Board of Trustees

The 2025 Board of Trustees meet the 4th Sunday of each month.

2025 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

President Chrissie Shearer, Vice President Jeff Benoit, Secretary Jill Dening, Treasurer Jane Cloos At Large: Tom Cody, Janet Cortright, Donnette Pinkerton

Board of Trustees Pledge: Recognizing God as our Infinite Source and Power, we, the servant leaders of Unity Spiritual Center of Lansing, are anchored in the spiritual practices of meditation, tithing and visioning. Thank you, God, for the opportunity to love and to serve!

 Chrissie Shearer  President.

Chrissie is in her the 2nd year of her second term on the board and brings a wealth of experience from her professional life.  She is a master of meeting efficiencies and efficacies and brings great joy and enthusiasm.

Jeff Benoit is serving as Vice President for his 3rd year of his 1st term.  Jeff heads up our administrative team as well as our Event Rental Team. Under his leadership, our building has helped us become a great partner with other community organizations as well as increasing our rental income stream.

Jill Dening has been an active member of Unity since we were located on Marshall Street.  She has been active on a number of our ministry teams - Earthcare, Hospitality, Tech Team and more.  She brings wonderful skills with details and organization. Jill was elected in 2023

Jane Cloos has served as treasurer several times over her 30 year tenure with Unity.  She is well-versed in financials and delves deeply into the reports to insure that Unity is expertly accounted!  Jane was re-elected for her second term in 2024

Members at Large

Donnette and Janet were welcomed to the Board in July 2024 to fill vacant seats and both agreed to run for a full term.

Donnette Pinkerton brings wonderful organizational skills and is currently a member of our Inclusion Team and Hospitality Team.  She also lead a safety plan team to use in the event of any emergencies.

Janet Cortright is an expert on labyrinths as well as various healing methods.  She also has great organizational skills, worked with our Education Team and brings a depth of spirituality that is a blessing to our community.

Tom Cody, an active member of our facilities team, was elected to the board  in 2025.  A long-time member of Unity, Tom brings a wealth of ideas and skills.  He was a valuable team member in the rebuilding of our deck, the refiurbishing of our pump house and the refreshing of our activity room rest rooms.

FULL DISCLOSURE:  The bylaws of USCL permit Board Members to hold paid positions at Unity Spiritual Center of Lansing, but they can not vote on anything which has an impact on their compensation.  As of June 2025, we have a Financial Peer Review Team to insure assets of USCL are properly controlled, allocated and recorded.  The Financial Peer Review Team is comprised of Nic Nicodemus, Peggy Higginbotham and Karla Janing.  They review financials bi-annually.  The results are shared with the membership.