Meet the Board
The all-volunteer Board of Directors of Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church is made up of a diverse group of individuals from across the United States.
Sandi Albom
President
The Rev. Sandi Albom is a priest in the Diocese of Western MA, serving as Priest-in-Charge in Westfield, MA. After a 40-year career in nursing and corporate healthcare consulting, Sandi earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA and was ordained to the priesthood in 2018.
Sandi is a person in long term recovery and served as co-convener of Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church in NH. For several years she accompanied people in early sobriety as chaplain and spiritual director at a residential recovery center in Plymouth, NH.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to give back in response for all God has given me in my life, freed, just for today, from the bondage of addiction. Serving others is an anchor for my sobriety. I must give it away to keep it.”
Steve lane
Board President Emeritus
Steve Lane has been a member of Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church (RMEC) since 2011. Serving his third term, after a year off Steve is now the president of the board. With over 38 years of sobriety, he is active in several different 12 step groups. As a priest in the Episcopal Church, Steve has also been active in Church activities for over 20 years. In 2009, Steve helped design and implement a 12-step worship service that helped bridge the divide between the Church and 12 step programs. Steve is currently the Priest in Charge of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Buffalo, NY. Steve is a certified spiritual director and has been involved in one on one and peer group spiritual exploration. Steve believes that the path to spiritual wholeness is broad, roomy, and all inclusive, to those who earnestly seek.
Scott Elliott
Vice President
Scott Elliott is a Deacon in the Diocese of Chicago who was elected to finish out an uncompleted term on the RMEC Board in 2023. He has been involved in the 12-Step life in one program or another since 1983 and formerly served on the Board of the Alano Club of the Northside in Chicago. He has served in four parishes in Chicago and the suburbs, three of which underwent rectoral transitions during his tenures.
He has worked as a childcare worker in a group home, managed a 24-hour crisis hotline, was an addiction counselor in detox, inpatient, and an intensive-outpatient programs, and for 25 years was a probation officer in the Cook County system, working mostly either with domestic violence offenders or mid-range risk DUIs.
Since retiring eight years ago, he has taken up bicycling and once completed a century ride, and noncompetitive powerlifting, which he will stop once he squats and deadlifts four plates.
Christine Howe
Director
Christine Howe is delighted to be on the board of the Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church, for RMEC brings together two spiritual mainstays of her life. In recovery herself since 1984, Christine goes to church on most Sundays and goes to 12-Step meetings many other days each week. Passing on the Good News of the church and the message of hope that 12-Step programs offer are sources of great joy for Christine.
Laura White
Director
Ms. White is a Certified Employee Assistant Professional (CEAP), Substance Abuse Professional (SAP), Substance Abuse Expert (SAE), Family Mediator and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC-MHSP), with thirty years of experience in the Employee Assistance Program field. Ms. White is a Senior Lead EAP Management Consultant with Optum. She provides clinical and organizational consultation to a variety of Federal, State and private organizations. She partners with HR, Executive Leadership and Occupational Health on how to address difficult employee situations.
During 2020 she has cultivated relationships with key stakeholders to address the stress of COVID-19 and civil unrest. She has provided advise on implementation of practices to create positive culture change.
She has participated in the development and delivery of a Peer Support Program for Public Safety, a Wellness Walking Program and a Pandemic Prevention Program. Ms. White developed and delivered training programs on Managing Anger at Work and Preventing Violence in the Workplace. Ms. White is a trained Critical Incident Responder and has assisted individuals and organizations in recovering from disruptive and traumatic events in the workplace.
Laura is a mother, psychotherapist and entrepreneur committed to sharing the message of recovery. She has spent her career helping others develop and use tools for recovery. When confronted with addiction as a mother, recovery became more personal. Laura has been on her own personal journey healing from the devastating impact of this disease and learning to live more comfortably in the world. Laura says, “Sharing my story of recovery is how I sort through the pain, so I can let go of thoughts and feelings that no longer serve me well. I want to understand so I can grow and heal. I want focus on the light and not the dark. I want to make a difference.”
