Since 2017, Inward Bound Mindfulness has been engaged in shifting our organizational structure, moving away from a typical hierarchical, top-down power structure which ultimately ends with the Executive Director being the primary decision-maker, and managers making decisions and having their reporting staff carry out those decisions. Inward Bound has instead shifted to a Collaborative Leadership System with shared decision-making, meaning that staff distributes decisions based on each person’s roles and responsibilities, willingness, and resources. This collaborative decision making also extends to a network of committees and the Board, that work with the staff to set strategies and make decisions. This process is supported by robust systems of feedback, resource, and information flows, which also extends out to include retreat staff and volunteers.
Staff Leadership
Nikki Cistac Programs & Community Engagement
Nikki comes to Inward Bound with a decade’s experience in various education and people-centered roles. As a Director at Teach For America, Nikki innovated recruitment practices, created a curriculum as a member of the DEI council, and worked on the people team to create a more welcoming environment for all. As an employee of the New York City Department of Education, Nikki hosted regular DEI sessions regarding recruitment practices for high schools and supported recruiting BIPOC teachers. Upon hiring, she facilitated growth and development sessions, emphasizing mental wellness and CRE practices in her work for the New York City Teaching Fellows and New York City Men Teach programs. Nikki was a Competency Collaborative (formerly Mastery Collaborative) Mentor Teacher for teachers across New York City. As a mentor, she guided teachers in creating supportive classroom environments grounded in mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and culturally responsive texts/activities. After receiving her yoga certification in 2018, she created and taught yoga & mindfulness courses for high school students & implemented a morning/afternoon course for staff in the building. These courses evolved into mindfulness tools/exercises shared with teachers throughout NYC as part of her work with Competency Collaborative. Outside work, Nikki enjoys dancing in the rain, spending gentle days at the beach, annual time in France, and traveling with her husband.
Jennifer Heitel Operations & Finance
Jen feels grateful to have been involved with Inward Bound since 2015, serving as a retreat manager, mentor, and Health Coordinator for Northeast and online retreats. Jen is a passionate public health leader with 18 years experience in policy, advocacy, and project management in the non-profit sector and academia. She has spent her career focused on sexual and reproductive health, justice, and rights and adolescent health and wellbeing. As an independent consultant, Jen is the Coordinating Consultant for the Future of Sex Education initiative and for the Sex Education Collaborative. Previously, Jen was Director of Special Projects in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Prior to that, Jen served as Director of Public Policy at SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change and State Policy Coordinator at Advocates for Youth.Ms. Heitel holds an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with a certificate in Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and a BA in International Affairs and a concentration in International Women’s Studies from George Washington University. A resident of Harlem in New York City, Jen regularly volunteers at Community League of The Heights’ Food Pantry.
Frances Ku Brand, Marketing, & Content
For the last 10 years, Frances has dedicated her career to serving mission-based organizations ranging in social justice, wellness, and sustainability causes. Joining the Inward Bound Collaborative Leadership team in the Brand, Marketing, Content role further intensifies her passion to make the world not just a better place, but a more mindful and compassionate home for all. She holds Bachelors in Design and Business Management from Juniata College and a Certificate in Communication Design from Pacific Northwest College of Art, contributing her skills in graphic design, content marketing, and brand strategy to every workplace she enters. Outside of her professional world, Frances likes to spend her time with her husband/BFFL, Chris, and pup/BFFL, Barry, in both England and the States. She devotes her life also to being close to her family, learning about her heritage, cooking Chinese + Taiwanese food, practicing sustainable habits, growing tiny vegetable gardens, fostering animals, and, most recently, running for fun. Her 10-year plan includes building an Earthship with her own two hands and starting an animal sanctuary.
