Here are your Board of Trustees and Your Practice Leader Biographies
Christopher Kakuyo Sensei – Founder / Trustee /Emeritus
email: sensei@saltlakebuddhist.org
The Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship was started in 2013 by Christopher Kakuyo Leibow, who served as its founder and practice leader for over twelve years before recently entering semi-retirement. Established as a trans-sectarian Buddhist community in Salt Lake City, the Fellowship was created to offer Western Buddhists a community-based expression of the Dharma where people would feel accepted just as they were.
Under his leadership, the Fellowship cultivated an environment in which individual belief was regarded as a private matter; what united the community was the teaching of the Buddha and a shared aspiration to bring healing to a wounded world. The community started with just a few stalwart members, to a community that has impacted hundreds of lives, with its “come as you are.” message of Amida Buddha.
Christopher Kakuyo Leibow also served as a lay minister with the Bright Dawn Center for Oneness Buddhism. Bright Dawn’s ministry program was led by Koyo Kubose Sensei, son and dharma heir of Gyomay Kubose Sensei, a pioneer in American Buddhism.
His professional life was notably varied, encompassing work as a dishwasher, file clerk, security officer, factory worker, psychiatric technician, and corporate trainer. He studied at the Buddhist University of Thailand and earned a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Utah, along with an MFA in Poetry from Antioch University. For many years, he was active in the downtown Salt Lake City arts community. His poetry and visual art were published internationally, and he often referred to himself, with characteristic irony, as an “internationally obscure” artist.
Sharon Aaron – Trustee
email: sharonaaronslc@hotmail.com
Sharon Fausett Aaron (Hogetsu-yo) has been involved in the Salt Lake Buddhist
Fellowship almost since its inception and has served on its Board of Trustees for
several years. Her dedication to the Fellowship has been sincere, consistent, and
ongoing.
Sharon is a co-owner of Vitalize Community Studio where the Fellowship meets. The
relationship of the Fellowship with Vitalize dates back to the early days when gatherings
were held in Sugarhouse.
A mother, grandmother (and great-grandmother), Sharon was born and raised in Utah
and is a proud graduate of the University of Utah. Her professional life has been as
varied and colorful as a rainbow.
During the 1980’s Sharon and her husband owned and operated several businesses in
Wyoming. They began with a bookstore in Fort Bridger called Kaleidoscope and later
expanded to include music offerings, a second location in Kemmerer, and eventually a
restaurant. These ventures filled an unmet need in the surrounding rural communities.
Although the work was challenging, they were never afraid of hard work and remained
busy and focused managing every aspect of their businesses themselves.
After the death of her mother in 1988, Sharon felt called to return to Utah to be closer to
her family. She and her husband packed up their belongings and horses and resettled in
Utah in search of a less hectic life. Her husband returned to truck driving as Sharon
pursued new professional opportunities, ultimately working in the technology sector for
over thirty years before retiring from corporate life.
Sharon loves to write prose, poetry, and haiku, and recently published her first book of
prose, A Simple Life – Musings from the Front Porch. As a co-owner of Vitalize Studio,
she sponsors quarterly community events such as Open Mic Night and writing
workshops. Together with her business partner she also facilitates the Open-Heart
Series, which integrates meditation and yoga.
Terry Huff – Trustee
email: thuff47@comcast.net
Born in Indianapolis and raised in Florida and the San Francisco Bay Area, Terry had an eclectic and formative beginning. In 1967, he joined the U.S. Army, flying helicopters as a Chief Warrant Officer (CW-2) with the First Air Cavalry in Vietnam, and later served as a Tactical Combat Flight Instructor upon returning to the United States. After his military service, he used the GI Bill to earn an Associate of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the College of the Redwoods, with a focus on ceramic arts.
In 1975, Terry moved to Ashland, Oregon, where he opened a home studio on a 500-acre ranch through a lease caretaking opportunity. There, he operated Siskiyou Stoneware as a ceramic artist while also raising, training, and racing endurance horses. During this period, he raised three sons, the two youngest born at home. At the turn of the millennium, circumstances led him to relocate to Salt Lake City, where he returned to school to earn a secondary art teaching degree and a K–12 Special Education credential. He was also gifted with the experience of step-parenting his daughter. He retired six years ago after a 15-year teaching career at Valley High School, working with exceptional special needs and at-risk students.
Buddhism had long been an interest, sparked by encounters with temples in Vietnam and early readings of Siddhartha and Be Here Now in the 1970s. In 2009, Terry began practicing Zen more formally and soon after became deeply involved with the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship shortly after its formation. He continues his practice there today.
