Staff & Council
The Staff Team
Revd Dr Chris Swift – Director
Chris is an Anglican priest who has spent over thirty years working in community ministry and chaplaincy for various organisations. He served two terms as President of the College of Health Care Chaplains, and has published a number of books, including Chaplaincy in the Twenty-first Century. Following the completion of his doctorate in 2005 Chris has contributed to a number of academic centres, including the University of Leeds, where he is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Philosophy, Religion, and the History of Science.
Bronagh Daly – Faith & Creativity Lead
Bronagh is an Art Theologian with a background in fine art and psychotherapy. She has over 20 years experience in management within the voluntary sector with specialist knowledge in the fields of international development, disability and racial justice. Bronagh manages the Faith Leads team at Leeds Church Institute and is a member of the Leeds Justice and Peace Commission, sits on the steering group for Spark Social Justice and is a trustee of the Leeds Literature Festival.
Dwayne Hutchinson – Faith & Racial Justice Lead
Dwayne leads on the Bishops, Pastors and Priests programme at Leeds Church Institute and is experienced in pastoral support within education and community faith settings. He has founded and run community awareness programmes on racial justice in his local area.
Paul Coleman – Faith at the Margins Lead
Paul leads on the Disability Theology programme at Leeds Church Institute with a research background in the History of Science. He organises theological talks and briefings for faith leaders on economic marginalisation in Leeds. Paul sits on the leadership team for Citizens Leeds and is a local Methodist preacher. He is a member of Church Scientifique and set up a repair café in East Leeds.
Alistair Cheetham – Finance & Compliance Officer
Alistair leads LCI’s fiscal planning and administration. With over 30 years’ experience in parish and business development and management, he is responsible for the smooth running of the office and systems to ensure Leeds Church Institute is compliant with data protection, charity regulations and all other legal requirements.
Emma Temple – Marketing & Communications Manager
Emma is the editor of CityTheology, our quarterly magazine. She has over 10 years’ experience as a writer and campaigner with a background in the Christian student sector. Emma runs our ‘Write like a Theologian’ programme and promotes our learning events to faith communities through our regular ‘noticeboard’ email bulletin. She is a founding member of the ‘Leeds Craftivists’ and engages in social justice campaigns through creativity.
Our Board of Trustees
Revd Canon Paul Maybury – Chair and President
Revd Paul is based at Leeds Minster as Rector of Leeds City and Prayer and Spirituality Coordinator for Leeds. He was previously at Bradford Cathedral as Acting Dean and Canon Precentor, as well working as Bishop’s Mission Priest in the Diocese of Cyprus.
Revd Dr Joseph Cortis – Vice Chair & Vice President
Joe is a Permanent Deacon based at Leeds Cathedral, and a Trustee of Catholic Care. He has been a Council Member since 2012 bringing his experience from a long professional career in nursing and a commitment to justice and peace. He is also the Assistant Director of Deacons (formation) for the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
Lydia Groenewald – Treasurer
Lydia is a Chartered Accountant with many years of experience working with diverse charities as Trustee and Treasurer. She worships at All Hallows in Leeds, where her husband is the vicar. She has been a member of LCI Council since 2020.
Canon Ann Nicholl – Vice Chair & Vice President
Ann is Assistant Wardens of Readers for the Leeds Episcopal area and a member of the Leeds Diocesan Board. She has been a Council Member since 2006 and brings her experience of working as a head teacher and a licensed lay minister, as well as being trustee of a number of charities.
Dr Jo Sadgrove – Council Member
Jo is an academic researcher in the Centre for Religion and Public Life at the University of Leeds and Research and Learning Advisor at the Anglican mission agency, USPG. She is interested in faith based international development both as an academic researcher and a practitioner and is interested in translating across these sectors.
Jonathan Chesterman – Council Member
Jonathan is a policy and compliance manager at StepChange Debt Charity. He is also a trustee of St George’s Crypt. He worships at St George’s in Leeds city centre and grew up in the evangelical reformed church tradition. He is passionate about building connections between different faith-based communities and facilitating open and honest faith-based discussions that cover all aspects of life, in a spirit of love and mutual respect.
Revd Kerry Tankard – Council Member
Kerry is the Chair of the Yorkshire West Methodist District. He watches over and supports the ministers and stewards who lead the 180 churches which serve and worship in the cities, towns and villages of West Yorkshire and its surrounding areas. He is passionate about music and has a very healthy, and ever expanding, record collection. Leeds as a city provides him with a wonderful selection of venues to indulge in live music. He shares his life with his partner Lindsay, has two adult sons and a granddaughter, all of who bring him incredible joy.
Contributors
LCI have a number of contributors who work with the core staff team and help make LCI the success it is. Behind the scenes we have support for technical, editorial and design work, as well as many other artists, event facilitators, musicians, workshop hosts and contributors whose work is linked to different themes and strands of LCI’s values. LCI contributors are a diverse bunch who come from a range of backgrounds which strengthens and renews innovative practice into our work.