Rebecca began at Temple Emanuel as the Membership & Engagement Manager in February 2014 and loves being a part of the Temple Emanuel team. A native of Henderson, NV, Rebecca came to Arizona in 2005 and has called it home ever since. Rebecca received her bachelor’s degree in theatre and business from Northern Arizona University and worked as a professional Stage and Company Manager for Arizona Broadway Theatre, Ballet Arizona, the Kingmen Shakespeare Festival and Sesame Street Live! After her time on the road, Rebecca returned to AZ and worked at Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University supervising a group of amazing students (many of whom grew up at Temple Emanuel!). She also completed her certification in Non-Profit Leadership from the Generation Next Academy at ASU’s Lodestar Center. In her free time, Rebecca is still involved with the local theatre scene. She serves as a board member for the ariZoni Theatre Awards, adjudicating local theater productions. She and her husband Josh, an IT Manager and musician, have recently undertaken their latest production, their young daughter, Olivia.

Jocelyn has been Finance Manager of Temple Emanuel since April 2014. Previously, she served for eleven years as the Finance & Human Resources Director of Upper Valley Waldorf School in Vermont. In her work with the Waldorf school and with other organizations Jocelyn has accumulated over three decades of experience and education in her field, in non-profit, educational and retail settings.

Jocelyn holds a BA from Vermont College with an emphasis in Writing and Fine Art. She is the mother of two grown daughters, Erika, 25, who lives in Vermont, and Hayley, 22, who with her husband lives in Mesa. When not crunching numbers, Jocelyn enjoys hiking, camping, swimming and other outdoor adventures, as well as reading, writing and painting.

Eve Goodman has worked as an administrative professional for more than twenty years, almost half of which has been in the Jewish community. In addition, she has taught Hebrew to both adults and children in a classroom setting and as a private tutor. Eve has lived in Phoenix since the age of 5, and has been an active participant in the Jewish community since childhood. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, singing in the Temple choir and spending time with family and friends. She is married to Darrin Goodman, and together they have one son, two daughters and one daughter-in-law. Eve loves interacting with people and enjoys using her organizational skills to serve the community of Temple Emanuel as the Administrative Assistant.

Sue was born and raised in Chicago, moving to Phoenix in 1963. After graduation from Central High School, Sue attended Arizona State University, graduating with a degree in Elementary Education. During her 32 years of teaching in Mesa Public schools, she was on the board of the Arizona Education Association as well as the Mesa Education Association, where she served as President in 1983-4. Sue joined Temple Emanuel in 1997. She began working in the Religious school office in 2001. In addition, Sue teaches Torah study to the third and fourth graders and leads prayer class for the b’nei mitzvah students.

Chuck has been a temple member since 1997.  He has served on various committees over the years and was most recently a financial secretary on the board prior to serving as president. Chuck and his wife Vivian have two sons, Isaac and Gabe, both of whom became Bar Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel. He has found an outlet for his love of music here at temple through leadership of our Rural Street Klezmer Band and as a member of the Shabba-Tones Shabbat band. Chuck worked in the semiconductor industry for over 30 years doing technology development.

Howard Paley has been a member of Temple Emanuel for 18 years. He has been active in the Jewish community having served on the East Valley JCC board and now the Temple Emanuel Board for twenty years. Prior to serving as President of Temple Emanuel’s Board of Trustees Howard served as Vice-President of Personnel, Public Relations, and was a Trustee at Large. Howard has been active in everything from providing professional training for teachers and madrachim at the Temple to his role as President of the Board of Trustees. His wife, Sharon, was a religious school teacher and teaches in Mesa Public Schools; his daughter, Mady, is at ASU; and his son, Ben, plays in the Temple’s band – The Shabba-Tones. Howard has been an educator for the past 32 years serving as a teacher and administrator.

