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About the Forum

WHO WE ARE

The Westminster Town Hall Forum is a lecture series focused on issues of the day from an ethical perspective. The Forum is not a religious organization. People of all faiths and no faith are welcome at everything we do. We have a longstanding partnership with Westminster Presbyterian Church, which has been the home of the Town Hall Forum since our inception in 1980.

The Forum began as the brainchild of Westminster members Diane and Paul Neimann who relocated to the Twin Cities from Pittsburgh, where they had attended a local lecture series. They believed a city as great as Minneapolis deserved its own world-class speaker series and at Diane’s suggestion, was conceived as: “Voices of Conscience: Key Issues from an Ethical Perspective.”

So, with the support of Westminster’s senior pastor, The Rev. Dr. Don Meisel, the Forum launched in 1980 with its first speaker—Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Its mission: to invite voices of conscience to address the issues of the day from an ethical perspective. Since then, more than 360 speakers have addressed Forum audiences, including, among others, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Maya Angelou, James Comey, Jelani Cobb, Eric Holder, Emily Hanford, Jose Antonio Vargas, Eddie Glaude Jr., Kara Swisher, David Hogg, Lisa Pruitt, Thomas Friedman, Salman Rushdie, Bill McKibben, and Kerry Kennedy. While the issues and speakers have changed over the years, the Forum has retained its core value: Ethics matter.

GOVERNANCE

The Town Hall Forum is led and managed by a paid executive director. It is guided by a volunteer advisory board comprised of Westminster Church members and at-large community leaders. The board meets throughout the year and provides support and oversight in the areas of policy, community relations, development, marketing, and programming.

OUR TEAM

Sara Wilhelm Garbers, M.Div., Ph.D. (she/they) has served as the Forum’s executive director since September 2025. Described as a “fund and friendraiser, administrator, event and program leader, and ethical thought leader,” Sara brings to the Forum a doctorate in ethics from Loyola University in Chicago. They have a broad range of experience, having worked and taught in higher education and served in non-profit and religious community leadership. Sara is deeply committed to the Forum’s mission: “Ethics matter, and in this moment, they are profoundly vital for the flourishing of our lives, our communities, our institutions, and our democracy.”

Administrative Assistant Mary Maurelli executes vital behind-the-scenes logistics and day-of operations to ensure Forum events run smoothly, plus handles daily office management and scheduling. Mary was previously a senior administrative assistant at Cargill and executive assistant at the University of Minnesota.

OUR BOARD

Representing both Westminster Church and the community, current board members are co-chairs Sandy Wolfe Wood and Steve Snyder, Luna Allen-Bakerian, Darlynn Benjamin, Tiffany Cooper, Steve Cramer, Kathryn Hoffman, Ben Knoll, Erika Lantz, Gretchen Musicant, Rabbi Jason Rodich, Monica Westerlund, The Rev. Dr. Jessica Patchett, Pastor Liaison, and Sara Wilhelm Garbers, ex-officio.

OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS

The Forum benefits from the talents of two gifted photographers:

Tom Northenscold has long been one of the Forum’s photographers, animating the ethical dialogue and bringing it to life. You may notice him on Forum days, camera-in-hand, capturing key moments with our speakers, between members of the audience, and during our reception. His artistic eye and his sense of lighting tells the story of the Forum, and we are so grateful for his contribution.

Doug Knutson has documented Forum speakers since fall 1993. Doug meets with each speaker and shoots their portrait, engaging the speaker in conversation, putting the speaker at ease, and in doing so, beautifully capturing that person’s personality. Visit our ‘speaker wall’ — a compendium of Doug’s Forum portraits — on the main floor to the left of the stairs as you walk up from the garage. You will likely recognize many Westminster Town Hall Forum speakers from the past decades.