Leadership

Before joining JSC, Aleta spent 16 years with the NC Council of Churches where she held a variety of roles, from newsletter editor to Deputy Executive Director. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in government and foreign affairs and spent much of her early career as a journalist.

Aleta and her husband have three young adult sons who continue to come home to Cary for dinner or at least groceries. She is a fan of all things UVa (which can be hard in North Carolina, especially during basketball season), reads everything from entertainment magazines to histories, and works hard at spending more time with her girlfriends, her yoga mat, and her dogs, Phoebe and Ella.

Christina comes to us with a diverse background of administrative and management experience. She has been a parishioner of The Chapel Of The Cross for 20 years, where her son Carter, now a freshman in college, and daughter Isabel, a junior in high school, were both baptized and confirmed. She is most proud of her work as a mother and wife. Scott her husband of 26 years was a former mentor of JSC where she first got the opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary people with this program.

Born and raised in Virginia, Andrew has quickly come to love calling North Carolina home. Prior to moving to Raleigh, he graduated from James Madison University with a degree in social work. That also happens to be where he met his wife, Kelly.

He continued his studies at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. while also serving as an associate pastor of a growing United Methodist Church. It was during that time that they felt called to a year of full-time volunteer service, so they partnered with Mission Year and moved to Houston, Texas. The experience had a tremendous impact on their lives, and Andrew is excited to have the opportunity to journey with Johnson Service Corps members during their service year. He enjoys summer evenings on his front porch swing, game nights with friends, and spending time with his wife and their dog, Jack.

My masters degree is in art therapy, however most of my work experience has been in teaching. I taught art, grades K – 4, at Charlotte Country Day School in Charlotte and at The Potomac School in McLean, VA. Now I am working in my studio at home as a painter, and have had three solo exhibits since moving to Chapel Hill in 2010. I am a life-long Episcopalian and am thoroughly enjoying the community I have found at The Chapel of the Cross, where my husband and I both sing in the senior choir.

My interest in JSC began when I took the Servant Leadership course with Susan Gladin. Although my class did not include current corps members, I got to know them when Susan asked me to do an art project with them the following year. I was impressed with the enthusiasm and drive of each member as they envisioned life as a servant leader, and the supportive environment offered by the program. For me, being reminded that we are to serve each other as we live in community is one of the most important messages of the church.

The Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams served as rector at Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill from 1985-2015. During his tenure, he helped begin the Johnson Service Corps. Stephen grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family in Missoula, MT. At age 20, he joined the Society of Jesus and earned a degree in philosophy at Gonzaga University; he followed with a Masters of Divinity degree at Regis College in Toronto. His education kindled a keen interest in Ignatian Spirituality, and he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1975. While working in campus ministry at Seattle University, he met a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Betsy Elkins, of Durham, North Carolina. Their friendship deepened, and after a year of discernment. Stephen left the Jesuits, and he and Betsy were married in 1978. They joined the staff of St. Stephen's, Seattle as youth ministers, and Stephen was received as an Episcopal priest in 1982. They moved to Chapel Hill and raised two sons, Tyler, a plastic surgeon in local practice, and Peter, on the business development team for Facebook in New York. Tyler and his wife, Priti, have two sons, Walker and Sutton, and a daughter, Palmer. Peter is engaged to Katie Nimick. Stephen will officiate at their wedding in May 2019. “The Word of Love,” a compendium of about 80 of Stephen’s sermons, is available on the Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites.

Hello, I’m Perry Studevent and current serve as the Senior Assistant Director in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill and have worked in various areas of higher education since 2001. My main areas of focus are admissions, housing, and financial aid. Raised in Davie County, NC, I earned my bachelor’s degree from UNCG, my MS from ECU and am currently finishing my MBA from ECU. I am on the Wake County ECU Alumni Volunteer Board. I’m very passionate about higher education as I was only the second member of my family to have completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Spirituality, in my opinion, is an important part of who we are and should be developed along with our minds and bodies. I try to meditate when I can and enjoy the beach and live in Raleigh with my three evil cats – Sarge, Orangey, and Duecey.

I am a retired elementary school teacher. I have taught pre-school/K at the Carolina Friends School, and 1st-4th at Duke School. I currently substitute in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and at Duke School and fill maternity leaves for teachers at Duke School. I have been a member of the Chapel of the Cross since 1977, and have enjoyed many different roles as a church member. I am currently a member of a Circle of Support and a member of the Good Samaritan Guild. I belong to 2 book clubs, have three grown children and 6 beautiful grandchildren, and enjoy the out of doors, gardening, reading, and sewing.

I was in the private practice of law in Durham for 42 years before retiring from Moore & VanAllen in 2014. I am a life long member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Durham having served on its Vestry and as Senior Warden several times. I was the co-founder and leader of Durham Episcopal Housing Ministries which provided transitional housing services for homeless families for twenty years before it closed in 2014. Since 2006 I have been the Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina providing secular and canonical legal advice and assistance to the Diocese. My wife, Stuart, and I have a second home at Oriental, NC, where we enjoy sailing and being close to the water. We are avid travelers and enjoy not only traditional traveling but also camping (now in a trailer) and adventure trips. I am new to JSC and still learning about it. I was called to help because of its focus on social services and helping young people discern their role in the provision of social services and attaining social justice.

I come to the Board of JSC with a commitment to providing a life-changing formation experience for the young adults in the program. I'm the Executive Director of the Episcopal Evangelism Society, a grant-making foundation that supports innovative ministry projects, and it was through that work that I became aware of the mission of Episcopal Service Corps. I'm a member of the Church of the Advocate in Chapel Hill, live in Durham, and have three adult daughters.

Bill is currently on faculty at Duke University’s Nicholas School for the Environment and of counsel at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. Bill formerly led the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources as the agency’s secretary from 2001-2009. He is a member of Chapel of the Cross.

Emma Sternlof is a native New Englander who moved to North Carolina for the 2013-2014 Johnson Service Corps. A Trinity College graduate with a history degree, she currently works as a grant writer at Ipas, an international NGO that increases women's access to sexual and reproductive health care. Emma lives in Durham with her fiance, Michael, and enjoys live music, reading, and weightlifting.

Sarah (Donahue) Wolff participated in Johnson Service Corps in 2003-2004 after she graduated from Duke University. Sarah currently works for the Center for Responsible Lending and Self-Help Credit Union in Durham. She and her husband Mike have two young children and are members of Duke Chapel Congregation. Sarah is excited to join the board and continue serving the organization in new ways.