Incorporated in 1982 in California, the CST emerged after the CoS 'great renaming', which saw the Church's original family of corporate and administrative bodies thrown into organizational chaos in the aftermath of the Snow White raids. When the dust settled, David Miscavige had installed himself as president of Religious Technology Center (RTC), the regulatory body that today oversees the activities and finances of all lesser CoS entities, and enforces the proper use of the Tech, the 'heart' of the religious facet of scientology.
As mentioned previously, it is from the CST that RTC derives the bulk of its power. According to LRH's own will, the CST maintains ultimate authority over the RTC, simply due to its power to rescind the licence that gives RTC carte blanche to use, enforce and restrict its copyrighted material.
CST was founded by a mysterious group of individuals, only one of whom, Lyman Spurlock, with a name easily recognized by those familiar with the CoS power structure. The other founders were all non-scientologist lawyers: Sherman Lenske, Leon Mistarek and Meade Emory. Lenske is also the Agent of the CST.
In 1982, Spurlock was the president and CEO of CST, a position he no longer holds; the other officials on the board were Leo Johnson (Secretary) and Nancy O'Meara (Chief Financial Officer). CST also boasted on its original corporate roster three trustees, Terri Gamboa, Greg Wilhere and Marion Meisler. All three were veterans of the 1982 putsch, with roots in other corporate entities, including Author Services Inc., Church of Scientology International, and the ill-fated Church of Scientology of California, victim of an internal structural pruning after being found liable in the infamous Wollersheim case.
In the early 1990s, CST fought a long and ultimately doomed battle with the IRS, which had denied the CoS the coveted tax-exempt status which it later achieved through extraordinary channels. Although the CST's fight was unsuccessful on paper, it did achieve tax exempt status as part of the far-reaching and unprecedented tax agreement reached by the organization itself in the fall of 1993. The court case between the IRS and the CST does, however, provide an excellent overview of the history and then-current corporate structure of the CST as of 1992, although it is not known what, if anything, may have changed in the years since the case concluded. The CST, like all scientology corporations, is also a member of the Church Tax Compliance Committee, formed under the terms of the IRS agreement.
Profile of the Church of Spiritual Technology, circa 1992
(All notes from court decision, CST vs. IRS)Executive Directors Special Directors
TrusteesCST Executive and directorsPresident Lyman Spurlock "Lyman Spurlock is the President of CST, one of its directors, and one of its Trustees. He is also a trustee of RTC. As trustee, Spurlock has authority to elect and remove the directors who run RTC. Thus, Spurlock has the ability to influence RTC's activities. Spurlock was given a general power of attorney by LRH on March 12, 1984, as his personal employee."
Vice President Dan Przybylski "Dan Przybylski is Vice President of CST and one of its Directors. He has been an employee of CSC, CSI, and RTC."Secretary Leo Johnson "Leo Johnson is Secretary of CST. Previously he had been an employee of CSC."Treasurer Nancy O'Meara "Nancy O'Meara is the Treasurer of CST. She had been successively employed by various Scientology organizations."DirectorsNotes "The General Directors (the governing body) must be in good standing with the mother church. Staff members are required to be members of the Sea Org. "Lyman Spurlock Dan PrzybylskiSpecial DirectorsNotes Mr. Lenske and two other non-Scientologists have the status of Special Directors of CST. The Articles of Incorporation require that CST have three such Special Directors, and further requires that they be lawyers in order to ensure that CST takes no action to jeopardize its tax-exempt status.Sherman Lenske The names of the other two non-scientologist Special Directors are not given in the decision; it does not seem outside the realm of possibility, however, that the positions were filled by the other two CST founders, Leon Mistarek and Meade Emory, TrusteesNotes:
"Trustees of the organization are required to have been Scientologists for at least eight years, and must be highly trained in the teachings and technology of Scientology. CST trustees are also required to remain actively involved in giving and receiving Scientology services. They must also participate in at least twelve and one half hours of training per week."Lyman Spurlock (see above)Terri Gamboa "Terri Gamboa is a trustee of CST. She was also at the same time a Director, the President, and a shareholder of Author Services, Inc.
("ASI"), a Scientology organization. She had formerly been an employee of CSC and of LRH personally."Greg Wilhere "Gregory Wilhere, a trustee of CST, was also formerly an employee of the Founding Church of Scientology, CSC, the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization and an Australian Scientology organization."Marion Meisler "Marion Meisler is a trustee of CST. She was at the same time an employee of ASI, and had previously been employed by CSC, a United Kingdom Scientology organization, and an Australian Scientology organization."
Dan PrzybylskiSpecial DirectorsNotes Mr. Lenske and two other non-Scientologists have the status of Special Directors of CST. The Articles of Incorporation require that CST have three such Special Directors, and further requires that they be lawyers in order to ensure that CST takes no action to jeopardize its tax-exempt status.Sherman Lenske The names of the other two non-scientologist Special Directors are not given in the decision; it does not seem outside the realm of possibility, however, that the positions were filled by the other two CST founders, Leon Mistarek and Meade Emory