Ministries Board of Directors

Sally Bowers is a retired pastor in the United Methodist Church (UMC) of Northern IL Conference. She joined Holy Wisdom (then St Benedict Center) in 2003. She and her husband, Howard Fenton, were married at St Benedict Center in 2005. She now presides during Sunday Assembly worship and is involved with the social justice activities within Holy Wisdom and the larger Madison community. One of those activities includes restoration of the land to native species. She was attracted to Holy Wisdom by its care for the earth as exemplified by prairie and savanna restoration.

Her passion for justice prevailed throughout her career in Chicago, Northwest IL, and Madison. In Chicago she worked within her denomination for divestment in South Africa to put an end to apartheid, traveled to Nicaragua to shed light on USA’s contribution to the civil war there in 1980’s, volunteered with Shalom Ministries on Southside of Chicago helping to establish a food pantry, and was the Associate Director of the Urban Life Center. This was an experience-based study term for Mennonite college students. She lived in Mennonite community after seminary and was a member of the team creating Synapses, with education and action towards justice. This eventually became the Christian Peacemakers Team and now Community Peacemakers Teams that continue to work against oppressive regimes in hotspots around the globe.

As a pastor in Northwest IL, she counseled farm women as their husbands were hooked into the American Identify movement and Posse Comitatus. She was on the board of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance related to legislation against CAFO, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Beyond her pastoral ministry in rural churches, she became the Director for the Freeport Area Church Cooperative, a faith-based poverty center. She brought resources from the UMC for the neighborhood to determine what they needed which included a green space.

Upon moving to Madison Sally worked with vulnerable youth populations through Dane County Extension and was the faculty staff for the Dane County 4-H program. Through a partnership with UW-Madison, Edgewood College, and MSCR she helped develop a summer youth leadership program that employed the more vulnerable youth of Madison. She returned to ministry as a chaplain with UW Hospital until her retirement in 2021. She continues her passion for justice through the North Side Action Team around elections and local justice issues. At Holy Wisdom she is part of the Climate Action Team.

Sally and Howard have a love for prairie, hiking, and birds. They have two adult daughters, Rachel and Ruth. They are their pride and joy with their careers in public health and research of African primates and their habitats.

Bob Dinndorf worked as Executive Director of the Madison College Foundation from 1995 until retirement in 2019 at which time he joined the Holy Wisdom Monastery advancement staff as Director of Philanthropy; he retired as a staff member in 2021 at which time he was elected to the Benedictine Women of Madison Board of Directors.

Bob served as Director of Alumni Relations as St. Cloud State University, Minnesota prior to moving to Madison. After graduating from Saint John’s University (Collegeville, MN), his career began as band director and music teacher at Saint John’s Preparatory School followed by appointment as Director of Admissions and Development at the Prep School.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from St. John’s University (MN) and the MBA from St. Cloud State University. Several musical experiences are among his community activities. In Madison he continues to be active as a member of the Madison Symphony board, the Symphony and Madison Opera Choruses, and the Rotary Club of Madison. He has been president of the Rotary Club and a member of its foundation board. He has also served on the Edgewood High School Board of Directors and other community organizations.

Paula, his wife, and Bob value the education they received from the Benedictine monks and sisters at Saint Johns and the College of Saint Benedict. This background contributed to their joining Holy Wisdom Monastery’s Sunday Assembly since 2017. They have two grown children plus three growing grandchildren: Grace, Luke and Maya.

Roberta Felker grew up in a family of teachers in Marshfield, a small town in central Wisconsin. To teach, to learn – ah, that was the thing. And to pursue the mysterious, ragged, and intense vocation of teaching – that was the only thing. Throughout over four decades as a teacher and administrator in public and Catholic schools and universities, this vision of education as calling and challenge, alive and elusive, infectious and engaging, has shaped her life.

In addition to her teaching and administrative work, Roberta’s other professional experiences include a National Policy Fellowship with George Washington University; the founding of Women’s Schools Together, a national coalition of Catholic women’s high schools; and research as a National Humanities Fellow on the legacy of women’s religious orders for the education of young women. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and mentored teachers at the Ankara University Developing Foundation School in Ankara, Turkey, and named a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar to study in Japan. Roberta holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is proud that her son, Luke, inherited the family passion and is a school leader in San Francisco.

Roberta has been a member of Sunday Assembly since 1997 and is a member of the Monastery’s 2002 oblate class. A regular homilist for Sunday Assembly, her homilies draw on her family’s theology of service, an addiction to poetry, and an appreciation for the contradictions and questions in the lectionary readings.

Colleen Hartung is the past chair of the board at Holy Wisdom Monastery. She joined the Sunday Assembly along with her family in 2004. Colleen is currently a homilist and works with Kids On The Prairie. In the past, Colleen has facilitated the ministry to families and children program, worked in the kitchen, on the Sunday Assembly Council, Liturgy Committee and more. She holds a Ph.D. in Theology and Ethics from Chicago Theological Seminary. She has served as a spiritual guide for more than 15 years, is currently the chair of the 1000 Women in Religion Wikipedia Project and series editor of Atla’s Women in Religion series.

Drew Howick and his family became familiar with Holy Wisdom Monastery (HWM) about 30 years ago (then St. Benedict Center) by participating in Saturday volunteer days.  For years, they volunteered in activities that ranged from removing brush, locating benches, planting trees and harvesting fruit.  After years of involvement in a variety of mostly outdoor projects, Drew was asked to serve on the Benedictine Life Foundation board, during which time the current monastery building was constructed. “Those were interesting times as we raised funds for a LEED certified building during a recession—yikes! The sisters’ ongoing commitment to “care for the earth” continues to motivate my involvement with HWM and I currently serve on the Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council.”