Gretchen Seiyo Sensei – Trustee
email: gfaulkfoto@gmail.com
Gretchen has had a Buddhist House-holder practice and Bodhisattva devotion since 1999, becoming acquainted with local temples and centers over the years. None of them felt right until the discovery of the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship and with it; Pure Land practice. Participating since 2016, she took Refuge in 2017. She began the Bright Dawn program in 2017 and was inducted in 2019. In general, she is a devotional Buddhist rather than a philosophical one.
Her long-term avocation has always been one of spiritual exploration, participating in multiple religions. Her deep interests are Feminist Spirituality, theology, world mythology, ritual, and teaching. She has been a Dianic Wiccan Priestess since 1989 and an ECG/OTO Priestess since 2004. Most importantly she was the Founder and HPs for 14 years of The Order of Our Lady of Salt; Utah’s only open, legal Wiccan church. She had continuous involvement in administration, training, writing, and outreach. A few of her activities included participation in the Salt Lake Ministerial Association, the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, the Cherryhill Seminary Board of Directors, and Chaplaincy including as a Spiritual Services Volunteer at the Utah State Hospital.
These spiritual and administrative experiences have been utilized for the benefit of the SLBF, being an original Board of Trustees member. Gretchen’s many past encounters with religious systems give her unique non-dualist perspectives, including transitions from one belief system to another, and the non-orthodoxy of aligning with more than one spiritual tradition.
Gretchen is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, having been involved in years of Pride. This includes as an organizer the first year that Salt Lake City changed its Pride Protest March to a celebratory Pride Parade. Her representation continues with the SLBF.
In her career(s) she has been a Licensed Environmental Health Scientist with Salt Lake County, worked in Forensic DNA Identification, and for 15 years was a Hematologic Cancer Researcher; retiring in 2021. She is a published writer and accomplished in art photography. And of course, she loves building altars!
Lindsey Gale (Sayo) Trustee
Since joining the Buddhist Fellowship in 2018, Lindsey Gale has found a true spiritual home. Now, as a member of the Board of Trustees and Sangha Committee Chair, she is dedicated to giving back to the community that means so much to her. Lindsey, who holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Utah, brings her professional HR expertise and love for organization to her service. She fondly remembers the Fellowship as a sanctuary during challenging times and is committed to creating that same welcoming space for others. Originally from the Midwest but a long-time Utah resident, Lindsey enjoys traveling the world with her husband and finds deep gratitude in the dharma, the sangha, and the Buddha
Matt Wright - Trustee
Matt Wright has been a wildly imperfect student of the Dharma since 2011. He found the Sangha in 2019 and has been an active participant since. He is a psychotherapist in private practice and often uses mindfulness-based techniques with his clients. Matt has studied under several Buddhist and academic mindfulness teachers. He considers himself an “indoorsy” guy and can typically be found at home with his family, where he builds forts, jumps on trampolines, and reads obscure philosophy.
James Gale – Trustee
James Gale joined the Buddhist Fellowship in 2019 and is honored to serve as a new member of the Board of Trustees. A Utah native, born and raised in Ogden, James’s deep connection to nature was nurtured by his childhood home nestled on the mountainside, fostering a lifelong passion for hiking and the outdoors. Before joining the Fellowship, James served seven years in the US Air Force, specializing in electronics. He shares his life with his wife, two beloved dogs, and a cat, and enjoys traveling the world. James is deeply committed to the teachings of Buddhism and is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the community.
Andy Truman – Trustee
Andy Truman (he/they) has been attending the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship since 2019. Originally from West Virginia, he studied Germanic Studies with a minor in Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder, including a year at the Free University of Berlin. Having grown up in a moderately religious Methodist family, he drifted into atheism for most of his 20’s, and found the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship in the aftermath of a particularly rough breakup, finding a strong sense of connection in the practice of open sharing. Ultimately a people person, he helps run Dharma Coffee and wants to make sure that people who are new to the fellowship have a way of finding community here. For work, he helps run the online order fulfillment department at a large retail store, where he’s lucky to have the best team in the store. Aside from that, he loves spending time in the mountains, cooking and eating food with the people he cares about, and reading, mostly fiction.
PRACTICE LEADERS
Laura Bennett
Laura was first introduced to Buddhism in 2016 and has been following the path of the Buddha since about 2020. She first attended the fellowship in early 2023 and immediately felt at home. She still lived in Gainesville, FL at that time, but became a regular member of the fellowship as soon as she moved to Salt Lake City in the Summer of 2023. Laura currently works as a research assistant at the University of Utah on a study aiming to prevent delirium in hospitalized patients. She is also pursuing a Masters Degree in Divinity from Naropa University with the intention to become a Buddhist-inspired chaplain.
