Mark Novak is the founding rabbi of Minyan Oneg Shabbat: A Sanctuary for the Soul - Washington, DC’s Jewish Renewal community. He received ordination in 2012 from Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi and ALEPH, and serves on the ALEPH faculty as a mashpia, a Jewish spiritual guide. Mark is a rabbi (RebMarko.com), professional musician/composer (TheMarkNovakBand.com), storyteller (Jewishstorytelling.com), and co-founder of the MultiFaith Storytelling Institute. He is a devoted practitioner and teacher of mindfulness practice through a Jewish lens. He and his wife storyteller/juggler Renée Brachfeld have served as Artists in Residence at over 150 synagogues throughout the US and Canada, and have been featured performers and teachers at storytelling festivals in the U.S. and UK. He can be reached at MultiFaithStorytelling@gmail.com.
Cody Nielsen
J. Cody Nielsen is Founder and Executive Director of Convergence and Executive Director of the Wesley Foundation, a Boston Cambridge Ministry of Higher Education. Cody previously served as Expert in Residence for Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Initiatives at NASPA and is former President of the National Campus Ministry Association. Cody’s passion is integration of higher education with religious, secular, and spiritual identity diversity work. Cody is pursuing a Ph.D in Higher Education Administration at Iowa State University and holds Master’s degrees in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Northern Iowa and Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. He frequently blogs and offers consultation for universities regarding strategic thinking around religious, secular, and spiritual identity. His 2013-2015 study Multifaith in the Public University, a Louisville Foundation funded initiative, explores over 25 public and private universities in the United States and Canada regarding their policies, practices, and initiatives to support campus climates.
Clement Awanfe Ngueto
Clement Awanfe Ngueto is the founder-president of Global Compassion, a non-profit based organization in Douala, Cameroon and affiliated with United Religions Initiative. It has worked with an international and local team of volunteers/interns to create and develop projects that help the Santchou community become self-sufficient (e.g., potable water project; computer lab center; empowering rural women; and peace education for youth). Clement’s passion is serving community initiatives and growing small businesses managed by women and youth in rural areas.
Additionally, Clement has experience in peacebuilding (conflict management and negotiation) through distance learning with USIP (www.usip.org), the University of Amsterdam, and the North South Centre for The Council of Europe. He is also among the 100 youth fellows selected for an interfaith co-existence, intercultural, and peacebuilding program called “A Common Word Among the Youth,” that includes several trainings and conferences in Africa, Europe and America.
Carrie Newcomer
Carrie Newcomer is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter. Her albums include Kindred Spirits, A Permeable Life, The Beautiful Not Yet, and The Point of Arrival, and two books of poetry and essays.
Carrie is the 2019 recipient of The Shalem Institute’s “Contemplative Voices Award.” Recent media appearances include PBS’s Religion and Ethics and Krista Tippett’s On Being. Newcomer was a cultural ambassador to India and has traveled to Kenya and the Middle East, performing in concert halls, hospitals, schools, and spiritual communities. She has lent her support to organizations focused on social justice, health and hunger services, progressive spirituality, and environmental preservation. She lives in the woods with her husband and two shaggy dogs. For information about Carrie’s touring schedule, CDs, and books, visit her site.
Yonatan Neril
Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, based in Jerusalem, which works to catalyze a transition to a sustainable, thriving, and spiritually-aware society through leadership of faith communities. Yonatan speaks internationally on faith and ecology, and co-organized five interfaith environmental conferences, in Jerusalem, New York City, and Washington D.C. He is the lead author and general editor of two books on Jewish environmental ethics including Uplifting People and Planet: 18 Essential Jewish Teachings on the Environment. A native of California, Yonatan completed an M.A. and B.A. from Stanford University with a focus on global environmental issues, and received rabbinical ordination in Israel. He lives with his wife and two children in Jerusalem.
Melissa K. Nelson
Melissa K. Nelson, (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), is a writer, researcher, educator, media-maker, and cultural and environmental activist. Melissa has served as The Cultural Conservancy’s president and executive director since 1993. In 2000 she completed her Ph.D. in Cultural Ecology with an Emphasis in Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Since 2002 she has also served as a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University. Her published works have appeared in academic and national journals. Her edited anthology is Original Instructions – Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (Bear & Company 2008). Nelson is a Switzer Environmental Fellow and Leadership Award recipient and has served on the boards of numerous environmental organizations including Earth Island Institute, United Religions Initiative, and currently, the Center for Whole Communities and Bioneers.
Ameena Naqvi
Ameena Naqvi is 13 and in eighth grade at Arbour Lake School in Calgary, Canada. Her hobbies include drawing, playing the flute, and reading. She has a passion for music and writing.
Despina Namwembe
Despina Namwembe is a social scientist with a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. She coordinates the work of over 30 grassroots interfaith organizations doing different social action in the Great Lakes countries of Africa. Despina is a community organizer, and trainer who also mentors many in organizational development. Growing up in a continent that sometimes fuses strong customs with religion to deter full women participation, Despina has passion for addressing issues that support women and girls achieve their full life potential. She is widely traveled something that has helped her conceive many life changing situations outside the box. She is also a contributor to different literature in the areas of interfaith, gender, environment and peace building.
Michael Nagler
Michael Nagler is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program in which he taught the immensely popular nonviolence course that was webcast in its entirety as well as PACS 90, "Meditation" and a sophomore seminar called "Why Are We Here? Great Writing on the Meaning of Life" for fifteen years.
Among other awards, he received the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for “Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India” in 2007, joining other distinguished contributors to nonviolence as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and peace scholar and activist Johan Galtung in receiving this honor.
He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002 American Book Award and has been translated into Korean, Arabic, Italian and other languages; Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of Violence (2005); The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, 1987), and other books as well as many articles on peace and spirituality.
He has spoken for campus, religious, and other groups on peace and nonviolence for many years, especially since September 11, 2001. He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is the founder President of the board of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education. Michael has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970’s and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Michael is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center's ashram in Marin County since 1970. He gives workshops on Easwaran's system of passage meditation around the world.