Past Council Co-Chairs

Laura Shrode '16, currently works as a Family Support Coordinator with LifeSource - a Minneapolis based non-profit that walks with the families of organ, tissue and eye donors. After receiving her Master of Divinity from the SOT/Sem, she worked for several years as a hospital chaplain and with volunteer organizations accompanying young adults during and after their mission experiences. Laura has continued her formation by completing the Spiritual Direction Certificate program from St. Kate's University (St. Paul, MN). She has a passion for hearing people's stories, building community and traveling to new places on pilgrimage. She looks forward to connecting with Alumni in new ways as Co-Chair of the Council in 2022.

Tony Romaine, M.A. '13, is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and pastors at First United Church of Little Falls, MN. Tony has been active on the SOT/Sem Alumni Council for many years and is now looking forward to beginning his term as Co-Chair for the Council in 2021.

Chris Calderone '13 earned a Master of Arts in Liturgical Music from the SOT/Sem and applied his education and experience as Director of Liturgy and Music in several parishes for the next six years.  He is currently exploring and working in the field of chaplaincy.  Chris has been active in the formation and continuation of the SOT/Sem Alumni Council since 2017 and participates in various activities and events focused on alumni relations.

Jessie Bazan ’17 earned her Master of Divinity degree from the SOT/Sem and began her term as Alumni Council Co-Chair in 2019. As she continued serving on the Council during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bazan worked to keep alumni engaged through virtual events and by connecting them with a variety of resources to build-up both careers and faith throughout a difficult time. Bazan now helps Christians explore vocation and calling in her work with the Collegeville Institute and is the editor and co-editor of Dear Joan Chittister: Conversations with Women in the Church (2019).

Rebecca Calderone ’14, who began her Co-Chair term in 2018, aided in officially launching the Council that same year. Along with Bailey Ziegler ’15, she created a template for the Council to be founded on. Calderone now carries on those efforts as a Council Ambassador to help ensure the sustainability of Council membership. She earned her Master of Divinity from the SOT/Sem and is currently the Director of Pastoral Care for CentraCare – St. Benedict's Community in St. Cloud, MN.

Bailey Ziegler, a 2015 Master of Divinity graduate, was instrumental in the creation of the Alumni Council and worked closely with the Development and Alumni offices to form and lead the pilot group through its initial five months of discussion and discernment in 2017. She served a one-year term as Co-Chair on the Council in 2018 and has been an Ambassador since 2019. Bailey also works as the Director of Human Resources for the Diocese of St. Cloud when she is not volunteering on the Council.

To get in touch with the Alumni Council, see our current Co-Chair page