Vestry Members and Delegates

Jen Ewing has been attending the Church of the Redeemer since 2014, when she and her husband, Alex, moved to Chestnut Hill. .  She and Alex are parents to Eloise (age 10) and Jack (age 8).   Jen enjoys teaching Godly Play and otherwise finding ways to volunteer at the Church.  As her “day job”, Jen is a partner at Ropes & Gray where she is an estate planning attorney and serves as trustee and fiduciary for her clients.

Elliot and her family joined the Church of the Redeemer 21 years ago, when she and her family moved to MA from New York City.  At the Redeemer, Elliot has served as Co-Chair of Stewardship from 2007-09 and 2022, as a Lay Eucharistic Minister and Lector, often alongside her husband, John Paolella, and sons, William and James as past acolytes and servers.  During COVID, she was grateful to be part of the Spiritual Formation Group led by Graeme and Debbie Mills.  By profession, she was the John Moors Cabot Chair, Art of the Americas, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for 18 years, and the Director and CEO of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida before returning to Boston in the summer of 2020.  Elliot is currently a 2022 fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard, working on aggregating best practices for art museums to meet mission goals for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility while continuing to serve as an important resource for their communities. In addition to spending time with family and friends, Elliot enjoys reading, squash, yoga, and travel.

Ryan Sylvia lives locally in Newton Center with his wife (Louisa), two kids Luke (age 11) and Hadley (age 9), as well as their dog Axl.  Ryan has been coming to the Redeemer for over 8 years, was married to Louisa by Dorsey McConnell and the children were baptized with Mike Dangelo.  Ryan is passionate about his faith practices at the Redeemer, having dived into men's retreats, various Spiritual Transformation groups and regular Sunday worship.  He currently serves as Co-Chair for the Building & Grounds Committee, a group he has supported for many years now.  Ryan served also participated as a Diocesan Delegate Alternate, and has volunteered time in the past at the Christmas Market, St. Stephens and Common Cathedral.  Professionally Ryan is CEO for a technology consulting firm (Envisage, Inc.) in Marlborough and in his downtime enjoys exercise, sports, and time with family and friends.

Christa and her husband Jeff have been active members of the Redeemer since 2003, when they moved to Chestnut Hill.  A teacher of Sunday school for many years, Christa enjoyed being part of the program with her four children, Elaina 20, Elise 18, Brooks 16 and Scarlett  12.  Christa has also served on the Church School Committee.  Christa and Jeff’s children have grown up participating in many aspects of Redeemer life, including Sunday school, youth group and confirmation; serving as acolytes and volunteering as youth assistants.  Recently completing her training, Christa now volunteers for Planned Parenthood’s counseling and referral hotline.  Prior to having children, Christa worked as a journalist and in media relations in the public and private sectors.

By training, Tim was an IT professional working in the manufacturing and financial services sectors for 20+ years.  He left corporate America as a senior executive to start his own business as a boutique shop fixing Mercedes-Benz and BMW automobiles.  After 10 years and achieving his personal goals for his business, Tim retired from the working world to pursue more personal and philanthropic activities.  He has since served on the Board of Trustees of Pine Manor College for 6 years.

Tim and his wife Sarah have been parishioners of the Church of the Redeemer since 1986.  Sarah was the Redeemer’s Church School Director for 15 years and both Tim and Sarah have been Lay Eucharistic Ministers for 22 years.  While attending formal church services have always been special in the hearts of the Allen family, Tim has experienced firsthand the true impact of the church community through the various inreach/outreach activities.  Tim has played various supporting roles for the Christmas Market and he has also served on the Vestry nominating committee.  It is for these reasons Tim is enthusiastic about this new calling to be on the Vestry of the Redeemer.

Stephen and his wife Virginia have been Church of the Redeemer members for more than thirty years. Their sons, Chris and Tom, both attended preschool and Sunday school at the Redeemer. The boys attended confirmation classes and were confirmed at the Redeemer. Gina has been a member of the Altar Guild for more than twenty years. As Head of the Altar Guild she also served as Ex-Officio Member of The Vestry. Stephen officiates the daily prayer about three times a week.  “Worship at the Redeemer is critically important in my life.  I enjoy learning and music here immensely.”

Stephen is a Wisconsin native, but he has strong roots in Newton and Brookline. He has lived in Brookline forty-five years.  Both The Brookline TAB and The Newton TAB are among the fifteen community newspapers he founded, published and eventually sold to The Community Newspaper Company, a Fidelity Capital venture.  Both he and Gina have been active in managing The State House News Service, a news content provider with offices in Wellesley and in The State House, Boston, for more than twenty-five years. An entrepreneur, Stephen also founded News Service of Florida, and Travelers Marketing LLC, which currently operates highway safety programs for Highway Departments and Toll Highway Authorities in twenty-two states. Stephen enjoys playing golf, reading and rooting for The Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Jake, his wife Lily, and daughter Anastasia live in Brighton and have been coming to Church of the Redeemer for 3 years after being introduced to the church by Rev. Megan Holding prior to their marriage at the Old North Church. Jake and his family feel exceedingly fortunate to have found Redeemer and have made many supportive connections and close friends during their time as parishioners. Lily and Anastasia were baptized at Redeemer and continue to be a part of church life. Jake attended Berklee College of Music and graduated in 2020 with a degree in Drum Set Performance and a minor in Music Production and Engineering. He continues to work as a musician, audio engineer, and educator in and around New England. In his spare time Jake enjoys hiking, weightlifting, bushcraft, reading history and detective stories, and watching old movies. 

