MEET OUR STAFF
REV. ELIZABETH RILEY
Rector
Rev. Elizabeth Riley joined Emmanuel in July of 2018. She was born in Wasilla, Alaska and spent most of her formative years in Anchorage. She found the Episcopal Church in middle school and felt her calling to the priesthood at fifteen. She moved to the Bay Area to attend college at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she studied theology and English. After receiving her BA, she attended seminary at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, where she received a Master of Divinity. She served as a deacon at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. For five years she served as the Associate Rector at Trinity Church in Menlo Park, California. Elizabeth previously served as a board member of Young Clergy Women International, overseeing fundraising and development. She also served on the board of Stanford's Episcopal Campus Ministry, also working on fundraising and development. Scott and Elizabeth have two young daughters: Eleanor and Amelia. Scott has PhD in English Literature from University of California, Santa Cruz and is a professor. Elizabeth loves photography, baking, and quilting. As a family they love playing music together, exploring nature, and spending time with their extended family.
Associate for Children, Youth, and Family Ministries
Katya Nemec joined Emmanuel in September 2018. Katya was born in Tokyo, Japan, and lived there until she graduated high school. She graduated from Santa Clara University with a BA in English in 2014, and then received her Masters in Theological Studies at Candler School of Theology in 2016. She married her college sweetheart, Daniel Shull, in July 2016, then moved to Richmond, Virginia so Daniel could finish his Masters in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. Katya is passionate about faith formation and strives to create environments where all people know they are beloved by God. She cares deeply about children and youth, and not only wants to equip them with tools to develop their own faith, but believes their creativity,resilience, and openness are invaluable assets to the larger faith community as well. She is passionate about food, and will try to make almost anything from scratch if she can, but leaves most of the baking to her husband. She loves her multicultural family and the hilarity that ensues from constant cross cultural encounters (her mother’s family is from the Philippines and her father’s family are European Canadian), books, animals, cute videos on social media, and thrift stores. She loves spending time with her friends and husband hiking, playing board games, conquering escape rooms, and getting overly invested in TV shows like Game of Thrones.
KATYA NEMEC
JULENE LEVIN
Office Administrator
Julene Levin officially joined the Emmanuel staff as a permanent employee in May 2017, following almost three months providing maternity leave coverage. Among many other duties, she manages the flow of information between parishioners and staff, maintains the church calendar, coordinates facility use, maintains the website, and generally keeps the office operating like a well-oiled machine.
Julene is a Seattle native, and now resides in Mercer Island with her daughter and son. Julene formerly worked in marketing communications for various software companies. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her kids, reading and traveling to warm weather.
TIM BEGGS
Music Director
Tim Beggs joined Emmanuel in July of 2019. His first music education was with a noted fiddle teacher in Northern California. He then spent several years in South Carolina where he began piano training, and then Oregon where he was drafted into playing the piano for weekly church services at the age of 13. It was there that he discovered to joy of organ music on a tracker organ before coming to Seattle Pacific University, where he studied organ with Lester Groom and Peggy Kelley Reinburg, and also continued studies on piano and viola. Tim currently sings with the Evensong Choir at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, and spent eight years singing with an urban contemporary gospel ensemble which served both as a church music program and prison ministry touring Washington and Hawaii. After many years of service leading music in a broad cross-section of church worship styles, Tim comes to us from First Covenant Church in downtown Seattle where he was the director of music ministries. He teaches piano and organ.
Tim and his wife Mona are raising three children: Samuel (14), Benjamin (12), and Josephine (10). They love camping, hiking, and skiing, and all three sing in the chorister program at St. Mark’s. Tim serves on the board of Development Companions International, which partners with churches in East Africa to provide women’s literacy and community development; Mona works in the tech industry. Tim is passionate about drawing the congregation deeply into the practice of worship, and engaging both children and adults in this work of the people of God.