Board
Susan Rae-Reeves, Board Chair
Susan was born in Lewiston, Maine, grew up in Auburn, and attended local public schools. Growing up in Auburn, Susan saw the closing of Lewiston shoe shops and textile mills that had employed her parents as they moved overseas and to southern states. As a “townie” on scholarship at Bates College, she gained a vivid experience of her working class roots alongside a theoretical understanding of class. Campus life introduced her to Black people beyond the one Auburn family she’d known in the local schools. A Bates short-term course titled Religion and the Secular City was an intro to NYC, which became home for 35 years.
After studying at Union Theological Seminary, she stumbled into fundraising with several community based organizations and earned an MSW at Hunter School of Social Work. The connector with RJIM dates to 2008, taking the Undoing Racism Workshop of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and joining their organizing efforts in the City. After a stint at The Bridge, connecting and coordinating care for adults living with serious mental illness in The Bronx, Susan returned to Maine in 2014, settling in Topsham with her spouse and 5 rescue animals. She is active in local town matters and the larger community, working for a more just and equitable society.
Milo Lockaby, Board Vice Chair
Milo Lockaby, MSW JD is a human rights advocate - believing that everyone everywhere has the right to be, to belong and to become what they choose to be.
For over 40 years he has worked for economic and social justice in many settings across the world including Africa and 17 US states as a RJ practitioner, mediator, university profesor and trial attorney/wholistic lawyer. As a practitioner, he has personally supported hundreds of people in conflict situations to make better informed choices both in and out of courtrooms. As a teacher he has trained dozens of social workers, medical and legal professionals and community members in mediation and RJ principals. One of his first experiences in RJ was about 15 years ago as chairperson of a youth diversion circle in the community where he lived.
He’s founded both a law firm and healing arts center where he learned and then trained others in embodied social justice advocacy. Bringing this embodied approach into practice to better serve people navigating conflict is the thread that ties his career together.
He’s been a leader in many local community organizations, statewide advocacy groups and international projects and been recognized for his contributions by various organizations including the United Nations.
Currently his priority is the joys and responsibilities of being a grandfather.
Carl Steidel, Board Treasurer
Carl joined the RJIM Board as Treasurer in December 2020. Carl was previously involved with RJIM as a part-time facilitator starting in 2016.
Carl is currently serving as Interim Director of Community Standards & Conflict Resolution at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Prior to coming to Berklee, Carl worked at the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University, providing training and coaching to schools and colleges in restorative justice. Before Suffolk University, Carl served students for ten years at Bates College, finishing his time there as a Senior Associate Dean of Students.
Carl received his undergraduate degree in music education from Susquehanna University and has a master’s degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he worked in residence life at Elmira College and in the West Campus House System at Cornell University.
Anna Cox, Board Secretary
Anna graduated from Bowdoin College in May of 2024, where she majored in Economics and minored in Visual Arts. She was honored to give the Greetings from Maine remarks during her commencement, which welcomed family and friends from out of state to her home and happy place—Maine.
Anna was first introduced to the teachings of Restorative Justice during her work with students in The Office of Residential Life at Bowdoin. Anna joined the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine in June of 2024 and stepped into the role of Secretary in December of 2024. Anna is thankful that her work with the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine has given her an opportunity to continue her learning in Restorative Justice practices in her post-graduate life.