L’Abri is kept running by a core team who lives onsite — we call them workers.
Between them, they bring a wide range of gifts and experience: giving lectures, cooking meals, running work crews, tutoring students, and much more.
What they share is a belief that questions about God, faith, and meaning deserve to be taken seriously — and that genuine community is part of how those questions get explored. All are Christians, committed to the authority of the Scriptures and the need to bring God’s truth into every aspect of their daily lives.
Every worker was once a student who found their way to L’Abri for their own reasons. Many stayed on or eventually made their way back. Our current team comes from several different countries, reflecting the international character of L’Abri as a whole.
Richard Bradford (Canada)
After first coming to L’Abri in 1993, Richard and his wife Karen joined the team as workers in 2000 with their two children and have been on staff ever since. Richard grew up in Southern Ontario and has a master’s in philosophy from McMaster University. He enjoys playing hockey on a local team (despite his age), ski touring, and hiking.
Karen Bradford (Canada)
Karen is from central British Columbia. She has an educational background in healthcare and management. She enjoys working on the L’Abri property and in her garden, walking their two very cute, not yappy little dogs, and hiking.
Stefan Baumann (Switzerland)
Stefan is Swiss and when not at L’Abri can be found climbing the nearest mountain, cross-country skiing, or swimming in an alpine lake. He is a life-long learner and is fascinated by philosophy, philology, and rabbinic studies, among other subjects. Stefan first visited L’Abri in the 90s and joined the team in 2022.
Karoline Fonn (Norway)
Karoline studied journalism and education and previously worked as a middle school teacher and in youth and children’s ministry. She first came to L’Abri as a student in January 2024 and loved it so much she joined the staff in 2025. She’s happiest when she’s outside, whether in the sun or snow.
Aaron Fortune (USA)
Aaron is from South Carolina and studied philosophy and English at Covenant College. He’s currently pursuing a master’s in philosophy at the University of Fribourg. Before joining L’Abri in 2018 with Katrina, he worked as a web developer. Aaron has a quirky sense of humor and is often looking for opportunities to make people laugh.
Katrina Fortune (Switzerland/USA)
Katrina grew up 45 minutes from L’Abri and started coming to L’Abri on weekends and vacations when she was 18. Topics that interest her or that she has taught on are art, how to study the Bible, food, grief and relationships. A classic cross-cultural kid, she feels most at home with people who are from all over the world.
Mélanie Marques Rollison (France)
Mélanie grew up in northeastern France and studied humanities, literature, publishing, and education. She’s lived in Scotland and Québec, and worked as a primary teacher in France before joining L’Abri in 2021 with her husband Jake. She has an uncanny ability to pick up accents faster than she wishes she would.
Jacob Marques Rollison (USA)
Jake grew up in Pennsylvania and has a BA in Economics from Wheaton College, an MA in Communication and Media Studies from the European Graduate School, and a PhD in Theology from the University of Aberdeen. He joined L’Abri in 2021 and loves coffee, obscure French theology, and dumb jokes.
Dodo Schill (Switzerland/Germany)
Dodo worked as a primary teacher before studying art in Lucerne and art therapy in Berlin. She first visited L’Abri in 2011 and kept coming back, finally joining the team in 2025. She loves adventures, creating art, playing games, and laughing loudly.
Administrative staff: Becky Miller (Switzerland/USA)
Becky grew up at L’Abri. She splits her time between caring for her mother and grandchildren and helping L’Abri with administrative tasks and correspondence. She loves hiking and plays violin and viola in a local orchestra.
She is often the first point of contact for students who write L’Abri with inquiries about their stay.
A selection of L’Abri thoughts and ideas
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