SBN's Board of Directors
Mike Slott (Chair): A long-time political and labor movement activist, Mike focuses on the connections between secular Buddhism, socially engaged Buddhism, and radical politics. He is the editor of the SBN website and its newsletter, Insights: Exploring Secular Dharma.
Amy Balentine (Vice Chair): Amy was a member of the SBA Board of Directors before the merger with SBN. She has worked as a clinical psychologist since 2002 and teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
Kate Barba (Secretary): Kate lived in South and Southeast Asia for over a decade working on education projects and later spent years stateside managing federal-state partnerships in coastal resource management. She practiced in the Soto Zen tradition for many years prior to adopting a more secular approach to the Dharma.
Sharon Tobias (Treasurer): Sharon is a retired clinical psychologist, trained in hypnotherapy and EMDR. She has had a long-term practice in Vipassana meditation before discovering secular Buddhism. She has a particular interest in the intersection of Buddhist principles with western psychological thought. She facilitates several of SBN's online groups.
Katya de Kadt (member): Katya is a retired New York State Acting Supreme Court Justice, a long time social activist and currently studying how to use plants to deal with medical conditions. She was a Theravada practitioner for 21 years, but then joined the Secular Buddhist Network four years ago.
John Murphy (member): John is a member of the Philadelphia Shambhala Center and the Secular Buddhist Network. His career has included senior management roles in both the corporate and non-profit sectors.
Ira Rifkin (member): Ira is a (retired) author, journalist and communications professional specializing in the connections between religion and societal issues, broadly and globally. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his environmental activist wife, Ruth Berlin, and is a father and grandfather.
Karsten Struhl (member): Karsten teaches political philosophy and cross-cultural philosophy at the New School for Public Engagement. He has a special interest in the intersection of Buddhism and Marxism and the possibility of a radically engaged Buddhism. His articles have appeared in a variety of journals, books, and encyclopedias.
Marc Symons (member): Marc is a retired cancer researcher who has extensively practiced in both the Soto Zen and Insight traditions. His current interest is to use Buddhist insights and meditation practices to promote human flourishing.
David Whiteside (member): A retired journalist who left the religion of his upbringing in his late teens, David has been a secular humanist and philosophical naturalist for most of his adult life. He became interested in meditation, mindfulness, and later Buddhism in the early 2000s and has had a daily meditation practice since 2011. He now identifies as both a secular humanist and a secular Buddhist.