FOR Staff

Hillary Gaston, Sr., D.Min. — Chief Operations Officer

Dr. Gaston joined the staff of FOR in 2008, bringing with him a distinguished and multifaceted career in finance, education, law enforcement, and the ministry. His past positions included president of the New York Theological Seminary (NYTS), area minister for the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, Financial Advisor at Ameriprise, pastor of Parkchester Baptist Church (Bronx, NY), educator and department chair at Samuel Gompers High School, postal inspector, and police agent.

Following U.S. military service in Vietnam (1965–1968), Dr. Gaston went on to earn several college degrees, including two masters and a doctorate, and to receive many awards for his accomplishments, including the NYTS Distinction in Ministry Award, the NAACP Community Service Award, and a Distinguished Educator Award. He brings a wealth of talent and experience to the management of finances, human resources, legal liabilities, facilities, and staff support at FOR.

When not overseeing FOR’s daily operations, Dr. Gaston is the associate minister of stewardship and finance for the Sharon Baptist Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as well as husband, father, grandfather, teacher, and mentor.

Mary Heckler — Peace House Host and Event Coordinator

As the Peace House host and event coordinator, Mary manages the care and grooming of Shadowcliff, the mansion that is the national headquarters for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. As host, she is the contact person for anyone wishing to use the facility for their celebration or event. In the role of event coordinator, Mary assists in planning the function and is on duty throughout the celebration to help insure a seamless, wonderful experience.

A member of the hospitality industry, she previously owned and operated The Purple Plum, Inc., a restaurant and catering company located in Austin, Texas between 1981 and 1995. She catered to the likes of Willie Nelson, Ann Richards and Lady Bird Johnson before making a left hand turn and moving to the Bay of San Francisco. In the Bay Area, Mary was the volunteer coordinator for Catholic Charities of the East Bay, where she fulfilled CCEB’s strategic plan to develop a volunteer program. She cultivated the project, recruited, placed and directed 1500 volunteers in fourteen different programs including emergency services, refugee resettlement and prison ministry. She managed the holiday programs for what is now part of the Christmas Community Project: Toys for Children Without, and the Adopt-A-Family project.

In her spare time, Mary is one of the creative forces behind the local Hudson Valley FOR group. Their mission is to promote the work of FOR through peaceful conversation, timely education and the use of music, art and spoken word to encourage the growth of the beloved community.

Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D. — Executive Director

On behalf of FOR’s international work, Mark travels regularly to Colombia, Iran and throughout the Middle East.

Mark was a conscientious objector, doing alternative service in Lebanon, living and teaching in Tyre and Beirut between 1967 and 1974. In his previous career with the YMCA, Mark also traveled widely in the United States and the world on special projects related to peace and leadership development. He served for 18 years on the staff of the Silver Bay Association for Christian Conferences and Training, on Lake George in upstate New York. Under the influence of Parker Palmer, Mark likes to describe himself as a poet doing the work of peacemaking. His favorite pastimes are writing, reading and sailing. Married for 40 years, he and Mary have three daughters, and two sons-in-law.

Additional resources:

• Hi-res photo (JPEG, 6MB)
• Hi-res photo (TIFF, 32MB)
• web-ready photo 1 (JPEG)
• web-ready photo 2 (JPEG)
• full résumé (PDF)

Linda Kelly — Communications Associate

As a creative writer whose first grade school poem was a quatrain written in crayon with an alternating love and peace dove rhyme scheme, Linda is delighted to be a part of the expression of FOR’s venerable work toward realizing the beloved community. Her contributions include writing and editing articles for online and hardcopy publication, creating brochures, press releases, member and donor correspondence, collaborating on the design of FOR’s first video billboard, and organizing the selection process and presentations of FOR’s annual peace awards.

In her spare time, Linda plays tennis, scratches away at a second novel and writes a blog called Lump Lessons: a Healing Journey. She lives in Nyack, NY with her husband, Reade; teenaged daughter, Acadia; and adored though quirky dog, Bert.

