Announcing the 2024 Trinity Leadership Fellows Cohort
Since 2022, the Trinity Leadership Fellows program has been educating, inspiring, and connecting emerging leaders from around the world. The program gives fellows the opportunity to learn from leading scholars, while building relationships with peers who share the belief that faith-driven leadership can heal divisions, disrupt injustice, and strengthen communities.
Today, Trinity is thrilled to announce the newest cohort of Trinity Leadership Fellows. These 24 professional and faith leaders were selected from more than 1,700 applicants, spanning various faith traditions and vocations.
The Rev. Tony Tian-Ren Lin, program director for Trinity's Leadership Development initiative, said that the selection process for this year's cohort was difficult, given the volume and caliber of the applications.
"We had an overwhelming number of outstanding applicants from 90 different countries. We were encouraged and inspired by their faithfulness, creativity, and passion for God's work," Lin said. "It was a very tough decision, but we are excited to welcome the next cohort of fellows. We hope their time in the program will be both fruitful and fulfilling."
The 2024 cohort will convene in person at Trinity Church in New York City this September to deepen the skills needed to effectively serve their communities and congregations. During the first year of the program, fellows will take online courses to strengthen the core competencies needed for effective leadership. The second year of the fellowship will be dedicated to implementation projects. In September 2026, these fellows will be inducted into the Trinity Society of Fellows, where they will join a global network of leaders faithfully serving their communities.
Please join us in congratulating our 2024 Trinity Leadership Fellows!
2024 Trinity Leadership Fellows
Amal Sarah
Amal Sarah is based in Lahore, Pakistan. She is an alumna of Forman Christian College University and holds a master’s in environmental sciences. She is currently serving in the Women Development Services Office of the Church of Pakistan’s Diocese of Raiwind. Sarah is the co-chair of the Middle East and South Asia region of the Global Council of Anglican Communion Youth Network (ACYN). Sarah also serves as chairperson of ACYN’s Advocacy Committee. She is an active member of her diocese, working for the empowerment of women, youth, and children, and organizing training workshops and seminars. Sarah is passionate about bringing social change through grassroots projects that advocate for the rights of common people.
Rachel Revely
The Rev. Rachel Revely is the priest-in-charge of St. Thomas the Apostle & Martyr, Ipswich, U.K., where she has a passion for building multi-generational communities. She works with young people who are on the margins and leads a church community where all generations can have an active role in leadership and in shaping the church's landscape. She is part of the team that teaches and trains curates in her diocese and is researching how community art can be a vehicle for mission. Before she was ordained, Revely was a professional musician and completed a master's degree with research exploring pop music, body, and commodity.
Olivia Hamilton
The Rev. Olivia Hamilton is an Episcopal priest and board-certified chaplain living and working in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her passions come together at the intersection of theology, post-traumatic growth, and gospel-centered teaching and preaching. She is the founding pastor of The Brood, an inclusive and joyful community for foster, adoptive, and kinship families. She has a heart for journeying with people who have been historically hurt by the church and has extensive experience working with youth and young adults, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and individuals with mental illness. She delights in spending time with her wife, children, and crew of elderly dogs.
John Unger
The Rev. John Unger is a social entrepreneur with an adaptive, servant-leadership approach to theology, asset-based community development, restorative justice, and public service. Unger worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, and provided relief for Kurdish refugees, orphanages, children’s hospitals, senior care homes, and homes for people with mental disabilities in Iraq. Unger is the priest and pastor of three historic Episcopal, Lutheran, and United Methodist churches in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Working in Appalachia, he started Greater Recovery and Community Empowerment (GRaCE), a non-profit that has trained over 4,000 recovery coaches and peer recovery support specialists who work to address trauma, addiction, and mental illness.
Dennis Adams
Dennis Adams currently serves as the director of career and education at The Door in New York City. He holds a master’s in organizational leadership from CUNY-Lehman College. Adams’ ministry work with marginalized communities while at the West Indies School of Theology in Trinidad and Tobago underscores his dedication to spiritual leadership and community upliftment. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, his work over the course of his six years in China facilitated cross-cultural dialogue and partnerships that highlighted significant social campaigns. Adams embodies a blend of innovation, inclusivity, and a deep-rooted passion for service.
Suzanne Smith
The Rev. Suzanne Smith graduated from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, with a diploma in Anglican studies in May 2018. She was ordained as an Episcopal priest in January 2019, and is now the first female and ninth rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Alvin, Texas. Smith earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and her Master of Divinity degree from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. Smith is the mother of three boys and enjoys scouts, soccer, and walking her German shorthaired pointer, Ziva.
