Position Profile: Director of Ministries and Programs

About the UUMA
History of Executive Leadership in the UUMA
About the Position
Application Process
Search Committee

About the UUMA

Why: asks the question “why does the UUMA exist?” This is our statement of purpose.

The UUMA exists to “call forth courageous and transformative ministries, empowered by love, committed to collective liberation… because we need one another.”

How: asks the question “how does the UUMA do its work?” This is our statement of values. We understand that we will approach our work with the following values:

Integrity – We are true to our word and our evolving ministerial calls, upholding promises and vows we have made to each other, to ourselves, and to our faith. We adhere to the theological, moral and ethical principles of Unitarian Universalism in our ministries and in our lives.
Accountability – We willingly accept responsibility for our decisions, choices, and deeds. We hold ourselves and each other accountable to our covenants between us.
Justice – We commit to building a more equitable world by decentering whiteness, dismantling white supremacy culture, honoring diversity, and practicing inclusion and accessibility.
Faithfulness – We will be guided in our work by that ineffable force that pulls us to embody compassion, hope, and steadfastness in the midst of a hurting world.
Leadership – We embrace the opportunity to lead, take risks, act with humility, and be vulnerable in our humanity.
Transparency – We are forthcoming about the power we have, the power we share, and the power we wield. We communicate often and clearly about what we do, how we do it, and why.

What: asks the question “what does the UUMA do?” This is our statement of what we offer. The Why and How statements are the work of the UUMA Board as a whole. The Executive Team holds primary responsibility for identifying the What, with the input of the whole Board, of course. You can think about the What as our Executive Team strategic plan for advancing the Why through our programs, ministries and operations. The major headings for this plan are below:

We Promote Lifelong Growth and Learning in Ministry
We Support ministers in all stages and settings
We Maintain Guidelines and offer accountability processes
We Work to dismantle systems and structures of racism and oppression
We Conduct our operations in alignment with our values
We Provide spiritual, theological, and religious leadership throughout Unitarian Universalism.

The UUMA serves ministers across multiple member types—active parish and community ministers, chaplains, ministers in formation, retired ministers, and life members. With 1,968 total members and an increasingly diverse ministerial body—including Trans/Nonbinary (8%), BIPOC (8%), and colleagues with disabilities (18%) — the UUMA continues to evolve alongside changing ministry patterns, marked by rapid growth in community and retired ministry chapters. A substantial life-member cohort (704) and more than 100 waivers granted this year highlight both the richness of the collegial community and the ongoing need for programs that support financial, vocational, and identity-based sustainability.

The UUMA’s membership remains stable and gradually expanding, with renewal patterns consistent with historical norms. Identity-based chapters are among the most vibrant areas of growth, underscoring the importance of affinity-based collegial spaces. These trends reinforce the central importance of the Director of Ministries & Programs role in designing and stewarding programs that meet the needs of a dynamic, diversifying ministerial community.

Programming at the UUMA is coordinated collaboratively by the Director of Ministries & Programs, the Lifelong Learning Manager, the Ministerial Formation Network (MFN) Manager, and Administrative staff, with additional partnership from volunteer leaders across chapters, identity-based groups, and Good Offices teams. Together, this team stewards a comprehensive portfolio designed to support ministers across the full arc of their vocational lives—from formation and early career to established ministry, transition within and between ministry settings, and retirement.

Lifelong Learning & Professional Development: The UUMA currently provides ongoing education through workshops, webinars, Ministry Days, Institutes for the Learning Ministry, and emergent virtual programs. Offerings emphasize anti-oppressive practice, collegial skill-building, leadership development, pastoral resilience, and the changing landscape of ministry.

Collegiality, Mentoring, & Peer Support: Collegiality remains foundational to ministerial well being and accountability. Programs include formal mentoring for new ministers, coaching opportunities, peer support circles such as Communities of Practice, identity-based collegial groups, and informal structures that help ministers build trusted relationships.

Ministerial Formation Network (MFN): The MFN supports ministers-in-formation with vocational discernment, collegiality, and supplemental education to support their preparation for and entry into professional ministry. Staff partner with seminaries, mentors, and the UUA to strengthen formation grounded in UU values and contemporary ministry needs.

Chapters & Groups: Geographic and non-geographic chapters provide collegiality, continuing education, pastoral support, and identity-based affinity connection. Chapters play a vital role in ministerial wellbeing, and staff help equip and support chapter leaders with resources, training, and communication tools.

