Kodo Conlin
Kodo Conlin teaches in the Insight and Zen traditions. Ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2015, he trained for eight years in SFZC temples and served as shuso at Tassajara with Abbot David Zimmerman in 2022. He is authorized by Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella to teach in the Insight tradition of Theravāda Buddhism and has spent much of his adult life in temples, monasteries, and Dharma centers.
Kodo co-edited Warm Hand to Warm Hand, a collection of Insight essays, and currently serves as co-Managing Director at Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, CA. More at kodoconlin.com.
Contact at hello@kodoconlin.com
Eli Brown-Stevenson YUZ Lead
Greeting the world with a warm bow, Eli has spent the past decade living monastically as a resident of San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center and Tassajara temples. He is SFZC’s Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging and, as Corporate Secretary, is an ex-officio member of the Board. In his roles he contributes to conflict resolution, diversity and inclusion work, and various areas of Human Resources.
Prior to arriving at SFZC, Eli worked in the secular world, most recently for-profit education, and as a benefit liaison for employee wellness programs. After a decade of dipping his toes into various practices, he and his wife Cat decided to leave the corporate world and deep-dive into formal residential practice.
Eli’s Zen practice is greatly informed by his main teacher Maya, his daughter, who he met in 2017, the year she was born. In 2019, Eli received priest ordination from Abbot Ed Sattizhan and was given the Dharma name So-On which means Ancestor Warmth.
In addition to his work at SFZC, Eli loves to contribute his warm service to the communities around him. He offers meditation instruction at the San Francisco county jail, teaches mindfulness to BIPOC grade school children, and is also a regular teacher for SFZC's Young Urban Zen, a group for young adults.
His heart is deeply propelled by the communities he is part of.
Contact at Eli.brown-stevenson@sfzc.org
Kōgetsu Jenny Mok YUZ Lead
Kōgetsu Jenny Mok is currently the Chief Financial Officer of San Francisco Zen Center, residing at City Center in San Francisco. She has been a practitioner since the late 90s, dedicated her life to being of service and is currently in monastic training to become a priest.
After 20 years in the tech industry, Kōgetsu came to SFZC in 2019 and has lived residentially at all three temples, completing numerous practice periods at each. She lived at Green Gulch Farm for over three years, serving as Jisha for prior Abbess Fu Schroeder from whom she received Jukai (lay ordination Bodhisattva precepts) in 2021.
She has been actively involved in the 12-step recovery community for over 27 years and helps lead in BIPOC groups, DEIA outreach, Meditation and Recovery, and Young Urban Zen.
Kōgetsu enjoys sharing her many experiences, world travels, trials and tribulations with others in the spirit of love, compassion in the hopes of helping and inspiring others in their practice and life.
Contact at jenny.mok@sfzc.org
Mei Elliott
Mei Elliott is currently the Co-Managing Director of Insight Retreat Center, where she lives and practices. Mei began meditating in 2004 and entered into residential monastic training at Tassajara Zen Monastery in 2014, where she received lay ordination from Linda Galijan. She has since spent seven years training residentially at San Francisco Zen Center temples. Mei served as the organizer and lead facilitator for Young Urban Zen from 2016 to 2021 and was trained as a Right Use of Power teacher in 2018.
In addition to practicing Zen, Mei is involved in the Theravada tradition. Mei is authorized as Vipassana Dharma teacher by James Baraz, and is a participant in Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella’s four-year Dharma teacher training program through Insight Retreat Center. She graduated from Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioners Program in 2020 and has served as a mentor for Spirit Rock's family program and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education.
Contact at hello@meielliott.com
Michael McCord YUZ Lead
Sozan Michael McCord is the current President of San Francisco Zen Center, where he’s been a resident practitioner since 2009. Over the years, he’s held a number of leadership roles across the organization—including Director of City Center (Beginner’s Mind Temple) from 2019 to 2021 and Chief Financial Officer from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his practice, he served as Ino (Head of the Meditation Hall) and Tenzo (Head Cook) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.
Michael was ordained as a Zen priest by Ryushin Paul Haller in 2014. Before coming to Zen, he worked in both the technology and financial sectors. He also holds a BA in Theology from Ambassador University and spent time volunteering in Amman, Jordan, with the Ambassador Foundation, where he helped provide vocational training for individuals with developmental disabilities.
His path has woven together spiritual practice, service, and organizational leadership—grounded in a deep commitment to the teachings of Soto Zen.
Contact at michael.mccord@sfzc.org
(415) 999-7252
Zachary Smith
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai in 1995, was Shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach. In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband, a father of four, an engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
Contact at zachary.smith@sfzc.org