Ari practices employment and higher education law as a partner at Hirsch Roberts Weinstein in Boston. In this role, Ari advises organizations on how to avoid employee conflict and minimize the risk of litigation. Ari also represents businesses and non-profits, including colleges and universities, in state and federal court. In addition, Ari serves as an investigator of claims of workplace misconduct and allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment on university campus. Ari frequently presents and writes about anti-discrimination laws and workplace issues, with a special focus on the creation of inclusive and equitable workplaces for LGBTQ+ employees. Ari has served as a Board member for the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and chaired the organization’s Committee on Transgender Inclusion.
Ari graduated from Tufts University and received her law degree from Boston University. Before law school, Ari worked for campus Hillels at UCLA and Tufts University. Along with her wife, Suzanne, and daughter, Eleanor, Ari is an active member of Temple Shalom in Medford, MA. Ari is passionate about the outdoors, books, biking, and dogs.
Tamar Prager is a mother, wife, percussionist, and outdoor enthusiast living in Westchester, New York. She comes from a background in health care with years of service in public health and clinical nursing. Tamar founded a consulting business in 2020 called Tamar Prager, teaching people how to radically transform their relationship to their possessions, so they can access freedom and joy in their everyday lives. She received her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and her MPH, RN, and NP degrees from Columbia University. Tamar is still active in the public health sphere volunteering in her community to help design community protocols pertaining to the current pandemic. In the past two decades since coming out, she has spoken in synagogues, support groups, and non-profit Jewish organizations with the aim of cultivating awareness about the intersectionality between Jewish and queer worlds. Tamar’s published articles have been featured in print and online publications. In 2006, she wrote the feature article for Lilith magazine entitled “Coming Out in the Orthodox Community.”
Nathan Render has worked in the Jewish, foundation, non-profit, and innovation communities for the past several years. He currently works at Mockingbird, a premium direct-to-consumer baby gear company, leading their Customer Experience team. Previously, he worked at CIC, one of the largest clusters of start-ups in the world and whose mission is to fix the world through innovation. At CIC, he managed strategic initiatives for the CEO and served as Director of Operations CIC’s sister non-profit organization, Venture Café, dedicated to connecting innovators to make things happen.
Nathan began his career as the Bronfman Fellow at Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life in Washington, DC and later worked at the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, a family foundation committed to helping people get along better. Most recently, he managed training for the northeast region of EverFi, an education technology company focusing on cultivating critical skills from financial literacy to critical thinking. He received his B.A. from Tufts University in Anthropology and Child Development. He currently serves on the board of the Columbus JCC and on the Executive Board of Temple Israel, Columbus. Nathan lives in Columbus, Ohio with his husband Tal, and their daughters Orly and Naomi.
Idit is a national leader for social justice with more than 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector. Since 2001, she has served as the leader of Keshet, the national organization for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life. Idit built Keshet from a local organization with an annual budget of $42,000 to a national organization with a five million dollar budget and offices in six states. Under her leadership, Keshet has supported tens of thousands of rabbis, educators, and other Jewish leaders to make LGBTQ equality a communal value and moral imperative. Idit also spearheaded the creation of leadership development programs for queer Jewish teens and mobilized Jewish communities nationwide to join the fight for LGBTQ rights. In addition, she served as the executive producer of Keshet’s documentary film, “Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School.”
Prior to leading Keshet, Idit was a leader in the LGBTQ community in Israel and helped envision the Jerusalem Open House. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, Idit earned her Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice education. She serves on the boards of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable and the Safety Respect Equity Network. Idit publishes frequently in the Jewish and LGBTQ press and has been honored by Jewish Women International, the Jewish Women’s Archive, Mayyim Hayyim, Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership, and the Forward as one of its ‘Forward 50,’ a list of American Jews who have made enduring contributions to public life. She lives in Boston with her family.
