Board of Directors
Pathways is actively seeking new board members to contribute to our crucial work of creating supportive and caring environments for individuals facing mental health challenges and those who support them. We are specifically seeking candidates with expertise in areas such as legal, financial, fundraising, PR/marketing, governance, educational leadership, and nonprofit experience. Board membership presents a unique opportunity to serve faith communities and other organizations in making a positive impact in our nationwide efforts.
Interested in serving on our board? Click to Read More
Mark Stephenson
Interim executive director/board President
Rev. Mark Stephenson My journey has given me a big heart for the mental health challenges that we all face, and it has given me great joy to serve on the board of Pathways to Promise since 2006 in our mission to connect mental health, faith, and culture. I am passionate about my faith, and the ways faith commitments and faith communities can help people with mental health challenges flourish. Like the undertow along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, anxiety pulled at me and sometimes threatened me throughout my life. For much of my life, I tried to deny its existence, and once I was fully aware of its presence, I tried to eliminate it, but that was impossible. In recent years, I have finally learned that, like the common presence of undertow and rip currents in Lake Michigan, I need to make peace with my anxiety and live with it in my journey with family, friends, and fellow believers. Taking the Enneagram a few years ago helped me immensely in this regard. (I am an Enneagram 6.) I was ordained as a Minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed denomination in 1989 and served as pastor of two congregations for 17 years. I recently retired after serving another 16 years as a leader of Christian Reformed denominational ministries, primarily Disability Concerns, helping congregations engage healthily with people with disabilities and mental health challenges. Early on, I coined Disability Concerns’s tagline “Everybody belongs. Everybody serves.” to describe in a few words what that healthy engagement looks like. Having a heart for people at the margins, I also served as interim director of my denomination’s ministries of race relations, social justice, and chaplaincy. I have two advanced theological degrees, and have two units of training in Clinical Pastoral Education. I am a certified Companionship workshop leader, serve various volunteer roles in my local multicultural congregation, serve my denomination as a facilitator for Race Relations training events, and am a Sandan (third degree black belt) in Shorin Ryu karate. My wife and I have lived in west Michigan most of our lives. We have five living children, and one child who passed away. Our oldest daughter lives joyfully with severe, multiple disabilities, and we adopted our youngest child when he was 19 years old. Two of our children are married, and we take great delight in our three grandsons.
Doug Beach
Vice President
Doug Beach is the parent of an adult son living with a mental health diagnosis. He is the President of NAMI San Antonio, a NAMI Family to Family Instructor and leads a Family Support Group for families impacted by a mental illness. In 2016 Doug helped launch PATHWAYS TO HOPE, a conference for mental health professionals, social workers, educators, law enforcement, family members and people living with a mental health diagnosis. After the 2020 Pathways to Hope Conference, Doug led the formation of the Bridges to Care San Antonio initiative in conjunction with the COSA Dept. of Human Services. Doug serves as the Chairperson of NAMI FaithNet, an advisory group to NAMI national to assist NAMI affiliates in outreach to faith communities. Doug is also a member of the twelve person CEO Taskforce for the NAMI national CEO. Doug is also the past Chairperson and current Member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee (BHAC) of the Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services and is the Chair of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the local LMHA, the Center For Health Care Services. He is also the Co-Chair of the Bexar County Task Force on Mental Health and Criminal Justice.
Sam/Suzanne Martinez
Suzanne Martinez is Coordinator for Congregational Outreach and Hispanic Liaison, for the Office for Government and Community Relations for Good Shepherd Hospital, Condell Medical Center, and Sherman Hospitals, all now part of Advocate Health Care. Suzanne’s primary role is to coordinate and supervise the northern region faith community’s health ministry, including educational seminars, health screenings, and other wellness and social determinant initiatives. Over her 16 years with Advocate, Suzanne has successfully developed and maintained high-impact programs in the areas of Lake, Cook and McHenry Counties. Her outreach initiatives target specific issues such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular health, mental health, and drug use prevention programs. Suzanne's evolving roster of programs continually and effectively promotes the health of body, mind, and spirit—a "holistic" approach to caring for the whole person. These dynamic events have been instrumental to elevating the awareness of unique health issues, through the context of local churches and congregations, while also promoting lifestyle changes for improved health outcomes of current and future generations.
Rev. Lisa Heffernan
Rev. Lisa Heffernan serves as the coordinator for Disability Ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and as the campus pastor at the Luther Center at the University of South Dakota-Vermillion. Lisa was born with spina bifida and is a full-time wheelchair user. She is a Concordia College alum (’09, B.A. in Religion, minor is English Literature) and Wartburg Theological Seminary (’13,M.Div.), and is currently enrolled as a Doctor of Ministry student in Disability Ministry and Theology at Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Outside of her work, Lisa is close with her family (sibling Tom and mother Kathy) and friends (including her “goofy gremlin” cat, Sayler). She loves all things “The Lord of the Rings” and Irish traditional music, thanks in large part to her late father, Steve—her favorite Irish man and English teacher.
Dr. Sherri Session
Dr. Sherri Session is a preacher, teacher, chaplain, group facilitator, and Companionship trainer. Sherri has spent her career working to improve outcomes for others. She first worked with programs that helped at-risk students access and succeed in postsecondary education programs and transition to working with organizations that seek to build the capacity of congregations to live out their call. Sherri currently works as a Project Coordinator for IU Health Spiritual Care. She has also worked as a resource consultant for the Center for Congregations and facilitated pastoral care training for congregations throughout Central Indiana. Sherri is an ordained deacon and minister at Progressive Baptist Church in Indianapolis, where she has served in several capacities, including Executive Minister. Sherri earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Purdue University, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry from Christian Theological Seminary.