Our Board of Directors

The Rev. Allan Johnson-Taylor is the Rector of St. Paul’s Rock Creek, Washington DC --the oldest worshiping congregation in the in the District of Columbia. He is passionate about Evangelism, Outreach, and Parish Development; and throughout his ministry he has sought to work with congregations that share his passion. In addition to parish ministry, Allan has served as a consultant to churches in the areas evangelism and church growth, stewardship, accounting, and budgeting. Allan holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Maryland, an M. Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a Th. M. from Princeton Seminary.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

Allan believes the Episcopal Church is a church in transition. The rapid cultural changes occurring in our society calls for a review of the organizational structure of our church to better address and position our congregations to be more relevant and purposeful in proclamation the Gospel. Because of their unique position, CEEP congregations can be the petri dish where ideas are tested.

Anne Rudacille Schmidt is Director of Evangelism and Welcome Ministries at Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas. She also works as a Search Consultant with parishes and diocese in leadership transitions. Anne serves on the board of Forward Movement and was co-convener for the first Evangelism Matters conference held in Dallas in November 2016. Anne previously served on the CEEP planing committee for several years and served as co-chair for 2 years. She enjoys running, music and spending time with her husband and two grown children.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

I feel that CEEP is just building on what it has always done: equipping, connecting and diversifying . We’re taking the things we are good at as a community and pointing them toward building the church of tomorrow. This is an inspiring time and the collective gifts of CEEP will continue to strengthen ministries of individuals and of the whole church.

Wendy has served in church administration for over 20 years, currently at Christ Church Charlotte where she has served as Parish Administrator since 2007. Previously, she was a CPA with Ernst & Young. Wendy served on the 2012 Consortium Planning Committee (when the Consortium was hosted by Christ Church Charlotte), and has helped facilitate the Administrators’ Smart Start round-table discussions. A native Charlottean, she is a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. Go Tarheels!

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

The church’s future depends on the strength of its clergy and lay leaders to lead in times of change. The CEEP Network is building on the foundation built by its past leaders by providing a network of peers who can share their experiences and a physical and digital presence for exploring, sharing and learning.

My name is Anne Marie Richards and I am a lover of Jesus, a struggling disciple, and a priest of the church currently serving as the 15th, and first female, Rector of Emmanuel Church in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, a post I took up in May 2019. After graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2005, I served as Associate Rector at Trinity Church in Princeton, NJ where I was formed as a priest and blessed by mentors who included me in all aspects of parish leadership in a complex system. I was called as the 30th (also first female) rector of Trinity Church in Newport, RI in May 2010. During my nine years there we doubled the size of the congregation, regularly had children in worship for the first time in years, and brought the parish back from the brink of closing. Before I was ordained I worked in the non-profit theatre world, helped found a startup commercial ticketing company, and taught in an Episcopal day school, among other adventures. Way back in 1989 I made an excellent choice and married Brook Richards, and together we have hatched two fabulous young men, Malcolm (b. 1993) and Max (b. 1995).

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

Leslie C. Smith, then Rector of Trinity Princeton, brought me to my first CEEP Conference in 2006, and I haven’t missed one since. For several years I served on the Conference Planning Committee, working with an amazing group of colleagues, and seeing more and more the benefits of both the annual gathering and the network of connections that continue to grow and develop through the years. I am an unabashed, though deeply imperfect, disciple of Jesus Christ, and I do believe that the Episcopal Church has great gifts to offer a broken and hurting world. I’m delighted to join the board as we work to provide opportunities to ponder together how we might best preach the ancient truth of the Gospel in a language that 21st Century ears can hear.

As Director of Alumni and Church Relations at Virginia Theological Seminary, Shelagh has the delight and privilege of working with the 3,200+ alumni of VTS. She previously served for over 15 years at the College of Preachers and Washington National Cathedral, working in fundraising, communications, public events, and strategic program development. She oversaw the programmatic life and operations of the College’s residential preaching programs and other educational programs in theology, spirituality, and Christian formation. Before joining the Cathedral, she was on staff at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She served on the Governing Board of the Washington Theological Consortium for several years including two years as Board Chair.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

I’ve been a huge advocate and supporter of CEEP since my first conference back in 2008, the blizzard year in St. Louis. Serving on the Program Committee this year has only deepened my appreciation for the positive impact the annual conference has for participants and the parishes they serve. CEEP members are committed to a healthy and vibrant future for the Church and bring great gifts to the journey. I’m honored to join the board as CEEP continues to be a significant resource of programmatic excellence and networking opportunities.

