Hope Springs Institute is led by a board of directors who come from very diverse backgrounds. Along with their particular expertise, skills, interests and accomplishments, they bring to the board a commitment to and passion for the Hope Springs vision and mission.
Alexandra Merrill
Alexandra has served as President of the Hope Springs Board during major transitional years and finds the work both challenging and satisfying. At the end of her first year she feels increasingly sure that this Institute must and will survive the current transition.
The Board is strong and committed. The purpose is focused and clarified. The board has developed a collaborative model of management, embodying principles of interdependence, power equity, clear financial accountability and honest relational stability. It is an honest working board collaborating with an extraordinary Executive Director, Suzanne Stevens.In this coming year the board will build a development plan, a long- term strategic plan and the beginning of long-term programming. The programming is already excellent and we will strengthen it.
Alexandra brings to the board what she has learned in her 40-year career as a teacher, consultant and small business owner. She hopes her contribution to making the dream of sustainability for Hope Springs- encourages you to come towards this Institute in many ways. Small, eco-friendly and focused on social justice!
Rita Andrews
Rita joined the board because of her belief in the Hope Springs vision—“from this place springs the hope for inner and global peace.” She especially appreciates the strong focus at Hope Springs on issues of social justice. She brings to the board her thirty years experience as an organization development consultant working with corporate, government, non-profit and community organizations.
She also believes her skill in leadership training will serve the board and Hope Springs well. And, as an African American woman, Rita intends to keep the issues/concerns of people of color at the forefront of her work at Hope Springs. As Vice President and incoming President, Rita currently chairs the Program and Information Technology Committees of the Hope Springs Board.
Maura Melley
Maura comes to Hope Springs with a background in business, non-profits, and community and political action. A lawyer who runs her public affairs consulting firm from the coast of Maine, Maura's expertise has been in the field of lobbying and issue management in Washington and the states. She has been a state-wide public official, president of a community leadership organization, chair of a college board of trustees and a chair of a community foundation.
She joined Hope Springs board because she is deeply committed to the
mission of the organization and to seeing that the work
of its founders is continued for many years. Now, more than ever,
she believes we need more people to get access to programs
that are catalytic in helping us live powerfully and peacefully on
the individual, community and global levels.
Laura Cole
A 23 year resident of Adams County, Laura has a lifetime commitment to healing, conservation, and sustainable living. She has lived out west (in Texas, Arizona and California) and came to Ohio in 1985 to work with a burgeoning local company.
She currently works as a midwife and occupational therapist in Adams County. She has devoted her career to establishing and supporting organizations like Hope Springs that benefit individuals and the planet. She serves as the International County Coordinator through 4-H international which supports young people in their desire to learn to live peacefully in the world. Laura and her family hosted many youths from around the world over the years. She spearheaded an exchange program between Costa Rica and Ohio for four years, established a regional wheel-chair basketball group, and headed the food
Co-op in Adams County, Ohio.
Laura organized the yoga community of Hope Springs and volunteers in the kitchen and gardens of Hope Springs. She has been on the Board of Directors of Hope Springs since 2000 and currently serves as secretary and chairs the Volunteer and Green committees.
Celeste Kruger
Celeste Krueger, Ed.S. is President of Celeste Krueger & Associates, Inc., a leadership development and executive coaching firm dedicated to helping people name their purpose and deliver it with passion. For more than twenty years Celeste has focused on community building and inspiring people to live full-capacity lives. She creates forums and opportunities for visionary thinking, conducts in-depth research about critical issues, develops brain trusts, and fosters the creation of environments in which the skills of ethical decision-making are practiced. Her work has taken her from corporate and non-profit boardrooms to executive wilderness adventures, inner cities, educational institutions, and faith communities. Her clients range from large Fortune 100 companies to small, family owned businesses across many industries. She has consulted with a number of non-profit organizations whose primary missions relate to social justice and/or providing services to overlooked and marginalizes populations.
Her degrees include a Master’s Specialist degree in Counselor Education from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Humanities with a minor in Women’s Studies from Florida State University. When she isn’t engaged in the activities outlined above, you will likely find her gardening, walking in the woods, or, in a coffee shop with her writing pad and a stack of books. She is a writer in the lineage of Natalie Goldberg.
Jana Freiberger
Jana has been involved with Hope Springs since the beginning – when it was Suzanne’s dream. She volunteered as a consultant for the Board of Directors for several years, then joined the board about 6 years ago. She lives in Longview, Washington with her partner, Dennis Morgan, and her teenaged daughter, Erin. Her 28 year work career has ranged from chemical engineering to organization development consulting, from managing the environmental department in a pulp mill to leading work system improvement in a manufacturing organization. She loves working with groups of people to accomplish goals that are important to them.
As a committed member of the board she says “Hope Springs feeds me and feeds my spirit. When I spend time at Hope Springs I return to myself. I can hear the quiet, deep voice within me there. In today’s world, I desperately need a place that helps me stay present and gives me hope and courage to face our realities. I feel held and supported in the meadow, in the Spirit House, and sitting in circle with groups.”
Elizabeth Banwell
Elizabeth Banwell is the Director of External Affairs for the Maine Association of Non profits, a statewide organization committed to strengthening the capacity of Maine’s nonprofit sector. Prior to that, Elizabeth ran her own organization consulting business, working extensively with the leaders of non profits and foundations locally, nationally and internationally. Her clients ranged from the Aspen Institute Nonprofit and Philanthropy Program, the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, a variety of private and community foundations, to grassroots nonprofit organizations. Before starting her own business, Elizabeth worked at the Maine Community Foundation, Outward Bound, and as a journalist. She has a master's degree in organization development from American University, and is a graduate of Colby College.
"I believe in the importance and power of retreat centers to help people and groups connect to themselves, each other and the land. Hope Springs provides a restorative place where healing and growth are fostered - through programs, buildings, natural setting, and delicious and healthy food. I am fed by the place, people and organization as a whole."
Za McDonnell
Za was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a psychotherapist by training, a mother and grandmother by life’s design. Za has a BA in sociology and a Clinical Master’s degree in Social Work. She has postgraduate certification in family therapy, neurotherapy, EMDR, and yoga psychology. Za has lived in Washington DC for 15 years and currently has a private practice. She works with clients in Washington, some of whom help run this country and others who have no voice and little power. She lives with and witnesses the effects of the polarities that live in each of us and in this country. Za brings strength in class diversity to the Hope Springs Board.
Gwen Hatley Whiting
Gwen comes to the board with her experience as a member, then board president of a boy's home in Chicago. She is currently engaged in finding ways into "this mid point" in her life through relationships with her partner, children, and friends; through work as an educator of nursing students and through voracious reading and participation in book clubs and a writing group. She speaks her mind politically, socially and in community through grassroots peace and justice movements. She is working to establish a US cabinet level department to advance the work of peace in the world.
For Gwen it is important that she is known as a mother, daughter, sister, friend, writer, story teller, perpetual student, active community member--seldom less than, hopefully more than the sum of these parts.