• Ellie Richardson has started as the Associate Conference Minister for Lay and Clergy Leadership Development.  Her administrative assistants are Andrea Bellarosa for clergy leadership development and Cindy Bolton for lay leadership development.  Read more about Richardson here.
   
• Elsa Marshall is formally coming on board as the new Director of the Resource Center.  Marshall has been serving the Conference as a consultant to local churches in the area of Educational Ministries for many years, and has been assisting with the Resource Center for the past several months in a transitional capacity. She also served as Director of the Resource Center prior to the most recent director, Martha Butler-Cook, who left the position this summer after 11 years. Marshall is the Commissioned Minister of Christian Education and Youth Ministry at Maple Street Congregational Church UCC in Danvers and is a United Church of Christ Partner in Education.
   
• Patti Babcock, who came on staff on an interim basis this summer doing accounting and search and call work, will now work in the permanent position of Assistant to Minister & President Jim Antal. She is a member of the South Acton Congregational Church and worked there as a church secretary for several years. Her professional background also includes seven years as Executive Assistant to the CEO of a law firm. Hers is a familiar face to many Annual Meeting delegates, as she has assisted in the registration area for the past several years.
  
  Babcock is taking the place of Willie Sordillo, who has left the staff to take a new role with the newly forming Pastoral Excellence Network. Read more about his departure here.
   
• Martha Goodman has come on staff as the Administrative Assistant for the Southeast Region and for Search & Call. She is working out of the Framingham office.  Goodman has a strong background in human resources and administrative support work and also has a background with the UCC - she directs the handbell choirs at UCC churches in Reading, MA and Peace Dale, RI.  She has been self-employed for a number of years.
   
• Andrea Bellarosa, who had been serving as Administrative Assistant for the Southeast Area and for the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Endowment Campaign, will now shift to serving as Administrative Assistant for Clergy Leadership Development and as Accounting Clerk.
   
• Margery Williams, who has been serving as a consultant for the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Endowment Campaign in the area of wraparound campaigns, has retired. Anyone needing information on capital campaigns can contact Associate Conference Minister Andy Gustafson.

Associate Conference Minister Dawn Hammond said the Conference was fortunate to have such an extraordinaary range and depth of talent throughout the administrative staff, which allowed for needed changes to be made. "In particular, I am grateful for the enthusiasm with which Patti and Andrea are taking on their new roles," she added.

Contact information for all members of the staff can be found in the Conference Staff Directory.