SZBA Staff & Board of Directors
Kigen Anna Breckenridge
(Operations Director) Oakland, California
As a longtime lay practitioner, Anna was drawn to her current position at the SZBA by the opportunity to serve Soto Zen Buddhist priests and their communities. She is a member of Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center and enjoys visiting surrounding practice centers. She was ordained by Keido Les Kaye in October 2023. Her current interests include gardening, cooking, and expanding access and equity in Soto Zen practice.
Jiko
(Program Coordinator) Georgia
In 2019, Jiko became a formal member of the Zen Buddhist community. She has a diverse professional background in program management, research coordination, data analysis, and corporate learning, with expertise in health care, public health, educational technology, and event planning. Jiko joined the team at the Soto Zen Buddhist Association to create engaging programs that enrich the learning experiences of the community. An avid baseball fan, Jiko loves fishing, taking long walks, writing, and traveling.
Steven Tierney (Kai Po Koshin)
President & Interim Treasurer
Steven Tierney (Kai Po Koshin) is a Dharma transmitted teacher in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. Steven is the guiding teacher at Oceans Compassion Zen Community, Meditation in Recovery Sangha at SFZC and the SFLGBTQA+ Sangha. He also practices with Hartford Street Zen Center and the Sellwood Soto Zen Community. Steven believes that we can find wisdom, compassion and awakening wherever good people come together for practice, healing, service and joy.
Dr. Tierney is a psychotherapist in private practice and Professor Emeritus in Counseling Psychology at CIIS. He has been integrating meditation, mindfulness, and breath-based wellness initiatives since 1995. For further information: steventierneysf@gmail.com
Rakugo Castaldo
Vice President
Rakugo is a Soto Zen priest at Soji Zen Center, in the White Plum lineage, in Lansdowne, PA. She began studying with Shuzen Harris, abbot of Soji, in 2011. She teaches English at Widener University in Chester PA. She previously served as the chair of the SZBA DEIA Committee and currently leads the SZBA Priests with Disabilities affinity group. She loves Shakespeare, cats, and chocolate in equal measure.
Keido Toby Rider
Secretary
Keido Toby Rider is a Senior Cybersecurity Architect at American Honda Motors with an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Dallas and a BS in Technical Communication from Texas Tech University. With expertise in technology, organizational management, finance, and community outreach, he blends technical skill with leadership in both professional and spiritual contexts.
Keido’s spiritual journey began in the 1970s in Tainan, Taiwan, inspired by his grandmother, Venerable Eun Xiang, one of the first women to receive full ordination in Taiwanese Ch’an Buddhism. His early experiences with meditation and ritual instilled a lifelong practice of mindfulness, guiding him through personal and professional life.
He practices at the Zen Center of Los Angeles/Bushinji Temple (Taizen Maezumi Lineage), studying koans under Sensei Kaigen Levy and receiving ordination guidance from Tokudo preceptor Sensei Jitsujo Gauthier. Through decades of disciplined practice, community engagement, and study, Keido integrates Zen principles into everyday life, viewing service and mindfulness as intertwined paths.
Seidō David Sarpal
Seidō David Sarpal is a Novice Priest ordained in 2022 by rev. Inryu Bobbi Poncé-Barger in the Suzuki Roshi lineage and serving at All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington, D.C.. With a background in business, Seidō currently works at a K-12 independent school, also in Washington. Fluent in English, Spanish, and French, he holds a BA from Vassar College and an MBA from the University of Maryland. He is also the proud father of two sons, Milo and Nathan, ages 22 and 16, respectively.
Dharma-Joy Reichert
Rev. Tom Baiten Dharma-Joy Reichert is the Abbot and Head Priest at Zen Center of Los Angeles/Busshin-ji in Los Angeles, California. He began his studies at ZCLA in 1999, was ordained as a novice priest in 2010, received Denkai in 2019 and Denbo in 2022, all from Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao. He was appointed as Head Priest in 2022, and became ZCLA's fifth abbot in 2023. He lives on ZCLA's campus with his husband, Don, as well as their dog and cat.