Paul and his wife Chris have been attending Church of the Redeemer regularly for the past five years, after being introduced to the parish fifteen years ago by their daughter who lived nearby.  Having attended four grandchild baptisms and numerous services at The Redeemer, they decided this would be their church after Paul’s retirement. 

Paul had been active at the Episcopal Church in Bangor, serving on the vestry and a rector search committee.  He very much enjoyed the choral musical training his children received there.  At The Redeemer, he has been seen flipping pancakes, wrestling with Christmas trees and packing FUEL bags.

Paul received an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins, an M.D. degree from Stanford, did a medical internship at Dartmouth, and completed his residency at Harvard’s Joint Center for Radiation Therapy.  He then practiced radiation oncology in Bangor, Maine, for thirty-five years before retiring with Chris to Concord to be near children and grandchildren.  Paul and Chris have two daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren.  They are happy to call Redeemer their church home.

Debby, together with her husband Graeme, have been members of the parish for almost 20 years, joining Church of the Redeemer when their three children (Ben, Zach, and Sam) were toddlers. After serving as a longtime member of the Mission & Outreach (M&O) committee, Debby is currently Co-Chair of the Strategic Ministries Committee (SMC) and is a co-leader of the Redeemer’s Race & Beloved Community discussion group. She also serves as a Lay Eucharist Minister (LEM), is on the Altar Guild, participates in the Church Service League (CSL) and Women’s and Sunday morning Bible studies. She has also co-led the Redeemer’s Christmas Market and accompanied teens on mission trips to New Orleans and Uganda. Debby was a commercial banker for almost 20 years in Boston and Sydney, Australia, before working with several non-profits and at Apple. In addition, she has served as PTO President and a board member at two of her children’s schools.

Steve has been an engaged member of the parish since 1985.  Tish and Steve's four children were confirmed at the Redeemer and now range 32 to 43 years old, and they have five grandchildren.   Steve currently serves as Liaison to the Strategic Ministries Committee for Beacon of Hope College and Pilgrim Africa.  Former Sunday School teacher, member of Vestry, Treasurer and Chair of the Investment Committee, Steve served as Senior Warden from 2004 to 2012.  Beyond his support of the Redeemer's SMC partners, Steve spends time on behalf of, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, the Pioneer Institute (founded by Redeemer's Pete Peters), Squash Busters, Middlesex School, and two Episcopal foundations, the Sears Funds and the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society.  In 2021 after a 35 year career, Steve retired from Anchor Capital Advisors, a Boston based investment advisor founded in 1983.

Nina Moriarty has been a member of the parish of the Church of the Redeemer since moving to Chestnut Hill from Cambridge in 1977.  She has served and chaired the Sunday School Committee and the Church Service League and co-chaired the Christmas Market.  She has taught several Sunday school classes including the Confirmation class and continues to volunteer as a teacher for the Apostles class.   A member of the Altar guild since 1993, she has been its treasurer. She served on the vestry several times and served as its clerk , as member of 2 rector search committees and as a junior warden. She has been a Diocesan delegate and Deanery representative.

By profession, she taught Art History.  Her research lies in the field of later medieval manuscript illumination and the relationship between image and text.  Her volunteer activities included being a governor of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and a visitor to the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts.  She has been a trustee of the College of the Atlantic, The Boston Theological Institute, the National Cathedral Association of the Washington National Cathedral, Concord Academy and the Park School. 

Nina is married to Marshall Moriarty, a retired partner of the law firm Ropes and Gray.   Their greatest pleasure is time spent with their children and grandchildren.   In addition, Nina enjoys gardening, reading and cooking.

I moved to the Boston area from Chicago in the early 1990’s where I was a member of St. Chrysostom’s Church. Having grown up as an Episcopalian, I felt very comfortable at Redeemer Chestnut Hill where Rev. Sam Rodman was the Curate. 

Professionally I worked at the intersection of technology and art & design. I have managed large web, apps and dot com initiatives for enterprise clients and retired from this field recently. I may have designed or managed the design teams for apps you have in your pocket. I do like AI and software like DALL-E, Midjourney, and other image generators. 

At St. Chrysostom’s I headed the After School Tutoring Program for economically disadvantaged youth ages 6-16 years old. Our program served 80 students from Cabrini Green while partnering with Young Life for leadership development and Jesse White’s Tumbling Team to broaden opportunities and attitudes for young males. 

At Redeemer I was involved with Ecclesia common cathedral for 8 years. I have focused on homelessness as a solvable problem for the past 20 years or so. I have facilitated Movie Night as a fellowship activity. I’ve been a long-time Bible Study participant. And working with the Christmas Market Wreaths & Greens is an enduring joy. Currently I am very pleased to serve as Head of the Altar Guild.