Our Team

Mickey Aquilino joined our staff in March '96. Mickey earned an English degree from Kent State University, and graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2000. He and his wife Marilyn have two grown daughters, Joy and Gina, both of whom are married to pastors, and they have four grandchildren. In his spare time, you'll find Mickey playing the piano, reading or playing Madden.

Alistair Begg came to Parkside as our senior Pastor in September '83. On Sundays, you'll find him preaching at Parkside.  He sets the strategic vision for Parkside Church.  His teaching is also featured on the radio program Truth For Life. He was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, and from there went to Trent University, London School of Theology, and Westminster Seminary. He and his wife, Susan, have three children. One book he believes every person should have in his or her personal library besides the Bible is Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

Jonathan Cameron joined the Parkside team in June 2008. Jon oversees & teaches Club JV, U-Turn, and provides guidance for other aspects of the Middle School ministry. He spent his undergraduate time at Grove City College studying political science and biology and is currently attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. One of his favorite books is A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. When he has time to relax, you’ll find him golfing, skiing, or watching sports.

Josh Griswold joined the pastoral team in July 2008.  He graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington and then Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago.  As our pastor of Care, Small Groups, Newly Marrieds & Young Families, Josh’s role is to help you grow in Christ and build relationships at Parkside. Additionally, he is involved with our pastoral internship & missions internship program. He is married to Andrea and has a daughter named Addison and two sons named Parker and Carson.

Chris Harrington joined the Parkside team in August 2011, but He and his wife Leanne have been attending since 2006. He graduated from Grove City College with a Bachelors of Economics and is currently attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. After working for Nestle in Solon for 5 years, Chris and Leanne sensed the call towards Missions. He has come on staff as part of our Missionary In Training program with the added responsibilities of Singles (35 and older) and Missions involvement. He and Leanne have two children, Mark and Lillia.

Jonathan Holmes joined the Parkside team in October 2008 as the campus pastor at the Green Campus. He oversees Men's & Women’s ministry, Young Marrieds’ & Families at Green and the counseling ministries at both campuses.  Jonathan graduated with degrees in Biblical Counseling and History from The Master’s College and is currently pursuing his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Jonathan and his wife, Jennifer, are parents of a daughter, Ava Grace. Jonathan enjoys traveling, reading, politics and spending time with his wife. One book Jonathan recommends to all is Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp.

Scott works with our pastoral internship & missions internship program, along with our ongoing missions efforts and is leading a church planting project. He joined the staff at Parkside in September '02. Scott was born in Woomera, Australia but attended Cedarville College and then went on to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. He is married to Mandy and has a daughter named Olivia and two sons named Peter and Jack.

Ron Klein joined the staff in September '95 and is the Pastor for Biblical Counseling and Missions at Parkside. Ron was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and he and his wife Patti have two children and five grandchildren. What he enjoys most about pastoral ministry is “when unbelieving people come to faith in Christ as Savior and follow Him as the Chief Shepherd!”

Dan Larison joined the staff team in September ’05 but he and his wife, Pam, have been members of the church since ’98. Dan hails from Cincinnati and attended Adrian College in Adrian, MI and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. One of his main areas of responsibility is Help & Hope in addition to community involvement, and care and support groups along with our ongoing missions efforts. He and Pam have four children. One thing Dan enjoys is getting out into nature, whether hiking, camping or just pausing for a great view of what God has made.

Matt McAlvey joined the Parkside staff in July '01. He graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI and attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, IL. Our pastor of communications, Matt's role is to makes sure we're communicating well through the website, flat-screen monitors, bulletin, and print materials.  In his spare time you'll find him with his wife, Beth, and three sons, Titus, Graham and Carter, or out on a run.

Jeff Mills came to Parkside in May '94. He was born and raised in Kirtland, Ohio and attended Ohio Northern University in Business Accounting. After a career at Arthur Andersen, God called him into full-time ministry where he has served at Parkside as the Director of Ministries. In his role, Jeff helps to implement the day-to-day details of Alistair's vision for the church, helps provide direction for new & existing ministries, and assists with the financial and operations management of the ministry. He is married to Terry and they have two grown daughters. One book he recommends is The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges, and in his free time you'll find him enjoying his family, reading or exercising.