Parallel to his Zen training, Dharma-Joy had a career as an attorney in private practice in Los Angeles for over 30 years, where his practice focused on business litigation and white collar criminal defense.
Ryūki Tom Hawkins
Ryūki Tom Hawkins is a Sōtō Zen priest serving the sangha at Kojin-an/Oakland Zen Center. He began Sōtō Zen practice in the mid-1990s, and ordained as a priest in 2019 under Rev. Gengo Akiba, Roshi. He completed monastic training at Tōshōji monastery in Japan from 2022–2023, under the auspices of the Sōtō-shu. Ryūki served as shuso during the 2024 ango at Kojin-an and received dharma transmission from Akiba Roshi in 2025. Rev. Hawkins also holds an M.Div. from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, with a focus on Sōtō Zen studies. He has served in various governance roles including with the Tenpyozan Project and SZBA, and brings a background in landscape architecture (MLA, University of Virginia,1992) and community stewardship to his leadership. Ryūki and his spouse, John, also cultivate a small olive farm at their home in Modesto, California.
Shoshin Cynthia Ziegler (Shoshin Kosei)
Reverend Cynthia Ziegler, Shoshin Kosei, a Dharma heir in the Suzuki Roshi lineage has practiced in the Soto Zen Tradition since the 1990's. Shoshin was a resident of San Francisco Zen Center from 2011-2015 where she was an active member of SFZC's Meditation and Recovery program.. She received priest ordination in 2017 from Ryotan Cynthia Kear, a dharma heir of Surei Darlene Cohen at Jikoji Zen Center in 2017. In 2021 Shoshin served as Shuso Oak St. Zendo. In 2022 she received Dharma Transmission from Reverend Peter van der Sterre, ShiShin, EnSho, a dharma heir of Zoketsu Norman Fischer. For the past 3 years, Cynthia has acted as President of the Board and Co-founder of Sellwood Soto Zen in Portland Oregon. In addition, she leads a Women's Meditation and Recovery Group that meets monthly.
Cynthia holds a Master's degree in Library and Information Studies and has worked in Library Research for over 40 years. She is currently employed as a Legal Researcher for the firm of Fisher Phillips.
She is grateful to be able to humbly offer Buddha’s teachings and to help others to awaken to the present moment. She is motivated to create a safe and nurturing space for all who want to explore freedom from suffering through the Dharma.
Myogen Kathryn Stark
Reverend Myogen Kathryn Stark, MA, MDiv., a Dharma heir in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, has practiced in the Soto Zen tradition since 1990, beginning at Monterey and Santa Cruz Zen Centers. She received priest ordination in 2003 from Abbess Sobun Katherine Thanas and dharma transmission in 2013 from Shosan Victoria Austin, a Dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. She holds Master of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees in Buddhist studies with a specialty in Buddhist chaplaincy from the Graduate Theological Union and Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. For the past 14 years, she has been working as a hospice chaplain. In 2016, she started and is the guiding teacher for a sitting group in Sonoma, California: Sonoma Valley Zen. She finds it an honor, a privilege, and a source of great joy to mentor and encourage others who wish to study and practice the Bodhisattva Way in the tradition of Soto Zen.
Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts
Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, Roshi LCSW, LMFT, MBA is a teacher in the White Plum lineage. She studied with Roshi Bernie Glassman, Roshi Taizan Maezumi and received Dharma Transmission from Roshi Nicolee Jikyo Miller in 2004. She founded and is now Abbot of Heart Circle Zen in New Jersey. She has been teaching Healthy Boundaries for Buddhist Leaders from the inception of the course.
She is also a psychotherapist in private practice where she specializes in trauma and family therapy. She has published chapters and articles on Zen practice and psychotherapy in various publications.
She received two awards for Outstanding Women in Buddhism for her work in Sri Lanka following the tsunami of 2004. She is also a wife, mother, grandmother of five and a hiker and kayaker. Roshi Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts lives in Tiburon, CA now.
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