vanessa@foothillsuu.org

Vanessa joined Foothills in late May 2018, she works part-time as the bookkeeper. She lives in Loveland with her husband, three children, three dogs, and two guinea pigs. She likes to be active in the disability community and advocate for people with disabilities, like her son. She also enjoys time with her family as well as date night with her husband. She loves concerts, makeup and coffee. Vanessa enjoys working at Foothills because she appreciates how much the church gives back to the community. The connection with other non-profits and social services in the area are important to her and make me feel proud to be a part of the work done by Foothills.

Responsible for: Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Human Resources and Payroll.

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Who’s Who

Program Team

Rev. Gretchen Haley

Rev. Sean Neil-Barron

Eleanor VanDeusen

Kristen Psaki

Christopher Watkins Lamb

Admin Team

Jeffrey Mizell

Anna Broskie

Vanessa Way

Lauren Farley

Kathryn Boyle

Betsy Naas

Dyane Rogelstad

Kara Shobe

Tom Richard