Adam Romans joined the pastoral team in October 2008. He received his education from the Moody Bible Institute and served as a youth and music pastor at another church before coming to Parkside. Adam serves as a campus pastor on the Green Campus, where he oversees campus ministries. He and his wife Christina have two children, Lydia and Ben. In Adam’s spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and running.  A book Adam recommends is The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission by John Dickson.

Dan was born and raised in Ohio. After graduating from Hudson High School he attended Duke University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering. He joined our staff in August of 2007 and has really enjoyed having a front-row seat to what God is doing in the lives of people. He teaches Student Impact, Student Body, and provides guidance to other areas of the High School and Middle School Youth ministries along with our ongoing missions efforts.  Vaughan Roberts book God's Big Picture is one that he thinks everyone should have in their personal library. In his free time you will find him keeping up with the Cleveland sports teams, and cheering on the Blue Devils.

Mike Willmer joined the Parkside staff in September 2010.  Mike attended Kent State University and the Moody Bible Institute where he earned a degree in Biblical Studies and is currently attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He leads our college and young adult ministry. Additionally, he is involved with our pastoral internship & missions internship program. Mike and his wife Kelly were married in 2007.  One of Mike’s favorite books is The Prodigal God by Tim Keller.  In his spare time, Mike enjoys spending time with family and keeping up with the Cleveland Cavs.

Mike joined the staff in the fall of 2005 after spending 30 years in the construction industry.  Mike is an engineer and a businessman by training and is now using his career skills to assist in overseeing the Parkside facilities and in helping the elders plan and execute facility and real estate related growth.  Mike and his wife Betty have one daughter a recent college grad who is pursuing a career in Washington, DC.  In his spare time he enjoys working with the Men’s Ministry, participating on the Biblical Discipleship/Counseling team and playing the banjo.

Bruce joined our team in January ‘05. Serving as our media director for the church, he oversees the technical production for Sunday services, conferences, meetings and concerts. Upon graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in Video and Music Business, he worked in the sports and corporate video market. He is married to his wife Sonia and has 3 children. When he is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and cycling. 

Steve joined Parkside's staff in 2008 after serving four years in the United States Navy as an aviation electrician and 13 years as a facilities manager in another ministry.  Originally from Connecticut, Steve and his wife, Tammy, have four children:  Ben, a firefighter in Alabama; Tabitha, a pastor's wife in Virginia; Sarina, a student at Grace College and Seminary in Indiana; and, Theresa, a student at Newbury High School.  In his spare time, Steve enjoys working on his house or being on his small runabout boat with his kids.

Kelly Coy joined the Parkside staff in August '05 and serves as Children's Ministry Coordinator. She and her husband Michael have two children, Elizabeth and Andrew.  As a family, they enjoy rollercoasters, geocaching, and road trips. In her free time, you might find Kelly baking, reading, working in the garden, or walking their golden retriever Sadie.

Tony Gambatese came to Parkside in January '99. He is our Business Administrator. He enjoys spending time with his wife Judy, children, and 10 grandchildren. You might find him working around the yard or in the house. He enjoys working at Parkside for “the challenges that the Lord puts before us, knowing and trusting in Him for the solutions”.

Mark has just joined the Parkside team in September 2011 and is working in the accounting office. Mark returned to college in 1997 and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2001. He worked for a public accounting firm for 5 years then in the private industry before the Lord led him to Parkside Church. He feels incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to work for His glory in this way. Mark has 2 sons, Mark & Jesse. His son Mark was just recently married and lives in Raleigh. Jesse lives with dad in Mentor and is continuing college at Lakeland Community College. He enjoys helping at whatever and wherever he can for his friends and churches. He is also a photojournalist for a local weekly paper when a story comes his way.

Kyle joined the Parkside Staff in February ’09 after finishing his Bachelor’s in Electronic Media from Cedarville University. He has a large role in facilitating the media needs of our many events and spaces as well as content creation and distribution such as digital signage and podcasts. He also assists in expanding and maintaining the website. Kyle considers it a tremendous blessing to be able to use his passion for electronics to serve the Lord. In his spare time, Kyle enjoys reading sci-fi and keeping up on gadget news as well as serving in the middle school youth ministry.