Ministry of Good Offices: The Ministry of Good Offices provides witness, care, accompaniment, guidance, support for discernment and strategic thinking, advocacy, conflict engagement support, and accountability support for ministers. The Executive provides oversight, leadership, recruitment, training, consultation, guideline interpretation, and structures for proactive engagement.

Widening the Circle / Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Multicultural Programs: The UUMA’s ARAOMC work includes education and training, caucusing, networking and collaboration with key identity organizations in UUism, and program design that centers equity and collective liberation. The Exec are informed by the work of the Widening the Circle Committee to identify and remove structural barriers, advance long-term cultural change, and strengthen the organization for collective liberation.

Collectively, these listed programs are aligned with the Board’s strategic goals and intentionally designed to meet members where they are, responding to the evolving realities of congregational, community, innovative/entrepreneurial, chaplaincy, and retired ministry.

Operations at the UUMA are structured around a July–June fiscal year and encompass the full organizational infrastructure required to support ministers, staff, chapters, and programmatic initiatives. Core operational areas within the portfolio of the Director of Operations & Finance include:

Membership Administration & Data Systems
Technology & Web Infrastructure
Event Logistics Operations
Human Resources
Financial Management & Stewardship: While the Board approves annual budgets and financial policies, the Executive Team oversees day‑to‑day implementation. Financial responsibilities include bookkeeping, annual audits/reviews, reporting to the Board, investment monitoring, dues and waiver processing, donor stewardship, and aligning spending with mission priorities. The UUMA’s approach emphasizes mission‑oriented and accessibility‑centered stewardship, reflected in equitable dues structures, financial waivers, and commitment to resource accessibility for all ministers.
- The UUMA participates in a bi-annual review. FY22-FY23 Financial Statements
- Review the 2025 Annual Meeting Packet (page 26-26) for Budget v Actuals from FY23-FY24, and current budget for FY25-FY26
Remote Work & Operational Leadership: UUMA staff work from remote/home offices across the country, coordinating operations through digital collaboration systems. The Director of Operations & Finance leads daily operational oversight, ensuring smooth functioning of administrative systems, HR, financial processes, and event infrastructure while working in close partnership with the Director of Ministries & Programs.

The UUMA Board of Trustees is the elected representative leadership, tasked with providing visionary leadership and ensuring the vision is brought about responsibly. The Board meets regularly (via zoom) and holds dialogue sessions with members.

The UUMA governance model is policy-based (for example, the Bylaws define that the Board writes policies, the Executive is accountable to those policies). The UUMA Board continues to evolve toward strong, policy-based governance. Recent efforts include:

Refining board monitoring systems
Updating officer job descriptions
Creating cybersecurity and administrative policies
Considering bylaw changes that modernize language and improve governance clarity

The Board increasingly delegates program oversight and organizational leadership to the Executive Team, consistent with a mature policy-governance model.

The Board’s values, highlight Integrity, Accountability, Justice, Faithfulness, Leadership, and Transparency. Strategic priorities underway include:

Work to ensure UU ministry is physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially sustainable for more UUMA members especially those who have disabilities, are BIPOC, are LGBTQ+, are experiencing financial hardship, and/or a combination of these identities.
Advocate for UUMA members, particularly in congregational settings, to increase trust in and fair treatment by UUA Congregational Life Staff, UUA Ministries and Faith Development Department Staff (including Transitions Staff), the MFC and its Review Team, and congregations.
With integrity to the ministry and grounded in our commitment to accountability, we partner with the UUA, the MFC, and other religious professional organizations to widen the path to ministry.
Develop Board policies, practices, and processes that increase our collegial care and strengthen our abilities to engage in trauma-informed ministries with one another, with Exec/Staff, with UUMA members, and with responses to harm and efforts toward repair.

History of Executive Leadership in the UUMA

Over the past decade plus, the UUMA has moved from volunteer-led structures toward a stable Executive Team. The current ET includes the Director of Operations & Finance and the Director of Ministries & Programs—roles that have matured into shared leadership positions responsible for staff supervision, program oversight, and organizational stewardship and fulfilling all aspects of the Executive function as defined in the Bylaws and Board Policies. This reflects a shift away from a singular Executive Director model toward shared leadership, designed to align with the values of sustainability, collegiality, collaboration and mutual accountability.

The shift to professional executives emerged from recognition that ministerial needs were exceeding the capacity of volunteer leadership. Strategic discernment (2000s–2010s) identified a need for continuity, organizational memory, and management expertise.

