Note from the PIMC Board: Next steps on teacher leadership (May 18, 2026)
Hello Portland Insight Meditation Center friends,
We here on the board of directors at PIMC would like to take a moment to update you on our vision for the continued evolution of the PIMC teaching structure. This is important work we are undertaking with community input and involvement top of mind.
As most of you likely remember, in late 2025 we launched a Teacher Leadership Committee made up of Sangha members (some on the board, some not) to get a sense of the community's thoughts and desires around a future teaching structure. Via a community survey and individual consultations, the Teacher Leadership Committee heard loud and clear that PIMC practitioners would like to see multiple skilled and engaging voices working together to shape PIMC teaching, as opposed to the single Guiding Teacher structure of the past.
We on the board have spent a good deal of time considering how best to put this type of framework into action at PIMC, and we have arrived at a concept we are calling the Multiple Lead Teacher Model.
In this structure, we envision two or more Lead Teachers on salary at PIMC. They would work together to refine the "Dharma voice" of the organization, regularly teaching on Sundays as well as leading daylong retreats and classes, providing Dharma consultations with students, and developing other offerings.
The Lead Teachers, reporting to the board, would also coordinate PIMC teachers who are not Lead Teachers as well as guest teachers, with the goal of offering the Sangha an engaging mix of styles and identities to help bring the Dharma to practitioners in a multifaceted yet cohesive manner.
We also recognize that fully manifesting the Multiple Lead Teacher Model will take time. Thanks to the Sangha’s tremendous support, we have successfully regained financial stability and have added much-needed administrative systems and structures. But we still are not at a point where we can hire multiple high-level Dharma teachers at once.
However, we do feel like the time is right to begin moving toward our vision in a tangible, meaningful way – and that's where we have some exciting news.
We would like to officially recommend to the Sangha that Alexa Redner be named our first Lead Teacher, with the understanding that more Lead Teachers will be added as PIMC continues to grow in the months and years ahead.
Alexa has regularly served as a guest teacher at PIMC over the past 15 months and has also stepped in to lead our thriving Tuesday Night Women's Sangha. The clarity and creativity with which she expresses the Dharma has been truly impressive, and we have received a steady stream of positive feedback from the community. Strong attendance numbers for Alexa’s Sunday appearances, classes and daylongs underscore the nature with which she has resonated with the PIMC community. Recordings of several of her PIMC talks can be viewed on YouTube, including The Wise View, Guided Meditation: Energy Body, and The Buddha's Four Wise Efforts.
But while we on the board unanimously support bringing Alexa on staff in this capacity, we also want to make sure the community as a whole has a voice in this critical decision.
Starting today, we are opening an online feedback form, allowing members of the Sangha to provide comments and ask questions about Alexa as a teacher as well as the Multiple Lead Teacher Model we have envisioned.
Further, on Saturday, June 13, we invite you to join us in-person at PIMC or online via Zoom for a special morning of practice and conversation with Alexa and board members, from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific. We’ll start with a period of meditation, and then we’ll provide ample time for Alexa to discuss her background and answer any questions you have about her teaching approach and the future of PIMC.
Our feedback form will remain open until the end of June, at which point the board will digest all comments received and determine the next steps on Lead Teacher hiring.
We cannot fully express how grateful we are to move through this process alongside each one of you. Our 2025 end-of-year fundraiser was focused on building the financial capacity to begin to build the teaching structure of the future. The Sangha responded with tremendous energy and generosity, and we are now well-situated as an organization to move from aspirations to action.
Thank you for being on this journey with us and for helping PIMC continue to be a place where the Dharma can thrive and the teachings available to all.
Sincerely,
The PIMC Board
(Maggie Donahue, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Dan Leif, Susan Nosacka and Karen O’Dell)
Follow Up on June 1
Note From the PIMC Board: More details for June 13
Hello PIMC Sangha,
As we wrote to you a couple weeks back, we’re excited to invite everyone to a community gathering in-person and online on Saturday, June 13. The event will give us an opportunity for open conversation about the Board’s vision for evolving the teaching structure at PIMC and our recommendation to hire Alexa Redner as the first member of our Lead Teacher team.
We’re following up today with more details on the schedule and format for that meeting, which is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific on the 13th.
We’ll plan to start the morning with 20 minutes of silent meditation to ground ourselves in a community of practice. Members of the PIMC Board will then offer an overview of the Multiple Lead Teacher Model we are proposing to develop, and we’ll discuss why Alexa Redner has been recommended by us for a Lead Teacher role.
From there, Board Chair Dan Leif will moderate a Q&A with Alexa to give community members a better understanding of her training, teaching experience and Dharma aspirations moving into the future. After the Q&A period wraps up, Alexa will depart the meeting, giving the Sangha an opportunity for open dialogue and additional Q&A with Board members.
To help us make the best use of time and ensure we’re covering the topics most important to community members, we request that you RSVP and note any specific questions you’d like brought into the conversation. And if you haven’t yet, consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our wider feedback form on the Multiple Lead Teacher model and hiring (this will remain open through the end of June).
Finally, after further reflection and conversation, we’ve decided not to hold a potluck as part of the June 13 gathering. We think it makes the most sense to keep the day’s conversation inside the bounds of the formal community meeting (and to not ask folks to give up an even bigger chunk of their Saturday!).
Thank you to the many individuals who have already filled out the feedback form and shared their thoughts in conversations with Board members. Your input is critical to our collective decision-making process.
We look forward to seeing many of you in-person and online on June 13.
Sincerely,
The PIMC Board
(Maggie Donahue, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Dan Leif, Susan Nosacka and Karen O’Dell)