News
St. Paul’s Rector Search Committee
Louise Thompson, Committee Chair
Louise has been a devoted member of St. Paul’s for over 30 years; she has sung in the Choir for most of her time here and was co-director of the Christmas Pageant for the past three years, in addition to volunteering on the Rummage Sale, a breakfast team, and the gardens around the church. Her children were both confirmed at St. Paul’s, and her husband Bill volunteered, especially at Evensong receptions, for much of their time here.
In her professional life, Louise served in the Peace Corps for four years in several African countries. She earned her law degree at Temple University, then was an enforcement attorney at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for 30 years, the last 19 as Regional Counsel for the Southeast Region. Louise enjoys spending many happy hours with her three grandchildren.
Colin Brown
Colin and his family recently joined St Paul’s in 2019 after relocating from Brooklyn, NY, where they were active members of Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights. The move back to Philadelphia brought Colin to East Mount Airy, the neighborhood where his wife Lauren grew up. Colin and Lauren have been eager participants in the Parents Exchange group while their two daughters, Sloane and Meritt, regularly attend Godly Play. Colin is the Chief Operating Officer for Digilant, a marketing services company headquartered in Boston, MA. When not busy working, or playing with the girls, he spends a lot of time running, cycling, and cheering for his favorite teams, none of which will please any diehard Philly fanatics. Colin grew up in Northern New Jersey, has his BSE in Civil Engineering from Princeton and his MBA in Marketing and Operations Management from the Wharton School.
John Faggotti
John and his husband Charlie have been members of St. Paul’s for 20+ years. John actively contributes to many ministries at St.Paul’s including the Property Committee, Lectors, Rummage, St. Bede’s Breakfast Team, and Welcoming. John has served on the vestry and was also a member of the search committee for our music director. John is retired from an Interior Design career that included both residential and commercial clients, providing design plans, related services and helping determine a balanced solution of ideas for his clients. John and Charlie live in Chestnut Hill, love to travel, attend the arts, cook, and socialize with friends.
Matt Hyde
Matt started attending Saint Paul’s as a youth. He has served the parish in various capacities including acolyte, lector, breakfast team member, Chair of the Communications Committee, and member of the Vestry. Following his service on the Saint Paul’s Vestry, he was nominated by the Bishop and elected by the Diocesan Convention to serve two terms on the Cathedral Chapter. Matt is a partner at the Philadelphia-based digital marketing agency, Lyquix. At Lyquix, Matt leads a team of designers, developers and consultants to create engaging digital experiences. Matt and his wife Blair are parents to one daughter, Emma.
Denise Jones
Denise is a lifelong Episcopalian and has been a parishioner at St. Paul’s for a little over two years. Denise relocated from Connecticut with CIGNA in 1993 for career opportunities. She is currently a relationship manager at Vanguard with 21 years tenure where she works with 401(k) or 403(b) clients to help them meet their fiduciary responsibilities as sponsors of their retirement plans. Denise served on the vestry at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, CT prior to relocation and was a member of the vestry at Saint Mary’s Church, Ardmore, during her early years in Philadelphia. Denise believes the best way to learn the character of a church and its people is through service. To that end, she is a member of the 8 AM service altar guild as well as a lector, and was recruited for the parish survey qualitative analysis team earlier this year.
Denise is a Barnard College alumna and holds a MA from Fairfield University. She is a lover of the arts, gardening, all creatures great and small, and travel. Denise embodies a passion for theatre and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Stagecrafters Theatre in Chestnut Hill. Denise maintains close ties to her family in the South. Her high school and college friends are among her greatest treasures. Denise looks forward to serving on the Search Committee.
Michael Latini
Michael has been a member of St Paul’s for 8 years, participating and/or being a member of the Property Committee, Vestry, Breakfast Teams, Pageant, and Rummage Sale among others. You will often see his 3 sons, Ben, Sam, and Teddy running around the campus and volunteering. His wife Sarah is a Project Manager at Griswold Home Care, has served at St. Paul’s as a Godly Play Storyteller for over 5 years, and is an avid dog fosterer having helped place over 100 dogs into new “forever homes.” Michael grew up in Warminster (Bucks County), often working with his father in home remodeling. After attending Temple University’s Tyler School of Art (BFA in Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM), he ventured into the entertainment industry focusing on the world of puppetry. In 2006, he co-founded Monkey Boys Production which now provides Puppets, Props, Creatures, & Costumes to many amusement parks, TV shows, Broadway Shows, and Films – notably providing most of the custom props and puppets to Saturday Night Live!
