Marissa Koeller

Senior Operations Manager

Originally from Los Angeles, Marissa earned a BFA in Musical Theatre from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy before moving to New York City to work as a professional actor. In the height of the COVID-19 shut downs, she expanded her knowledge in digital marketing through Columbia University’s Business School of Executive Education. She combined this with her experience in web/graphic design to start her own business in digital marketing.

Marissa is passionate about creating spaces and communities where young Christians can embody their faith knowing they are not alone in this world. At Chesterton House, she manages the operations of our residential, events, and regular programming to facilitate these spaces of encounter, while also having a hand in the marketing and communications to share these opportunities with the campus.

Lisa Cooper

Adjunct Chaplain

Lisa Cooper serves as a part-time Adjunct Chaplain at Chesterton House, providing spiritual support for women in the community. She works as a senior copywriter at RevelationMedia, a media company focused on creating and distributing quality Christian content to the world for free. She also freelances for a variety of publications including data-reporting for Barna and writing academic articles for The Christian Research Journal. She has a passion for poetry; her poems have been published in a variety of literary magazines and online venues including The Book of Penteract, an anthology of formal and constrained poetry.

She is a graduate of Geneva College (B.A. English) and The American Lutheran Theological Seminary (M.A. Religion). Her published works range from practical to academic, from creative to data-driven, and from children’s content to current events—all kinds of topics and all kinds of tones—all to know Jesus better and to make Him known. She has volunteered and otherwise worked in ministry settings for over ten years including children’s ministry, college ministry, and women’s ministry. Her church home is Trinity Lutheran Church in Ithaca.

Lisa grew up in Connecticut, and still considers herself a New Englander, even though she has since lived in five other states. She now lives in Groton, NY with her husband Jordan and her two sons. She particularly enjoys baking, Russian literature, keeping houseplants alive, playing guitar, singing, and crocheting.

Genesis Li

Campus Engagement Coordinator

Originally from China, Genesis moved to Northern California at the age of 14. After graduating from a Christian high school in California, Genesis went to Augustana College in Illinois and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Her three-year work at World Relief (an Evangelical Christian nonprofit organization) as a Refugee Youth Mentor motivated her to pursue a master’s degree concentrating in nonprofit management. Genesis earned her Master of Public Administration degree from Cornell University in May, 2023.

At Chesterton House, Genesis leads campus-wide engagement and cooperation with student organizations and campus ministries, while also creating, maintaining, and reaching out to other campus ministries, churches, student organizations at Cornell and in the broader Ithaca community to create and foster collaborative mission work on campus. In her spare time, Genesis loves hiking, camping, kayaking, or just spending time with her friends in the nature. Genesis also plays the piano and Erhu, which is a traditional Chinese music instrument that can be dated around 2,500 years ago.

Stevie Lazenby

Office Manager

Stevie Lazenby graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Social Work and worked with special needs populations until departing the workforce to start a family. In addition to raising a family, she has filled her time participating in various volunteer activities. She also enjoys baking, paper crafting, hiking, running, biking, and gardening.

Mary Milbrath

Bookkeeper

Mary Milbrath graduated from Minnesota State University-Moorhead with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. She passed the CPA exam upon graduation and worked in banking and public accounting before serving as the Director of Finance and Operations of the Fargodome. Mary has spent the last 18 years raising and homeschooling her four children, continuing her work in accounting, and volunteering.

Tom Atwood

Building Superintendent

Thomas grew up in the Finger Lakes region often taking trips to Ithaca with his family, first introduced to Cornell through a Corning Incorporated summer science program tour of the synchrotron. Years later he attended Chesterton House lectures on Cornell’s campus and worked with the organization’s founder Karl Johnson to help the organization establish its residential facilities. He has had the great pleasure of watching God’s blessing on the Chesterton House ministry since 2014.

Katlyn Wilhoit

Executive Assistant and Development Coordinator

Katlyn Wilhoit graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Special Education and Elementary Education. Both during and after graduating, Katlyn worked alongside numerous nonprofit organizations, including campus ministries and churches, in several different administrative and leadership roles. She is currently a stay at home, homeschool, mother of three children.

Whitney Antley

Residential Administrator

Whitney Antley is a midwestern girl, a huge Ohio State buckeye fan who has lived in that great state most of her life. She graduated from Lee University in Tennessee with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Religion. She went on to teach in various school settings: public, private, online and now currently, homeschool. Whitney has served beside her husband in church ministry for the last 11 years and has always enjoyed being involved in the local church. In her free time, Whitney likes to knock off bucket lists goals; the most recent was running a half-marathon and marathon. She is currently enjoying life as a stay at home mom/homeschool teacher to her 3 daughters. One of Whitney’s biggest desires and goals in life is to be an encouragement to others, to walk with people in their struggles and to point them to Christ, always.

Lauren Fitch

Fellow

Lauren received her B.A. in History and Sociology at Spring Arbor University. In 2021, just after beginning her senior year of college, Lauren made the decision to take a gap year and join the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) Program. She worked full-time in development and communications, all with the goal of improving the lives of foster and adoptive children and families at the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (CMFCAA). Her interest in nonprofit administration paired with a desire for intentional Christian community is what led her to Chesterton House. In her free time, Lauren enjoys cooking, traveling to new places and reading historical fiction.

Hannah Hoffman

Hannah holds a Bachelors of Arts in Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University. Hannah has worked on several archaeological excavations in Israel and Turkey for the past eight years, most recently returning from an excavation at Sardis, known among other things for being one of the seven churches named in the Book of Revelations. In her time at Cornell she was very involved with undergraduate research and curatorial work at the Johnson Museum of Art, where she studied both a variety of ancient objects and also a large number of prints by Rembrandt van Rijn. She has a deep interest in art, historical, textual, and archaeological research that has greatly shaped her engagement with classical and Biblical texts and the historic Christian tradition.

Hannah has been actively involved with the Chesterton House ministry since 2019. She has been engaged in the community in a variety of ways ranging from attending lectures as a non-resident to serving as a Head of Household for the 111 women’s residence. She’s very excited to serve the community as a fellow this year as she applies to graduate school in the fall. In her free time, she loves making birthday cakes and fresh donuts for her friends and her husband, Micah.

Micah Hoffman

Fellow

Micah graduated from Cornell University in 2023 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and with minors in psychology and English. During his undergraduate years, Micah participated in Chesterton House activities and lived in the house for two years. On campus, he worked in multiple psychology labs and developed a deep interest in human flourishing from a psychological perspective. He also competed on the men’s varsity wrestling team at Cornell, and enjoys reading and watching movies in his free time. While interning at Chesterton House this year, Micah plans on applying to graduate school for psychology.