Nominees to the 2022-2025 Congregational Council

The Congregational Nominating & Leadership Development Committee is pleased to place on the ballot the persons listed below for election to five positions on the Congregational Council. Candidates for the 2022-2025 Congregational Council are:

Karla Chee-a-tow, Alistair Cree, Saratu Ghartey, Raynelle Mensah, Alan Yu

Furthermore, we are pleased to present the names of nominees to serve as delegates to the 2022 Diocesan Convention. Nominees for delegates to Diocesan Convention: Felicia Stenhouse Eve, Scott Evenbeck, and Eleanor Withers.

Voting will take place by mail. The results will be announced March 6, 2022 at the Annual Meeting of the Congregation.

Meet the candidates at a forum scheduled for 1:30pm, Sunday, February 27. Hear election results and reports from the standing committees at the Annual Meeting, scheduled for 1:30pm, Sunday, March 6. Both meetings will be held online. Register below.

Nominees to the 2022-2025 Congregational Council

Karla Chee-a-tow

Karla Chee-a-tow is the CEO of The Akasha Company and a Founding Partner of the the digital music platform DiscJoc. She has a bachelor’s degree (Honors) in Arts Management & Performing Arts from De Monfort University (UK); a master’s degree in Music Business New York University; a master’s in Law from Champlain College (USA) and is a graduate of the BRIT School (UK). Karla worked with Oscar-nominated director John Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi on the film “Honeydripper” and appeared in the film “Toss It,” which was written, directed and produced by Michelle Remsen. In addition to working with various theatrical groups, arts organizations, musicians and artists including multimedia artist Maya Milenovic Workman and double bass jazz legend Reggie Workman, she has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, V2 Records (Virgin Group), and AM Only (Paradigm).

Alistair Cree

Alistair Cree has attended Trinity since he first moved to New York in 2014. He has previously served as Council Secretary, and as chair of the Council’s Education Standing Committee. Alistair is an active member of Trinity’s Young Adults and Gospel, Times, Journal, and You groups. He has previously participated in EFM, and Trinity’s 2019 Holy Land pilgrimage. Alistair works at Amazon, where he leads the product management team for Amazon Go. He earned his BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 2011.

Saratu Ghartey

Saratu Grace Ghartey joined Trinity in 2017 and regularly attends the 9:15am Family Service. She is a co-chair of the Families with Children subcommittee, which plans programs for Trinity’s families under the Education Committee.

Professionally, Saratu serves as the First Deputy Commissioner for New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA/Department of Social Services). HRA is the largest local social services agency in the United States, employing more than 10,000 staff and serving approximately 3 million low-income New Yorkers with an operating budget of $10 billion. HRA’s largest programs include Medicaid (public health insurance), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), Temporary Cash Assistance (also known as welfare), Adult Protective Services and HIV/AIDS support services.

From 2014 to 2020, Saratu served as HRA’s Chief Program Accountability Officer, heading its integrity arm, the Office of Program Accountability (OPA).  She came to HRA from the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) where she was an Assistant Medicaid Inspector General, heading downstate investigations.

Saratu is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, and of Boston University, where she majored in Economics.  She was raised in Jos, Nigeriam where she attended St. Piran’s Anglican Church.  She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband Frederick and 7-year-old son, John “ZZ” Kamzin.

Raynelle Mensah

Raynelle has been a member of Trinity Church Wall Street since 2010. An active member and contributor to Trinity Cares, Discovery Planning Committee, the Brown Bag Lunch program, and Hospitality Committee over the years, Raynelle has also served as delegate to “Reclaiming the Gospel of Peace” (2014) and the Annual CEEP Conference (2021).

Professionally, Raynelle leads biopharmaceutical industry research and development projects where she has the privilege of composing complex strategies and managing high-performing cross-disciplinary teams to advance medicines that treat the world’s most debilitating diseases.

Raynelle earned a BA from Wesleyan University (Connecticut) and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.  

She lives in Princeton, NJ, where she enjoys spending time with her family, enabling unlikely friendships, and staying active (swimming, running, and cycling) in her free time.

Raynelle is honored to have the opportunity to serve on the Congregational Council.

Alan Yu

Alan is incredibly grateful for the community and fellowship at Trinity Church and has been attending services since 2014. He currently volunteers as a worship leader on Sundays, and loves participating in the Wednesday night spiritual direction group. He just completed his first term on the Congregational Council, serving as Secretary from 2020-2021, and was formerly the Young Adults Group co-chair from 2017-2021. Professionally, he has spent his entire career working for nonprofit organizations in affordable housing development and education. Alan graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Master of City Planning and a Certificate in Real Estate Design & Development from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work and Trinity, Alan serves on the Museum of Modern Art’s Junior Associates Steering Committee and is the NYC Chair of the Penn LGBT Alumni Association.

2022 Nominees for Delegates to Diocesan Convention

Felicia Stenhouse Eve

Felicia Stenhouse Eve and her family have been attending services at Trinity Church for more than five years and currently attend the 9:15am service. She currently chairs the Stewardship subcommittee of the Witness and Outreach Committee.

Scott Evenbeck

Scott Evenbeck has been a member of Trinity since 2011. He has represented Trinity at Diocesan Convention and has served on the Vestry. He served many years as a Deputy to General Convention, chairing the Committee on Education. He served as president of the Church Club and is president of US Friends of Gladstone’s Library. He is Vice Chair of the HBCU Committee of the Executive Council and a board member for the Association of Episcopal Colleges. He was Founding President of Guttman Community College and now serves as University Professor at Baruch College. He earned his baccalaureate degree at Indiana University and his graduate degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Eleanor Withers

Eleanor has been a proud member of Trinity since 2019. She was introduced to the church when one of Trinity’s mission teams visited Panamá while she was serving there with the Young Adult Service Corps. Eleanor is currently a co-chair for the Young Adults Group, a member of Trinity Cares, and a thurifer and reader during the 11:15am service.

Eleanor works for Episcopal Relief & Development where she manages grants for dioceses experiencing disasters and leads workshops focused on Asset Based Community Development. Eleanor graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Spanish and Global Studies. She currently lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with her four-legged son, Pookiebear.