The Society is lead by the SNS Council in terms of major strategic direction. Members are those who have shown a history of commitment and contribution of their time and energies to the mission of the Society. The Council attends a planning meeting once per month over video conference, and works in between in many leadership roles. All volunteers are welcome to attend these planning meetings as well. Contact us if you are interested.
Leigh Anderson (Administration Director) is recently retired after working 30 years in the aerospace industry, with degrees in computer programming and Cultural Anthropology. A well traveled native Texan, she lives there now near much of her extended family. Her interests include comparative religion, though she prefers not to label her beliefs specifically. She instead blends parts of different traditions and religions to craft her own individual spiritual outlook. Leigh volunteers at a local State Park and enjoys family outings, kayaking, hiking, photography and numerous outdoor activities. The Administration Director is responsible for communications, logistics, volunteer management, scheduling, and other administrative functions. Leigh is also a former Council member.
Lindsey Halpern-Givens (Administration Assistant) has a professional and personal interest in understanding and caring for the human spirit. For over two decades she has worked as a hospital chaplain, a licensed counselor, and a parish minister. A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University with an M.A in Counseling Arts, as well as an M.Div. from Meadville/Lombard Theological School (Unitarian Universalist) and a D.Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary (United Church of Christ). Lindsey is a lifelong animal lover. She and her husband Bob currently live with 2 dogs and 2 cats and have four grown children.
Gregory Gronbacher (Executive Director, writer) earned his B.A. in philosophy and theology at Franciscan University, his masters in philosophy (M.Phil.) at the International Academy of Philosophy, and did his doctoral work in philosophy (Ph.D.) at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College, Dublin. Gregory’s academic and spiritual interests focus on developing spiritual naturalism into it’s own system of theory and practice. Gregory is also curator of the Christian Naturalism and Humanistic Judaism traditions pages on the SNS website.
Rick Heller (Meditation Group Instructor, Council Member) is author of Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy – A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard. Rick has led meditations at the Humanist Hub since 2009. His writing has appeared in Buddhadharma, Free Inquiry, UUWorld, Tikkun, the Boston Globe, and more. He received a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT.
James Jarrett (Council Member) is a Native Texan and still lives in the DFW area with his partner, Katie. They have 6 children. A licensed attorney and former church planter, James is endorsed by The Humanist Society as a Chaplain and Celebrant supporting people full-time in Hospice care. From backyard bird watching to many canoe trips through the wild and scenic wilderness of the lower canyons of the Rio Grande, James loves the outdoors, most especially the Big Bend country of far West Texas. He finds inspiration from observing the natural processes of life, love, and death as well as inhabiting the wisdom of desert space. James’ account of his spiritual journey was his first article as a guest contributor to SNS (article link here). He also occasionally posts poetry, articles, and random thoughts on his blog Becoming Human. James has found Spiritual Naturalism to be an integrative space for practicing adaptive subjectivity in relationship with reality.
Kyle Kampa (Newsletter Editor) is a meditator and spiritual-seeker living in Houston, Texas. His first exposure to Buddhist thought was through Tsai Chih Chung’s cartoon adaptations of Zen sutras, which his father would bring home from his visits to Taiwan. Kyle has found meditation and the philosophy of Spiritual Naturalism to be a profound help in navigating life’s ups and downs.
Steve Karafit (Partner Site Liaison) grew up in rural Ohio where he fell in love with the wild places on the family farm. He received an A.S. in Recreation and Wildlife from Hocking College, a B.S. in Field Biology from Ohio University, and an M.S. in Systematics and Evolution from the University of Alberta. His graduate work focused on Cretaceous age fossils, and he has co-authored several scientific papers on new species of fossil plants. He enjoys hiking with his wife and son, cooking, and playing guitar. For the last several years he has been studying and practicing Stoic philosophy. Steve hosts the Sunday Stoic Podcast, where he discusses modern applications of this ancient philosophy. In his free time, Steve is a Biology Lecturer at the University of Central Arkansas.
Michelle L. LeBlanc (Community Facilitator) has been happily married to her husband/best friend (Roger) since 1999. She is a stay-at-home mom of 3 young boys. Her main hobby is gardening (flowers). Her background involves being a spirit-filled, born-again Christian for 33+ years (up until January 2011). She was a worship leader, soloist, and church leader for many of those years. Today Michelle considers herself a Spiritual Agnostic Humanist. Michelle has always had a great desire to inspire people towards finding truth, meaning, and purpose in this life, and says she is very proud to be a part of the Spiritual Naturalist Society.
Thomas Schenk Thomas Schenk (current Council member) is on the Board of Directors, serves as Editing Director, and has contributed more than 80 articles. As a teenager more than 50 years ago, he began a quest to realize a deep spirituality free of supernaturalism. Towards that end, he explored world religions and in particular Zen Buddhism and at university received a B.A. in Anthropology, with a focus on the religions of earlier cultures. (He also has a M.B.A.) In SNS he finds an organization with people who share a goal similar to the one that inspired him as a youth. He spent much of his career as a research administrator, most recently at the University of Minnesota, and is now retired.
