University  Church Staff

On  September 10, 2023, University Church said farewell to our beloved pastor of twenty-one years, Rev. Tracy Daub, who has accepted a call to become pastor of St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in her home town of Tucson, Arizona, where her elderly parents still reside. 

The Session of University Church has formed an Interim Pastor Search Committee to begin the process of hiring an Interim Pastor. Once hired, this individual’s responsibility will be to act as our pastor until a permanent Installed Pastor is hired.

A newcomer to Western New York, Allan Andrews moved to Buffalo (Snyder) in 2020 from Seattle where he served as the Director of Music Ministries at Mt. Baker Park Presbyterian Church, Artistic Director of the Swedish Singers of Seattle, and the A.D. of the Seattle Metropolitan Singers. Prior to that, Allan began his teaching career in Oklahoma where he served as choral director at Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. Following graduate school, he was the Head Choral Director at R.L. Turner HS in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and retired after serving as Director of Choirs at Northlake College, also in Dallas. While he taught high school, Allan’s choirs were consistent sweepstakes winners in UIL competition, as well as winning multiple choral festivals across the United States. He is a frequent clinician and adjudicator across the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Andrews received his Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma City University, and his MM in Vocal Performance from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. While living in Seattle, Mr. Andrews was on the board of the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium, an umbrella organization of over ninety community choirs, as well as serving as the Washington State Music in Worship Chair of the American Choral Directors Association.

Gregory White is Conductor-Music Director of the Advent Chorale of   Western New York and is Organist at the University Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York, where he plays for worship services and accompanies the choir and soloists on the three manual Kegg Organ. Mr. White is listed in “Who’s Who in America.” He served as harpsichordist with the Ars Nova Musicians Chamber Orchestra for over twenty-five years;  he has performed as harpsichordist and organist in concerts with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and in chamber music recitals with local artists on Opus Classics’ Live on WBFO Radio. He has served as a choral clinician as well as on the Executive Board for the American Guild of Organists – Bualo Chapter. His choirs have appeared in performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and released a CD of Handel’s greatest masterwork Messiah with the Ars Nova Musicians Chamber Orchestra. Mr. White has toured Europe in performances with his choirs whereby the Mayor and Common Council of Buffalo issued proclamations declaring them Musical Ambassadors of Buffalo as part of their European Concert Tour; he has performed as organist for programs and master classes in the City of London and Cambridge, England,  and  in Paris,  Versailles and Rouen, France. Formerly a Program Director at Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Mr. White served as a frequent trainer on Gender and Racial Justice. He was an invited presenter at the First, Second and Third World Conferences for Women Shelters in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Washington, DC; and The Netherlands. He served on the New York State Governor’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team for three years as well as other judicial committees, a National Think Tank on Batterer Programs; and former Chair of the Erie County Coalition Against Family Violence. He was a frequent trainer/presenter throughout New York State, as well as nationally, and traveled throughout the Caribbean and South America as presenter, panelist, and trainer for the United States Government – Partners of the Americas, Washington, DC.

Mackintosh Barker serves as the Shared Youth Director for the joint youth program between University Presbyterian and North Presbyterian Churches. A graduate of SUNY Buffalo State with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism, Mack has a great deal of experience in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in working with youth. Some of his background includes: serving as a Young Adult Volunteer with the PCUSA in Chicago for a year; serving as a member of the PCUSA 2010 Youth Triennium Design Team; serving as an adult advisor to two other PCUSA  Youth Trienniums; serving as a Youth Advisory Delegate to the 2010 PCUSA General Assembly; and service on the Presbytery of Western New York’s Discipleship and Nurture Ministry Team.  Mack is a member of First Presbyterian in Tonawanda where he sings in the chancel choir.

Peg Kovach is a native of the Town of Tonawanda, having graduated from Kenmore West High School and Bryant and Stratton.  Her prior work experience was as a Parish Administrator for  an Episcopal congregation in Kenmore.  She also worked as the Administrative Coordinator at Parent Network, an organization serving all eight counties in Western New York, in assisting parents and professionals who work with children with disabilities. 

She has three adult children: Jennifer, a teacher at Franklin Middle School, Jessica who works at Southeast Works here in Western New York, and Jeffrey who serves as a pastor in New Jersey.  She is also the grandmother to seven grandchildren, ranging in ages from six to twenty.

In her spare time, Peg likes to basket weave, knit, read and swim in the summer.