Ward Ewing
Director
Ward Ewing retired as the Dean and President of The General Theological Seminary, New York, NY in 2010 after twelve years of service there and thirty-one years as a pastor in congregations in Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, and New York (Buffalo). He presently lives with his wife and dog at Ten Mile, Tennessee.
He has also been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous as a non-alcoholic for forty-one years. To learn about addiction, he began attending open A.A. meetings in the mid 1970s. In 1980 a member of his congregation with seven years sobriety asked him to lead a group of members of A.A. to discuss spirituality and alcoholism. That group taught him how the Twelve Steps truly work, and he has used the Steps as his personal, primary spiritual program since. He continued to develop with members of the Fellowship classes for the church, and at General Seminary he developed a course on the church’s role in intervention and recovery and recruited Stuart Hoke to lead the class that continues today.
In 2004 he was elected to serve as a Trustee on the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous for U.S. and Canada and served as Chair of the Board from 2009 to 2013. He continues on the Board as a Trustee emeritus.
Ward has a variety of publications. This summer he completed a manuscript titled Twelve Steps to Religionless Spirituality: The Power of Spirituality with or Without God to be published by Cascade Books, a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers, this spring.
Presently he heads a group in the Diocese of East Tennessee that seeks to raise awareness about alcoholism and addiction for the clergy. As part of this group, he writes a monthly article for the clergy of the Diocese on the topic of the church’s role for intervention and recovery.
The Rt. Rev. Brian Seage
Director
The Rt. Rev. Brian Seage has served as the 10th Bishop of Mississippi since 2015. Bp. Seage has served on the board since 2022.
Libby Stellas
Director
Libbie Stellas got her degree in Theology from Boston College and a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. She moved to Seattle in 1980 as a lay minister for the Archdiocese of Seattle and then on to various Christian and Interfaith nonprofits. She has been in recovery since 1990.
Elise Von Koschembahr
Director
Elise is a Cradle Episcopalian and has been in recovery programs since 1976 and 1979.
She graduated from EFM in June of 1995 after a number of years in the Theological Opportunities Program at Harvard Divinity School.
She found RMEC at their Gathering in Seattle and has been a grateful member of RMEC ever since.
She is thrilled to serve on the Board as it is such a lovely intersection of her faith and of her recovery.
“The world needs our LOVE and our message.”
Her Parish home is Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle Washington in person and the National Cathedral in Washington DC on Zoom.
Meredith Ward
Director
The Rev Meredyth Ward is an Episcopal priest with long term sobriety. After being a parish priest for several years, she became Urban Missioner in Worcester MA and lead Walking Together, a ministry with unhoused and marginally housed people, many of whom also had challenges with substance abuse and mental illness. In her alleged retirement, she serves as part time priest associate at All Saints Church Worcester, is active in local 12 step groups, serves as a sponsor to several women, and reads, knits, weaves and dotes on her two cats. Meredyth has two sons and three grandchildren.
Brian Nordwick
Director
Brian served 18 years as the Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of El Camino Real. Previously, he had a 23-year career in the international seed business as an operations manager. He has managed staffs up to over 100 employees working closely with HR and Legal departments.
Currently, semi-retired, Brian is a search consultant for bishop transitions and continues to conduct diocesan/church evaluations. He has recently or currently is working with the dioceses of San Joaquin, West Missouri, Albany, Nevada and Oregon. He has successfully led or mentored over 100 parish transitions and has coached/mentored 100’s of clergy and lay leaders in their roles to be functional leaders. He serves as CREDO faculty for the Church Pension Group in the roles of finance and vocational components for over 17 years, and recently was mentor/facilitator for new faculty.
He leads retreats centered around spiritual enrichment – challenging people to be accountable to their Christian faith – and assisting leaders to be more effective in their ministry. Brian has been ordained as a vocational Deacon for over 30 years, recently widowed, has one adult daughter, Sarah, and one granddaughter, Willow (9). They reside in Hollister, CA.