CHICAGO,
 May 
15,
 2018 – Chicago Theological Seminary’s (CTS) Board of Trustees welcomed two alumni as the newest members of the Board at its May 3-4 meeting: Matt Garretson (MA ‘17) and Rev. Dr. Dawson B. Taylor (DMin ‘12).

“We are excited to welcome the addition of these two outstanding leaders,” Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray Jr., President said. “I’m confident in their abilities, both in the world of ministry and law, to help us further our mission and produce the next generation of thought-leaders, social justice activists and theologians.”

Matt
 Garretson is the founder and CEO of the Garretson Resolution Group, a Cincinnati, OH based law firm specializing in injuries and worker’s compensation cases.

Matt has served as the special master or administrator of settlement funds throughout the country in environmental disaster, product liability, civil rights and other cases. His work in these areas includes notice, program design, claims administration, healthcare lien resolution, and post-settlement medical monitoring.

Matt frequently speaks and writes on a range of issues affecting individual and mass tort settlements and is the author of the legal text book Negotiating and Settling Tort Cases.

He received his B.A. from Yale University and his law degree at Kentucky’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Rev.
 Dr.
 Dawson
 B.
 Taylor serves as Senior Minister of Naples United Church of Christ. He became the church’s sixth Senior Minister on February 21, 2016 and was installed to that office in a worship service in January of 2017. Prior to his role as Senior Minister, Dr. Taylor served as Associate Minister when he was called to Naples in December of 2013. Before that, he served in his native Texas.

Dr. Taylor is a part of the Next Generation Leadership Initiative of the Pension Boards of the United Church of Christ, which identifies young leaders (age 35 or younger at the time of selection) for training for the “church of the future.” Locally, Dr. Taylor serves as the co-chair of GLSEN-Collier and on the board of Planned Parenthood of Central and Southwest Florida. Nationally, Dr. Taylor serves as a trustee of Chicago Theological Seminary.

Dr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Centenary College of Louisiana where he served a Congressional internship and two terms as student body president. His Masters of Theological Studies is from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and his Doctorate of Ministry in preaching is from Chicago Theological Seminary.

“I am excited to reengage in the life of the seminary at such an important time in theological education and faith life as a whole, said Taylor.