News brief: Board names Lammert acting chief operating officer

News brief: Board names Lammert acting chief operating officer

Board of Trustees appoints the Rev. Sarah Lammert acting chief operating officer following resignation of the Rev. Harlan Limpert.

The Rev. Sarah Lammert

The Rev. Sarah Lammert, shown here at the 2015 Service of the Living Tradition, will serve as acting chief operating officer of the UUA. (© Nancy Pierce)

© Nancy Pierce

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The Board of Trustees appointed an acting chief operating officer of the Unitarian Universalist Association this morning following the announcement yesterday that the Rev. Harlan Limpert will step down as chief operating officer on April 20. UUA President Peter Morales resigned a week earlier.

Moderator Jim Key announced that the Rev. Sarah Lammert, who is currently director of Ministries and Faith Development, will serve as head of the UUA staff “until an Interim President is chosen and can gather a leadership team as outlined in the Board’s Interim President Transition Plan.”

“We continue to be in a period of significant heartbreak and transition,” Key writes, referring not just to the sudden departures of the UUA’s top two executives and the Rev. Scott Tayler, head of Congregational Life, but also to the concerns of many UU people of color that deeply engrained practices have limited the employment opportunities of people of color throughout Unitarian Universalism and in senior positions on the UUA staff.

“We are hearing from our Sources of Authority and Accountability,” Key writes. “The Board and I are striving to be as transparent as possible as we move forward.”

The board meets tonight at 8:00 EDT by teleconference in a meeting open to 500 observers.

Read Key’s announcement.

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