Our Leadership and Staff
Executive Director
Rick Ufford-Chase
Rick Ufford-Chase is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, a position he took after serving for many years as a member of their National Committee.
Before beginning his work with the PPF in August of 2006, Rick lived and worked on the U.S./Mexico border for twenty years. During his tenure on the border, Rick co-founded and then directed BorderLinks for eighteen years. During that time he also worked as a volunteer in the Sanctuary Movement to support Central American refugees and helped to found the volunteer, faith-based programs called “Samaritans” and “No More Deaths” to provide direct aid to migrants at risk in the deserts of southern Arizona.
More From Rick:
In 2004, after nearly twenty years in mission service for the Presbyterian Church (USA), Rick was elected Moderator of the General Assembly. While in that position Rick traveled to visit churches all over the United States and around the world. He has been a strong advocate for nurturing multi-cultural churches and for encouraging a strong, faith-based movement for peace and justice.
Rick is married to Kitty Ufford-Chase, a lifelong Quaker, and they have three children – Teo (12), Troy (10) and Leana (9).
National Committee Co-moderators
Roger Powers
Rev. Roger Scott Powers, co-moderator of the PPF National Committee, is pastor of Light Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He has also served as an associate pastor at The First & Franklin Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore and at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California.
Peacemaking has been Roger's vocation in one way or another for more than twenty-five years. From 1982 to 1984, he was Peacemaking Intern of the Synod of the Northeast. He served on the national staff of Clergy and Laity Concerned, an interfaith, multiracial peace and justice organization, from 1985 to 1988. From 1989 until he began seminary in 1995, he was on the staff of the Albert Einstein
Institution, a nonprofit organization founded by Gene Sharp to advance the study and use of strategic nonviolent action in conflicts throughout the world. There he co-edited a 640-page encyclopedia of nonviolent action entitled Protest, Power, and Change (Garland, 1997).
Roger holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, an M.A. in International Politics from the University of Denver, and an M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological School. He is married to Susan Quass, his partner for 22 years, who is administrator of the Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown, Maryland.
Amy Ukena
Amy Ukena, co-moderator of the PPF National Committee, is a second-generation member of PPF. She is a deacon in the Presbyterian Church, the Music Director for Mira Vista United Church of Christ in El Cerrito, CA, and has worked as an administrative assistant at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the past 12 years. Her passion for peace was instilled in her by her parents, Paul and Meta Ukena, both PPF members of long-standing.
Amy's own work has revolved around racism, homelessness, poverty and war. Along with her commitment to PPF, she is involved with recovery work in New Orleans, ending violence in her hometown of Richmond CA and promoting justice for undocumented workers. Amy is a professional actor as well as a singer, and she is greatly interested in the intersection of arts and justice. She is currently planning a peace and justice concert, as well as continuing her Micah Film Project, in which community members get together to watch films that promote justice, mercy, and tolerance.
Amy lives in Richmond, CA and has a daughter, Alexandra, currently at UC Davis.
Colombia Accompaniment Program Coordinator
Sarah Henken
Sarah Henken is the current coordinator of the Colombia Accompaniment Program. Her experience with Colombia began with her first trip as an accompanier in May of 2006, and she has made three visits since then, including as a translator/interpreter for the Chicago Presbytery delegation to the Presbyterian Church of Colombia's 150th anniversary celebration in August 2006.
Originally from Los Angeles, Sarah lived in Uruguay and Argentina as a PC(USA) mission volunteer prior to beginning seminary and becoming involved in the Colombia Accompaniment Program. Sarah is a candidate for ordination from San Fernando Presbytery and she is a graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary.
Web Developer
Matt Black
Matt Black left his career as a computer programmer in 2003 to attend McCormick Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 2007. He served for a year in the Philippines with the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program of the PC(USA). He is a candidate for ordination in Huntingdon Presbytery. He is a singer/songwriter and currently works at a shelter for homeless youth.
Matt and his partner, Kristin, live in an intentional community in Chicago, where Matt pursues in various ways his love of music, justice, youth work, and ice cream.
Young Adult Volunteer
Kirk Johnston
Kirk Johnston graduated from Longwood University May of 2005 with a BFA in Art with a concentration in Photography. He spent a year in Belfast, Northern Ireland as a community and youth worker through the Young Adult Volunteer in Mission program (YAV) of the Presbyterian Church USA. He spent the past year working as a Direct Care Counselor at the W.O.O.D.S. Program (a wilderness adventure school for at risk teenage boys) with the Virginia Baptist Children's Home. He is currently the Young Adult Volunteer with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship through the Tucson/Borderlands site of the PC (USA)'s YAV program.
