About

The Rev. Dr. Toni Dunbar is a founding elder and the Pastor of Education at City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California. She holds both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Throughout her extensive career in human services and community ministry, she has achieved several notable “firsts.” These include serving as a grant writer and principal for some of Oakland’s first African American faith-based HIV/AIDS housing and education programs, becoming San Francisco’s first professional juvenile probation chaplain, organizing an inner-city, multi-disciplinary family resource center, and becoming the first seminary intern in the Northern Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC). She was also the first Black and first female Associate Conference Minister of the Northern Nevada Conference UCC.  

 Today, as the founder of Imara Heritage LLC—a for-profit organization with strong nonprofit roots—she continues to serve marginalized communities by offering grant writing, community education, and consulting services. 

Erin Gilmore is the Acting Conference Minister for the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. Prior to this role, she served as an Associate Conference Minister of the Rocky Mountain Conference from 2017-2023.  In her current work she seeks to support clergy and lay leadership as they aspire to create life-giving and life-affirming spaces that embody the best of what we can be as the Body of Christ. Rev. Gilmore received A Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion and undergraduate degree in Mathematics from St. Olaf College.  Before being called to serve in the conference, Rev. Gilmore served as a pastor of two congregations, first at Holladay United Church of Christ in Salt Lake City, UT and then at First Congregational Church, in Loveland, CO.   In addition to serving in the UCC, she is also involved in a worldwide practice of Participative Leadership or the Art of Hosting, which is an approach to leadership that seeks to address the complex challenges we face by harnessing the wisdom and self-organizing capacity of human beings.

Li’avaa Moevao is the Senior Pastor for the First Samoan Congregational Church in Huntington Beach, California.  He is a member of the National Samoan Council of Churches serving as the Youth Director.  Rev. Moevao attended Kanana Fou Theological Seminary in Pago Pago, American Samoa from 2012 to 2015, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity.  Prior to attending KFTS, Rev, Moevao worked for the Los Angeles Police Department as a Police Officer from 1988 to 2012, retiring after 24 years.  Rev. Moevao also served in the United States Navy from 1978 until 1987.

Melissa Garrett-Hirsch is an executive level technology leader, business organizational development professional and business owner. She has over 30 years of experience developing Information Technology strategies and delivering operational excellence within the consumer products and financial services verticals. She is the Owner and President of the UnBAR Café Inc., an independent Coffee and Wine Bar located in the Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland, and a licensed Real Estate agent in Ohio. Ms, Garrett-Hirsch currently leads a team of Sr. Analysts at Progressive Insurance Company responsible for improving the quality of IT systems across the enterprise. Previously, Ms, Garrett-Hirsch has spent over 25 years in various senior leadership roles at Cleveland Metropolitan School District, American Greetings, and KeyCorp. She is an active member of the Shaker Area Development Corp (SHAD), Woodhill Steering Committee, National Association of University Women, and Alpha Kappa Sorority Inc., past trustee for the Shaker Heights Library Board, and Greater Cleveland YMCA. She holds a Bachelor of Management and Information Systems (Notre Dame) and a Master of Management with a concentration in Systems Thinking (Ursuline College).

Robert (Bob) Fard serves as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for Retirement Housing Foundation; managing the acquisition, construction, project management, forward planning and entitlements for RHF, a recognized ministry of the UCC.  His background is rooted in single-family tract, multi-family and office/retail developments.  Prior to joining RHF, Mr. Fard served in an acquisitions or forward planning role for companies such as CityView (founded by former Secretary of HUD, Henry Cisneros), Red Mountain Retail Group and Young Homes.  Mr. Fard holds a BA in Economics from University of California, Irvine and earned a Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) from University of Southern California (USC). Mr. Fard also holds a real estate brokers’ license in California.