meet our team

Tom is a father, husband, website designer, and connoisseur of fonts. He hails from the boondocks of Central New York and went to St. Lawrence University to study anthropology, mostly out of curiosity about how people make sense of their lives. He helped build the progressive Christian community on campus, spent a semester in Japan that rearranged how he thought about faith, and somewhere in there figured out he was being called to ministry.

In 2008 he entered the Master of Divinity program at Harvard Divinity School, where his theology took its shape. He came away convinced that Christianity is meant to change how people actually live, through the kind of mercy and love Jesus kept insisting on. Before Hillside, he spent years leading a ministry for homeless men and women. Sitting with people on their worst days taught him what the church is actually for, and convinced him it should have room for absolutely everyone.

At Hillside, that conviction sets the tone. Faith here is allowed to be complicated and honest, and connected to the week you actually had. Tom’s sermons run on storytelling and a fair amount of humor, and they tend to walk straight through the hard parts of scripture rather than around them. He’s as happy building a new sermon series as teaching a workshop on church history, as long as the material is doing something useful for the people in the room.

He thinks of Sunday morning as two things at once: a place to catch your breath, and a place that sends you back out with something to do. If you’re curious, come find him. He’d love to meet you.

Tara is a second-year Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School and a Member in Discernment in the New York Conference of the UCC. She has previously served churches (as a musician and lay minister for youth and children) and arts organizations (in development and community outreach roles). Currently, Tara is a member of Noon Service Steering Committee and Multi-Faith Council at HDS. She is a grateful recipient of a Brown Endowment Scholarship from the UCC United Church Funds. Outside of ministry and music, Tara enjoys sewing, crossword puzzles, and her dog Hercules.

Cassie Kollman is a contemporary vocalist, songwriter, and bandleader who possesses an informed command of her craft and performs a wide range of musical genres, mostly those rooted in Black American traditions; including jazz, r&b, blues, soul, pop, rock, New music, and classical. Her specialization is vocal improvisation.

Cassie released her debut album, Lady in Shoes, in 2021; an eclectic mix of groove-based, richly-textured, and imaginative original compositions and collaborations. Cassie’s songwriting is introspective, personal, and emotionally nuanced. An agile vocalist and deep listener, Cassie creates compositions and arrangements that are vocally ambitious, harmonically intricate, and lyrically exploratory. The result is a soulful experience of jazz-pop music.

Cassie performs regularly as a soloist, and manages several ensembles in the Boston area. As a cross-genre vocalist, Cassie’s projects span a diverse range of instrumentation and styles, sharing the common languages of improvisation and blues.

Cassie holds a Masters of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Music from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She has completed Level I and Level II of the Somatic VoiceworkTM (Lovetri Method) vocal pedagogy method for CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music) styles, and is a member of the voice faculty at Bunker Hill Community College and the Concord Conservatory of Music.

As an artist, teacher, and community member, Cassie is passionate about arts accessibility, music education, and live community events.

Bryce has served as organist, choir director, and director of music at Hillside and previously at North-Prospect Church since 2003, guiding the growth of a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive music program. Trained in classical music, he has performed with regional orchestras and choirs, and has transcribed, arranged, and composed works for both performance and congregational singing. Recognized for his sensitive performances and improvisational skills, he is also an avid organist and chamber musician, passionate about the ways music fosters connection and community. Bryce holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classics from the University of Chicago and a Master’s degree from Harvard University.

Born and raised at Hillside Community Church, Jen has overseen our Sunday School program for years.

With two kids of her own and the patience of several saints, she comes to this work with a passion for forming little ones in the ways of love.

An organized and detailed oriented multi-tasker, Charmaine brings many years of experience in the Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable field and works full time as a manager and leader at Iggy’s Bread of the World. She is a successful event planner for work and volunteer organizations and is a servant leader who leads by example.

Rev. Rose graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1983 and began serving North Congregational Church as its Senior Minister that fall. He became the senior minister of North-Prospect Church when North Congregational and Prospect Congregational Churches joined in 1985, and the Senior Minister of North Prospect Union Church (later to become Hillside Community Church) when North-Prospect and North Street Union Churches joined in 2006.

He retired as Senior Minister in 2016 after 35 years of service to this congregation.

Rev. Rose continues his ministry at Harvard Divinity School, where he has served since 1987 and where he currently is the Associate Dean for Ministry Studies and lecturer in ministry in the faculty of Divinity.