The UUMA’s movement toward professional staff leadership began in 2009, when the Board of Trustees (then the Executive Committee) and members of the CENTER Committee convened to develop a five-year strategic plan. From this visioning emerged the Association’s first mission statement (Nurturing Excellence in Ministry), six strategic priorities (Chapter Health/Leadership; Youth; Continuing Education/Institute; Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Multicultural commitments; Relationship to the UU Movement; and Community Ministry), and a series of vision statements. Once approved by the membership, the mission statement was incorporated into the Bylaws and—crucially—the UUMA hired its first Executive to implement the plan. The plan also established a rhythm for ongoing renewal, with the expectation that strategic review would occur every three years.

In 2013, the first major revision of the plan refined the Association’s vision into five core statements: Relationship to UUism, Continuing Education, ARAOM commitments, Collegial Development, and Organizational Health and Effectiveness. By 2016, the mission was further expanded to explicitly affirm anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural practice, a sixth vision statement (Relationship to the World) was added, and the UUMA chose to adopt a policy-based governance model, prompting the creation of its first set of governance policies. Strategic evolution continued into the late 2010s.

In 2019, the Board began developing value statements. In 2020 we expanded the mission-and-vision framework and more publicly defined the UUMA’s Why (mission), How (values), and identified as a priority to review the UUMA’s then articulated purpose. In 2022 the Board charged a Bylaws Committee to create a process by which the members would help articulate the UUMA’s purpose and in 2023 the Members affirmed the changes, establishing a more coherent, integrated foundation for shared leadership, program development, and future Executive roles.

The UUMA has transitioned from a working, portfolio-based Board—where trustees directly managed programs and committees—to a policy-based governance model that centers the Board on policies and strategic planning that support the UUMA’s mission and purpose, as well as accountability through Board and Executive monitoring. Under the former model, Board members acted as project leads and operational stewards. As staff portfolios expanded and additional staff were hired, that model resulted in overlapping Staff/Board roles and variable continuity as portfolios shifted with each term.

Through working with consultants and strategic planning (2009–2025), the UUMA adopted a policy-based framework in which the Board is now guided by the mission, values, organizational purpose, strategic ends, and monitoring itself and the executive for policy compliance, while delegating implementation of ministries, programs, financial management, and operations to the Executive Team. This shift clarified governance boundaries, strengthened accountability, and created a scalable structure capable of supporting an increasingly complex professional organization supporting ministers in a shifting ministerial landscape. The Board focuses on monitoring outcomes and ensuring alignment with mission and values; the Executive Team leads and/or manages programs, operations, and staff. This governance evolution underlies the shared-leadership model that the Director of Ministries & Programs will join and help to advance.

In 2009, as the result of a thoughtful and intensive strategic planning process, the UUMA more clearly articulated its mission and vision, making a significant shift in the dues structure so as to hire its first Executive Director. This began to move the Association from a volunteer-led structure toward a professionally staffed, mission-driven organization. Over the next eight years, the UUMA expanded programming (including three Institutes for Excellence in Ministry), launched an endowment campaign, and deepened its commitments to antiracist, anti-oppressive, multicultural work, including sponsoring the conference that led to the book Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry.

Following the Executive Director’s resignation in 2017, the UUMA Board appointed Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer, then Associate Executive Director, as Acting Executive Director for the following year to ensure continuity of operations and pastoral care for the membership. This appointment marked a turning point in UUMA history: from the establishing of a professional leadership model and expanding programming toward the idea of shared executive leadership and policy-based governance, and into ongoing discernment about how its structures, culture, and advocacy can better serve ministers—especially those most impacted by racism and other forms of oppression.

In her first year as Acting Executive Director, Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer partnered closely with the Board of Trustees to establish a three-person shared leadership model. Building on existing job descriptions and the complementary strengths of Rev. Darrick Jackson (hired into the open Associate Minister role) and longtime Director of Administration Janette Lallier, the UUMA reorganized executive work into three interlinked portfolios—Collegiality, Lifelong Learning, and Operations—while explicitly sharing core executive responsibilities across the team.

In 2023, when Rev. Jackson accepted a position with the UUA, the UUMA used the transition as an opportunity to reassess staff structure and executive capacity. The three-person Executive Team (Carvill-Ziemer, Jackson, and Lallier) became a two-person co-executive team (Carvill-Ziemer and Lallier), and responsibility for Lifelong Learning implementation shifted to a newly created Manager position. At the same time, several skilled part-time roles were consolidated into a more stable staffing configuration of two full-time manager positions and two full-time administrative positions. This structure continues today, supporting strong programs , coordinated shared leadership, and effective stewardship of UUMA resources.