Dave Macek Development & Business Strategy
Since 2007, Dave has led dynamic organizations dedicated to personal and social transformation. His diverse experience has spanned retreat and spiritual centers, online action platforms, and various educational settings. In his most recent role, Dave was Executive Director of Ecochallenge.org, a digital nonprofit that activates sustainability solutions in schools, communities, and businesses. From middle schools to Fortune 100 companies, 4,500+ organizations in 139 countries have taken 2+ million actions through the Ecochallenge Platform. Prior to Ecochallenge.org, he worked with PassageWorks Institute, a leader in supporting school communities to become places of connection, compassion, equity, and excellence. PassageWorks’ professional learning programs include a suite of evidenced-based mindfulness programs designed specifically for faculty and staff working in ECE-12 settings. Dave holds a BS in Mathematics and Economics from Stonehill College and an MA in Environmental Leadership from Naropa University, an interdisciplinary, contemplative-based program. He is a “retired” yoga instructor and a meditation practitioner of 15+ years. Dave lives with his wife and daughter in the beautiful Chagrin Valley outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
Sarah Wrean Public & Custom Programs
Sarah is currently responsible for management of all program activities and logistics, and works with Tonya on program strategy and new program development. Sarah works with retreat centers, staff teams, and families to ensure retreats run smoothly and is grateful to be able to contribute to this work. Sarah truly believes that the best way to prepare humanity for the challenges ahead is to help teens discover compassion, inner wisdom, and authentic connection. Sarah has spent the past 15 years working in administration and fundraising for mission-driven nonprofits. Sarah received a BA and MA in Government and Comparative Politics from Connecticut College and then Northeastern University, and focused her studies on the intersection of politics and gender through a feminist lens. Sarah spent formative time as a teen in the White Mountains at an faith-based wilderness camp, which was the catalyst for being drawn to the work of Inward Bound a half decade ago.. When Sarah isn’t planning retreats, she can be found gardening, snuggling her three rescue dogs, hiking with her wife, and devouring all the live music she can!
Support Staff
Raquel Castro Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee
Raquel holds a BA in Spanish with a concentration in Education from Worcester State University and a Master’s in Urban Planning from Boston University. Her work has focused on Youth Development from an equity lens. In 2011, she received the Lewis Hines Award for professionals who work to enrich the future of America’s youth. Raquel joined the City of Worcester in the office of Community Health in 2014 where she trained over 100 staff on health equity and community organizing. In June of 2016, she started the Division of Youth Opportunities which is housed in the City of Worcester’s Department of Health and Human Services. The Division serves over 3,000 youth in the city of Worcester each year. Along with her experience in Youth Development and Urban Planning, Raquel has been a consultant on Anti-Racist Organizational Practices for over 10 years with a concentration in Leadership Development. In 2019, Raquel received the Healthy Equity Champion award for her work developing Child Friendly Cities. It’s Raquel’s hope that her experience coupled with her passion she can create youth-centered spaces that cultivate community leaders.
Khalila Gillett Mindfulness Teacher Training
Khalila Gillett is a mindfulness and yoga instructor with 20+ of personal practice. Introduced to yoga and meditation in her teen years, she has attended many multi-day silent meditation retreats, including two month-long retreats. Her background includes over a decade as a wilderness educator leading multi-day expeditions for a variety of educational organizations, as well as teaching interdisciplinary curriculum in formal classroom settings and beyond. She holds a B.A. in Adventure-based Environmental Education from Prescott College and over 500 hr Yoga Teacher Training hours. Khalila teaches meditation retreats for all ages through Inward Bound Mindfulness in both residential settings and remote wilderness environments. Her teaching is grounded in nature awareness and connection, mindfulness meditation as a means for insight, care, and well-being, and social justice praxis that recognizes our interdependence and collective need for freedom. Khalila currently serves among the core faculty for Inward Bound’s Mindfulness Teacher Training.
Shane Rasnak Digital Marketing & Consulting
Learn more about Shane Rasnak at his website.
Justin Wilson Clear Scope Design, Digital Solutions
Justin Wilson is Clear Scope Design’s Founder & Creative Director. His experience includes web design and architecture, branding and print design, Customer relationship management (CRM) consulting, UX/UI and user interface design. Justin holds a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University as well as a Web & Graphic Design Certificate from Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA).
Non Profit Capital Management Bookkeeping Team
Non Profit Capital Management is a reputable bookkeeping firm in Sterling, Massachusetts, which specializes in nonprofits.
Committees
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee
Guiding Teachers Committee
Systems Committee
Youth Advisory Committee
Board
Anthony Sartori Director, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee Board Representative
Anthony strives to bring people together. After earning a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maryland, Anthony led mindfulness programs at an outpatient clinic for youth with mental health challenges. He is a graduate of Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Program. In March of 2020, he launched Evolving Minds with a purpose: to connect. He’s raised over $20,000, developed impactful mental health programming for students, educators, and businesses, and has graduated over 400 alumni. He currently leads the development of mindfulness content for health care workers with Vitalize, a digital wellness platform, and sits on the Mental Health America Young Adult Leader Council.