Professionally, Drew has been active in leadership development, designing and facilitating planning sessions, helping organizations implement strategic changes and coaching leaders. Howick Associates was established in the ‘80s and has served as a trusted advisor and collaborative partner to organizations who are committed to developing their human capital. For the first 20 years, Howick Associates mostly provided services to the private sector where Drew had the opportunity to deliver services in over 15 countries.  For the past 20 years he has shifted his practice to working with nonprofits and public education.  Most of Drew’s effort now is designing and facilitating meetings that bring together diverse stakeholders for the purpose of achieving common ground. “I love working for and supporting organizations that have an inspirational mission, and contributing to the effective education of our youth inspires me today.”

Drew and his wife Jan Lottig are neighbors of the monastery and are also involved in the formation of a new Friends group at Governor Nelson State Park.  They love to travel, especially to spaces that enable them to hike and share different outdoor experiences. They have two adult daughters, one located in the Madison area and the other in Golden, CO.

Terry Larson is a retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He served parishes in southern Wisconsin for more than 40 years. He was married to Rev. Sue Moline Larson for almost 54 years. Sue was also an ordained clergyperson in the ELCA. Sue died very unexpectedly in February of 2023. Both Terry & Sue, members of Holy Wisdom Sunday Assembly, served as presiders & homilists at Sunday worship.

Terry also served in the US military. During his time in the US Air Force he was sent to Vietnam in 1970 to teach English to Vietnamese military personnel. After Vietnam he served as a cost accounting specialist at Ellsworth AFB, SD. Following his time on active, study at Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, his ordination, and Sue’s ordination, he joined the Air National Guard as a chaplain. He was deployed to Central Asia in 2004 & 2005. He ‘aged-out’ of the military in 2007. He is also a member of Veterans for Peace, Madison.

In addition to serving on the Benedictine Women of Madison Board, Terry is on the Sustainability Committee, Bike Subcommittee, and Tax Incremental Financing Board for the City of Sun Prairie. He’s also on the Friends of the Sun Prairie Library Board, the Library Foundation Fundraising Committee, and the Sun Prairie Parks Friends Board. He also is a volunteer presider/homilist at Oakwood Lutheran Homes University Woods campus.

He enjoys gardening, biking, poetry, and napping. He has two sons, Jonathan who lives in Berkeley, California, and Erik who lives in Madison. His two grandchildren, Noah, age 16, and Talia, age 13, are his pride and joy.

Sister Lynne Smith became the first Protestant member in the Benedictine Women of Madison community in 2000. Prior to joining she was an ordained Presbyterian pastor, serving congregations in Iowa and Kansas for 15 years. Sister Lynne is currently the Prioress of Benedictine Women of Madison at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Erin R Trondson has enjoyed being a part of the Holy Wisdom Monastery community as a retreatant for years, visiting the Retreat and Guest House as a poet and writer. Currently she serves as the Executive Director of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Erin comes from the world of leadership, education and non-profit management.

For more than 20 years she served as the Executive Director of Woodland Montessori School and more recently as a consultant for nonprofit leaders and directors. Erin also has experience in higher education as both faculty and as a project/grant manager.

The important values of Benedictine spirituality resonate deeply with Erin, including the call to live simply, with humility, in community, to strive for justice and to welcome everyone. She has found great value in retreating and contemplating through her experience at Holy Wisdom over the years, and she is thrilled to be able to advance the important mission and work of this cherished organization.

Outside of work Erin can be found with her family on the east side of Madison, likely reading poetry or enjoying good food with her husband and three children.

Jim Welsh was the Executive Director of Groundswell Conservancy from 2003-2022 and has been instrumental in the permanent protection of many of the most loved and valued places in south central Wisconsin. During Jim’s successful tenure, Groundswell achieved national accreditation and conserved 13,000 acres of farms, forests, prairies, and wetlands in and around Dane County. Under Jim’s leadership, Groundswell preserved land in rural, agricultural, and urban environments, a testament to his belief that everyone deserves access to nature and open spaces.

In addition to his success in expanding conservation areas, protecting new lands and conserving historical areas, Jim worked with community members to provide equitable access to land and nature, including expanding the outdoor classroom at Lake View Elementary School in Madison and protecting land for use by immigrant farmers and farmers of color.

Jim has devoted his professional career to land conservation and has worked in Wisconsin, California, Michigan, and Washington, DC with leading conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy, the Alaska Coalition, and National Parks and Conservation Association.

Jim serves on the board of Holy Wisdom Monastery and is a past community board member of Clean Lakes Alliance. He has served on the Dane County Zoning & Land Regulation Farmland Preservation Plan Subcommittee and the Dane County Task Force for the Prioritized Revision of Chapter 10 Zoning Ordinance.

Jim has master’s degrees in ecological restoration from the University of Wisconsin and natural resources policy from the University of Michigan.

In addition to serving on the board of directors, Tony Wilkin Gibart has been a member of Sunday Assembly since 2011. He met his wife Sarah at Holy Wisdom, and they were married at the monastery in 2017.

Tony grew up in Milwaukee, where his mother and grandmothers passed on to him a Roman Catholic faith centered on justice, kindness and hospitality. Therefore, he has always felt at home at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Tony is the executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA), which is a non-profit environmental law center that works with Wisconsin communities to defend healthy water, land and air. Prior to working at MEA, Tony served in various roles at End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin for over 10 years. There, he worked to support victim service organizations across Wisconsin by securing funding and legislative changes.