Cindy Weschrob joined Temple Emanuel in January of 2005. Cindy is married to Richard Weschrob and they have two sons, Mark and Joshua. Cindy has a BSBA from Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, and is a Controller for a company in Mesa. Cindy and her husband and children moved here from Massachusetts, and Temple Emanuel immediately became a place of family and community for them. Her youngest son attended Hebrew School and continued on until his confirmation in 10th grade. Both her sons attended Camp Pearlstein for many years, and her oldest son continued to be a camp counselor until his senior year in college. Cindy joined the Temple Emanuel Sisterhood the moment it was created in 2008, and has held multiple positions on the Board including President. Today Cindy is Vice President of Finance for the Temple. She brings to the board more than 20 years of operations, management and finance experience. Cindy is also on several committees for the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District.

Melissa moved to Arizona from the Bay Area and joined Temple Emanuel in 1994. She connected and found a sense of community as part of a Chavurah. Life took her away from Arizona for four years but upon returning, she re-joined the Temple and the Chavurah, and enrolled her two boys in religious school. Aaron celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 2011 and Noah celebrated his in 2013. She served professionally in the Jewish Community with the Anti-Defamation League and continues to extol the virtues of Emanuel with personal and professional community contacts made during her 11 years with ADL.

Keelan Stern Bodow has been a member of Temple Emanuel for eight years. She has served on the Board of Trustees for the last five years. She has served on the Temple’s Personnel Committee for the last four years, participated in the Executive Director Search Committee, served on the Temple’s Bylaws Committee, and co-chaired the Rabbi/Educator Search Committee. She is married to Jonathan Bodow, and has two sons who attend the Temple’s religious school. Her older son became a Bar Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in 2013, and her younger son became a Bar Mitzvah at the Temple in 2016. Originally from New York, she served in high school as President of her local B’nai Brith group. She became an adult Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in June, 2013.

Bio

Barb, her husband and family moved to Gilbert from the New York/New Jersey area in 1998 and have been Temple members ever since. They have two adult children, Adam and Perri, both of whom became Bar/Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel. Barb has a bachelor of arts from Rutgers University in New Jersey and is a Controller for a company in Mesa. She has been on the Sisterhood Board for the past 6 years.

Harvey Reiss has been a member of Temple Emanuel since 2008. He resides in Phoenix with his wife Doreen. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Harvey graduated from SUNY/Buffalo and started a small chain of convenience stores in Buffalo NY. Upon selling the stores, Harvey was an Operations Manager for FedEx Express in Los Angeles and Amazon.com in Phoenix. Harvey has been an active member in the Men of Emanuel and brought many interesting speakers to the monthly MOE Schmoozes. As a Trustee, Harvey wants to ensure that all Temple Emanuel members have an outstanding congregant experience.

Robin Trick has been a member of Tempe Emanuel for eight years. Her son, Hunter became a Bar Mitzvah in November 2012. In addition to being the owner/operator of House of Tricks Restaurant for the past 29 years, Robin currently serves on the board of the Tempe Tourism Office and is active in several arts organizations in the valley. Robin currently serves the board as membership co-chair and enjoys sharing her business expertise and community connections with the Temple Emanuel board of trustees.

Barb is the retired Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Faculty Associate, Department of Philosophy, from Arizona State University. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. in Philosophy Arizona State University. She is married to Arthur L. Colby, Professor Emeritus Arizona State University, and has three adult children, Jonathan, Sarah and Miriam.

Grant is Chair of the Ritual Committee and on the Board of Trustees at Temple Emanuel. In addition, both his children, Nathan and Eli, are enrolled in the religious school. Grant and his wife, Tracy, have been members of Temple Emanuel since the year 2000. Grant was raised a conservative Jew in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and attended Jewish parochial school through high school. In addition, he gained his Jewish identity through school, Jewish summer camp, and as a dancer in the Jewish dance group, The Sarah Summer Chai Folk Ensemble. He believes the Jewish community is truly an extended family, a center for learning, healing, and support.