Dave Macek Treasurer (Interim)
Since 2007, Dave has led dynamic organizations dedicated to personal and social transformation. His diverse experience has spanned retreat and spiritual centers, online action platforms, and various educational settings. In his most recent role, Dave was Executive Director of Ecochallenge.org, a digital nonprofit that activates sustainability solutions in schools, communities, and businesses. From middle schools to Fortune 100 companies, 4,500+ organizations in 139 countries have taken 2+ million actions through the Ecochallenge Platform.Prior to Ecochallenge.org, he worked with PassageWorks Institute, a leader in supporting school communities to become places of connection, compassion, equity, and excellence. PassageWorks’ professional learning programs include a suite of evidenced-based mindfulness programs designed specifically for faculty and staff working in ECE-12 settings. Dave holds a BS in Mathematics and Economics from Stonehill College and an MA in Environmental Leadership from Naropa University, an interdisciplinary, contemplative-based program. He is a “retired” yoga instructor and a meditation practitioner of 15+ years. Dave lives with his wife and daughter in the beautiful Chagrin Valley outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
Falcon Laina Director, Youth Advisory Committee Board Representative
I attended an Inward Bound retreat in 2018, and experienced such welcoming like I never had before in any place. Since then I have considered the Inward Bound community to be my spiritual family, and I’ll never miss a chance to give back to this community that has done so much for me. I am especially interested in relational mindfulness and the ways it can be employed to foster healthier learning environments, systems of leadership and societal infrastructure.
Jacqui Clay Board President, Systems Committee Board Representative
Board President, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee Member Photo: Path at Insight Meditation Center
Jennifer Heitel Secretary, Staff Board Representative
Jen feels grateful to have been involved with Inward Bound since 2015, serving as a retreat manager, mentor, and Health Coordinator for Northeast and online retreats. Jen is a passionate public health leader with 18 years experience in policy, advocacy, and project management in the non-profit sector and academia. She has spent her career focused on sexual and reproductive health, justice, and rights and adolescent health and wellbeing. As an independent consultant, Jen is the Coordinating Consultant for the Future of Sex Education initiative and for the Sex Education Collaborative. Previously, Jen was Director of Special Projects in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Prior to that, Jen served as Director of Public Policy at SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change and State Policy Coordinator at Advocates for Youth.Ms. Heitel holds an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with a certificate in Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and a BA in International Affairs and a concentration in International Women’s Studies from George Washington University. A resident of Harlem in New York City, Jen regularly volunteers at Community League of The Heights’ Food Pantry.
Mark Wax Director
Mark Wax is deeply grateful to be working with Inward Bound. Mark has been a sincere student of many meditative arts for the last 15 years. He has worked for Yoga International, The Himalayan Institute, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He recently completed his 500-hour yoga teacher certification through Spirit Rock’s Mindful Yoga and Meditation Training.
Advisors
Brian Galla
Brian Galla, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and research scientist at University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education and Learning Research and Development Center. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. from UCLA. Brian’s research combines laboratory and field research to better understand motivational factors that support academic achievement and mental health. He focuses in particular on the study of self-control. Known colloquially as willpower, self-control refers to the mental process of pursuing enduringly valued goals despite conflicting impulses. Brian also has a strong interest in mindfulness-based approaches to enhancing self-control and their potential to improve health and academic achievement.
Diana Winston
Diana Winston has been the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA Semel Institute’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (www.marc.ucla.edu) since 2006. She is the co-author (with Susan Smalley, Ph.D.) of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness, the author of Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens, and the CD, ‘Mindful Meditations’. She is one of the early teachers and developers of the Teen Retreats at Insight Meditation Society. She has also founded and developed UCLA’s Training in Mindfulness Facilitation, one of the leading mindfulness teacher training programs, and is the founder of the Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs curriculum). She has been teaching mindfulness nationally and internationally since 1993 and has brought mindful awareness into schools, hospitals, businesses, and nonprofits, as well as to leaders, educators, adolescents, and health professionals in the US and Asia. Her work has been mentioned in the New York Times, Newsweek, O Magazine, Women’s Health Magazine, CBS and ABC News, and the LA Times, among others. She has been called by the LA Times: ‘one of the nation’s leading mindfulness teachers.’ She is also a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and the mom of a first grader.
