Our Board of Trustees

Governance of UUAA is overseen by a 9 member elected Board of Trustees (Board). It is the Board that represents the congregation in setting the vision for the future of the Congregation. The Board delegates responsibility for implementing that vision to the Senior Minister. The Board works with both the staff and the Congregation to create a Strategic Plan that prioritizes the goals to be achieved by staff and lay ministries. The Board is responsible for monitoring the financial health and monitoring the overall operations of UUAA.

UUAA has lay teams to support both the governance and operation of UUAA. This page describes the governance teams. The lay teams that assist with operations are responsible to the Senior Minister, not the Board. Occasionally their work overlaps with governance issues and in those cases they would work in collaboration with the Board. Read more about the Shared Ministries Team  and the other lay ministry support groups.

Lay Teams That Assist the Board with Governance

The Leadership Development Team is a standing committee that helps teach congregants about UUAA governance and how to be an effective lay leader. They recruit members to run for the Board of Trustees and the LDT.You can contact them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Governance Committee is a standing committee that advises the Board on bylaw and governing policies issues and assists the Board with educating the leadership, staff and congregation about UUAA governance. You can email the Governance Advisory Team by clicking on this link.

Sept 2021 - June 2022 Board of Trustees Meetings

BOT Business Meetings are normally held on 3rd Tuesdays, 6:30- 8:30 pm (check the UUAA calendar for updates). This year's schedule is:

Sep 21, 2021 07:00 PM

Oct 19, 2021 07:00 PM

Nov 16, 2021 07:00 PM

Dec 21, 2021 07:00 PM

Jan 18, 2022 07:00 PM

Feb 15, 2022 07:00 PM

Mar 15, 2022 06:30 PM

Apr 19, 2022 6:30 PM

May 17, 2022 6:30 PM

Jun 21, 2022 6:30 PM

  You Can Virtually Attend a Board Meeting...

Board meetings are always open to observers-- Attendees are observers only. You will remain muted during the meeting.

    Use this Zoom link to REGISTER in advance to observe a Board meeting virtually

- If you wish to attend and also address the Board on a governance topic you can send a request to the UUAA President (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at least 1 week in advance of the meeting. Please provide the topic you wish to speak about. You will have up to 5 minutes to address the Board. The Board will usually not respond to the issue you present at the meeting, but will listen and give the issue consideration at a future meeting.

To contact all Board members, please send email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Current Board of Trustees Members

The roles and responsibilities of all Board members are described in this document. Officer responsibilities can be viewed by clicking on the name of the office in the list below.

Trustees serve two-year terms ending in June of the year listed. Our current trustees are:

Officers

(click on the links to read about the office roles and responsibilities)

President -  Laura Johnstone (2023)

Vice President - Gregg Peterson (2022)

Treasurer -   Vanessa Campbell (2023)

Secretary - Rick Witten (2022)

 Trustees at Large - Click this link for roles and responsibilities of all Board members

  Kathy Edgren (2022)
  Glen Harris (2022)
  Kathy McLean (2023) 
  Henrike Florusbosch (2022)
  David Kohn (2023)

[Not pictured below, Glen Harris, Kathy Edgren]

Laura Johnstone, President                             

  Gregg Peterson, Vice President 

Vanessa Campbell, Treasurer

Rick Witten, Secretary      

Kathy Edgren, Member at Large

Kathy McLean, Member at Large

UUAA Governance - Shared Leadership

Unitarian Universalist congregations are self-governing. UUAA belongs to a national organization, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), but the UUA does not govern its member congregations. The UUAA Congregation is large enough—over 600 adults and almost 300 children—to need a formal governance structure to make things happen. At UUAA we share the responsibility for achieving our aspirations between the Congregation, a nine member Board of Trustees and our Staff.