John Lindsay-Poland — Research and Advocacy Director

John edits FOR’s Colombia update; founded the FOR’s Colombia peace team; and is author of articles, reports and books on U.S. military policy and history in Latin America, including Military Assistance and Human Rights: Colombia, U.S. Accountability, and Global Implications (2010); Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama and Inside Panama, with Tom Barry.

Previously, John served with Peace Brigades International in Guatemala and El Salvador, and co-founded PBI’s Colombia project. He lives and works in Oakland, California.

Jonette O’Kelley Miller, MPA — Development Director

Jonette’s professional career began in dance and theatre. As an actress-dancer, she appeared in the Broadway and National Tour productions of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, and Shange’s off-Broadway production of Spell #7. As a writer, her essays on African American artists, Nina Mae McKinney and Beulah Woodard were published in African American National Biography edited by Drs. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Her articles have also been published in ArtSpace and SpiritLed Woman Magazine.

Jonette presented her research on the impact of historical, racist stereotypes on people of color during the 2007 Eastern Psychological Association’s annual conference. Currently, she is also an adjunct at Nyack College, teaching courses on African American Art and Public Speaking. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, Society of Community Research and Action and the National Council of Artists.

Thomas Morrison — Receptionist and Contact Specialist

Tom is receptionist, outreach specialist, book store manager, handy-man, and humorist at FOR’s national headquarters. Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Tom attended racially segregated schools all the way through college and became interested in the civil rights movement of the 60’s while attending Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Martin Luther King and a few thousand others were stirring things up, and he was happy to be part of the movement by working with inner-city ministries.

Around the same time, the Vietnam war forced him to scrutinize war and peace issues and he found the writings of Alfred Hassler of the Fellowship of Reconciliation particularly cogent in this regard. Tom traveled around the United States and abroad for ten years after seminary, settled for a while on the east side of the Hudson River, got married, and in 1999 moved to Nyack, where he was hired by FOR. Tom writes in his spare time and is particularly interested in Native American, environmental, and mental health issues.

Meredith Krashes Nicolich — Administration Assistant

Meredith was pleased to start working at FOR in 2011. Her experience working for a number of international and local nonprofit organizations serves her well as she assists her colleagues at FOR’s national Shadowcliff offices and beyond on an ever-growing variety of tasks.

Meredith has taught English as a second language in Chiangmai, Thailand; coordinated a job skills training program for youth in Westchester County, New York, and has studied at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, while working in the Office for the Advancement of Women at the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office. She currently splits her working time between FOR and her local library, where she enjoys being an assistant children’s librarian.
 

Shauen V.T. Pearce — Program Department Director

Shauen is a conscientious objector with a background in national campaigning and organizing across cultures, youth justice work, anti-violence training and harm reduction, popular education, graphic arts, spiritually-grounded organizing and education founded upon tangible nonviolence and more. Ze is an Afro pen and paper artist and writer from the Midwest and beyond. Often found studying the sciences or drawing, Shauen enjoys the intersections of life and encourages everyone to think critically about what makes us who we are.

As a native of Chicago, Shauen has first line experience living in and beyond the intersections of racism, economic injustice, violence and war. Stemming from a place filled with beauty, progress, rebellion, wise elders, visionary leaders and constant struggle marked by corruption, violence and displacement, Shauen continues the fight for justice, self-determination, authentic love and fearless community building.

Nicole Taylor — Data Entry Assistant

As the data entry assistant, Nicole has the duty of inputting donations, handling donor inquiries, processing acknowledgement letters and updating donors’ mailing and email addresses. Nicole was excited to join the FOR team in 2008 and is fortunate to be a part of an organization that continues the vision of educating and advocating peace in all nations.

Besides working with her FOR family, most of her time is spent with her family at home which includes her husband, her 4½-year-old son and her 1½-year-old daughter. Nicole enjoys keeping up with current events, fashion magazines, and the tranquility of the beach.