Rio Branham
Rio Branham was born and raised in Utah County and has been living in Salt Lake City since 2018. A dear friend invited him to visit the Fellowship in early 2023 and he has been consistently attending ever since (with bouts of inconsistency). He credits the Fellowship for being one of the main reasons he has stayed in Utah since. Rio notes that there were threads of Buddhist teachings and practice in his life for years prior to formally joining and taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and, most importantly, the Sangha. Outside of his studentship of Buddhism, Rio is a musician and lover of the outdoors. Often combining the two by finding hidden spots along Mill Creek to sit and play guitar.
Gwen Juvenal
Gwen Juvenal joined the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship during the COVID years and immediately found a home in its “come as you are” spirit. Having practiced within the Zen tradition under the guidance of Genpo Roshi, Gwen felt drawn to the Pure Land path through its everyday accessibility and its invitation to release the striving self — to meet life as it is, moment by moment.
A creative practitioner at heart, Gwen approaches the Dharma through the lenses of curiosity, imagination, and play. She sees story as a form of practice — a way of exploring how the narratives that once bound us can also become pathways to freedom. Her work as a writer, facilitator, and artist reflects this devotion to uncovering wisdom in the ordinary and to nurturing spaces where authenticity and wonder can coexist.
Outside of the Sangha, Gwen’s professional life has been as diverse as her creative spirit. She holds a BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Utah and is a published writer, artist, and facilitator whose work bridges healing and creativity. For more than two decades, she has also practiced as a licensed massage therapist, offering deeply intuitive bodywork that honors the wholeness of the person.
A loving mother of four adult children, Gwen spent many years as a single parent and often draws from that experience in her understanding of compassion, resilience, and grace. Gwen delights in the garden, in song, and in the endless possibility of beginning again.
Kelly (Kuan Sakyo) Branan
Kelly’s spiritual life has been shaped by a steady commitment to inner reflection and a deep respect for the many teachers and traditions that have guided him. Born in a small town near Snowflake, Arizona, he grew up with an intuitive sense of the sacred woven into daily life. Over time, he found a natural home in Buddhist practice, especially within Pure Land teachings and the supportive warmth of the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship sangha.
He sees himself first and always as a lifelong student, continually learning, listening, and refining his understanding of the Dharma. Kelly is currently engaged in training toward becoming a Certified Practice Leader, with a heart for sharing practice in ways that are simple, sincere, and rooted in lived experience. His aspiration is to walk alongside others on the path with humility, compassion, and a willingness to keep returning to the basics: presence, gratitude, and the shared journey toward awakening.
Kelly also enjoys creatively exploring the world around him through music, acting, drawing, mountain biking, paddle boarding, and hiking. He also enjoys the luxury of a good nap now and then.
Steve LeFevre (Rojin Genyo)
Steve is a practice leader in training whose work emphasizes lived Buddhism, deep listening, and the unfolding of wisdom in everyday life.
He studied cultural anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis in folklore and psychology, an influence that continues to shape his interest in how the Dharma is expressed through story, ritual, and ordinary human experience.
Steve’s Buddhist practice began in Vajrayāna, and over time has been informed by Zen and Pure Land–inspired practice. While not teaching within a strictly sectarian framework, his orientation is strongly influenced by Pure Land and Shin traditions, especially the teachings of Hōnen and Shinran Shōnin, and their contemporary expression through the Bright Dawn / Everyday Suchness lineage.
He practices and teaches under the guidance of Christopher Kokuyō-sensei through the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship, where emphasis is placed on sincerity, listening, gratitude, and the Dharma as lived rather than believed.
Steve’s style is invitational and reflective, encouraging practitioners to encounter awakening through everyday life—work, relationships, suffering, joy, and community. He lives and works in Utah, where practice continues to unfold in ordinary circumstances.
Kimmy Dōjinyō McNatt
Kimmy has been a part of the Sangha at Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship since 2019. her path began with a simple Google search for “Buddhism near me,” leading her, unexpectedly, to the fellowship instead of the temple they originally intended to visit. In hindsight, they are grateful their GPS guided them exactly where they needed to be.
Kimmy arrived late to their first meditation, two young children in tow. As everyone removed their shoes, her GPS loudly announced, “You have arrived.” In that moment, she knew she was home.
Though homegrown in Salt Lake City, Kimmy had long struggled to find a sense of belonging. Growing up in an atheist/agnostic family in the suburbs of Murray, Utah often left her feeling like an outsider among her peers. Living with mental health challenges and battling addiction from a young age, finding community became essential to survival.
That community was found in the Sangha. Inspired by Christopher Kakuyo Sensei and Gretchen Seiyo Sensei, Kimmy completed the Bright Dawn Way of Oneness lay ministry program in May 2025. Today, she is deeply grateful for the opportunity to support others as a fellow student and practice leader, grounded in the understanding that we are all walking each other home.