Kodo Conlin YUZ Lead

Kodo Conlin has practiced Buddhist meditation for nearly 20 years. He has trained in both the Zen and Theravada traditions, ordaining as a Soto Zen priest in 2015. Kodo served as shuso (head monk) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 2022. A participant in the 2021-2025 Insight Meditation Center Teacher Training with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella, Kodo's training in Zen & Vipassana has included extended residential training at Tassajara, SFZC’s City Center, at Dhamma Siri in the tradition of S.N. Goenka, as well as long retreat at Spirit Rock and Insight Retreat Center. Kodo's teaching emphasizes a joyful, comprehensive freedom of the heart—liberation—available through the Buddhist path. — More talks from Kodo on a variety of Dharma topics available here.

Eli Brown-Stevenson

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.

Heather Shoren Iarusso

Heather Shoren Iarusso first moved to Tassajara in June 2008 thinking she’d stay for six months. Her spiritual sabbatical morphed into a way of life, residing amid the peace and beauty of the monastic valley for seven years aggregate. Heather was ordained as a Zen Priest in October 2015 by Teah Strozer, who served as the guiding teacher for Brooklyn Zen Center (BZC) for many years. Heather worked at BZC for two years as the Ino (Head of Meditation Hall), program director, communications coordinator, and the interim executive director. Heather has served in various practice roles at Tassajara including the Ino, Tenzo (Head Cook), Shika (Guest Manager), and the Shuso (Head Student) with Senior Dharma Teacher Paul Haller. She’s completed twelve, 90-day practice periods at Tassajara and has also participated in meditation intensives with Pema Chodron, Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, Shohaku Okumura Roshi, and Shodo Harada Roshi. Heather holds master’s degrees in communications, creative writing, and English literature. She’s currently the director and head of practice for San Francisco Zen Center’s online practice center.

Mei Elliott

Mei Elliott is currently the director of San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center temple, 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.

Michael McCord

Sozan Michael McCord has lived and worked at San Francisco Zen Center since 2009, and served as Ino (Head of Meditation Hall) and Tenzo (Head Cook) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He was ordained as a Zen priest by Ryushin Paul Haller in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki in 2014. Michael holds a BA in Theology from Ambassador University and worked as a volunteer for their non-profit Ambassador Foundation in Amman, Jordan, doing vocational training for mentally challenged individuals. He had careers in the technology and financial sectors before coming to Zen practice. He was the Director of City Center/Beginner's Mind Temple from 2019 – 2021 and is currently the CFO of San Francisco Zen Center.

Myles Cowherd

Myles Cowherd began sitting regularly with Dharma Punx and sat longer retreats at Spirit Rock. Then the year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program service work changed his life. After a layoff saw him leave the corporate world in 2013, Myles took a year to see his daughter off to college and moved into San Francisco Zen Center. Since then, he received lay initiation in Belfast at Black Mountain Zen Centre and was priest ordained at Beginner's Mind Temple with his teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. Myles is the Director of Donor Relations at San Francisco Zen Center, maintaining the community's connection to how practice feels and heals the world.

Nancy Petrin

Horin Nancy Petrin began Zen practice in 1996 through the Organic Farm and Garden Apprenticeship at Green Gulch Farm, where she lived and practiced for nine years. She served as head student (shuso) with City Center Abiding Abbot Ed Sattizahn in the fall of 2014. She resides at San Francisco Zen Center with her partner. Having raised her young-adult daughter in the Bay Area, Zen, and Waldorf communities, Nancy is especially enjoying her work with new parents as a postpartum and night doula.

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.