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Nominees - 2019 Board Election

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Electing Three Directors
Each person will serve a three-year term. The first runner-up (4th place) will be elected to an unexpired two-year term.

The seven nominees are listed below in alphabetical order:
​The Rev. Larry A. Green (Chicago) is founder and President of LAGLAW, a legal executive search firm based in Chicago with an emphasis on diversity. Prior to that he was a senior account executive at Lumen Legal and a founding partner of Winston & Green, a legal executive search firm based in Chicago. Larry has been for the past 3 years a consultant for MIHCA (Minority In House Counsel Association). Larry has spoken at various diversity conferences and several law schools across the country. He sits on several boards including Youth Guidance, Chicago Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and Diocese of Chicago Deacons Council. He was a former trustee at Seabury Western Theological Seminary. Currently he is a member of the Leadership team for the Diaconate in The Diocese of Chicago as well as a former President of The Diocese of Chicago Dispensary Board and a member of Diocesan Counsel in The Diocese of Chicago. He was ordained as a deacon in 2005 and serves at St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Chicago.
The Rev. Roxanne Klingensmith (Montana) was ordained as a deacon in 1999.  Currently she serves on the Board of Directors of Montana Energy Share, a private non-profit, whose mission is to serve those who need fuel assistance (in general, home heating) throughout Montana.  Its yearly budget exceeds $2M and its endowment fund exceeds $4M. For the past 3 years, she has served on the endowment fund committee helping to frame itsinvestment policy for annual Board approval.  The committee is also responsible for regularly reviewing the investment fund’s portfolio and making recommendations to the Board as to changes necessary to maintain the health of the fund.  "I have also made it a point to educate myself, with the help our investment advisors, on how best to grow what we have in the fund and how best to utilize the funds that the investment policy allows us to use on an annual basis.  I have found the work to bemost enlightening and satisfying. The Fund’s very existence reminds us all that we are a community bound together in our love for Jesus and our respect for our various ministries carried out in His Name—we are called to love one another, in life’s many circumstances, and the Fund inspires us to do just that."
The Rev. Genevieve Nelson (Southern Virginia)  I just turned 31, so I have the perspective of a not-so-experienced, but very enthusiastic young person. I have a strong work ethic and a good sense of humor. I was ordained a deacon in 2016. Being a woman of color as well as the mother of a young child, I witness a unique experience in the church and in the world that helps me notice different things that I believe can be helpful to the Board. I certainly want to help support the ministries of my fellow deacons, but more specifically I would like to explore how/if the Fund for the Diaconate can help support deacons under the age of 45. I serve at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Norfolk. I lead my parish in a "Laundry Love" ministry that helps empower disadvantaged people by providing access to clean laundry. It is also a way for the parish to get to know their neighbors. ​
​The Rev. Canon Brian P. Nordwick (El Camino Real) Brian has served as Canon to the Ordinary for over fifteen years. His areas of responsibility include administration, finance, investment, legal, business operations management, personnel, and development. He is past President of CODE (Conference of Diocesan Executives), past Treasurer of Province VIII, and a current faculty member of CREDO (CPG) with experience in finance and vocation. His vocational gifts come from 23 years of hiring and operations management work in international business, and nine years as a Transitions (Deployment) Minister. Brian has been a deacon for 25 years and a faculty member for the California School for Deacons for 24 years. He currently serves as Asst. Secretary/Treasurer for the Board of the Fund for the Diaconate.
The Rev. Chizoba Nwankwo (New Jersey) was ordained to the diaconate in May of 2015.  She serves at St. Barnabas, Monmouth Junction NJ, where her ministry is to support and work with the outreach ministry at St Barnabas, and also serves as a member of the diocesan Committee on the Diaconate. Chizoba has worked as a researcher for over 10 years, and is currently a Director of Outcomes Research in Oncology at Merck. She has an undergraduate degree in Biology and holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the Rutgers University School of Public Health. She has served as a Board member of the Fund for the Diaconate since 2018.
The Rev. Geraldine Swanson (New York) Ordained deacon in the Diocese of New York in 1997.  Geri had a twenty-seven-year career as an educator in both the private and public schools of New York City as a classroom teacher, mentor to new teachers, teacher -trainer of mentors, staff developer for the New York City Dept of Education, and a New York State Teacher Certification Specialist. Her ministry has centered on serving under- represented populations as a Soup Kitchen Coordinator, afterschool music program director, Co-Chair of the Staten Island Hunger Task Force, and member of the SI Coalition for Housing Equality. For six years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Assoc. for Episcopal Deacons, and served as co-chair of the 2016 Triennial Conference. Swanson earned an MA cum laude from the General Theological Seminary where her thesis centered on Dss Susan Trevor Knapp and the New York School for Deaconesses. She considers it an honor to be asked to serve on the board that is overseeing funds originally raised to help these forgotten heroines of the Episcopal Church. In 2018 she was named Distinguished Alumnae by General Seminary and inducted into the Hunter College Wall of Fame. Dn. Swanson currently serves on the Advisory Board of Episcopal Charities and the Commission on Ministry in the Diocese of New York. She currently serves as the Deacon assigned to the Richmond Episcopal Ministry team on Staten Island where she resides. She has served as a Board member for the Fund since 2017.
​The Rev. Fatima Yakubu-Madus (Indianapolis) is the missioner for Community Engagement in the Diocese of Indianapolis.  Her ministry includes managing an ecumenical food pantry as well as advocacy for immigration, gun violence and food insecurity. She has led medical missions to Africa yearly since 2007. In her diocese, she is coordinator for Episcopal Relief and Development, Asset-Based Community Development. She would bring to the Board her talents for grant review and approval, a passion for helping people, experience as a strategy consultant for several years, in managing a budget of $300 M for Discovery scientists, in raising funds for my foundation to support missions, as well as skills as a community organizer. Fatima was ordained in 2010 and serves at Christ Church Cathedral.
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