Susana Pimiento Chamorro — Action and Advocacy Director

Susana co-leads FOR’s campaign to transform U.S. militarism in the Americas, undertaking grassroots outreach and raising awareness on the impact of militarization. She is the U.S. representative at the Continental Campaign Against Military Bases coordinating committee. Susana also supports FOR’s accompaniment program in Colombia by helping to oversee the implementation of the program, coordinating actions in response to security emergencies, and recruiting and training accompaniment volunteers.

A Colombian attorney with a MA in public policy from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Susana’s previous experience includes advocacy work in the fields of environmental justice, arms control and indigenous peoples’ rights. Before joining FOR, she led successful civil society efforts to bring changes in policy. As a co-founder of the Sunshine Project, she was involved in the design and implementation of the Agent Green campaign, which halted U.S.-led plans to use biological agents in the eradication of illicit crops in South America and Asia. Susana also worked at the Colombian 1991 constitutional assembly and contributed to several publications on human rights. She currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Edward Hammond, and 8-year-old daughter, Amelia.

Liza Smith — Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean Accompaniment Director

Liza is an activist, writer, and singer/songwriter, as well as the director for the FOR accompaniment teams in Colombia. For more than 10 years, she has worked with various organizations such as Global Exchange and Peace Brigades International to protect the lives and rights of people and communities in Colombia.

In her spare time, she likes to contemplate the rate at which we are spinning through the universe and dreams about disappearing into the sunrise in a purple van.

Ethan Vesely-Flad — Communications Director

Ethan is editor of Fellowship magazine, FOR’s journal since 1918 on peacemaking, human rights, and interfaith understanding. Ethan became a “full-time” justice activist as an undergraduate in the late 1980s, when he was involved in movements for racial justice, South Africa divestment, and prisoners of conscience. For the past two decades — and since 2005 at FOR — Ethan has worked to strengthen faith-based justice networks promoting anti-racism engagement, environmental justice, LGBTQ rights, and demilitarization. His commitments have taken him throughout the Americas, Southern Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim.

His writings have appeared in ColorLines, The Source, The Witness, Episcopal Life, and other national publications. Ethan, a devotee of global soccer and old hip-hop, lives along the mighty Hudson River with his beloved spouse Rima and son Matai.

Leila Zand — Task Force on the Middle East Director

Leila is an Iranian-American who lived in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian reconstruction period following the war, and the Iranian reform years. In 2000, Leila left Iran for the United States with her husband and twin daughters. As the organizer and leader of FOR civilian diplomacy delegations to Iran, she helps to create a bridge of understanding between the people of the Middle East and people of the United States.

Since immigrating to the United States, Leila has shared her experience of war in academic settings, peace rallies, and community gatherings. She has written numerous articles and essays, some of which have been translated into other languages and received international publication. Through writing and public speaking, Leila raises awareness about U.S. militarization in the Middle East and the impact it has on the lives of ordinary people, and strives to make inroads to reconciliation.

Ivan Boothe — Online Communications Associate (consultant)

Ivan works with FOR to maintain and improve the website, oversee and author email messages to supporters, and coordinate online actions.

Ivan is the creative director of Rootwork.org, working with nonprofits and social change groups in similar capacities. He is a community organizer with Casino-Free Philadelphia, and co-founded the Genocide Intervention Network. Ivan helps facilitate Philadelphia NetSquared, which brings together nonprofits and tech experts for discussions about using social technology for social change. Ivan has presented on technology and activism at the U.S. Social Forum, Nonprofit Technology Conference, New Organizing Institute, Internet Advocacy Roundtable, Peace and Justice Studies conference, DrupalCon and the National Press Club, and authored a chapter in the textbook Online Social Networking.

Ivan has a degree in peace and conflict studies and authored a thesis on third-party nonviolent intervention. He also serves on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the American Friends Service Committee Nobel Peace Prize committee. He is a professional handbell ringer and an enthusiastic member of his local member-owned food cooperative.