Board of Directors

Rachel Boechler, Ph.D., Board Chair, currently serves as the Superintendent of Schools in the Fox Point-Bayside School District in the Milwaukee WI area.  Previous to this Rachel spent five years as the Chief Operating Officer at CPS Human Resource Services in Sacramento CA.  Her career in education spans twenty-five years and includes serving as the Chairperson of the Teacher Education Program and Education Leadership Program at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee WI.  Her work in K-12 included the roles of teacher, guidance counselor, Director of Guidance, Associate Principal, and Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Rachel has worked as an educational consultant in a variety of areas including strategic planning, organizational culture and change, leadership development, and curriculum development.  Rachel has been engaged in the work of the Center for over ten years and continues to facilitate Circles of Trust when time allows.  She lives in Shorewood, WI with her husband Brian and her two very loved and spoiled dogs.

Bonnie Allen, J.D., is Director of Training and Foundation Development at the Mississippi Center for Justice.  An attorney and community-based educator, she has held various national and regional leadership roles in the poverty law field. Prior to moving to Mississippi in 2007, Bonnie served as President of the Center for Law & Renewal, based at the Fetzer Institute.  She also helped launch a "Leadership, Ethics and Democracy-Building" initiative at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Carrie Avery, J.D., is President of the Durfee Foundation in Los Angeles, California, which focuses on individuals by providing fellowships, grants to new grassroots organizations with dynamic leadership and sabbaticals to long-time nonprofit leaders. Carrie received her B.A. from Stanford University, her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a Georgetown University Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow. She chairs the board of the National Center for Family Philanthropy in Washington, D.C. and serves on the board of the Berkeley Repertory Theater.  Carrie lives in Berkeley with her husband and two sons.

Mark Bielang is superintendent of Paw Paw Public Schools in Paw Paw, Michigan. He was elected as president of both the Michigan Association of School Administrators (2005-06) and the American Association of School Administrators (2009-10). Prior to holding those positions he served on the Executive Board of each organization.  Mark is president of Eastern Van Buren County Habitat for Humanity and president-elect of the Paw Paw Kiwanis Club.

J. Courtney Bourns, M.A., is the vice president of programs at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations in Washington DC.  GEO promotes the practices and strategies that make the biggest difference to nonprofit results through publications, convenings and peer learning. Courtney brings to her role at GEO fifteen years of experience in organizational development, conflict resolution and group facilitation, including leadership of large-scale change processes requiring the collaborative engagement of multiple stakeholders. She holds a bachelors degree in International Relations with a focus on International Mediation and Negotiation from Brown University and a master’s degree in Theology and Ethics from Union Theological Seminary. Courtney was raised Quaker and now finds a spiritual home at the Insight Meditation Center of Washington.

Barbara Hummel, M.Ed., is a leadership and organizational consultant in Madison, WI who focuses on tapping organizations’ existing strengths and identifying new options in order to improve work or community environments; designing, leading, and supporting collaborative ways to make progress on organizational goals; and coaching leaders for their personal and professional development. She is a Circle of Trust facilitator and has a master’s degree in counseling and personnel services from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has a daughter, Kristen, who is a high school math teacher.

Jim Quay, Ph.D., retired in 2008 after 25 years as executive director of the California Council for the Humanities, a non-profit which develops and supports public programs and documentary films in the humanities. After graduating from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, he was a caseworker in central Harlem as a conscientious objector, then earned degrees in English literature from U.C. Berkeley. After a summer fellowship with the Bay Area Writing Project, he taught writing at UC Santa Cruz and was an associate producer with California Public Radio, where he co-produced an award-winning series, Vietnam Reconsidered: Lessons from a War.  

Debbie Stanley, Ph.D., retired in 2011 after 31 years in education as a public school educator and Early Childhood professor of the University of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina University. She has served as Horry County Chair of the First Steps state initiative. She has written and presented various articles on diversity in the public school classroom. Her response to "The Bridge" poem is included in the book Teaching with Fire—Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach.

Rosemary Jordano Shore, M.A., M.B.A., is the Founder and former Chairman and CEO of ChildrenFirst Inc., the nation's largest corporate backup childcare company. She serves on the Board of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association and is a member of the Wellesley College Business Leadership Council and the Dana Farber Leadership Council. Previously, she served on the Regis College Board of Trustees and was a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. Ms. Shore was selected as The American Women’s Economic Development Corporation’s 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year and was named as one of Fortune Small Business’ Best Bosses.

Estrus Tucker is an independent consultant and keynote speaker specializing in small and large group facilitation, designing and leading conversations and retreats across the country in support of personal, professional, and community renewal and transformation.  Estrus is a seasoned Courage & Renewal Facilitator, and a practitioner of Social Change for Leadership Development and other models of civic engagement.  For the past twelve years, he has served as President & CEO of Liberation Community, Inc., a social justice network, and Past President & Moderator of the Minority Leaders & Citizens Council.  He has also served as President  & CEO of the Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and Vice President of United Way of Tarrant County.  He is an ordained Elder in the Church of God in Christ, active in interfaith and ecumenical initiatives.  His mission is to inspire courage and life giving values that promote community, nonviolent and justice.

Val Ulstad, M.D, M.P.H.,M.P.A., has been a cardiologist for over 20 years. She is the Director of Cardiovascular Education at Hennepin County Medical Center, a safety-net, teaching hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She teaches and provides inpatient cardiology care for six months of the year. The other six months, she spends much of her time in her leadership development coaching and consulting practice. Her passion is to develop opportunities for individuals to recognize, celebrate and contribute their unique personal gifts in service of their own fulfillment and the common good. In 2003, she was prepared as a Circle of Trust Facilitator and went on to develop and lead an annual retreat series called Courage to Imagine for physicians and their partners.

Gayle Williams, M.Ed., is Executive Director of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation in Winston-Salem, NC, where her work focuses on nurturing the capacity and impact of individuals and nonprofit organizations who advance social and economic justice. Her current work weaves together threads from her previous work in the non-profit sector: increasing opportunity for young people, advancing equity and fairness, strengthening community life, and encouraging wholeness. Gayle is a Circle of Trust Facilitator with special interest in cross-professional circles.

Terry Chadsey, M.S.T., (Ex-officio) is Executive Director of the Center. He has worked in public education for 32 years, teaching grades K through 8 in Chicago, Australia and Washington for 22 of those years. He received a principal credential in 1988 at the University of Washington. For the past 12 years, he has provided leadership to school and district improvement efforts and coaching and professional development to districts and schools, principals and teachers. He is a founder of Sound Discipline, a lead trainer for the Positive Discipline Association and has facilitated Courage & Renewal retreats since 2003.