George M. Plews is a founding partner of the Indianapolis law firm of Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP where he practices in environmental, insurance coverage and other complex litigation.He received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School and an Honors B.A. and M.A. degree from Oxford University.Mr. Plews is Chancellor of both the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis and the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes.He is a multi-term Vestry member at Trinity Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, a two-time Senior Warden there, the founding President of the St. Richard’s School Foundation, and has held numerous other church leadership roles.Among many other civic leadership positions, he is a Trustee of the National Public Radio Foundation, President of the WFYI (Indianapolis public media) Foundation and the boy’s 7^th-8^th grade basketball coach at St. Richard’s School (20 years).

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

It has been my honor to serve as the Chancellor of CEEP since 1990, and as an occasional Board member as well. It has been a delight to watch CEEP grow into a dynamic force for positive change in the Episcopal Church. CEEP is a place where leaders from every corner of our Church meet, confer, and grow in a fertile, non-hierarchical, energizing fashion. It combines a way to learn best practices, launch new ministries and ideas, renew one’s spirit, and imagine the Church at its best.

Johnnie joined the Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, California in 1981.The parish that she attended was Christ the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. During her service there she participated in ECW, started a children’s choir and was on the Search Committee for a new rector.

She is a native of Indianapolis, graduate of Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, received a BA from Indiana University, an MS in Theoretical Mathematics at Atlanta University and a JD from the University of West LA.She retired from a 25year career with IBM as a Systems Engineer.Her career spanned development, local, regional, then branch management positions.She also was a technical instruction in the customer and new hire programs. She received 100 percent club awards and was selected to attend the IBM President’s class at Harvard University. Her career required relocation to Boca Raton, Florida; Endicott, New Yok; Lansing, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio; Bloomington, Indiana; Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles, California.

After retirement from IBM, she returned to Indianapolis, joined the family real estate.While involved in real estate she was involved in the national organization of Women’s Council of Realtors.She became Local Chapter President, Indiana State Chapter President and Indiana State Governor.She was a volunteer instructor for Indianapolis Neighborhood Partnership (INHP).

Community involvements has been Board of Director sof Girl Scouts in Lansing, Michigan, Board of Directors for Los Angeles Metropolitan YWCA and a math tutor in all locations.

She has been an active member of Christ Church Cathedral for 15 years. Her service has included EFM graduate, Stephen Ministries, Greeters Guild, Hats for the Indy Knitter, Cathedral Women Vice President and Assistant Treasurer, perpetual Strawberry Festival volunteer and organizer of the Cathedral Women’s Annual Luncheon . She is currently on the Cathedral Vestry and is Senior Warden. Her Diocesan participation is as a member of the Way Cross Board of Directors and a member of the Diocese Standing Committee.

Her interests and hobbies include travel, reading, entertaining, knitting, sewing and spoiling great nieces and nephews.

Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church

Today as always, the church is experiencing many kinds of changes that affect its traditions, membership and leadership.In order to help strengthen our leaders, my first step would be to listen and try to understand the changes and their impact on the mission of the church.Once I have that understanding, I would seek to encourage the leaders to prayerfully take an open and creative approach to a solution to what is different.In all situations, I would recommend that the leaders invite the Holy Spirit into their concerns.Then I would insure that my support is always available to help them to withstand the forces and pressures that they are experiencing.

COMING SOON

Doyt L. Conn, Jr. began as the 10^th Rector of Epiphany Parish November 2008. “My calling,” Doyt says, “is primarily to gather people and expose them to the transforming power of an awesome, loving, inclusive God. Christianity is a lifestyle, it a practice, it is an spiritual exercise. The Epiphany is a gym for the human spirit where we work out through worship, prayer, fasting, tithing, sabbath, pilgrimage and living in the rhythms of the Christian calendar to become our most God-given authentic self, with the hope of being love spreading difference makers in the world.”

