At Sunday’s Annual Meeting, voters approved a slate of 24 officers and trustees, comprised of 17 returning board members and seven new ones. Here is the full list of board members for 2023–24, with bios for you to get to know the new trustees. Thank you to all who have chosen to serve our church; we are looking forward to another wonderful year!
Executive Board of Trustees:
Peter Schaff: President
Scott Fowkes: Vice President
Jim Boyle: Treasurer
Chris Beer: Secretary
Meg Revord: Past President
Tina Dalman Roselli: General Counsel
At Large:
Jena Acuff*
Sarah Alshouse
Laura Connell
Kim Crossgrove *
Paul Embree*
Melanie Flynn
Ken Harris
Melinda Hurley
Jerry James
Adam LeFebvre*
Bruce Linger
Katie Nahrwold*
Elizabeth Newton
Virginia Reising*
Mike Revord
Jeff Urban
Ryan Watson*
George Wishart
Jena Acuff, Children and Family Co-Chair: Jena’s family joined Kenilworth Union Church in the fall of 2021, drawn by the exceptional children’s programing and welcoming church community. She is excited to take on this new role to help support Kenilworth Union’s amazing Children’s Committee and to make a positive impact on our young children’s faith journey. She and her husband Trent met at Vanderbilt University where they went to undergrad and live in Kenilworth with their three amazing kids.
Kim Crossgrove, Membership Co-Chair: Kim has over 15 years of public accounting at Big 4 firms, and public and private corporate experience providing accounting, auditing, and tax services in a variety of industries. Kim earned her Certified Public Accountancy in the State of New York. During Kim’s pause in the corporate world to raise her family, she served a total of seven years as treasurer of the Board of Directors for her children’s co-op preschool in Bethesda, MD and for the New Trier Athletic Booster Club. Other Board positions include Northwestern University Wildcat Aquatics Swim Team Club, Family Action Network and her children’s elementary PTA. She has taught Sunday School for the last 15 years and taught two years as an assistant preschool teacher at Trinity Nursery School in Wilmette. At Kenilworth Union she has served on the Children’s Ministry Committee, Youth Ministry Committee, Youth Minister Search Committee Co-chair, Membership Committee and ran the Outreach Benefit in 2019. Kim and her husband David have been members of Kenilworth Union for 11 years and their youngest of three attended AJN Preschool and was baptized by Bill Evertsberg. Both are grateful for the church community and their three children who have been active in choir, youth groups, and IMPACT.
Paul Embree, Investment Co-Chair: Paul and his family have been dedicated Kenilworth Union members for many years. His parents, Bill & Mary, joined the church in 1977, and Paul has attended worship services off and on since then. The Rev. Dr. Gil Bowen married Paul and his wife, Catherine, in 1995, and all of their six children attended Sunday School and A Joyful Noise Preschool. In addition, Paul and his daughter Meredith were baptized by Gil in 1999.
Paul graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1981, with a BA in Economics. Six years later he earned an MBA from Kellogg, and joined Lehman Brothers, where he worked for seven years as a derivatives and fixed income specialist. In 1995, Paul founded Embree Financial, an independent Registered Investment Advisor.
Adam LeFebvre, Communications Chair: Adam is the founder and president of Specialty Print Communications, a diversified marketing services organization launched in 1996. With the unique perspective of having grown a business from the ground-up, his hands-on experience in every facet of business informs his mindset today. As a member of Kenilworth Union for nearing 40 years, he is honored and excited to be invited to its Board. Religion and Kenilworth Union have played an important role in his life and will continue to do so, and he hopes to be able to provide guidance and give back just a little of what the church has offered to him. Baptized by Reverend Dick Ferris, married by Dr. Gil Bowen, enriched by Reverends Andrew Cheney and Jo Forrest, deeply moved by Lisa Bond and now inspired by Bill, Katie, and Christine—what amazing connections have been made with the people of this great institution. He and his wife Jessica, along with their two children Brandon and Caitlin, feel truly blessed to have this church family supporting them.
Katie Kenyon Nahrwold, Green Team Chair:
Katie is a lifelong member of Kenilworth Union Church and Kenilworth, with some time in between at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and at National Louis University where she received her M.Ed. She was baptized by Dr. Gil Bowen, then he married her and her husband Tom, and soon after baptized three of their four children, now ages 14 to 24. She has likely volunteered and participated in every aspect of church life at some point including A Joyful Noise Preschool, Sunday School, Rummage, Children and Youth committees and the Bell Choir (for about 30 years as she started in Jr. High!). Katie is passionate about the environment and has worked as a school sustainability director and garden coordinator, and is the founder and member of local community green groups, including Go Green Kenilworth, and our very own Green Team. Kenilworth Union Church has always been a second home to Katie, and she hopes by serving on the Board of Trustees her 50 plus years of experience and history with the church will support others in the same way.
Virginia Reising, Worship and Music Chair: Virginia has been attending Kenilworth Union since 2016, the year she and her family moved to Wilmette from Chicago. She comes to church with her 5th grade daughter Annie, her 3rd grade son Jay and, sometimes her husband Rich. She loves the intergenerational aspect of the church and was grateful when her parents joined the church last year. She is excited to join the Board of Trustees as ushering this past year has allowed her family to joyfully serve the church in a meaningful way and she looks forward to connecting more to this opportunity.
Ryan Watson, Children and Family Co-Chair: Ryan and his wife Lindsey moved to Kenilworth in 2018 and feel blessed they turned left into Kenilworth Union as they headed down Kenilworth Ave. one weekend as they looked for a faith home. They are active members of the church community with their three daughters (Bridget, Harriet, and Greta) who participate in Choir, Sunday School, Youth Group, and a range of volunteer opportunities. Ryan is always on the lookout for ways to engage more deeply with Kenilworth Union and feels blessed to be joining the other Trustees in serving this wonderful community.
Ryan graduated from Princeton University in 2005 and has worked at Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Amazon, Kraft Heinz, and two growth-stage consumer companies in the years since. He is currently a Partner at BCG in Chicago where he focuses on marketing, digital, and growth topics with a range of consumer-facing companies.