Leadership Nominations

Sarah Lehman

I’m excited to join Deacons and be a part of the strategic direction and visioning work at Plymouth. I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Outreach, the Transition Planning Task Force, the Leadership Council, organizing the 100 Hands program and being a Church School teacher. I’m energized to support Plymouth adapt to the realities of being a 21st-century church, to build community both in and outside our walls, and meet the responsibilities of our larger cultural moment. I worked in architecture for 10 years before deciding to stay home with our children. My recent interest and study has been focused on deepening my communication and facilitation skills. I live in south Minneapolis with my husband, Matt Thomas, and children, Ellie and Peter. 

Barb Iverson, Racial Justice Initiative Co-Chair

Barb Iverson is a new member of Plymouth, having joined in December 2020 after beginning to attend in 2019.  She co-chairs the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) with Ann Manning. Barb is a communications professional and retired in 2020 after spending 21 years as president of the financial service industry practice at Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm with headquarters in New York City. She especially brings strategic planning and communications expertise to the RJI. Barb was widowed in 2016. Now that she’s retired, she regularly visits her adult children and three granddaughters in San Diego and New York City. She spends her spare time socializing with friends, traveling, volunteering, consuming the news, reading, and listening to music. Until recently, she chaired the alumni advisory council for the Greenlee School of Journalism at her alma mater, Iowa State University.

Toni Azad

I have been a Plymouth member for more than 15 years. I live in New Brighton with my husband and three girls, who are 6, 9, and 12. I’ve been home with my children for several years but am an ESL teacher by profession and have continued to volunteer in an adult ESL program during my years at home. I really value getting to know and work with people from a variety of cultures. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, biking, and reading. So far, I’ve mainly been involved at Plymouth teaching in the Church School program, but I look forward to becoming involved in other ways and serving on this board. I do believe we can best live out our faith in community.

Ryan French

Ryan French is Associate Vice President of Advancement at the University of St. Thomas, overseeing campaign management, annual giving, donor relations, communications, special events, and advancement services. Prior to St. Thomas, Ryan was Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the Walker Art Center, and before that he held leadership roles at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a number of Twin Cities nonprofits. He holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing and nonprofit management from the University of Minnesota and a BA in Music from St. Olaf College. Ryan has sung with many of the leading vocal ensembles of the Twin Cities including the Rose Ensemble and the Dale Warland Singers and for 15 years was a member of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers. Ryan lives in Saint Paul with his wife, Jenny, and their two children, Tilda and Margot.  

Don Makenzie

I was born in Chicago to lifelong Presbyterians. My mother was a pianist and English teacher and my dad a college dean and later president. I played the timpani in high school and college and played guitar and bass in several folk and country bands. My band, Life’s Other Side, played at the Midnight Jamboree at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.  

I went to Macalester College, and my wife, Judy, and I met there, got married the day after we graduated, and drove from London to Sidon, Lebanon, where we taught in a private school. When the Six Day War began on June 5, 1967, we were evacuated and I began my studies at Princeton Seminary. I also received a PhD from New York University in Religious Education and Art. I have served churches in Princeton, NJ, Hanover, NH, and Seattle, WA, before returning to Minnesota in 2013. We joined Plymouth in 2014. 

My interfaith work with Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rahman began 20 years ago in Seattle and continues today. 

We have two daughters adopted from Korea; both are married and live in California. 

Sara Bergan

As a new member of Plymouth, I remember walking through picket lines to learn more about Plymouth’s impressive commitment to Lydia Apartments and ending homelessness. More recently and pre-pandemic, my husband, Scott, and I looked forward to our Wednesday night traditions with the kids (Henry, Charlie, and Eddie) of dinner, choir, and 100 Hands at Plymouth. There we could all work on crafts or service projects together, casually chat with other members of the church and community, and learn about Groveland Food Shelf and so many of the other outreach and service efforts Plymouth members have started or championed. I have also had the chance to serve as a Church School teacher and benefit from the amazing work Nina, Seth, Dylan, and so many others do for the church’s children every day. During the day I currently play a renewable energy attorney and in the past ran a non-profit focused on climate and energy policy. I am very encouraged by the work of the Climate & Environmental Justice group and the launching of the new Green Fund. I have so much to more to learn and am honored to be considered for a position on the Board of Outreach.

Rebecca Smith

I have spent the past 18 years helping smart people write award-winning books. The books I have written, edited, ghostwritten, or co-written have been non-fiction books on leadership, cultural transformation, group dynamics, Human Dynamics^®, teamwork, operational improvement, relational competence, spiritual awakening, and how to use predictive analytics to improve outcomes.

In part because I’ve worked with such a diverse array of subject matter experts, I have a deep understanding of how to help people and organizations consider new ways of seeing, thinking, being, and doing. Professionally, I am best known for pulling the absolute best content out of the experts I worked with and often offering, from my own repository of knowledge and wisdom, what the experts sometimes cannot find in themselves.

I have been attending Plymouth since August 2018 and became a member in 2019. I have written two Flame articles on behalf of the Racial Justice Initiative, and I served on the Leadership Implementation Committee after the vote was taken regarding the embroideries. After a long talk with the leader of the Board of Spiritual Formation, I want very much to serve as a member of the board.

Andrea Bubula, Nominated for Second Term

Originally from Illinois, my husband, Mark, and I moved to Minneapolis in 1995. For eight years I was Gallery Manager at Groveland Gallery. Now I work as Office Manager for a brilliant advertising agency called Friends & Neighbors, started by my brilliant husband and his also-brilliant business partner in 2012.

In 2001, some friends told us about the preaching, thinking, and progressive Christianity to be found at Plymouth. Now, twenty years later, both our children have been baptized and confirmed at Plymouth, and, as they move on and prepare find their own way in the world, I’m here to stay. Serving on the Board of Worship keeps me here. So do the volunteers and guests at Third Sunday Meal and Groveland Food Shelf. I cherish our clergy and devoted staff and my experiences on the Board of Membership, teaching Church School, delivering Meals on Wheels, working on Habitat houses, planning an early version of the early service, and tutoring at Whittier. All these opportunities to serve, connect, and worship have been a gift to me. Thank you for considering me for a second term on Plymouth’s Board of Worship.