Diverse Paths of Leadership and Innovation: Mary Nelson '02

Mary Nelson '02 will be the featured speaker in the Diverse Paths of Leadership and Innovation speaker series on Friday, April 13. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 2 p.m. in Noyce 1023. The Donald and Winifred Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership is sponsoring the speaker series and associated course.

Rev. Mary Nelson (’02) has been the South Central Regional Minister for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ since February, 2014. Mary is originally from Des Moines, Iowa. She earned her Master of Divinity degree at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University (’05), and was ordained by the UCC in January, 2008. Mary served for six years as pastor of the Malletts Bay Congregational Church, UCC, in Colchester, Vermont, and was the youngest solo pastor in the country for the first two years of her tenure there. She has been an instrumental leader in the 2030 Clergy Network and a UCC Presidential Fellow (outstanding young leader), and co-chaired the Giving Task Force with the UCC’s national Office of Philanthropy and Stewardship, writing policy that transformed fundraising procedures across the denomination. Mary oversees 65 congregations, working primarily with churches who are looking for new pastors and the committees that guide potential ministers through the ordination process. She splits her time between New Haven, CT (where her cat, Tiberius, lives) and South Hadley, MA (where her partner, Brian, lives).