Chesley Lightsey
Chesley and her wife Sherri live in Mount Airy with their two children. Chesley and her family have been active members of St. Paul’s for more than seven years. Both of her children were baptized here. Chesley has served on the Vestry and has been the Chair of the Stewardship Committee. She is a regular attendee of the 9am service and Parent’s Exchange. Her children attend Godly Play and are members of the Cherub Choir and Choristers. Chesley and Sherri are volunteers for Rummage (the linen stage) and Godly Play. In her professional life, Chesley is a supervisor in the Homicide Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi and her law degree from Temple University.
Tom O’Rourke
Tom and his wife Jody have been regulars at St. Paul’s for 15 years. In addition to serving on the vestry and as a lector, Tom has co-chaired our outreach committee for the last ten years. Tom has demonstrated a life-long commitment to serving those in need. As a board member and chairperson of development, Tom is involved in most major considerations in support of our community partner, Face To Face Germantown. During a long and distinguished career in banking, Tom oversaw the banks’ involvement in community development with a special focus on the homeless and hungry. This focus has carried over into retirement as Tom works with a number of organizations serving disadvantaged communities. Tom and Jody celebrate 58 years of marriage, two daughters, and 4 grandchildren. Tom enjoys opera, fly fishing, squash, tennis, golf, and Paris.
Steve Pearson
Steve has been a member of St. Paul’s his entire life. He was baptized, confirmed and married at St. Paul’s. Steve and his wife, Betsy, have two grown sons who each were similarly raised at St. Paul’s. Steve is currently a member of the Vestry and the Coordinating Committee and serves as the Parishioners’ Warden. In his previous tenure on the Vestry, twenty years ago, Steve served as Rector’s Warden. Steve has been a member of the Stewardship Committee for many years and, several years ago, chaired the committee. In addition, he serves on the Investment Subcommittee which oversees the endowment fund. Steve has served the parish over the years as acolyte and lector. In addition, he has sung in the choir for more years than he cares to remember. Steve spent thirty-five years in the investment business working in both the personal as well as the institutional investment management fields managing client relationships. He spent the final eighteen of those years at PNC Institutional Asset Management handling institutional client relationships. Steve retired from the investment business and has now developed a second career as an actor doing both on-camera as well as voiceover work. What free time he has is devoted to drumming, reading and crossword puzzles.
Kristen Poole
Kristen has been a member of St. Paul’s for ten years. She was raised in the Congregational church, took a 15-year break from the church to try out life as a secular humanist, and then returned to the fold in her mid-30s. She was drawn to the Episcopal Church’s “three-legged stool” of Scripture, tradition, and reason – and also to the wonderful Anglican choral music! Her family (husband Martin and daughters Corinna and Juliana) chose St. Paul’s because of the music program, and she spent many years as a “chorister mom” before the girls graduated to the adult choir. Kristen has also been active in St. Paul’s adult education and currently serves on the Vestry. She teaches English Renaissance literature at the University of Delaware, where she holds the Ned B. Allen Chair of English. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, and her scholarship focuses on the intersection of early modern theology, literature, and science. Kristen has published extensively on early modern religion, including a recent essay collection on biblical interpretation in the English Reformation. She completed a Master’s of Sacred Theology (S.T.M) at the United Lutheran Seminary in Mount Airy in 2019, and published her book Christianity in a Time of Climate Change: To Give a Future with Hope (Wipf and Stock, 2020) last spring.
Nicole Tullo
Nicole has been a member of St. Paul’s for over 13 years and is an active member of the 9 AM service helping with the Altar Guild and Eucharistic services. She has also served on the Vestry as the Accounting Warden. She currently serves on the Finance Committee, Investment Committee and Budget Committee. She is married to Spencer and has three children, Jackson (17), Wilcox (15) and Caroline (12) that were active as acolytes and participants in Godly Play. Nicole currently works for Macquarie Investments as a Senior Analyst in its Private Placements division. She went to Davidson College and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. In her free time, Nicole enjoys cooking and being active, especially on the tennis court.
