UBARU Leadership

Michael West, President
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, TX

Michael West joined the UBarU Board in the summer of 2012. He’s been committed to the success of the Camp and Retreat Center since his first visit many years ago. He’s attended many Central Texas Men’s Fellowship Retreats and lopped many a cedar over the years. He recently began a project to digitally identify the vast array of wildlife species at UBarU. Michael and his wife Lynda are long-time members of First UU Church of Austin, having served on FUUCA Board of Trustees from 2009-2011. Michael is retired from the Texas Department of Agriculture where he served as Rural Economic Development Finance Programs Coordinator. Michael is a member of the Texas Economic Development Council and holds BA and MA degrees in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his wife have an amazing son who graduated from St. Edward’s University and two very special Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

Jon Durbin, Vice President
Congregation: Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church in Cedar Park, TX

Jon Durbin has served on the UBarU Board since 2001 and as Board President from 2009 through February, 2017. Jon is a former SWUUC (Southwestern Unitarian Universalists Conference) District President, former SWUUSI (Summer Institute) co-Director, has served UU congregations as President and as Treasurer. Currently Jon Chairs the Live Oak UU Finance Committee and serves on the church’s Endowment Committee. With an MBA and CTP (Certified Treasury Professional), he is recently retired from Austin Regional Clinic. Keeping his hand in the business community, he serves as Chief Financial Officer for both Customer Research International and ReconMR (market research companies) and is a member of the Austin Regional Clinic 401K Plan Committee and Austin Association for Financial Professionals. Jon stays busy in his retirement, also serving as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Pioneer Farms, a living history museum in northeast Austin. Jon holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Mark Kilpatrick, Secretary
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, TX

Mark has served on the UBarU Board of Trustees since 2009. A member of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, he coordinates its Men's Fellowship Breakfast Group and served five years on the church's board of directors, including a term as president. He's a journalist who served as managing editor of the San Antonio Express-News, worked as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in Austin and Dallas, helped launch a travel magazine in the Wine Country of Northern California, and owned weekly and monthly newspapers in New Mexico. He later was a high school Social Studies teacher and served as department chair for Austin ISD's Alternative Learning Center. Today, he’s retired.

Patricia Baillif, Treasurer
Congregation: First Unitarian Church of Dallas, TX

Patricia is a lifelong UU originally from New England. While in high school she attended Homestead, a UU summer camp in the New York Pallisades. Now a CPA in Dallas, Patricia serves the UBarU board as Treasurer. It was her youth experience at Homestead that prompted Patricia to seek involvement with UBarU, to continue providing "a place of our own" where we live our values.

Bill Daffinee, Assistant Treasurer
Congregation: Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, TX

Bill grew up in New Bedford, MA & married a 3rd generation Unitarian in 1967. Currently three generations of the family are attending the Plano, TX Church. Bill supplemented his engineering education with an MBA & has been involved in the commercial air conditioning business through his whole career. He has owned his own business since 2005 & is currently retired. After living in Syracuse NY & Naperville IL., he got to TX as soon as he could in 1982. Over the years he has served as president & treasurer of his church as well as chair of the endowment committee. He also served on the SWUUC Endowment committee. He has served on the board as treasurer of Plano Community Homes a HUD housing project for seniors. He received a State award for this work. He joined the UBarU board in the summer of 2015.

David Sherwood, Trustee
Congregation: Unitarian Universalist Church of the Hill Country, Kerrville, TX

Dave Sherwood joined the UBarU Board in 2020. His first taste of UBarU was as a visitor in a cabin rental with his wife Helen. Dave has attended several Men-Aligned Retreats (typically with his sons) and Star Parties in recent years. Dave is proactive in advertising UBarU events in his past church, Tapestry UU Church of Houston where he served as a Religious Exploration teacher and on Finance, Worship Arts and CUUPs Committees. Dave became a UU in 2000 and spent 2000-2017 as a member of Northwoods UU Church in the Woodlands where he was active as an RE teacher and serving on the Generosity, Endowment and Leadership Development Committees. Dave has a BA degree in Chemistry from Washington University (St. Louis) and a Ph.D. degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Texas A&M. He gratefully retired from professional life in 2015. His hobbies include archaeology/history and religious studies as well as hiking, fishing and disc golf. He is learning to play a mean ukulele!

Donnie Bunch, Trustee
Congregation: Unitarian Universalist Church of the Hill Country in Kerrville, TX

Donnie graduated from Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas in 1973.  He attended Schreiner  College and San Angelo State University receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Wildlife Management.  He served as a Sergeant/Detective for the Kerrville Police Department for 25 years.  He retired in 2017 after 33 ½ years of service to the community he was born and raised in.  He has been a member of the UBarU Board since 2017 when he was hired as the Maintenance Manager.  Donnie and his wife Judy are active members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Hill Country in Kerrville.  He is also an amateur astronomer and a member of the local astronomy clubs including the Hill Country Astronomers and the San Antonio Astronomical Association.  He has a passion for astronomy and is the operator of our UBarU Youth Observatory.

Dr. Roy Ellzey, Ph.D, Trustee
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, TX

Roy has been a member of board since 2010. He holds B.A. and M.S. Degrees in physics and math from the University of Mississippi, an M.S. in Computer Science from Florida Technological University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in Computer Science & Higher-Ed. He is a retired professor of Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi where he served as Chair of Computing and Mathematical Sciences from 1979-1997 and was awarded Professor Emeritus of Computer Science status upon retirement. Besides having both public and private university work experience, he also has corporate work experience with the RCA Computer Systems Division, was an officer in the USAF, and is a published author. Roy enjoys music (especially singing), astronomy, science (fiction and real), nature, and the outdoors. He lives in San Antonio with his wife, Dr. Sheri Phillabaum, and their son Clifton, shown in the accompanying photo (when both were a good bit younger, and hiking in the Davis Mountains.)

