Board of Directors

Directors Biographies

David R. Burton, President

Mr. Burton has participated in Unitarian congregations for a decade. He served as Treasurer and on the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota. He has delivered a number of lay sermons. He was most recently a member of the Sugarloaf Congregation of Unitarian Universalists.

Mr. Burton is an attorney and economist. He is a principal in the Argus Group, an Alexandria, Virginia based law and government relations firm. He is one of the country's leading advocates for fundamental tax reform. Mr. Burton has testified before Congress, appeared on hundreds of television and radio programs and written on tax policy matters in a wide variety of publications. He was previously employed as the Chief Financial Officer for New England Machinery and as Tax Manager of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

David Miano, Director 2004-2005

Mr. Miano is an ancient historian and emerging biblical scholar who is currently teaching and studying at the University of California, San Diego. He is currently writing his Ph.D. dissertation on the topic of time measurement in ancient Israel. He grew up in Buffalo, NY, in a conservative religious environment. Years of questions and searching finally led him to the Unitarian faith, through which he has found satisfying answers and considerable peace of mind. He is currently serving as editor of The American Unitarian. 

Jonathan Devlin, Director 2004-2005

Mr. Devlin is minister of the Desert Star Fellowship in Hesperia, California.  He has been a lifelong spiritual seeker and student of religion.  His first formal religious affiliation was as a Unitarian.  He was ordained as a minister of Religious Science in 1991, but soon felt the call to a more theistic form of religious expression.  He earned the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology and was ordained a priest in 1994 in the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.  In 1995 he was elected to membership in The Order of Saint Michael, and was elevated to Monsignor.  However, with Trinitarian Christianity leaving many unanswered questions,  Rev. Devlin sought a return to his Unitarian roots, but felt the highly politicized nature of contemporary Unitarian-Universalism was unsuitable for him.   In 1998, Rev. Devlin began studies in Judaism (which he considers to be the quintessential representation of Unitarian theology) through the New Rabbinical Seminary of America.  In 2001 Rev. Devlin became a member of the American Unitarian Conference, and founded the American Unitarian Fellowship in Hesperia, California where he served as minister.  In 2002, Rev. Devlin qualified for and received Rabbinical ordination under the authority of Rabbi David Roller of Livermore, California.

Rev. Devlin holds masters degrees in psychology and human services, a graduate certificate in professional counseling, and a doctorate in pastoral counseling.  His academic and professional memberships include the American Counseling Association, the California Association for Counseling & Development, the California Adult & Continuing Education Counselor Association, the California Association for Adult Development, the National Council on Family Relations, the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, & Religious Values in Counseling, the California Association for Religious Values & Issues in Counseling, the American Sociological Association, the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and the American Board of Hypnotherapy.

Past Board Members:

Alan Cousin, Director 2003-2004

Alan Cousin comes to the AUC from a peripatetic spiritual journey: he was raised in the United Church of Christ, spent his teen and early adult years as a fundamentalist Baptist, and was later an Episcopalian. Today he occasionally attends King's Chapel in Boston, where he enjoys the unique combination of Unitarian theology and Anglican liturgy.

Mr. Cousin was born in Boston in 1959, received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1981, and followed that up with graduate study in administration and management. After many years in the government and nonprofit sectors, Mr. Cousin is now growing a consulting business, specializing in management consulting for nonprofits.

Nathan DeMay, Director 2003-2004

Paul Yonge, Director 2002-2003

Paul Yonge became a member of the AUC shortly after its formation. He has been active in a Congregationalist church and a Universalist congregation in the past. Since 2000, he has been engaged in graduate study of pastoral care and counseling at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, New York. The Finger Lakes Fellowship was organized in 2001 by Yonge to serve as a resource ministry for the production and distribution of laity educational programs.

Since 1966, Yonge has been a career employee of the State of New York and is currently assigned to the Planning and Program Management group of the Transportation Department in Syracuse. Over the years, he has participated in the engineering and management of various telecommunications and broadcasting systems. He holds two masters degrees in environmental policy and in environmental and resource engineering. Yonge also holds graduate certificates in advanced public management and in information systems and telecommunications management. He is currently concluding a doctoral program at the State University of New York in environmental resource management.

Barbara Bachner, Director 2002-2003

Barbara and her husband, Irving Bachner, joined the Universalist Unitarian Church in Haverhill, MA in 1999. Upon learning of the founding of the AUC, they immediately joined the AUC and soon thereafter traveled from MA to VA to attend its first annual meeting.

Barbara is very active in her UU congregation where she presently serves on the Membership Committee and the Board of Trustees.

Barbara grew up in Alabama as the daughter of a Methodist minister. She is a retired medical secretary who appreciates having time now for volunteer work, craft projects, and digital photography.