The Director of Operations & Finance position on the Executive Leadership Team is currently held by Janette M. Lallier. Hired by the UUMA in 2003 as our first professional Administrator (the position had previously been staffed by a ministerial intern), Janette has been instrumental in helping to build a solid organization foundation which has made our current structures possible. Janette currently works from her home in the Bronx, NY where she balances her professional vocal career with her commitment to the vision of shared leadership and the mission of the UUMA.

About the Position

Date: August 2025
Position Title: UUMA Executive Team, Director of Ministries and Programs
Reports to: UUMA Board
Status: Full-time
Salary Range: $95,000-100,000
Benefits Package includes: Retirement, Insurances (Life, LTD, Health), Home Office Subsidies, and generous PTO (including Sabbatical) as outlined it the UUMA Personnel Manual. Additional benefits (FICA, Housing) are also available to ordained clergy.

Purpose: To support the UUMA in calling forth courageous and transformative ministries, empowered by love, committed to collective liberation by providing executive leadership as part of the Executive Leadership Team.

Description: The Director of Ministries and Programs is a member of the Executive Team. The Executive Team is responsible, in partnership with the Board of Trustees, for leading the UUMA and is accountable to the UUMA’s bylaws and policies. Guidance, direction and assessment is provided by the Board of Trustees.

The Director of Ministries and Programs will take the lead on the following:

Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Multiculturalism (ARAOM): Regularly examine how white supremacy culture may be operating in the UUMA and work toward systems that support and encourage diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, accessibility and accountability. Identify, create and implement structures and practices to decenter whiteness and counter white supremacy culture.
Executive Leadership: As part of the Executive Team:
1. Regularly review and adjust Executive goals and organizational resources to align resources and advance the mission of the UUMA.
2. Provide spiritual, theological, and religious leadership throughout Unitarian Universalism in collaboration with our partners in the UUA and other religious professional organizations. Identify opportunities through grants and other sources to expand the UUMA’s financial resources to support programming, staffing, and scholarships.
3. In consultation with the UUMA Board of Trustees, oversee the implementation of the UUMA Board’s Strategic Plan and participate in updating the plan every 3-5 years and develop a comprehensive financial plan for its support.
4. Work in close collaboration with the UUMA Board of Trustees to ensure the association is structured to advance our mission and vision and to ensure agility and capacity-building.
5. Create a staffing plan for the future that supports the UUMA Executive Team goals and the Board’s strategic plan. Collaborate to produce monitoring reports as required by the Board Policies.
Support for Ministers
1. Develop, maintain and oversee support structures for ministers in all stages and settings.
2. Support the emotional, spiritual and vocational health of ministers.
3. Nurture cooperative and collaborative collegial relationships among the membership.
4. Identify, promote, create and maintain structures for collegial connection and care.
Accountability for Ministers
1. Develop, maintain and oversee the functioning of accountability structures for ministers in all stages and settings.
2. Work with partners toward the creation of a Shared Covenant for Unitarian Universalist Religious Professionals.
Event Program Development: Collaborate with the Executive Team to determine themes, leadership and programming for our events.
Supervision: Supervise, evaluate, and provide support to the Ministerial Formation Network Manager, Lifelong Learning Manager, and occasional temporary staff. Recruit, equip, evaluate and support volunteer program staff.
Liaison with partners: Develop and maintain collaborative, collegial relationships with the leadership of the other associations of religious professions, with leadership of Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association (UURMaPA), leadership of the UUA’s Ministries and Faith Development, the Panel on Theological Education and the St. Lawrence Foundation, the leadership of UU theological schools and the UU Society for Community Ministries.
Additional Expectations: Perform additional duties as generated by goals of the UUMA Board of Trustees. Attend UUMA Board Meetings and all necessary committee meetings. Complete an evaluation and professional development plan through a process designed and implemented by the Board of Trustees.

Required Credentials:

Minister in Full Fellowship with the UUA holding a Masters of Divinity degree from an accredited theological school.