Daniel Kuckel
Dr. Daniel Kuckel currently serves as an active-duty commander and the director of medical services at Florida’s Naval Hospital Jacksonville. In this position, Kuckel leads one of the U.S. Navy’s largest medical treatment facilities and teaches in one of the nation’s longest-standing family medicine residency programs, which graduates approximately one-third of the Navy’s family physicians. As a leader, he has relied on his faith to guide his relationships and decisions. Kuckel is currently in discernment for ministry in the Episcopal Church and serves on the vestry of St. Francis In-The-Field Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra, Florida.
Josh Askwith
The Rev. Josh Askwith is the vicar of Norbury Church, Hazel Grove, a diverse and thriving parish within the Church of England. He is a member of the Bishop’s Council of the Diocese of Chester and a clergy representative in the Church of England’s General Synod. Askwith is passionate about conflict transformation, reconciliation, and healing. Through his work as a conflict coach, he helps individuals and groups create safe spaces to explore their conflict stories and seek out different perceptions and new possibilities. In 2023, he received his Master of Theology degree from the University of Chester with a dissertation focused on inclusivity and hospitality within the church.
Jihan Murray-Smith
The Rev. Jihan Murray-Smith serves as senior associate rector at The Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. She focuses on community outreach, ecumenism, confirmation education, racial awareness, and the ministry of communication. A master collaborator, she leads partnership efforts with her church’s Spanish-speaking sister parish. A Fisk University graduate, Murray-Smith earned her Master of Divinity degree from Bexley Seabury Seminary. She has served as deacon, chaplain, and director of children’s ministries at St. Chrysostom’s Day School and Church, as deacon at The Church of the Atonement, and as deacon and associate at Messiah-St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church. She loves to spread the Gospel of Jesus.
Neil McCleery
Neil McCleery is the chaplain of Bedford School, a boarding school in England for boys ages 7 to 18, where he leads the spiritual life of the community, teaches philosophy and religion, and walks together with individuals and the whole community in their common life. McCleery is an ordinand of the Diocese of St. Albans. He has previously led the worshipping life of a cathedral and served as a chaplain to two colleges of the University of Oxford, of which he is also a graduate. For McCleery, life in all its fullness involves commitment to education and raising the next generation of leaders.
Polly Klyce Pennoyer
A sixth-generation Memphian, Polly Klyce Pennoyer is a bank regulatory attorney who now resides in New York City. After a decade in private practice advising financial institutions on U.S. bank regulatory law, she joined the New York State Department of Financial Services, where she serves as a special counsel to the superintendent. In that capacity, Klyce Pennoyer spearheads the Banking Division’s policy initiatives and strategic operations, informing the regulatory and supervisory agenda for over 150 domestic and foreign banking organizations chartered and licensed by New York State. Klyce Pennoyer has a particular interest in values-based decision-making in secular organizations.
Selamawit Yeromaw
Dr. Selamawit Yeromaw is a medical doctor, nutritionist, and public health professional from Ethiopia currently pursuing a master’s degree in European public health at the University of Sheffield. She has a decade of experience in clinical care, community service, research, and advocacy. She is a Rise Up youth champion, Johnson and Johnson One Young World scholar, Healthcare Leadership Academy scholar, and an alumna of the Young African Leaders Initiative’s East Africa Leadership Center. She is the former president of the Ethiopian Medical Women’s Association and the president of Sheff-WHO, a student-led global health learning simulation. She is a mother, wife, and devout follower of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Jayan Koshy
The Rev. Jayan Koshy is a newly ordained Episcopal priest serving as a curate at the Church of the Ascension in Stillwater, Minnesota. Koshy received his Master of Divinity degree from Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. Informed by his recovery journey and eclectic faith background, Koshy’s ministry centers on sharing the healing power he has experienced through the sacramental life of the church and Benedictine spirituality. Through both pastoral leadership and theological scholarship, Koshy hopes to help the church minister to the wounds of the modern world with practices and insights from ancient tradition.
Jeckonia Okoth
The Rev. Jeckonia Okoth is the missioner for multicultural ministries for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. He studied at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and is currently a priest with the Anglican Church of Kenya, where his faith journey started as a child. Growing up, he was a youth leader in the Nairobi diocese. While working as a journalist with one of Kenya's mainstream media houses, he was nominated by Kenya's primate, the Most Rev. Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, to the Board of Communications at the All Saints’ Cathedral Diocese. He then joined the path to Holy Orders.
Robert Mason
Robert Mason works alongside his wife as the co-director of Thomas the Apostle Retreat Center (TAC) in Cody, Wyoming. Physically located in the Absaroka Range of the Yellowstone ecosystem, the ministry of TAC upholds the sacredness of numerous Native American nations in the area. The ministry also honors the complicated history of displaced Japanese Americans in World War II and seeks to protect the fragile ecosystem of the high desert. Mason’s work focuses on the theological union of Native American spirituality and the ministry of retreat. Prior to moving to Wyoming, Mason led change management initiatives with entities in Washington, D.C.
