For a third two-year term as Warden
Miriam Schneider
Miriam began attending St. Bartholomew's in 1982, soon after moving from her home state of Idaho to New York City and beginning work at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. She joined the Community Club and began attending weekday services shortly thereafter, formally becoming a Church member in 1985. She has been a member of St. Bartholomew's Altar Guild for more than 40 years. She regularly leads Night Prayer online.
Miriam worked in banking as an analyst for the forest products sector for almost 20 years. Now retired from JP Morgan Chase, she is the Senior Managing Partner for Kunkel Farm, LLC, the family's Idaho farm business, which produces mainly barley (for Coors) or alfalfa and occasionally feed corn for the local dairy industry.
Miriam shares her Upper East Side home with four cats and a dog. She has catholic tastes in a wide range of interests and activities, and considers her intelligence and abilities practical in nature, and personally satisfying. She loves to get in her car and drive. The destination is not as important as the journey!
For second three-year terms as Vestry members
Rachel Farrar
Rachel first found her way to St. Bart’s through the choir. In 2008, only a few weeks after moving to New York from Lexington, KY, she auditioned for Bill Trafka who invited her to sing the Duruflé Requiem in the church’s annual September 11th Remembrance Service. She has remained a devoted member of Saint Bartholomew’s Choir ever since. Rachel was confirmed in the Methodist church as a teenager, but had for many years worked and worshipped in the Episcopal church. So in 2012, she made it official and was received into the Episcopal communion as a member of St. Bart’s.
Rachel earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Kentucky and worked for over 14 years as a singer and an actor in film and television. As a proud and active member of SAG-AFTRA, she developed a strong interest in both labor and entertainment law. This led her in 2022 to pursue a Juris Doctorate at Fordham Law School in their part-time evening division. She is currently a legal intern at Schwartz Perry & Heller, LLP, doing plaintiff-side employment discrimination litigation. And this summer, she will join Pryor Cashman, LLP as a summer associate where she expects to cut her teeth in music copyright.
Rachel is active in parish life both in and outside the choir. She jumps at every opportunity to support the chorister program. She served on the hiring committee to fill the position of Associate Organist and Director of Choristers in 2014. For several years, Rachel served as an overnight host for Crossroads Community Services, Inc., women’s shelter. She co-chairs the 20’s-30’s group through which she helped organize and host the annual Episcopal Diocese of New York Young Adult Christmas Party in 2019, attended by more than 120 young Episcopalians from around the city. As a member of the Vestry, she serves on the Development Committee and the Governance Committee and recently became Clerk of the Vestry.
Rachel lives in Harlem with her husband, Graham, their foster daughter and their two dogs, Sophie and Jean. Together they love taking on home renovation projects at both their apartment in the city and their vacation house in the Catskills. When they can find the time (ha!), they love to dine out and sing karaoke around the city.
Tim Hook
Timothy Hook (Tim) was born and raised in a small town just North of London in the UK. After completing his undergraduate studies in architecture at Kingston University (UK) he attended the University of Notre Dame to earn his Master’s Degree. It was here, while taking part in Notre Dame’s Rome Studies Program that he met his wife and fellow architect, Erin. After finishing his studies, Tim returned to London where he spent his early career working on projects for the Grosvenor and Cadogan Estates. During this time he also worked with the Prince of Wales’ Foundation as both a tutor and a designer on their urban design projects for Sidon, Lebanon and Viterbo, Italy. In 1999, Tim and his wife moved to Seattle, where they worked for two years before finally settling in New York in 2001. After working for well-established Manhattan practices, Tim and Erin founded their own firm in 2006 shortly after the birth of their son, Charlie. They specialize in classical and traditional architecture. With their son and dog, they enjoy a happy New York life.
