Merrill has a long and varied career in Jewish communal service and holds both a B.A. in Jewish Studies from UCLA and an M.A. in Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. She spent almost 20 years as the Youth Director for Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA and then served for more than a decade as the Director of Youth Services for the Far West Region of United Synagogue Youth. In addition, she has held several board positions with West Coast-based organizations.

Merrill and her husband Gregg currently live in Cleveland, OH. They have imbued in their four daughters an intense interest in social justice issues which will, no doubt, be passed on to their 4 grandchildren.

Born to German-Jewish refugees, Peter has devoted himself to furthering the cause of social justice since he retired in 2003 from a successful art framing business. He now refurbishes property, with a workforce of individuals who are in recovery. He has been a board member of Temple Israel Ner Tamid near his home in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, for more then 25 years and the social action chair since 2005. Peter leads by example: Among his accomplishments, he organizes his temple’s ongoing food distribution program to homeless people and shelters five nights a week. In 2006 and again in 2015, Peter was honored as his temple’s Man of the Year. In 2010, he was selected as an “Upstander” by Facing History/Facing Ourselves. Also in 2015, he received the Cleveland Jewish News Award for People Who Make a Difference.

Beth has held leadership positions in the Jewish communal world for over 25 years. Most recently, she was the Executive Director of ACHARAI: The Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Leadership Institute, that trains top volunteer leaders in Baltimore’s Jewish community. She has also led strategic planning exercises for several major Jewish organizations, and as founder of The Gansky Group has coached both individuals and organizations in leadership development, board governance, communication skills, fundraising and beyond.

Beth holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Binghamton University, New York and an MA in Higher Education Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has also received Facilitation Certification and Leadership Coaching Certification from The Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University.

Beth’s volunteer activities are numerous and include Camp Ramah in the Poconos, Beth Israel Congregation, The Darrell Friedman Institute, Repair the World Advisory Council, Baltimore and more. Beth is mother to three daughters and two sons and resides in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.

Rabbi Neal Gold teaches and writes about Jewish texts, Israel, and the intersections between Jewish spiritual life and the contemporary world. He is an adjunct faculty member at the rabbinical school of Hebrew College in Newton, MA, and teaches extensively in Hebrew College’s community learning programs. In 2023, he became the spiritual leader of Am HaYam—Cape Cod Havurah, and is a past president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Gold has been an active member of the GPF family and recently led the rabbinic cohort at GPF’s conference last November.

Jody retired in 2016 after nearly a half century of service to the Jewish community, including, among other positions, Executive Director of the Washington DC Regional Office of State of Israel Bonds and Managing Director, Endowment and Philanthropic Leadership-Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Jody is a graduate of UCLA and holds a Certificate in Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College. He and his wife, Sheila, reside in Owings Mills,MD and are the parents of three children and  grandparents to five.

Steve worked at Prudential Financial for 33 years. He began his career as an actuary and spent the majority of his career as an Investment Senior Vice President in Global Portfolio Management focusing on asset/liability management, asset allocation, and relative value intitiatives. Steve is a retired Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Chartered Financial Analyst. Steve has volunteered as an algebra tutor for the Achieve Foundation, advocated for teen foster children through CASA, and is a moderator for the Jewish Federation Holocaust Survivor Speak program. Steve and his wife Helene reside in South Orange, New Jersey and have two children.

An attorney in Farmington Hills, Michigan, near Detroit, Gregg specializes in real estate, environmental, corporate, finance and business law. He is a member of Congregation B’Nai Moshe in West Bloomfield, and has served on the board of his synagogue and Habitat for Humanity in Michigan, and as editor of Michigan Residential Real Estate Transactions, a practice handbook. Gregg, who completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and received his law degree from New York University, has received numerous citations from legal associations and media. He and his wife, Sheryl have three children and live in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Mark is a serial entrepreneur, founding companies in the logistics and software markets. Most recently, Mark was the CEO of Perishable Shipping Solutions (PSS), an e-Commerce order fulfillment business specializing in frozen and perishable foods.  PSS was sold to Lineage Logistics in 2021.  Earlier in his career, Mark worked in management consulting with Oracle and PwC. He is a CPA and holds an MBA from Rutgers University.  Mark and his wife Miriam reside in Short Hills, New Jersey and have two adult children.

Larry is a professional Certified Financial Planner™ with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. He founded PLR Financial Partners, Inc., an independent firm, in 1983.  For many years, Larry conducted training seminars for employees of brokerage houses, insurance companies and banks.  He also prepared individuals for the securities licensing examinations. For more than three decades, Larry has served as chazzan for High Holiday services with Rabbi Avis Miller at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C. A University of Maryland graduate, he is married and the father of three children.

Stacey Slater is the President and Founder of Pro Bono Strategies, a consulting firm that helps law firms and in-house legal departments to develop their pro bono programs in a cost-effective way. She previously spent 24 years at the law firm Nixon Peabody LLP, where she was a litigation partner and then firm-wide Pro Bono Partner. Stacey serves on the boards of Family Promise (a national non-profit that helps homeless families), Elevate+ (a non-profit that provides valuable paid internships to underserved students, where she serves as Board Chair), Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (a Newark-based legal service provider), and Unchained At Last (a non-profit that works to end forced and child marriage in the US). Stacey also chairs her synagogue’s Social Action Committee and handles pro bono matters, most recently representing victims of human trafficking.