Renee Zimelis Ruchotzke

Renee is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister working for the UUA specializing in leadership development and church governance. Locally she is a community organizer and activist. She serves on several boards including the Kent Environmental Council, Kent LWV, Portage County NAACP, and the City of Kent’s Sustainability Commission.

She and her spouse Randy practice sustainable living with solar panels, an electric car, a backyard permaculture food forest, and a front yard pollinator garden on their city lot. She has also served as president of Kent Natural Foods Coop (helping them transform their governance) and was the convener of the PAC “Build a Better Kent” (organized to repel an attempt to recall half of the city council by an anti-government group that became the local Tea Party).