Staff and Board Leadership

Julia Tyler is the Executive Director for Johnson Service Corps, through which she lives out her calling to build communities of joy, strength, and courage. Previously, Julia directed family ministry programs for Unitarian Universalist congregations in North Carolina and California. She graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Religious Studies. Julia spent four months backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, and plans to return when her son is big enough to carry his own pack. Julia loves the outdoors, spirituality, justice, and intentional communities, and she is honored to support the Beloved Community that is Johnson Service Corps.

Heather Fisher is the Operations Manager for Johnson Service Corps. Previously, Heather served as Operations Manager for Science Fun for Everyone and an Education Fellow at the Museum of Life and Science. Heather is originally from New Jersey but has lived in Durham since 2013. She has two kids who keep life fun, busy, and loud. In her spare time, she loves short hikes and adventures with the kids, working in her vegetable garden, and canning everything possible so it does not go to waste.

Jae Richardson is the Group Therapist for Johnson Service Corps Fellows. Jae is a Black, femme, licensed clinical social worker and a healer, energy worker and educator. Jae uses collaboration, affirmation and empowerment to support others in their own healing work and practice from a social justice, holistic and afro-spirituality framework. Jae also integrates skills from CBT and DBT into her counseling work. Her passion towards individual and collective healing stems from her own trauma work. Jae's desire to break down generational traumas runs deeply and vibrationally. As marginalized individuals, she believes we must heal our communities on a spiritual, vibrational, and psychological level, and she is honored to walk with these fellows in their journey towards finding the ancestral power within them.

Elizabeth is a native North Carolinian, who spent most of her life in Greensboro before deciding to explore the Midwest for college. She graduated from the College of Wooster in Ohio, where she received a dual Bachelor of Arts in sociology and religious studies. After college, she returned to North Carolina and did a year of service with the Johnson Service Corps (2017-2018). During that time, she lived in Durham and worked with Eastern Durham Children's Initiative. Elizabeth now works for the NC Council of Churches as their Opioid Response Project Coordinator.

Kirsten was a JSC corps member in 2017-18 (she lived in the Carrboro house and served with the Orange County Department on Aging at the Seymour Center). While Kirsten is not an Episcopalian, she greatly appreciated using her time in the Episcopal Service Corps to explore many spiritual experiences, from Quaker meetings to Buddhist meditations to a Baha'i book club. She is originally from Black Mountain, NC, and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with an English degree in 2013. Now she works as a communications specialist at the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University. She was drawn to the Johnson Service Corps initially because of its emphasis on servant leadership, community values, and openness toward spiritual discovery, and these are all qualities that make her proud to be a current board member.

Joseph A. Smith, Jr. is a retired lawyer, having practiced for over 40 years. He was North Carolina Commissioner of Banks from 2002 to 2012 and Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement from 2012 to 2018. Mr. Smith is a past Fellow of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke Law School and is currently a director of the Center for Community Self-Help, sponsoring organization of the Self-Help Credit Union, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, and Center for Responsible Lending. He has been married for over 40 years to Elizabeth Marion Smith, with whom he lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Raleigh and are the parents of two grown sons and two too rapidly growing grandsons. Mr. Smith is honored to be associated with Johnson Service Corps, which seeks to develop the servant leaders our society desperately needs.

Barbara is a longtime parishioner of Chapel of the Cross and serves in a variety of roles in the life of the church, including: Lay Eucharistic Minister, member of the Global Mission Committee, Leader for Morning Prayer, and a recent Vestry Member. She has worked as a teacher, assistant superintendent of Chapel Hill schools, and as Professor and Chair of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. During those later years, she received her Master of Divinity Degree from Duke University Divinity School, a Post Graduate Diploma in Anglican Studies, and a Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary. She is drawn with great joy to continue working with young adults who are exploring new options in their learning and development, while rendering valuable service within the community.