Eric Stimmel, Trustee
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, TX

Eric is a long time Austinite who grew up in Central Texas and have always enjoyed visiting the Hill Country. He has been attending Men’s Aligned retreats at UBarU since we started having them in 2006, and have participated in many projects. Eric joined the UBarU Board in 2020. He enjoys cooking so am usually Chief Cook during the retreats. Eric and his family have been members at First UU Austin since 2006 where he served on the Board of Trustees, including a year as Board President during an important transition time for the church. Eric also since served a stint on on the First UU Austin Nominating Committee, and is fry cook the monthly Men’s Fellowship breakfasts. Eric and his wife wife Bess have been married since 1988. They live in North Austin with their children, Lily and Garner, as well as 3 dogs and cat. Eric has owned a Farmers Insurance Agency since 2006. He enjoys reading, being with friends, hiking, cooking, cycling and running marathons and half marathons. An especially big accomplishment for Eric was completing the New York City Marathon in 2016 and 2017, and he most recently completed the Charleston Marathon in January 2020.

George Clower, Trustee
Congregation: Unitarian Universalist Church of Corpus Christi, TX

George has been an architect registered in Texas since 1966 living in Corpus Christi, Texas. He also holds license in Texas, California, and New Mexico. He served in the U. S. Navy as an officer in the Civil Engineer Corps. He has been an owner in the architectural firm, Environmental Disciplines, Inc., since its inception in 1971, now being sole owner and president. He has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Corpus Christi since 1973 serving two terms as its president from 1999 till 2002, and now for 2019-2020, and being the architect of record of the new church facility completed in 2005. He has served on several non-profit boards of directors, the longest term being 45 years for Mary McLeod Bethune Children's Development Center, and having been architect for their four buildings. He has a wide range of architectural experience including residential, commercial, institutional, governmental, and industrial. He has been architect for other children's day care centers, churches, conference centers, and youth camps. George has been on the UBarU Board of Director since 2013 and served as architect for the Dwight and Marie Brown Center, UBarU's new bunkhouse facility.

Kevin Hartley, Trustee
Congregation: Unitarian Universalist Church of the Hill Country in Kerrville, TX

Kevin is a life-long UU and has been on the board since 2008. He was a petroleum engineer and then worked in information technology. Since retiring he has spent his free time hiking in national parks and wilderness areas around the US.

Melanie Walter-Mahoney, Trustee
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, TX

Melanie joined the Board of UBarU in 2013, having been enchanted by UBarU since it was gifted to our denomination by the Quakers years ago. She joined 1st UU Austin in 1979, where she has been involved in many different areas of church life: children's religious education for many years, fundraising, annual stewardship campaigns, Sunday morning greeting/ushering, Social Action, and running the Bookstore for the past 5 years. Melanie has attended SWUUSI over 20 years. Her love for UBarU combines her care for people and the environment, as well her UU values and principles. Melanie is a Social Worker with many years of non-profit work in Austin, Texas. Music feeds her soul.

Paula Pebsworth, Trustee
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, TX

Paula became a member of the board in 2020. She has been a member of First UU in San Antonio since 2014. Paula holds a Doctorate in Science with an emphasis in primatology from Kyoto University. Her area of expertise is self-medicative behavior, which is how animals maintain their health in the wild. She also studies human-wildlife conflict. Specifically, she looks for strategies to help humans co-exist with nature. She is a research associate at UTSA in the anthropology department and an adjunct fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in India. She is a wife and mother of two children. Paula enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, and spending time with family.

Rev. Betty Skwarek, Trustee
Congregation: Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church in Cedar Park, TX

Rev. Betty Skwarek has worked as a chaplain and chaplain recruiter for UBarU. She joined the Board in 2017. Her Alma Mater is California State University (CSU) at Fullerton. She has an Elementary Credential from CSU East Bay, an M.A. from Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, and an M.Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She was ordained in 2016. Currently, she serves as an affiliated Community Minister at Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church in Cedar Park, Texas. She became Unitarian Universalist in 1986 and was hired to work as a professional Unitarian Universalist Religious Educator in the early nineties. She chaired the LREDA Chapter and the District Religious Education Committee in the Pacific Southwest District. She earned Renaissance Certification and facilitated modules in Philosophy of Religious Education and Teacher Training. She has also worked at deBenneville Pines Camp and Conference Center in California.

Jennifer Courtwright, Trustee
Congregation: First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, TX

Jennifer Courtwright joined the UBarU Board Spring 2023. She has been a member of First UU in San Antonio since 2018 and chairs the adult religious education committee. Jennifer is an aquatic ecologist and assists state and federal agencies with developing monitoring programs for their streams and rivers throughout the western U.S. She enjoys working at the intersection of ecology, community, and religion and repairing and unveiling relationships that connect us all.

Kathy Johnson-Throop, Executive Director
Congregation: Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, TX

Kathy Johnson-Throop became Executive Director in November 2023. Her children have attended UBarU youth camps and her family has attended SWUUSI and other UBarU events. She has been a regular volunteer at UBarU youth camps since 2019.  At her home church she is in the choir and serves on the Religious Education Ministry Team. She is also a Girl Scout Leader and serves on the leadership team for her community. Kathy is a computer scientist, data scientist, and enterprise data architect who retired from NASA where she managed a group responsible for archiving medical and research data associated with astronaut space flight. Kathy is passionate about Unitarian Universalism and in particular about resources that support youth, adults, and families in coming together in UU community.