Ruth has been involved in the Parkside Music Ministry since 1988 and joined the team as the Music Ministry Coordinator in Oct. 2004. She was born in Akron and raised in Green.  She and her husband Dave have 2 children, Matthew who is a student at Taylor University and Natalie, a student at North Olmsted High School. One of the things she values most about her role is working with such a diverse group of musicians.  She highly recommends Alistair’s sermon series “What is True Worship”. She enjoys traveling, biking, playing through and finding new worship music, cooking new recipes, watching her kids’ events, and hanging out with her family.

Sandy was born, raised and currently resides in Bedford, OH with her faithful cats Cujo and Savannah. In her spare time you will find her on her patio feeding the birds and squirrels along with one of her favorite books, The Valley of Vision. She joined our team in the beginning of 2007 and what she enjoys most about her job is serving the Lord by serving you.

Alli joined the Parkside team in October 2011. She began attending Parkside Church in middle school with her parents and older brother. Upon completion of her political science degree at Wheaton College (IL), she lived and worked in Washington D.C. for two years.  Recently relocating to Hudson, she enjoys taking advantage of the scenic running trails in NE Ohio. A true policy wonk, she can be found reading political blogs and books, especially The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.

Renee Pecek joined the Parkside team in June '05. She is the administrative assistant to Mickey Acquilino and Kelly Coy. Renee was born in Fulton, New York but raised in Mentor since she was eight. She and her husband Marty have one son and daughter-in-law--Joe and Cheri--and 3 granddaughters, Faith, Willow and Jade. Renee enjoys being outdoors and spending time with her family when not serving at Parkside.

Rachel was born and raised in Akron, Ohio.  She attended Grace College and is working to finish her Masters in Christian Studies through Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  In her free time, you can find Rachel sipping a latte at a local coffee shop or sitting at a park picnic table with a journal and a good book, which may include her favorite – Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.

Jacque Platek came to Parkside in February 2002. Jacque works as the administrative assistant for Ron Klein, Dan Larison & Jonathan Holmes. She loves being an aunt to Christian, Gavin, Kennedy, London Grace & Rylee. In her free time she enjoys spending time with friends and family.  Jacque likes warm weather and takes advantage of any opportunity to go to the ocean that comes along!

Kay Roberts is Alistair’s assistant and joined our team in July 1992. She has two grown children. One of her favorite books is The Fruitful Life by Jerry Bridges. In her spare time you will find her spending enjoyable time with her two grandsons, Will and Owen. She is delighted to welcome her newest granddaughter, Moana, born in Hawaii in October 2008.

Lisa Scarpello joined our team in January '02 and works as administrative assistant to Jeff Mills. Her favorite book is Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach, and in her free time you'll find her reading, learning to knit, or having fun with family and friends.

Ellen joined the Parkside Bainbridge staff as Children’s Ministry Coordinator in May 1994.  She stepped down from serving in that role in September 2005 and joined the Green Campus as Children’s Ministry Coordinator in 2009.  She enjoys tennis, traveling with her husband, Dave, and spending time with her married children and five grandchildren.

Susie has been a member of Parkside Church since 1977 and joined the team as Parkside Receptionist in April of 08. Since she loves people, she loves her job, interacting with many, many people on a daily basis. Besides the Bible, her favorite book, the one she re-reads daily is The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. She is married to Bill with two grown sons and seven grandchildren. Besides going on a creek walk behind their home with the entire family (dogs included), she loves herb gardening, reading and Bible study with her friends.

Carl was born and raised in Cleveland Hts., Ohio. He started working on cars at an early age and hasn’t stopped! He and his lovely wife Becky have two children, Daniel and Elizabeth. His favorite book other than the Bible is Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges. In his spare time he likes to golf and race. Since 1986, Carl has owned and operated Exceleration, a great place to get your car repairs done.

Dave grew up in Mentor, Ohio. He attended Miami University where he received his BA; he continued his education at Case Western Reserve where he earned his DDS. Dave also served in the US Navy Dental Corps from 1978-1981. Dave is married to Bitsy and they have five children, Jen, Jon, Chelsea, Heather and Chrissy. One book you will find in his library is Morning and Evening by Spurgeon. Dave doesn’t have much spare time, he stays busy!