Daniel Lev Shkolnik (writer) is a Humanist speaker and community organizer. He hosts Re-Enchantment, a podcast that explores various ways of finding wonder in a secular age and promotes Humanistic and naturalistic interpretations of spirituality. He holds a degree in sociology from Yale University and lives in New Orleans.
Tony Schlisser (I.T. Director) has roots in the Appalachian foothills of Tennessee. He has taken a winding path to live in Louisville Kentucky with his large and extended family as a philosopher and spiritual vagrant. A lifelong lover of learning, over the years Tony’s formal studies at various colleges have included majors in Bible, Christian education, English literature and philosophy, and human services. Having started as a fundamentalist Christian, Tony has followed a peripatetic path through paganism, studying enlightenment meditation, and atheism/agnosticism/ignosticism with peeks into Taoism, Buddhism, Queer/Gay Spirituality, Deep Ecology, and other spiritual paths. He is currently piecing together his own brand of spiritual naturalism that he has termed Sagaianism (a portmanteau word that derives from sage, saga, Sagan, and Gaia). Tony is a self-taught web developer who has helped several non-profit groups and businesses develop their web presence. The IT Director oversees all matters relating to the SNS website, databases, and online functions.
Eric Steinhart (Writer) grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. He received his BS in Computer Science from the Pennsylvania State University, after which he worked as a software designer. Many of his algorithms have been patented. He earned an MA in Philosophy from Boston College and was awarded a PhD in Philosophy from SUNY at Stony Brook. He has taught at Dartmouth College and William Paterson University. His books have concerned Nietzsche, the logic of metaphor, mathematics, and life after death. He has published several dozen academic articles. He has been interested in using new computational concepts to solve old philosophical problems. He is especially interested in new and emerging religions. He loves New England and the American West, and enjoys all types of hiking and biking, chess, and photography.
DT Strain (Founder, Council Member) is a Humanist minister, speaker, and writer on the topics of ethics, spirituality, and ancient philosophy. Rev. Strain is founder of the Spiritual Naturalist Society and serves on the SNS Council. He leads meditations and speaks on occasion at Jade Buddha Temple and for the V.A. Hospital meditation program. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Stoic Registry. His Humanist Contemplative group and blog inspired a similar mindfulness group at Harvard University. He is former president of the Humanists of Houston and has served in the Chapter Assembly of the American Humanist Association. He has written for the Houston Chronicle Belief page online and his work has appeared nationally in other magazines, on Houston PBS television, and the journal “Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism“. DT Strain has studied the intersection of Eastern and Western ancient philosophy for over ten years, with a specialty on the overlap of concepts between some varieties of Buddhism and Stoicism.
Emeritus Council Members & Staff
Aron Gamman (former Membership Director and Council Member) is a deeply curious nature lover, husband and parent to two wonderful boys. He is also a sometimes writer, drummer, guitar player and poet (when the muse strikes him) with deep cultural roots in Judaism. He has explored the philosophies of many traditions including Buddhism, neopaganism, etc. to spiritual naturalism he embraces, today. He graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science focusing on environmental issues and recently received a Paralegal Certificate from Columbus State Community College. The Membership Director is responsible for cultivating a healthy, thriving, community within the membership. This includes promoting member inter-communications, activities and events, welcoming new members, the newsletter, and other ideas for encouraging a satisfying social, intellectual, and spiritual experience for members.
B.T. Newberg (Former Education Director and Council Member) is an author, editor, teacher, and husband. Since 2000, he has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective. Upon leaving the Lutheranism of his raising, he experimented with Agnosticism, Buddhism, Contemporary Paganism, and Humanism. He now blends all these experiences into his life as a Spiritual Naturalist. After founding the community blog HumanisticPaganism, he currently writes the column Naturalistic Traditions at Patheos and contributes writing and course design to the Spiritual Naturalist Society. Professionally, he holds a master’s degree in education and teaches English as a Second Language. Having lived in England, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea, B. T. Newberg currently resides in the place of his birth, Minnesota, with his wife and cat. As Education Director of the SNS, he is responsible for the Society’s educational programs, such as course design and collection of supporting materials in both the archives and courses. This also includes helping to select and manage mentors.
Jay N. Forrest (Former Education Director and Council Member) is a Spiritual Naturalist and a Humanist Meditation Teacher. Jay is a Council Member of the Spiritual Naturalist Society, as well as being an ordained Humanist Celebrant and a member of the American Humanist Association. Jay is a Certified Meditation Teacher, having been trained in both Zen and Vipassana meditation practices. Jay has taken courses in Buddhism from Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Virginia. He is also on Staff at the Secular Buddhist Association. Jay did his undergraduate work at Central Bible College and Berean University, and received his Doctorate of Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Christian University. Jay is the author of a number of books including Practical Buddhism: Wisdom for Everyday Life and Secular Buddhism: An Introduction.
Many other volunteers serve in various important capacities within the Society at times, for which we are grateful. If you would like to become a volunteer, please see this page and contact us!
In addition to our writing staff and our Advisory Board, our present and past volunteers include:
Murtadha Ahmed
Aminata Mansaray
Julie Strain
Darren Bell
Jeremy Mattocks
John Klemesrud
Jean Schlisser
Nicholas Johnson
Jacob Pewitt