Tim started singing as a chorister in his local parish church when he was eight years old, and has been singing in church choirs continuously since; in London, South Bend, Seattle and New York. He also founded a choir made up of singers he has known over the years that meet every other year to sing in a different English Cathedral for a weekend. It was in his time as a boy chorister that his love for church architecture, music, and beautiful liturgy emerged. His fondest recollections were of singing the daily offices at summer Cathedral residences throughout England, as well as, with the natural fellowship which flowed from a church with a rich variety of people. So, when it came to looking for a church in New York, he and Erin were sold on their first experience of St. Barts, and became regulars in 2006. Tim was a member of the Singers under Bill Trafka and occasionally subs for the main choir. Since 2010 Tim has also been much involved with Crossroads. In addition to periodically serving breakfast on Sundays, he also assisted in the renovation of the facility. In 2018, Tim was asked to join the Building Committee; an experience he has found to be very rewarding.
For initial three-year terms as Vestry members
David Hilder
David Hilder first attended services at St. Bart’s in August 2011, and was immediately attracted by St. Bart's practice of radical welcome, opening the communion table to all, and its diverse congregation.
David provides strategic advisory services to family-owned private companies and non-profit institutions through Hilder & Co. LLC. He also works as a Supervisory Analyst, editing equity research reports for investment banking firms. David spent 30 years as a research analyst and investment banker at Wall Street firms including Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Bear Stearns, and Drexel Hamilton, which is owned by service-disabled U.S. military veterans. He was Team Leader for the financial sector and a Portfolio Manager at Putnam Investments in Boston for two years during the financial crisis. He started his career as a newspaper reporter and editor, including eight years at The Wall Street Journal. David earned a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University. He has served non-profits as a member of the Dean’s Council of the Yale School of Architecture, a trustee of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, and trustee and Treasurer of the Society for the Increase of the Ministry, which provides scholarships for people studying to become Episcopal priests.
David has ushered at St. Bart's since 2015. He has served on several ad-hoc and standing committees of the church. Currently, he is Chair of the Investment Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.
David lives in Manhattan near Columbus Circle and enjoys Central Park as much as possible. His son lives in Los Angeles and works for a television production company; his daughter lives in Toronto and works in technology sales.
Mary Kate Wold
Mary Kate discovered St. Bart’s through the Community Club when she first arrived in New York City as a young adult. She started in the basement swimming every morning before work. She gradually made her way upstairs to services, attracted by the spiritual leadership and inspiring sermons of Tom Bowers, who became a dear friend. She has been at St. Bart’s ever since.
Mary Kate is the CEO of the Church Pension Fund, which provides retirement and healthcare benefits to Episcopal clergy and lay employees, as well as property and casualty insurance to over 90 percent of Episcopal parishes in the United States and liturgical materials and other publications through its subsidiary, Church Publishing Incorporated. Earlier in her career, Mary Kate was a finance executive in the pharmaceutical industry and for almost two decades practiced law at Shearman & Sterling, a global Wall Street law firm. As a young lawyer, she spent three years in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Mary Kate serves on several boards in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors and has a special interest in promoting biomedical research.
Beginning in the mid-1990’s Mary Kate served for eight years on the vestry of St. Bart’s and served as the chancellor during that period. She was honored to have been invited to be a member of the “men’s” Bible study group, and she regularly participated in the centering prayer group that met during the pandemic. She is a current member of a St. Bart’s Connects group and the Mosaic Society. She attends the 11am service.
Mary Kate was born and raised in a small town on the Canadian border in North Dakota. She graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in English and theatre. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan before moving to New York City. Mary Kate has raised her three children – Peter, Oliver, and Peg – in New York. All three were baptized at St. Bart’s and attended St. Bart’s Preschool. In her free time, Mary Kate enjoys entertaining friends, traveling, and seeing her children whenever their busy lives allow. She has a weekend house in Columbia County and a lake cottage in North Dakota that allow her to indulge her love of nature.
To complete two unexpired one-year terms as Vestry members
Lizzie Min
Lizzie first discovered St. Bart's through its music program. She first visited the church for its New Year's Eve organ concert in 2020 and was struck by the grandeur of the organ and the beautiful architecture. She began attending online services during the pandemic. Once in-person worship resumed, she quickly found a spiritual home in St. Bart's and a warm, welcoming community that she holds dear.
Lizzie is a native New Yorker and hails from northeast Queens. She holds a BS in Chemistry from MIT and a PhD in Earth and Environmental Science from Columbia University. Her doctoral research focused on Alaskan tundra ecosystems. Environmentalism has been the main theme of her career, which has included working at an urban vertical farm as an R&D scientist and her current pivot to urban sustainability.
