Board of Directors

IMCW Board of Directors

IMCW is committed to expanding the diversity of its board and committees, and especially encourages individuals from a diversity of race, sexual preference and age to offer their services.

Information about how to volunteer for the board and board committees. 

The Board of Directors is the governing body of IMCW, a 501 C3 non-profit religious corporation. Board members serve as the stewards of IMCW, its resources, programs and activities.

Officers include the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary.  The Board meets every other month to discuss issues, deliberate policy and vote. The Board seeks to be an increasingly diverse group bringing a wide perspective of views and skills in service of IMCW and the Dharma.

You are always welcome to contact Board members to ask questions, offer suggestions, or give feedback and input. Board members may be contacted at meditate at imcw.org.

Melissa Banks, Board President

I started coming to Wednesday night class in 2004. I was in search of a spiritual community as well as a need to deepen my inner growth. The Buddhist teachings and Vipassana meditation practice resonated for me. IMCW offered me a sense of belonging and a community I wanted to serve.

I have been involved with set-up on Wednesday nights, the Book and Audio Table, managing retreats and the Fundraising Committee. I am grateful to be able to serve on IMCW’s board as I continue my spiritual journey and practice.

I am a single mom with three children. I have been teaching children for many years and am presently a pre-school teacher. I enjoy spending time with my family, doing volunteer work, and being outdoors.

Hugh Byrne, Vice President

I am a member of IMCW’s Teachers’ Council and have served on IMCW’s board of directors for five years, including two years as board president.

As a teacher and board member I have three current areas of major interest and focus: 1) For IMCW to take the necessary steps to become as diverse and welcoming a community as we can be, and have the Buddha’s teachings and practices be as available as possible to all who are interested — in our region and beyond; 2) To help IMCW establish a path of growth and development for practitioners — including a comprehensive study and practice program — to support community members from their first encounter with the Buddha’s teachings to becoming a confident and experienced dharma practitioner; 3) For IMCW to establish a "home of our own" in the Washington area—where people can come for regular classes, short retreats, workshops, and community activities.

I live in Silver Spring, MD with my partner, Rebecca Hines, an IMCW member, and have a daughter and grandson in Pittsburgh, and a son living in Portland, Oregon.

Bob Dymond, Board Treasurer

Bob is retired.  His wife and he moved to the D.C. area in 1997 to be near their grandchildren. Since moving he has volunteered as patient visitor for Montgomery Hospice. He joined IMCW about two years ago and now hosts a KM group.

Before their move Bob volunteered in several areas: with the local hospice as a patient visitor; on the Foundation Board running fundraising events and involved with local community events; and as a board member and counselor at a volunteer career counseling group.  

Bob’s career was in the petrochemical industry and involved a great deal of international travel.  He retired nearly ten years ago after being a CEO for about fifteen years. This experience offered him wide exposure to the usual management issues as well as the very enjoyable experience of working with people of many different nationalities.

About ten years ago Bob started meditation practice – first with a Zen group then with one affiliated with Thich Nhat Hanh.

Adrienne Dern

Adrienne has a long history with IMCW.  She worked with Wende McIlwain and Rose Monsell, two of our former administrators, as the editor of the previous incarnation of IMCW’s ENews, helped out as a Wednesday greeter, and served for a short time on the Fundraising Committee.

A series of serendipitous events brought Adrienne to IMCW in the spring of 2001 and she has never looked back. From her first "Wednesday night" to the present, she has been profoundly moved and profoundly changed by the teachings and the intentions of the community.  From her early association with IMCW she has been a member of a wonderfully supportive KM group, regularly attends Wednesday night class, and has participated in numerous daylong and weekend retreats. She is looking forward to being able to help others discover IMCW and benefit from Tara’s teaching and leadership and everything else the sangha has to offer.

Eric Forbis

Brian Levy

Janice Mostow

After receiving her B.A. from the University of Maryland and an M.E. (Masters of Education) from George Washington University, Janice spent a number of productive years In the Montgomery County Public School system. She began as an English teacher, rose quickly to become department chair and moved on to become assistant principal and then principal of various schools including Briggs Chaney Middle School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.  She then moved into the Office of Organizational Development to direct training and development of secondary school administrators. Some of her responsibilities included strategic planning, developing budget and training materials, and working as an assessor of students and administrators.

Recently Janice semi-retired and started her own consulting services in education, where her projects have included providing advocacy services, working in staff development, leading strategic planning, and doing program evaluation.

Gabriel Riera

Cindy Stevens

Cynthia Kay Stevens is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, where she has been on the faculty since 1990.  She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Washington and holds a Master’s degree in social psychology from Miami University (Ohio). She has taught negotiations, leadership development, decision making, and human resource management in the Smith School’s MBA, EMBA, and Ph.D. programs; in addition, she has taught in EMBA programs at Seattle University, University of Iowa, and Wuhan University, China.

Cindy’s research focuses on the cognitive and social factors that influence individual, joint, and group decisions.  She has studied these processes in the context of negotiation skill development, staffing (interviews, job search and choice, recruitment), and work-group settings (diversity and the impact of difficult coworkers).  In addition to her academic work, Cindy has trained managers in many corporate development programs, including the Lockheed Martin’s Fundamentals of Leadership Program, McCormick’s Senior Leadership Development Program and Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive’s mid-management development program.  She has worked as a consultant and executive coach for organizations ranging in size from fifteen to 35,000 employees.  Her consulting work has focused on using multi-rater assessments and coaching to improve leadership skills, negotiation skill development, strategic human resource management, designing and implementing effective performance management systems, and responding effectively to workforce diversity.

Trisha Stotler

Trisha has many years of nonprofit development experience.  She left full-time fundraising in 2004 to pursue her passion of teaching various mind-body disciplines.  She started her own business, Insight Life Services, in 2004, and has taught several different classes over the years.  She is currently an MBSR instructor in Vienna, Va., and is pursuing (with others) getting mindfulness practice into the schools.  

Trisha was a professional fundraiser for non-profits for ten years for organizations such as Georgetown University and the Washington Humane Society.  She has been a mind-body practitioner since 2003, as a certified hypnotist, a childbirth instructor and a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Instructor.