Gretchen N. Rohr
Gretchen N. Rohr’s first trainings in meditation were in 1994 while working alongside formerly imprisoned activists who developed techniques to liberate their minds from conditions of solitary confinement. These teachings in interdependent awakening supported her professional life restoring justice within communities in need of healing; they ultimately led to her appointment to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Judge Rohr has lectured extensively across the country on effective workforce and leadership development for incarcerated youth and adults, reconciliation and restorative practices for building safe communities, and trauma-informed police, correctional and judicial crisis responses. In her free time, she supports integration of contemplative practices while teaching at Georgetown University Law Center, hosting educational exchanges for local restorative justice practitioners and helping facilitate Insight Meditation Community of Washington’s People of Color (POC) and Insight on the Inside(incarcerated people’s) Sanghas. She participates in the Community Dharma Leadership training program and was one of 120 Buddhist leaders nationwide called to participate in the first Whitehouse Buddhist Leadership Conference in 2015. Since 2013, she has been leading IMCW’s creation of accessible spaces in D.C. where meditation practitioners can take refuge after exiting jail and prison and train to become the next generation of teachers. Her work, in partnership with organizers in the reentry community, has culminated in a meditation and reconciliation series integrated within DC neighborhoods experiencing a spike in gun violence. Justice in Balance is a free monthly event where community members share meditation and mindfulness practices to restore personal balance and open-hearted healing. Each forum is co-facilitated by a survivor of violent crime, of incarceration, or of other contacts with law enforcement.
JoAnna Hardy
JoAnna Hardy is an insight meditation (Vipassanā) practitioner and teacher; she is on faculty at the University of Southern California, a meditation trainer at Apple Fitness+, a founding member of the Meditation Coalition, a visiting retreat teacher at Insight Meditation Society, and a collaborator on many online meditation programs. She was born into a Catholic family and has early memories of being drawn toward contemplation, quietness and inner reflection. All the while externally rebelling and pushing up against societal norms that keep many oppressed, marginalized and excluded. Her inner turmoil led to causing external pain for herself and others. To help lessen her suffering she went on a search for some kind of peace. For years at a time she visited many different spiritual traditions, eventually finding her home in Buddhism and Vipassanā meditation. She teaches: silent meditation retreats, social justice based meditation classes and workshops, youth work, online courses, and works with private students. She coauthored Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents alongside Matthew Brensilver and Oren Jay Sofer. Her greatest passion is to teach meditation in communities that are dedicated to seeing the truth of how racism, gender inequality and oppression go hand in hand with the compassionate action teachings in Buddhism and related perspectives to social and racial justice. She is the grateful mother to CJ and Harris and happily married to Andre.
John Braman
John Braman was a U.S. Air Force Survival Instructor during the Viet Nam era, an experience that turned him into an anti-war activist. Since that turn of events, he’s been dedicated to youth leadership development, interfaith understanding, and developing the interior life. From 1979 to 1989 he was director of the department for experiential education at Albuquerque Academy, leading hundreds of wilderness solos for teens, while teaching tracking, ecology, and creative writing – for which he was awarded the Klingenstein Fellowship for excellence in teaching. Later, was appointed as the Heinz Fellow for Ethics at Polytechnic School in California. In 2003, as president of the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), he created Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI), a three-year sequence of learning with wilderness solos in northern New Mexico. He is past vice president of Thompson Island Outward Bound and past executive director of Upaya Zen Center, where he co-taught the famous 10-day wilderness quest. He also founded Global Leadership Forum of the United World College-USA, which incorporates yogic practices. He maintains all these commitments to social progress through Braman Group International, working with schools and colleges dedicated to making the world a more sane and safe place. John is a student of Henry Shukman of the Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University with a masters degree in educational administration from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Linda Lantieri
Linda Lantieri, MA has been in the field in education for over 40 years in a variety of capacities: classroom teacher, assistant principal, director of a middle school in East Harlem, and faculty member at Hunter College in New York City. She is a Fulbright Scholar and internationally known speaker in the areas of Social and Emotional Learning and Mindfulness in Education. Currently she serves as the Director of The Inner Resilience Program whose mission is to cultivate the inner lives of students, teachers and schools by integrating social and emotional learning with contemplative practice. Linda is one of the co-founders and presently a Senior Program Advisor for the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department of Columbia University, Teachers College. Linda is the author of numerous articles and book chapters and coauthor of Waging Peace in Our Schools (Beacon Press, 1996) editor of Schools with Spirit: Nurturing the Inner Lives of Children and Teachers (Beacon Press, 2001), and author of Building Emotional Intelligence: Practices to Cultivate Inner Resilience in Children (Sounds True, 2008, 2014).