The Congregation elects a Board of Trustees (Board) to serve as its governing body and calls (votes to hire) a Senior Minister to serve as its spiritual, programmatic and administrative leader. UUAA has a shared leadership governance structure that tasks the Board with articulating the vision for the future of the Congregation and gives the Senior Minister responsibility for implementing that vision. The Board, using input from both the staff and the Congregation, prioritizes strategic goals to be achieved over the next year, or over several years. The Senior Minister, delegating responsibility to staff members and lay leaders, implements strategic goals.

The Board has written Governing Policies that assure that the congregation’s money, property and people are kept safe, and that the Congregation lives in harmony with its values.

Our values are expressed in our UUAA Core Values and in the Unitarian Universalist Principles.

Learn more about the people who share the leadership of UUAA:

Our elected Board of Trustees

Our Ministers and Staff

The volunteer teams that assist with

UUAA governance

Operations- ministry support

The key documents that define how our governance works are

UUAA Bylaws
and the Board of Trustees' Governing Policies

We also have a set of Operations Policies that give detailed guidance in specific areas, for example communications policies and personnel policies.

The Role of UUAA Members

“The Congregation is the ultimate authority of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor.” (UUAA Bylaws) Because we are self-governing, it is very important for members of the congregation to understand their role. Members are expected to take part in Congregational Meetings (usually twice per year) and to vote for elected leaders and on issues presented regarding unusual expenditures, statements of conscience and other congregational matters.

Only the Congregation has authority to
•    Call or dismiss a Senior Minister
•    Elect the officers and members of the Board of Trustees.

Members participate in the life of our congregation in many, many ways. It is the members who envision and carry out the missions of UUAA. Please consider contributing your time and talents and get involved in whatever ways are a good fit for you. You can volunteer for social justice outreach and advocacy projects, teach a class, sing in the choir, serve on teams such as Pastoral Care, Stewardship and Finance – and more. Explore this web site for information on the many programs and ministries of UUAA.

Serving on the Board or a lay committee supporting UUAA governance can be challenging, but quality governance is essential to our health as a congregation, and it is uniquely rewarding. If this process interests you, please consider contacting the Leadership Development Team to discuss getting involved.

Resources

The Board uses a variety of organizational tools and resources to assist with governance, such as:

• Hotchkiss, D., Governance and Ministry, 2nd Edition, 2016, The Alban Institute, Herndon, Virginia.
• Beaumont, S., Inside the Large Congregation, 2nd Edition, 2016, The Alban Institute, Herndon, Virginia.
• McMahill, D., Completing the Circle: Reviewing Ministries in the Congregation, 2003, The Alban Institute, Herndon, Virginia.

Trial Link to 2018-19 Minutes

Trial Link to All Board Meeting Minutes...

Trial Link to all Official Board Documents

Example of direct link to document (Bylaws)

Our congregation is always consciously working to create a warm and welcoming community for diverse individuals.

We proudly display the rainbow flag of an officially designated "Welcoming Congregation", a congregation where people of any sexual orientation or gender identity can feel at home.

The Unitarian Universalist movement is committed to creating a safe and affirming place for all persons regardless of sexual orientations or gender identities. In 1989 the UU General Assembly instituted the Welcoming Congregation program. Acknowledging that every UU congregation reflects our society's homophobia to a degree, the delegates voted to initiate a sustained and systematic program designed to help congregations create a truly welcoming environment for all persons.

Welcoming Congregation program congregations make a public commitment to:

• Be inclusive and expressive of the concerns of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender persons at every level of congregational life.
• Celebrate the lives of all people and welcome same-gender couples, recognizing their committed relationships and equally affirming displays of caring and affection with regard to sexual orientation.
• Seek to nurture ongoing dialogue between bisexual, gay, heterosexual, lesbian, and transgender persons, and create deeper trust and sharing.
• Advocate for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people, attending to legislative developments and working to promote justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society.

First UU Ann Arbor has been a Welcoming Congregation since 1992 and remains strongly committed to the program. You may want to learn more about our congregation's "Interweave" program.