Angel (he/him) founded Mapp Consulting, a consultancy that partners with organizations to optimize their potential. Previously, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Repair the World and the Senior Director of Operations for the Jews of Color Initiative, where he worked to advance racial equity in the US Jewish community. With over a decade of experience as a nonprofit executive, Angel has a proven track record of scaling nonprofits and implementing strategic plans, capital campaigns, and marketing strategies.
Angel studied Business Administration at St. Mary’s College of California and Graphic Design at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. He currently serves on the board of directors of Keshet, JPro, and SVARA. Angel resides in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles with his wife, Danielle Natelson, and on Fridays, you can find him baking challah in the kitchen.
Alyx, born and raised in London (and a proud adopted New Yorker), is a Program Associate at The Jewish Education Project, where she supports Jewish educators across the country. She is a recent alumna of Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she received two Bachelor’s Degrees in Comparative Literature and Talmud, and she is also a former fellow at Yeshivat Hadar. Her writing can be found on SVARA’s Hot Off the Shtender blog, JGirls+ Magazine, the Columbia Current, and Tablet.
Alyx is an alumna and leader of Keshet’s LGBTQ and Ally Teen Shabbatonim and was the co-chair of the first-ever Keshet Women and Girls Shabbaton. As part of SVARA’s Trans Halakha Project, she authored “The Androgynos in the Laws of Milah & Niddah,” a groundbreaking halakhic paper with new approaches to trans halakhah. Outside of her work, writing, and learning, she enjoys good iced coffee, fantasy epics, and feel-good comedy TV shows.
Amy Born has worked in the field of organizational psychology and organizational development for over 15 years. She currently serves as Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Leading Edge and is affiliated with two consulting firms, one focuses on the corporate and government sectors and the other focuses on leadership in public education. In the past Amy was the Director of Talent Acquisition and Development for City Year, a consultant in the Leadership and Talent practice at Hay Group (now Korn Ferry Hay Group), and she started her career as a fellow at Hillel International. She has served on the boards of Hillel International and Joshua Venture Group and is currently a member of the Jewish Studio Project board. Amy has a Master’s Degree in Social and Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology and Theatre from Washington University in St. Louis.
Alan Cohen has worked for more than 25 years in the international and domestic non-profit, foundation, and corporate social responsibility sectors. Alan currently serves as the chief program officer at JASA. In the past, Alan served as the chief of staff at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC); the director of global corporate social responsibility at Henry Schein, Inc., a Fortune 500® company; as the senior director for strategic planning and organizational resources at UJA-Federation of New York; and as a program officer for JDC’s Former Soviet Union Team. Alan is also on the board of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel. Alan graduated from Brandeis University Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, having studied politics and Russian language and literature. After graduating, Alan was awarded the Dorot Fellowship in Israel and spent five years living in Jerusalem. He received a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Columbia University. Alan participated in the Selah Leadership Program for a national cohort of social justice leaders and received AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps’s Partner in Justice Award. Alan lives in New York City with his husband, Robert Bank.
Bennett Decker is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a student at the Joint Program between the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University where he received dual BAs Political Science and Talmud. Bennett currently combines his desire to make the world a more just place and Judaism during his day job at T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.
Bennett got involved with Keshet for the first time as a participant on the Keshet Teen Shabbaton during his senior year in High School. Since then, Keshet has helped him to find queer Jews to be thought partners, teachers, justice-seekers, and friends together in unique community with. He has also fallen in love with the work that Keshet does, particularly for teens and youth; helping Queer Jews unite those two parts of their identity that Bennett feels are the two most essential parts of his.
Johanna is a strategic Human Resources leader with expertise in diversity, equity & inclusion, strategic planning, employee relations, and training & development. She currently serves as the Head of People for Kinsa, and formerly held positions as CHRO for JCC of Chicago and VP of Human Resources for the American Osteopathic Association. Johanna holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Indiana University, and certificates in HR Management, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology. When not working, Johanna enjoys hiking, binge-watching TV, and traveling. She lives just North of Chicago with her wife and their three children.
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