Episcopal Relief & Development Welcomes Five New Members to its Board of Directors

January 5, 2012

Episcopal Relief & Development is pleased to welcome five new members to its Board of Directors. The Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson (Louisiana), Meredith A. Brown (Long Island), Lindsay Coates (Washington) and Judith Morrison (Washington) begin their terms effective January 1, 2012. The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls (Ex Officio) began his Board term in September 2011, upon the retirement of the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Episcopal Church, Linda Watt.

“I am very pleased to welcome our new board members,” said the Rt. Rev. Robert J. O’Neill, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and Chair of the Board of Episcopal Relief & Development. “They bring a variety of new perspectives and invaluable experience, which I believe will help shape Episcopal Relief & Development’s strategic goals and key initiatives as we move forward into the next triennium.”

The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls is the COO of the Episcopal Church. His first career was in law, but he later attended and graduated from General Theological Seminary in New York and was ordained in 1989. He served three parishes in Georgia before being elected the Sixth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington in 2000. Bishop Sauls is a past member of the Episcopal Church Executive Council and currently serves on a number of committees including the Standing Commission on World Mission and the Budgetary Funding Task Force.

The Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson is the Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. Since receiving his MDiv from Nashotah House Seminary, Wisconsin, in 2000, Stevenson has served two parishes – one in New Orleans and one in Florida. After Hurricane Katrina in 2006, Stevenson worked closely with the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and other groups to establish effective relief ministries. He was instrumental in the creation of the organization that is now Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana.

Meredith A. Brown is a PhD candidate in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, where she has also been a Visiting Lecturer and Associate Scholar. She has experience in strategic planning and media relations, having worked as a consultant for art museums and cultural institutions across the United States. Brown is also engaged with next generation philanthropy and has been involved in youth and young adult leadership in the Episcopal Church at the local, national and international levels.

Lindsay Coates is the Executive Vice President of InterAction, a Washington-based coalition of 192 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). She has led the coalition’s work on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and she heads the Policy and Communications Team. Prior to her NGO work, Coates practiced civil rights law in various capacities. She earned her JD at the University of Mississippi School of Law after receiving her BA in Political Science with a focus on International Relations from Sewanee, the University of the South.

Judith Morrison is the Senior Advisor for the Gender and Diversity Unit at Inter-American Development Bank. Previously she had been a Regional Director at the Inter-American Foundation and Executive Director of the Inter-Agency Consultation on Race on Latin America (IAC). Morrison is a frequent presenter at international conferences and has published a number of articles and book chapters on equity and development. She holds an MCP degree in poverty alleviation and income distribution from MIT.

The four newly-elected Board members are invited to serve three-year terms, which may be renewed once.

“It will be a privilege to work with such a talented and diverse group of new board members,” said Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. “My excitement about the future is tempered with gratitude to our departing members, Steven Duff and Jill Oettinger, both of whom have made important contributions to the organization and those we seek to serve.”

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating under the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Relief & Development is presently governed by a 21-member Board of Directors that includes clergy and lay leaders from around the country. The Honorary Chair of the Board is the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, and the Chair of the Board is the Rt. Rev. Robert J. O’Neill, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado. Members of the Board are nominated by the Presiding Bishop and the Chair of the Board of Episcopal Relief & Development, with assistance from the Board’s Governance Committee. New members are then elected by the Board, and this decision is ratified by the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.

For more information about the Board of Directors, please visit https://www.episcopalrelief.org/who-we-are/board-and-staff/board-of-directors/biographies.

Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church and an independent 501(c)(3) organization. The agency takes its mandate from Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25. Its programs work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Episcopal Relief & Development works closely with the worldwide Church and ecumenical partners to help rebuild after disasters and to empower local communities to find lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.