Yoimel Gonzalez
The Rev. Yoimel Gonzalez is an Episcopal priest in Washington, D.C. He was born and raised in Cuba and graduated from the Anglican Studies Program at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2019. Since his ordination that same year, he has worked as an associate rector at St. Alban’s Church in Washington, D.C. and as dean of the Diocese of Washington’s Latino Deacons School. Gonzalez has helped transform his diocese’s deacon formation into a bilingual and multicultural program. Under his leadership, the diocese ordained the first three Latino deacons in its history. Gonzalez is passionate about creating opportunities for the people of God that strengthen multicultural dialogue through worship, formation, and community engagement.
Ibrahim Steven Ekyamba
Ibrahim Steven Ekyamba has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is a researcher at the African Centre for the Study of the United States-University of Pretoria (ACSUS-UP) and a visiting lecturer at the University of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ekyamba is a conference speaker who focuses on the power of vision setting and strategic planning to achieve life goals. He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences, workshops, and corporate events around the world where he imparts practical insight on becoming an agent of change. He is the founder and managing director of Marriage and Relationship Clinic, a foundation that he will soon launch.
Hannah Lee
Hannah Lee is the first female lay chaplain and religion teacher at St. John’s School, a PreK-12 Episcopal school located in Guam. Currently, she is in the process of ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Driven by her love and passion for God, she is dedicated to creating nurturing and worshipful spaces for students in both chapels and classrooms. She has also served as a church organist and pianist. Both sacred and classical music have shaped her faith in many different ways. Lee double majored in religious studies and classical music at Fairfield University and holds a Master of Arts in Religion with a concentration in Ethics from Yale University. She is working towards completing a Certificate of Anglican Studies from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
Tosin Kayode
Tosin Kayode, a geoscientist and passionate advocate for social impact, serves as the research and program manager at Fairaction International, a charity dedicated to developing resilient water services in rural areas. He's also a sustainability consultant at Essential Need, focusing on water infrastructure accessibility. Kayode is engaged in spiritual leadership at the Hall of Prayer Experience, where he promotes safe water access and improved nutrition. Kayode educates and mentors youth in sustainable innovation. He leads social enterprises committed to environmental sustainability and advocates for affordable water, hygiene, and agriculture services.
Colin Brown
The Rev. Colin Brown is the associate rector of St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Brookhaven, Georgia. He focuses on worship, formation, and pastoral care. Prior to ordained ministry, Brown spent most of his career as the owner of a sheet metal manufacturing company. The skills he acquired as a business owner are surprisingly applicable in day-to-day parish ministry. Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Florida State University in 1999 and a Master of Divinity with a certificate in Episcopal studies from the Candler School of Theology in 2020. He lives in Smyrna, Georgia, with his wife, two daughters, two dogs, and three chickens.
Hayden Paul
Hayden Paul graduated from Texas A&M University in 2011 and began his career in the Texas Legislature, serving Texas Senate District 5. Paul became vice president of public affairs for the College Station-Bryan Regional Economic Development Corporation and later went into private lobbying practice. He found the Episcopal church in the aftermath of the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. His church leadership experiences helped him more clearly see God's call to the priesthood. Paul is in his third year at Virginia Theological Seminary and currently serves as student body president. In his free time, Paul enjoys reading with a glass of wine or cup of hot tea and taking his labradoodle, Truman, on walks.
Hillary Susan
Hillary Susan is a graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. Her faith has taught her to cultivate a mindset that emphasizes service to others. She is the founder of Uji for Education, a community-based initiative that provides children from impoverished backgrounds in rural Kenya with uji, or porridge, every day they go to school. Susan is a firm believer in starting where you are, using what you have, and doing whatever you can to help those in need.
Flourish Klink
Flourish Klink is a seminarian at Union Theological Seminary and a transitional deacon in the Diocese of New York. They are currently serving as curate and evangelism coordinator at the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew & St. Timothy/San Mateo y San Timoteo in Manhattan. They were the first out non-binary person ordained in the diocese. Prior to pursuing the priesthood, they worked for many years in the entertainment industry as a fan culture expert. They hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from Reed College and a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Linda Etim
Linda Etim is a candidate for a Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary of New York and an aspirant for ordination within the Episcopal church. She has 20 years of experience in global development, conflict mitigation, and crisis stabilization. She has held senior roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense. Most recently, Etim served as the White House National Security Council's senior director for global development, health, and humanitarian response. Etim will start the Trinity Leadership Fellows program in 2025.