Roger was born and raised in Massillon. He earned his BS from the University of Akron and his MS at Cleveland State University. Currently he is the Director of Sales at AeroControlex Group in Painesville. Roger’s wife, Kim, and their three children, Rebekah, Susan, and Ben enjoy many family activities together. Roger also enjoys traveling, biking, reading history, and home improvement projects. His favorite book is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Randy was born in the NE Ohio area, spending the majority of his life in Portage and Geauga Counties. He earned his BA at Yale University. He and his wife, Kathie, have seven children, three still reside at home, Ally, Megan and Kaitlin. One book Randy recommends is Know the Truth, by Bruce Milne. In his spare time you will find him attending a sporting event of one of his own children or grand children. Randy is a self-employed Insurance Agent with Nationwide.

Bill was born and raised in the Cleveland area. He attended Dartmouth College and continued his education at Cornell Law School. Bill is married to his wonderful wife, Laurie and they have three children, Mike, Bruce and Amy. In his spare time you will find him exercising, golfing, or swimming. He likes to travel. Bill works at Singerman, Mills, Desberg & Kauntz Co., L.P.A. One of his favorite books is Mere Christianity.

Bob will always consider Bedford his hometown although he spent some of his early years in Quebec. He received his Bachelor’s from Youngstown State University and for the past twenty years he has been employed with Parker Hannifin as an Aero Space Engineer. Bob has a large family which consists of his lovely wife, Julie, and five children, Sarah, Matthew, Rachel, David, and Ben. WHEN he has spare time he likes to hike, camp and fish. Two of Bob’s favorite books are Abandoned to God by McCasland, and D-Day by Stephen Ambrose.

Tom was born in Maple Heights but was raised in Solon. He graduated from Solon High School in 1979. He went on to further his studies at Kent State University and Georgia Institute of Technology where he earned a BBA, MBA and MS. Tom is currently working at Brush Engineered Materials, Inc. He and his wife, Liese, have two precious boys, Tommy and Brian. In his spare time you will find him playing with his boys and doing projects around the house. One book Tom highly recommends is Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Jeff was born in Waterbury, Conn. but, at age four his family moved to Solon. He graduated from Wheaton College with a BA, received his Master’s Degree and Teaching Certificate from Ohio University. He and his wife, Karen, have been married for over twenty years and they have three children, Katie, Stephen, and Aaron. In his spare time you will find Jeff remodeling their 1930 bungalow, exercising, or camping. Jeff is a 7th grade teacher at Albion Middle School, in Strongsville. In his library you will find one of his favorite books, Up from Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington.

Larry was born in Painesville and raised in the south side of Cleveland. Now retired, his career consisted of 34 yrs. with Ohio Bell/Ameritech/SBC. His wife of 51 yrs. is Carolyn. They have a married daughter, Linda who is a member of Parkside. Their son Michael and his family live in Pueblo, CO. He said other than the Bible everyone should have a telephone book! In his spare time you will find him tending the yard, garden and pond. He also likes to camp.

Pat was born in Conway, Arkansas but raised in Chicago where he graduated from DePaul University. He and his wife, Kristen, have four children, Michelle, son-in-law David, Stephanie, David and Alyssa. They also have a beautiful grand-daughter named Nora. In addition, to the bible Pat believes everyone should own a World Atlas to see the world that God has made.

John was born in Cleveland and raised in Middlefield. He received his BA from Houghton College, his R.S. (Registered Sanitarian) in the State of Ohio and his Licensed Cheesemaker from the University of Wisconsin. He and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Hans and Julia. One of his favorite books is What is an Evangelical? By D.M. Lloyd-Jones. John likes to hike with Cindy, golf with Hans and encourage Julia in drama, basketball and golf. He works at Middlefield Cheese.

Eric was raised in Canton. In 1994 he graduated from Grove City College where he majored in History and Pre-Law. In 2002 he graduated from Cleveland State University with an MBA. After many years working for Swagelok, he took a new position in Sourcing for Fasteners for Retail in Solon. Eric enjoys family life with his wife, Kristen, and their two sons, William and Andrew. Friday nights are a special time in their household with pizza and game/movie night. A favorite book of his is Pilgrim’s Progress.

Steve was born in Chicago but raised in Cleveland Ohio. He attended Dartmouth College. Steve is married to his lovely wife, Sally and they have three children, Hannah, Jeff and Courtney. Steve likes to read, play multiple sports and spend time with family and friends. One of his favorite books is A Quest for Godliness.