Richard Newhauser grew up in Cincinnati (his family belonged to Isaac M. Wise Congregation, where he had his bar mitzvah). He has an MA from the University of Chicago (English, Creative Writing) and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (medieval English literature) and has taught on the university level at the University of Augsburg and Tübingen (Germany), and at Rutgers University-Camden, Trinity University (San Antonio), and since 2007 at ASU-Tempe, where he is a professor of English and Medieval Studies and an affiliate of Barrett Honors College and the Creative Writing Program. He has lived in Germany, England, and France, and has traveled to most countries in Europe, Turkey, and Israel (a number of times). He is married (Andrea Németh-Newhauser) with two sons (Daniel and Simon) and has been a member of Reform and Orthodox Jewish congregations. He has been a member of Temple Emanuel since 2011.

Arnold Bedak is a native San Franciscan. He and his wife Dina moved to Tempe and joined TET in 2014. Arnold is the Owner/Realtor of Match Maker Home Consultants/Keller Williams. Arnold met Dina in Israel on a kibbutz. Arnold is not a stranger to board service, having served previously for six years at his former synagogue. He is also currently an 8th-grade religious school teacher. Arnold is an avid fan of the Oakland A’s and the soul band Tower of Power.

Jennifer LeGrand has been a Temple member for 7 years. She initially became involved though her son Zachary’s education at the Syndi Scheck Yad B’ Yad preschool. She has been an active member of many Temple Committees including the Executive Directive Search Committee and the Financial Assistance Task Force. Jennifer enjoys her current role as Vice President of Programming and working with her fellow board and Temple Emanuel members on the Religious School Committee and other projects. She has more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit field and is happy that she can use those skills to assist Temple Emanuel. In her free time she loves to travel with her family and spend time with family and friends.

Bio to come

Judy Meservey joined Temple Emanuel in 2009 after moving to Phoenix from the Chicago area. Judy served as Membership Co-Chair from 2012-2014, during which time she conducted a congregational survey to provide the Board and Staff with insight into members’ attitudes and preferences. She then served as Board Secretary from 2014-2015 and is currently a Member at Large, serving on the Board and Executive Committee. Judy enjoys working on strategic initiatives that will benefit Temple Emanuel and is active in Sisterhood. She is currently helping to shape efforts related to temple security and our mission/vision for the future. Professionally, Judy does consulting/freelance work for consumer packaged goods companies in market research and has spent most of her 30+ year career working for SC Johnson and Kraft Foods. Prior to living in Chicago, Judy grew up in Washington DC, where she graduated from Georgetown University, and then later completed her MBA at Michigan State University. Judy appreciates the strong sense of community at Temple Emanuel and is happy to be serving on the Board of Trustees.

Bio to come

Jeffrey Reiss, his wife Karen and their daughters have been members of Temple Emanuel for 15 years. He grew up on Long Island, NY and attended Temple Beth Shalom of Smithtown. After moving to Arizona, he met his wife while sitting on the JASS (Jewish Association of Single Service) board as VP of membership. His passion is getting people involved in the Temple community — getting men to feel connected to the Temple is his goal.

Susan Charney-Moore and her husband Scott Moore joined Temple Emanuel in 2007. At that time Susan began six-year tenure as a religious school instructor, teaching 8th grade Holocaust studies. She joined Sisterhood, the Social Justice committee and a Chavurah which made Temple Emanuel quickly feel like home. Raised in New York City, Susan attended Young Israel of New Hyde Park. She was first exposed to Reform Judaism when living in Nashville where she taught religious school at Temple Ohabai Sholom for eight years. As a marketing executive, Susan has worked on building national consumer brands including Marlboro, Kraft Cheese, Oreos, Snapple and the careers of country artists Brooks & Dunn and Shania Twain. She is currently working at Henkel on ways to entice shoppers to buy more Dial soap and Purex laundry detergent. Susan has led award winning national cause marketing campaigns for AIDS Awareness and childhood obesity and raises money locally for the American Liver Foundation. Susan is looking forward to contributing her knowledge and experience to Temple Emanuel.