2024 Vestry Bios

The proposed changes to the Vestry by-laws, approved by Vestry in April, can be viewed here.

Jim Langley

Jim Langley and his wife, Marielle Jan de Beur, have lived with their two children in Rye for 20 years. They have a daughter Alex, who is a junior in college, and a son Holbrook, who is a senior at Rye High School. Jim and Marielle have attended Christ’s Church since 2020, and before that were active with their family at Trinity Presbyterian Church.

After graduating from Swarthmore College, and Yale School of Architecture, Jim worked in architecture firms in Washington DC and New York. He enjoyed the challenges of Residential and Institutional projects, from renovations of the Treasury Building in Washington, and CIA in Virginia, and various embassies, to new buildings at the University of Chicago, and  other institutional venues.

After their family moved to Rye, Jim transitioned from Architecture to Painting, and to at-home parenting, with Alex and Holbrook. Being with the children during their formative years was a special opportunity. He painted during nap time and school hours, served on the board of Rye Arts Center, and curated several Art exhibitions. He entered juried exhibitions, and won multiple awards. He continues to make things, not only paintings, but sculpture and furniture as well.

Jim also enjoys bicycling, and beekeeping.

Rob Pace

Rob and his wife, Ellen, joined Christ’s Church in 2015, and moved to Rye from White Plains in 2019 with their son Michael “Space” and their dog Edward. Rob was previously the head of trustees at their church in White Plains. Ellen has been active with various church activities for years, and Space, a Senior at Rye Country Day, has been a regular acolyte since 4th grade. Space was confirmed at Christ’s Church, and the entire family participates in service in some way most Sundays.

 Rob has worked in strategy and marketing for Procter and Gamble, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and currently is the President of i4D Events. He earned his undergraduate degrees in Economics and Management Information Systems from Eckerd College.  Ellen and Rob met in Gainesville, FL where they each earned their MBAs. Due to IBM assignments they have lived in Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and New York. Rob grew up in a career military family. He was born in Texas, his sister was born in Hawaii, and they were raised in various locations including DC, Maryland, Germany and Florida. Rob has now lived in New York longer than any place else, and considers Rye and Christ’s Church his long term home.

 Rob is honored to be nominated to the Vestry and looks forward to doing whatever he can to help Christ’s Church.

Lisa Urban

Lisa and her husband Ward moved to Rye in 1993 and became members of Christ’s Church in 1995.  All three of their children – Ward (28) John (26) and Chris (21) – attended Christ’s Church Nursery School, volunteered for the Ward Summer Learning Program and Chris served as an acolyte.  Over the past 30 years, Lisa has worn many hats and initially chaired the CC Newcomers Committee, co-founded Little Fishes with Isabel Rimmer, a pre-school play group in the CC parish hall, and for many years taught Sunday School, served Dinners at Noon with the Outreach Committee and is currently on the Altar Guild and Usher Teams.

Lisa graduated from American University and began her career on Capitol Hill working for Representative Olympia Snowe from Maine, where Lisa was born and raised on a 650-acre potato farm. She then went on to work for the National Realtors Association and then the Mortgage Bankers Association before she came to New York City to work at Citibank where she met Ward in the bank training program.

Lisa is currently Chief of Staff for former Mayor of Rye and New York State Assemblyman Steve Otis and for eight years has helped hundreds of constituents in the assembly district with navigating state resources concerning housing assistance, unemployment benefits, immigration services as well as working with nonprofits for capital grants and municipalities for major infrastructure projects.  Prior to working with the State Assembly, Lisa was the Outreach Coordinator for the Rye YMCA for five years and helped launch two school initiatives, Safe Routes to School and School Gardens.  Lisa was appointed to City of Rye’s Traffic & Pedestrian Committee where she served for almost 10 years, was a member of the Executive Committee of Milton School, launched the Health and Wellness Committee at Rye Middle School, was a Den Mother for Rye Pack 2, and an active volunteer for the Rye Football Association and Rye Rangers Hockey program.

Lisa is very honored to be nominated to the Vestry and looks forward to serving the Christ’s Church community.  

Mark Whatley

Mark, his wife, Vicki, and their son, Trip, moved to Rye in 2012 and have been parishioners of Christ’s Church ever since. After arriving in Rye, they added three more children (Cece, Laney and Libby) and all three girls were baptized at Christ’s Church. Their son, Trip, is currently serving as an acolyte, and both he and Vicki have volunteered for various activities and responsibilities at Christ’s Church over the years.    

 After earning a B.A. from Trinity University and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, he moved to NYC in 2004 where he has had a 20 year career on Wall Street and is currently a Senior Managing Director in Evercore’s investment banking business in NYC where he is the co-head of the Transportation Strategic Advisory Practice.

 He has also been active serving on nonprofit boards. He is currently a board member and treasurer of The 52nd Street Project, a NYC nonprofit organization focused on enhancing the community for children and at-risk youth in Hell’s Kitchen, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the Development Board at the University of Texas at Austin.