The Board of Directors meets once a month and works closely with the teachers. The Board welcomes items for discussion from the community members.
Board meetings are open and are generally held the last Wednesday of the month. For more information, please contact Jude at jude@stonecreekzen.org.
BOARD MEMBERS
Naomi Fuchs, Board Chair
Richard Pierce, Treasurer
Ginny Matthews, Board Member
John Mack, Board Member
Rob Myers, Board Member
Heather Smith, Board Member
Steve Isaacson, Building and Grounds
Jude Kreissman, Membership and Sangha Affairs
Naomi Fuchs, Board Chair
Naomi served for 40 years as a non-profit executive leader for local health care organizations. Mostly recently, she served as the CEO of Santa Rosa Community Health for 22 years. She has been practicing meditation (off and on) since she was about 13 years old and has studied various forms of spirituality including Tibetan Buddhism, Soto Zen, and Judaism. Her spiritual practice is a core to her life purpose and living in the world with a little bit of equanimity as well as her commitment to social justice and the wellbeing of all people. She sees being on the board as way to connect more deeply with people and the practice and, hopefully, to be of service to SCZC.
Richard Pierce, Treasurer
Richard began practicing with Stone Creek around 2006 and shortly thereafter became a member as well. As a member, Richard has been enriched by the experience of practicing the dharma and engaging with the sangha, teachers, and like minded way-seekers, including taking on the precepts in 2008. He served as the Secretary, and President of the Board in the past, and was one of a few key participants in the purchase of the building in 2016. He has also been a co-coordinator / coordinator for our annual Zen Fest for several years, and will continue to be active in fund raising activities. Buddhism has been an inspiration for him—to explore art in general, and specifically calligraphy / kanji and its connection to Japanese language and culture. He is gratified and humbled to be serving on the Board once again, as Treasurer for Stone Creek Zen Center.
Ginny Matthews, Board Member
Ginny finds her life’s support in the three pillars of family, spiritual practice, and her work as a dancer/choreographer and teacher. She was a student of Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi for 40 years taking ordination in 2000 and supporting Myoko Ni Sorin, a women’s practice center, co-founding Dharma Heart Center and leading women’s retreats at various centers in the USA and Canada. Concurrently she has had a 50 year career as a professional dancer/choreographer/teacher and is the director of Downtown Dance/Art Space in Sebastopol. She is a graduate of the Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy program and continues to serve her extended Buddhist sangha as well as her local community. Her marriage of 52 years, 3 adult sons, and 3 grandchildren provide a rich and deep family life.
John Mack, Board Member
John’s Buddhist practice began in earnest in 2016 although his practice has roots in his earlier practice of contemplative prayer and the study of the writings of Thomas Merton on Zen and of the Catholic mystics like Meister Eckart. John began attending Stone Creek in the summer of 2019 and has been practicing with Jisho Warner since the fall of 2020 and was ordained by Jisho in November 2025. Professionally, John is botanist and ecologist. He has worked on executive teams for several organizations. He currently works for the County of Sonoma as Manager of the Natural Resources Division at the Permit and Resource Management Department. John has a Bachelor’s in Philosophy degree, Master’s Degrees in Environmental Science and Ecology, and a law degree. He lives in southwest Santa Rosa with his daughter Rachel.
Rob Myers, Board Member
Rob first encountered the Buddhadharma in the mid-80s in college, and has been studying and practicing at Stone Creek in its many manifestations since 2003.
Heather Smith, Board Member
Heather began Buddhist practice at the San Francisco Zen Center in the early 1990’s and was ordained in 2000 by Maylie Scott Roshi with the Arcata Zen Group. She holds an MA in English from Humboldt State University and an MFA in Fiction from Antioch University Los Angeles. Over the years she has participated in and facilitated wisdom circles rooted in contemplative inquiry and community practice. A writer currently working on a memoir, she brings a long commitment to clarity, compassion, and peace and social justice activism to her Zen life. She joined Stone Creek in 2018 and is grateful to serve the sangha and support its shared life of practice.
Steve Isaacson, Buildings and Grounds
Steve became interested in Zen Meditation and philosophy in the late 1980s, studying at the San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. It became clear to him that Zen philosophy was the perfect fit for him. Now retired, Steve worked for many years in the Bay Area as a Professional Engineer specializing in construction management. He also, with a long time friend, started and ran a wholesale plant nursery in the Sebastopol area. After settling in Sonoma County he began looking for a home for his Zen Practice. Three years ago he connected with Stone Creek Zen Center and found that home and a year ago he was elected to the board. In addition to Stone Creek, Steve devotes his time to his family, several non-profits in the arts and in sustainable engineering projects in the third world as well as caring for the land he lives on and his two golden retrievers.”
Jude Kreissman, Membership and Sangha Affairs
cornerstone of her life. Stone Creek has been her spiritual refuge for nearly 20 years. Jude loved working in education for 45 years, and loves retirement even more. Having time to be with family and friends, be outside, read, dance and travel are deeply restorative pleasures. It’s a privilege and a delight to be on the Stone Creek
Board.