Board
The board is a team that administers the business of the church. We believe board membership is a Divine appointment, vital to our church’s operation and growth.
The Board members, alternates and trustees for 2011 are:
Harry Simmons (President)
Harry was selected in May 2011 by fellow Board members to move from vice president of the Board to president of the Board of Directors.
Harry became a member of Unity Bon Air in February 2009. His past church experience makes him a valuable Board member and newly elected President. Before coming to Virginia, Harry was a 20-year member of Christ Universal Temple in Chicago, a New Thought church. In his 10 years on that church’s board, he served as vice president during the planning, financing and construction of their new church, which quadrupled the size of the old church.
In his professional life in Richmond, he is a Human Resources Specialist for Henrico County Public Schools and brings valuable personnel experience to the Board as the church grows.
Harry and his wife Carrie are very excited to be part of the new church building campaign. His experience and guidance is a major asset to the church. When asked about the difference in the process between building a church in Chicago and one in Richmond, he responded that building the church in Bon Air is a more intimate process. He attributes this to the smaller but incredibly enthusiastic congregation and the harmonious Building Team of which he is a member. You’ll find Harry on most days stopping at the church in the early morning before school to view the construction progress.
Gary Schepker (Vice President)
Gary was selected by his fellow Board members in May 2011 to move into the position of vice president of the Board.
He is a Materials Engineer at the Virginia Department of Transportation where he supervises the fabrication, production and rehabilitation of the state’s bridges. He says he has spent a good part of his career working for state, county and city government, building Virginia’s infrastructure. In the private sector, he oversaw residential and commercial construction.
Gary is a key member of the Building Team for the new church and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this role. As a Board member serving in a leadership role, he wants to be a good representative of the congregation and wants to uphold their interest in conducting church business.
Maureen Regulinski (Secretary)
Maureen or Mo as she is widely known was selected to serve as secretary of the Board. She has participated in the Unity community since 2003 and became a member in 2009. During her tenure at Unity, Mo has served on several Love in Action teams including: Wednesday Healing Circles, Family Circles, Arts in the Garden, Welcome committee, and chair of decorating.
Mo is presently the communication team’s editor/artistic director for Unity Bon Air’s online newsletter. She has applied lessons from 4T prosperity and Keys to the Kingdom classes offered by Unity Christ Church of Bon Air to understand and apply abundance and prosperity principles in the world.
When not busy with church affairs Mo is the director of costume at St. Catherine’s School and creates wearable art workshops at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through the Fashion Institute which she founded in 2010. Mo is a healer with the GISA Healing Sanctuary and a member of the James River Writers.
Mo lives with Michael, her husband of twenty-five years, in the Museum District of Richmond, VA. She has two terrific adult sons and cherishes her family, friends and spiritual community.
Cort Kirkley (Treasurer)
Cort Kirkley takes on the leadership role as treasurer of the Board. And even though his forte and experience is in finance, he says he looks forward to expanding ways to serve the church during this dynamic period of growth.
Cort currently serves on the church’s Finance Committee and has been instrumental in improving many of the church’s accounting procedures and processes. He has more than 30 years of management experience in a variety of business environments from large corporation to owning a small business. He has been a key team member helping several organizations manage change, including rapid growth. His current experience is as CFO of Longview Designs Inc., a company he co-owns with his wife Lenora.
“I believe there are many people similar to me who embrace Unity principles without knowing that a Unity church exists. I believe those principles have the potential to positively impact the world in significant ways. Our new facility will allow greater numbers of people to come to our church and expand the “ripple effect” of spreading Unity through our local community. It’s an exciting time to be at Unity Christ Church of Bon Air!
Cort and Lenora have two grown daughters and live in Manakin with their 4 dogs and 6 cats.
Anne Purser
Anne is the former president of the Board. Even though her term was to expire in May, 2011, after much encouragement from some of the Board members who wanted to ensure continuity in leadership during the church expansion, she agreed to be nominated again and was reelected to the Board.
Prior to her reelection, she also served on the executive committee of the Board for three years and before then as an alternate for a year. As a small business owner, she has gifted the church finance committee and the Building Team with her business experience.
Anne is the owner of Metropolitan Sign Co., Inc. and a partner in Visual Design Studios, a design firm catering to businesses in the area of branding, web design & print and more.
“Serving the church is the most important gift you can give yourself. The love, growth and support one receives from the very beginning at Unity of Bon Air are so immense and are examples of the wealth and presence of Spirit that you cannot help but be drawn in and reciprocate," she said. I am very excited about our future, our plans and what we have to offer our community and the world.”
Anne lives in Bon Air and is the mother of a daughter 28, who recently made her a proud grandmother, and a son 19.
Lynda J. South
Lynda South has attended Unity Christ Church of Bon Air since 2001 and has volunteered in various capacities. During the last four years, she has focused her talents on leading the communications effort for the capital campaign to build a new church and creating the church’s new web site. She is currently working with her communications team on social media, further expanding Unity’s reach into the community and the world.