Lizzie is an active member of the parish. She has served as a Connects group co-leader, is a member of the flower guild, hospitality team, 20s-30s group, and has been ushering since 2023.
Lizzie currently lives in Queens. She enjoys the wide range of cultural offerings the city has, particularly the performing arts. Her hobbies include running, fiber arts, and reading.
Robert ("Robby") E. Sweeney II
Robby is a native of Charleston, SC and grew up in a non-denominational congregation, where his mother and aunt serve as the volunteer music director and organist.. He sang in the youth choir, the men's choir, and served as the pianist for Sunday School. His love of beautiful sacred music eventually led Robby to the Episcopal Church while in college. Similarly, he found his way to St. Bart's after moving to NYC in 2011 when a fellow musician from back home recommended the parish, highlighting the strong music program. Robby almost immediately connected with the music, the preaching, and the community here and has been a parishioner of St. Bart's ever since.
Robby graduated with honors from University of Florida with a B.S. in Microbiology, also minoring in Classical Piano Performance and French Language. He then returned to Charleston and earned his medical degree at Medical University of South Carolina, being inducted into the Gold Key Humanism Honors Society. His medical training subsequently brought him to NYC, where he completed his residency in general surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital, followed by a clinical and research fellowship in thoracic surgery. Ever since his first introduction to cancer research after being awarded an American Cancer Society research grant during his undergraduate tenure, the advancement of cancer care has been a professional focus throughout his career. Robby is currently in the final stage of completing his PhD in Cancer Immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is currently a Director, and Senior Analyst for a healthcare and biotechnology-focused long/short equity fund internal to UBS Asset Management, where he personally focuses on using his expertise and background to help deploy capital to invest in companies developing promising novel cancer therapeutics.
Robby has been a member of the St Bartholomew's Choir since 2014, which has deeply enriched his worship and his connection to the St. Bart's community. In 2021, he participated as a panelist alongside other healthcare professionals from the congregation for The Forum, discussing the then ongoing COVID-19 pandemic from the Christian healthcare worker's perspective. Robby enjoys introducing as many people as he can to the St. Bart's community. He also serves on the Board of Directors for four-time GRAMMY-nominated classical music ensemble, The Clarion Music Society.
Robby enjoys experiencing the many cultural and culinary offerings that living in NYC affords, He enjoys early classical music, opera, traveling, languages, exploring new restaurants, and continuing to practice classical piano at home.
To complete an unexpired two-year term as Vestry member
Robert Radtke
Rob and his wife, Mary Abraham, first discovered St. Bart’s shortly after they got married and moved to New York City in 1991. St. Bart’s has been their church home since then, nurturing and forming their faith. Their daughter, Eva, was baptized at St. Bart’s and was a chorister for many years.
Rob is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Episcopal Relief & Development, the global disaster response and development agency of The Episcopal Church. He has held this post for nearly twenty years. Rob provides strategic leadership to the agency’s programs in over 40 countries serving more than 4 million people across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, as well as the United States. Rob was a founding trustee of the Anglican Alliance for Development, Relief & Advocacy. He also served on the boards of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities and InterAction (a coalition of international nonprofits), and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2023 the Archbishop of Canterbury awarded him the Cross of St. Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion.
Rob first volunteered in the breakfast feeding program in the early 1990s. He also served several terms on what was then known as the Parish Council, including as its chair. He was co-chair of the Center for Religious Inquiry. During the pandemic and after, Rob participated in a number of St. Bart’s online courses. In October 2024, Rob co-led a pilgrimage of St. Bart’s parishioners and others on the Camino de Santiago with the Reverend Peter Thompson.
As empty nesters, Rob and Mary are grateful to be able to travel, especially to places where Episcopal Relief & Development is working. In his spare time, Rob enjoys reading biographies and spy novels.
Rob believes that St. Bart’s is on the cusp of a renaissance that will help redefine the future of The Episcopal Church. He looks forward to working with our clergy and lay leadership to ensure our parish lives into its call to be a welcoming, loving, and joy-filled community for followers of Jesus.