Required Competencies:

Demonstrated ability to bring skills and understanding of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and multiculturalism to all facets of their work.
Strong commitment to nurturing the health of Unitarian Universalism and Unitarian Universalist ministers and a deep commitment to and understanding of Unitarian Universalist values.
Skilled in companioning individuals and groups working toward health and wholeness.
Well developed facilitation skills.
Knowledge of systems theory, adaptive leadership and approaches to conflict transformation.
Strong pastoral and non-anxious presence.
Excellent oral and written communication, administrative and organizational skills; with strong attention to detail.
Demonstrated commitment to and experience with shared ministry/leadership.
Strong visionary, creative, and collaborative skills; ability to work with many diverse groups.
Strong leadership ability and willingness to create new processes and structures. Understands leadership in a religious context.
Ability to delegate tasks and empower others, including staff and volunteers, to ensure tasks are completed.
Supervisory skills.
Strong project management skills.
Receptivity to different perspectives .
Flexible with a sense of humor. Shows independence and initiative.
Ability to work in a staff team in a ‘cloud’ office environment.

The Director of Ministries & Programs serves as an executive member of the UUMA, in covenantal partnership with the Director of Operations & Finance. The Director of Ministries & Programs will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of the programs and ministries portfolio—translating the Board’s strategic goals into meaningful offerings, supporting ministerial flourishing, and advancing UUMA’s mission of courageous, transformative ministries empowered by love and committed to collective liberation, because we need one another.

Statement about commitment to shared leadership

The Director of Ministries & Programs must model shared executive leadership—working collaboratively with the Co-director, Board, staff and volunteer networks.
The Director of Ministries & Programs embodies UUMA’s values of equity, inclusion, anti-racism/anti-oppression, collegiality and mutual accountability.
The Director of Ministries & Programs leads through invitation, collaboration and partnership, centering voices of ministers historically marginalized (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled) and advocating for access and sustainability.
The Director of Ministries & Programs aligns programmatic work with the evolving context of ministry—congregational change, multi-staff settings, remote/hybrid ministry, ministerial well-being, and widening the circle of ministry.

The Board’s recent strategic articulation (which can be found in ‘About the UUMA’) identified key goals such as: ensuring UU ministry is physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially sustainable for ministers especially those with disabilities, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ identities or financial hardship. The Director of Ministries & Programs will interpret and operationalize these goals by:

Embedding sustainability practices into programs (ministerial well-being, resilience, financial literacy/support, peer networks).
Ensuring widening access and representation of marginalized identities within UUMA’s programs and leadership (chapters, cohorts, mentoring).
Advocating for and designing programs that attend to evolving ministry contexts (small/innovative congregations, multi-minister teams, transitional ministry, remote/hybrid).
Developing metrics and dashboards that monitor progress toward equity, access, participation, and outcomes—accountable to the Board and membership.
Fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration and flexibility, enabling UUMA to respond strategically and nimbly to changing ministry landscapes.
Strengthening external collaborations (theological education, UUA networks, ministerial formation) so that UUMA’s programs amplify and leverage broader UU ministry infrastructure.

Application Process: Interested candidates are invited to submit the following:

A statement (2-3 pages) describing how you understand and commit to shared executive leadership, the UUMA’s mission and vision, ministry sustainability, and experience/philosophy of collegial connection, care, and accountability.
A résumé or curriculum vitae with relevant experience in ministry, adult learning, professional associations or non-profit leadership.
Contact information for three professional references (including one representing volunteer/board collaboration).

Timeline:

Posting of position: December 12, 2025
Application deadline extended: 5 PM ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT on February 18, 2026.
Preliminary Interviews: Ongoing
Finalist interviews in Metro NY area: March 10-12, 2026
Anticipated start date: TBD

Selection Criteria:

Demonstrated capacity for collaborative/co-executive leadership.
Demonstrated understanding of Good Offices systems, ministerial support structures, and accountability frameworks.
Experience accompanying colleagues through conflict, transition, or review processes with a non-anxious, trauma-informed presence.
Ability to uphold confidentiality, ethical standards, shared covenants, and collegial accountability while navigating complex ministerial dynamics.
Deep commitment to equity, inclusion, anti‐racism/anti-oppression, and widening the circle of ministry.
Excellent relational, facilitation and communication skills across diverse modalities (in-person, virtual).
Ability to collaborate across Board, executive, staff, volunteers and external partners.
Familiarity with ministerial formation, professional development and congregational/ministerial contexts is highly desirable.
Track record of innovation, adaptability, evaluation and learning in programmatic settings.
Alignment with UUMA’s mission, values and culture of collegiality and professional ministry.

How to Apply:
Submit your materials electronically to search@uuma.org by January 14, 2026. Please ensure “Director of Ministries & Programs Application – Your Name” is in the subject line. The UUMA is committed to inclusive hiring practices and encourages applications from people of color, Indigenous persons, LGBTQ+ persons, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized identities.