In her professional life, Lynda was chief of communications for the Virginia Department of Transportation before retiring a few years ago. Prior to her career with VDOT, she was a communications manager for an electric utility in Washington, D. C. and also a press secretary for a U.S. Senator.
“My goal is to help others find Unity Bon Air,” she said. ““I wish I had known a Unity church had existed earlier in my life because I certainly embraced the Unity philosophy and principles. I love that Unity is an all-inclusive community, models positive, guilt-free Christianity and respects the many paths to God. It’s a joyous place for spiritual growth.”
Lynda lives in historic Church Hill where her house overlooks St. John’s Church where Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech. She loves living in the middle of history with her gray cat Odie and her Bichon Fries dog, Cody.
Teena R. Hucul
Teena has attended Unity Christ Church of Bon Air for over 10 years. During five years of that time, she was coordinator of the monthly Healing Service. She continues to serve in the monthly Gisa Healing Service.
She has been a volunteer for the Hospitality Committee, and has participated in the Capital Campaign for the building of the new church.
Teena is a clinical pharmacist at Southside Regional Medical Center. She worked previously in Long Term Care Pharmacy serving group homes and adult homes for youth and adults. She has enjoyed volunteer pharmacy work at Crossover Clinic, and as a hospice volunteer for Bon Secour Hospice.
Teena shares the excitement of the church’s growth and pledges to offer her strength, spirit for understanding and commitment to make our transition Spirit focused. “Our new church building will allow us to open our arms wide to embrace the many people seeking a place where God’s love can be felt,” she said. “Unity Christ Church of Bon Air has so much to offer!”
Teena and her partner Kerri Walker share their home with their young adults Katie and Patrick and their orange cat Pumpkin.
Philip O’Neal (Alternate)
Philip O’Neal began visiting Unity Christ Church of Bon Air in 2009 when he was led there by his wife Vicki. After seeing the Unity Christmas play in December, 2009 he said he was so moved that he joined Unity the following spring.
Since joining Unity, he has become an active and enthusiastic member of Men of Unity and has participated in some of the Unity classes.
Philip has an accounting degree from the University of Georgia. He also has church leadership experience, having served as Treasurer in the Vestry of an Episcopalian Church in his life before Unity.
He said he has experienced a spiritual awakening since coming to Unity and is delighted to be able to use his talents and experience as an alternate to the Board.
Philip and his wife Vicki have two children, Clayton and Diane, both graduates of The College of William and Mary.
Nancy Green (Alternate)
Since joining Unity Christ Church in 2004, Nancy has shared her many talents with the church. Maybe you’ve seen her working at the annual Arts in the Garden event, in the Book Store or with a rake and shovel in the Meditation Gardens. Perhaps you’ve seen her singing with the Divas at a Sunday service or playing a role in a Readers’ Theater production. Her love for volunteerism, led her to become a Love in Action Team Leader.
Nancy’s love for volunteering extends beyond the church. After retiring from her job as a Branch Office Manager for Edward D. Jones in 2000 in Bowling Green, KY, she moved to Richmond. Her volunteer spirit led her to give 18 hours a week of her time to the Richmond Center Stage Foundation where she continues to volunteer.
“I am honored to serve as an alternate to the Board of the church that I have come to love,” she said. “I look forward to seeing the church grow and prosper knowing that I have had some small part in it.”
Nancy lives in Bon Air with Lucy, her dog, and Rebecca, her cat. She has three children and ten grandchildren.
Jane Gordon (Trustee)
Jane has seen many evolutions of the church, having been a member of Unity Christ Church when it was housed at Stony Point School and then moved to the Bon Air location. She is very excited about a new church building.
Jane has a Master’s degree in Special Education and has done everything from being a classroom resource, to teaching the homebound to being an educational diagnostician. Currently, she is an educational consultant with a private practice. As a trustee, she says she offers experience, longevity and a true commitment to the ministry of Unity Christ Church of Bon Air.
Tom Layman (Trustee)
Tom Layman became a member of Unity Christ Church in the early 1990s. He spent 36 years in the advertising business, 31 of those years with the Martin Agency in Richmond, before retiring several years ago. He currently does freelance graphic design work. An avid environmentalist, Tom donates much of his time to environmental causes and organizations.
A former Board member, Tom is now devoting his time as a member of the Building Team for the church expansion, as well as providing communications about the expansion. Tom states, “I marvel at how far the church has come since my early involvement.”
Rusty Rothrock (Trustee)
For the past 27 years, Rusty Rothrock has been a custom home builder and now owns his own home inspection business.
Rusty was largely responsible for supervising the renovation of the existing church in the mid 1990s, converting it from a small home into a place of worship, including building a parking lot and assisting with landscaping the Meditation Gardens. Today, he chairs the Building Team for the new church and says he “is very excited about how the congregation enthusiastically has provided the funding to begin the project.” Rusty is a former Board member and has been involved in almost every aspect of making the church a success.