William E. “Chuck” Hennessee is a cradle Episcopalian born in Durham, NC and christened at St. Titus Episcopal Church in 1962. His family moved to Fayetteville, NC where he spent his formative years and worshipped primarily in the Baptist church until he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a radio announcer, his father instilled in him the importance of giving back to the community. Chuck began his career as public-school teacher in Raleigh, NC and was confirmed at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church. He attended North Carolina Central University where he received his MA in Middle Grades Education with a concentration in History. He moved to Durham to supervise the school buses and returned to worship at St. Titus for the last 25 years serving as an Outreach Chair, Lay Reader, Choir member, and Member of the Vestry. He retired from Chapel Hill Public schools in 2015 after 30 years in the NC public education. In 2018, Chuck began serving as a mentor for the Johnson Service Corp. In 2019, he returned to full time work as Program Manager with AVID Center out of San Diego, CA supporting school districts in the eastern Carolinas.

The Rev. Hershey Mallette Stephens is a native North Carolinian. Baptized and raised at St. Ambrose Church in Raleigh. She served in the Presiding Bishop’s Office of Evangelism, where she was Project Lead for the Beloved Community Storysharing Campaign. This work afforded her the joy and opportunity to hear stories of faith, race and discovery from Episcopalians of all ages and backgrounds from all over the country. Rev. Mallette Stephens enjoys listening and learning from children and young people, dreaming up new and fresh ways to tell the story of God in Christ, and creating celebrations--she once obtained a donkey for a Palm Sunday parade in downtown Manhattan!

Rev. Mallette Stephens now serves as Dean of the Historic Chapel at St. Augustine’s University in her hometown of Raleigh, NC. She is married to her favorite person Rob, National Political Director for Repairs of the Breach, and mother to beautiful baby boy Jeremiah, Benevolent Ruler of the Mallette Stephens household.

The rare cradle Episcopalian, Carol moved to Chapel Hill from Alabama in 1963, when she became a member of the Chapel of the Cross. Carol was educated in the Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools graduating from CHHS in 1969 and Saint Mary’s Junior College in 1971. In 1973 she completed her degree in elementary education so she could fulfill her lifelong dream of teaching. After teaching for twenty-three years, Carol completed the newly formed Master’s in School Administration at UNC-CH. Her administrative career included being an assistant principal at Carrboro Elementary, planning principal for Mary Scroggs, and principal of George Watts Elementary in Durham.
As a member of The Chapel of The Cross, her most meaningful responsibilities are as a lay eucharistic minister and becoming a member of the founding chapter of the Reverend Doctor Pauli Murray Chapter of Daughters of the King. As a board member of Johnson Service Corps, she hopes that these service areas will provide her with the chance to support a program she has long admired. In addition, Carol’s background in education will be a valuable tool in her assignment as Personnel Committee Chairperson.

Drawn to its culture and strong values around service, social justice and civic engagement, Leslie and her husband Adam moved to the Bull City close to 20 years ago and have raised two children here. A graduate of Macalester College, Leslie has worked in public health research and nature education, and she’s been a committed community volunteer, serving on non-profit and PTA boards. She loves collaborating with peers, and most recently has found joy in doing this at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. As a child, Leslie spent ten years living in remote circumstances in rural WI. There she experienced the deep sense of well-being, hope and solace that can arise from lovingly-woven human community and connection with the natural world. Her memories of that time inform Leslie’s current day sense of purpose.

Donya is a long-time Chapel Hill native and a member of The Church of the Advocate (CotA) where she has served as a leader in several ministries, as a Vestry member, and as Senior Warden during the transition when the founding Vicar retired. She enjoyed a season as a mentor with JSC. Donya was a founder of the alumnae association for a summer camp in Tennessee, which was able to convert from a privately-held entity to a 501(c)(3), securing the future viability of the character forming outdoor education it offers. Professionally, Donya has led The Cygnal Group for over 20 years, a consulting firm focused on compensation plan design. Central to her vocation throughout her adult life, she is a mother to four young adult children who help her stay tuned in to the special opportunities and challenges of “adulting” in the 2020s.

Henry’s joining of the JSC Board arises out of his and his family’s commitment to their neighbors and larger community. A native of Oklahoma, Henry met his North Carolina-born wife Liz on an archaeological dig in Scotland. After graduate school, law school, and several moves, they adopted Durham as their hometown in 2007, joining St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and starting a family. In addition to raising their three young children, Henry and Liz are active in investing in Durham, and seeing that all of its residents are provided for and supported. Henry is a partner at Kennon Craver, PLLC, practicing as a trial attorney representing local and regional clients in both federal and state court. Henry and Liz also enjoy old movies, old buildings, and old friends.