Over the past ten years Epiphany parish has grown 350%. Doyt is fond of saying evolution happens where land and water meet, and that certainly describes Seattle. Epiphany, under his leadership, is certainly changing to meet the changing spiritual landscape of 21^st century America. Teaching is Doyt’s passion, and he focuses much of this on Jesus, and teaching people to live there lives as Jesus would if he had the context of their body, and mind, and life… right now, in this city, at this time.

Doyt came to Epiphany from All Saints’ Beverly Hills, where he served as Associate Rector with primary responsibility for Pastoral Care. Doyt graduated with his Masters of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2003. He discerned his vocation as a priest in the Diocese of Ohio, where he was sponsored for ordination by St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights.

After receiving his Bachelors of Science from the School of Speech at Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois in 1989, Doyt worked as a Project Director for the international relief organization AmeriCares. In 1992 he joined the Hawk Group of Companies in Cleveland, Ohio where he worked as a Director of Corporate Strategy and part of the mergers and acquisition team. In 1997 Doyt received his Masters of Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University. While in Cleveland Doyt also worked as a General Manager for Cleveland Steel Container.

Doyt and his wife Kristin met while at Northwestern in 1985. They were married in Cleveland in 1994. Kristin is a family physician and practices medicine with Kaiser Permanente in Seattle. Doyt and Kristin have two children, Margaret (1999) and Desmond (2004), and he lives next door to his older sister Valerie. Doyt enjoys running with his dog Minnie (a fabulous newphypoo), playing tennis, taking walk with Kristin, and traveling.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

I have been a parish priest since 2006 and attended my first CEEP conference in 2010. CEEP has been by far the most abundant source of peer learning and creativity in my ministry. The Church is changing, but in many ways “successful” ministry remains the same: proclaim the Good News, strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, restore the penitent. CEEP is the best source of creative ways to do our traditional ministry well. It is an honor to serve on the board at this exciting time as we acutely focus on strengthening leaders for a changing church.

Miles Lackey is a member of Trinity Church Wall Street. He joined the staff of Trinity in 2016 after more than two decades of public service in senior government positions in Washington, DC, including Chief of Staff to two United States Senators; Staff Director of a Congressional Committee; and Special Assistant to the President of the United States in the Clinton White House. He is currently a consultant for Trinity. He is a 1986 graduate of Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of International Relations.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

The consortium is an extraordinary resource for the whole church, especially in the essential mission of gathering and communicating best practices. The leadership of the Board plays an important part in advancing the Consortium's mission, and I look forward to the opportunity to serve.

COMING SOON

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

All over the world, the shape and structure of Christianity is changing. In North America, Sunday morning worship is shrinking and innovative ministries are on the rise. It is clear that technology is changing the way we write, speak and think and that means we will be worshipping in new ways and praying in new ways. I believe that CEEP is one of the incubators where great practitioners of the faith can gather and brainstorm. We need flexible, wise, creative leadership in order to take the Episcopal Church into the future.

The Rev. Michael R. Sullivan became Kanuga’s 10th president in November 2016. A native of Seneca, South Carolina, Michael holds a Master of Divinity from The University of the South–Sewanee, Tennessee; a Juris Doctor cum laude from the University of South Carolina–Columbia, South Carolina; and a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, Wofford College–Spartanburg, South Carolina (Phi Beta Kappa). Michael is the author of two books and numerous articles. Windows into the Soul and Windows into the Light, both published by Morehouse explore the place of art in spirituality. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, fitness, hiking and writing.

Commitment to ’Strengthening Leaders for a Changing Church through Connecting, Equipping and Diversifying':

It’s an exciting time to be a part of CEEP’s board, building on our amazing past to bridge toward a new day of leadership in TEC. I am honored to work with incredible people, both at the board level and through the parishes that make CEEP what it is – the best network of people for strengthening our future mission.