Patricia Broderick
Patricia Broderick, PhD, is a Research Associate with the Prevention Research Center at Penn State University and former director of the Stress Reduction Center at West Chester University of PA. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from Villanova and a Ph.D. in School Psychology from Temple University. She is a licensed psychologist, certified school psychologist (K-12), certified school counselor (K-12). and certified teacher. She was trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) at UMASS Medical Center and has taught MBSR since 2003. Her developmental psychology textbook, The life span: Human development for helping professionals is now in its third edition. She is also the creator of Learning to BREATHE, a school-based mindfulness curriculum for adolescents. Visit her website at learning2breathe.org.
Philip Murphy
Philip Murphy is a founding principal of the Commonwealth Mindful Philanthropy Group, a philanthropic advisory firm that provides institutional advancement solutions for nonprofit organizations in the US and the UK, with an emphasis on serving organizations in the contemplative sector. Following a successful tenure as an independent music record label executive, Philip embarked on a career in the advancement field and has served in senior leadership positions at several research universities including the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directed the $500 million Campaign for Students fundraising initiative. Philip earned a degree in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins and also hold a professional designation in authentic leadership from the Authentic Leadership Center at Naropa University. He is certified as a mindfulness facilitator by the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Philip currently serves on the board of directors of the Insight Meditation Center of Pioneer Valley (Easthampton, MA) and the Hope House recovery home (Boston, MA), and is a former board member at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. He resides in western Massachusetts with his wife Anne, and their four rescue greyhounds.
Spring Washam
Spring Washam has practiced meditation in various traditions since 1997. She is a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center, located in Oakland, CA. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders program and is in teacher training with Jack Kornfield. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to inner city communities. She currently leads retreats and workshops throughout the US and teaches a weekly sitting group in Oakland, CA.
Tara Brach
Tara Brach, PhD, is a beloved dharma teacher and the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, and teaches Buddhist meditation at centers in the United States and Canada (such as Kripalu and Omega). A clinical psychologist and author of Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha. She has taught extensively on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing. Visit her website at tarabrach.com.
Tempel Smith
Tempel Smith has been practicing mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation since 1989. Tempel launched the West Coast teen retreat program and helped to launch the teen retreats in Virginia. He is a graduate of the teacher-training program at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California and regularly leads teen and young adult retreats in California and Virginia.
Vijay Sinha
Vijay Sinha holds an MBA in Business Strategy and Analysis and Organizational Development from Boston University Questrom School of Business and BS in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University, India. He is a strategy consultant with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, providing strategic advice and direction on Information Technology to customers based on their organization’s IT business strategy. Vijay is a strong believer in the power of meditation, as it helped him to become more self-aware and to advance in his own life. Realizing the benefits of meditation, Vijay got involved with Inward Bound to help them promote their mindfulness educational programs to help improve the lives of many other individuals. Vijay lives in Massachusetts with his wife and teenage daughter.
Willoughby Britton
Willoughby Britton holds a B.A. in Neuroscience and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Public Health at Brown Medical School and Research Director of the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative. She received sleep/EEG training at Harvard Medical School and was a Research Fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH) and Andrew Weil’s Program in Integrative Medicine. She spent several years in Asia studying meditative techniques and received her mindfulness instructor certification training at the Center for Mindfulness at the UMASS Medical School. With the aim of investigating the link between contemplative practices, brain function, sleep, attention and affective disturbances, she has conducted federally funded RCTs on the neurophysiological effects of MBCT in depression; and education-based mindfulness training in middle school and university students in comparison to music and dance.