TIA Board Members • TIAF Board Members

TIA Officers of the Board

• Chair - Rabbi Jack Moline
• Vice Chair - Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich
• TIAF Vice Chair - Rabbi David J. Gelfand
• Secretary - Sr. Maureen McCormack
• Treasurer - Claudia Wiegand

TIA Board Members

• Noreen K. Ahmad
• Sumeet Bal
• Mr. Marvin Chiles
• David Cohen
• Norma Curtis Cohen
• The Rev. Dr. David Currie
• Helio Fred Garcia
• The Rev. Olivia Holmes
• The Honorable Amo Houghton, Former member of Congress
• Amber Khan
• Achariya Swami Krishnapriya
• The Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki
• The Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell
• The Rev. Dr. Dan Rosemergy
• Amandeep Singh Sidhu
• Dr. Herbert Valentine

TIA Board Biographies

Marvin W. Chiles has been an active Board Member, Finance Chairman, Events Chairman an dpresently, Treasurer of The Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma, Inc and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation of Oklahoma, Inc from the beginning ten years ago. He is a United Methodist serving the Commission on Religion and Race for the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is a member of the Oklahoma City University Diversity Council and an Advisory Board member of Growing Open Oklahoma Dialogue in Science, Technology and Religion, a product of the Wimberly School of Religion an dGraduate Theologial Center at Oklahoma City University. He has been in elected officer positions as a member of various professional organizations and social justice projects. In 2003 he received the 20th Annual Human Rights Award given by the State of Oklahoma Human Rights Commission. He is a native western Kansan graduating from Kansas State University. Mary Ellen an dMarvin have been married 53 years. They have three daughters, three grandsons and on granddaughter. [TIA Board list]
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David Cohen is a Senior Fellow at Experience Corps and Civic Ventures. He serves as an advisor to both organizations on matters of policy, program and civic leadership. He also serves as the Board Chir of Global Integrity. Prior to Coen's retirement from the Advocacy Institute he served as its Co-Chair from 2001 through 2005. He is a Co-Founder of the Advocacy Institute. Advocacy practitioners around the world have translated his writings on advocacy, civil society, leadership and lobbying into many different languages. His writings have appeared as essays in college textbooks and in major U.S. publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christain Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. He is a columnist for United Press International's Outside View series. Cohen has been an advocate and strategist on many of the major social justice and political reform issues in the United States since the early 1960s. These issues include civil rights, anti-poverty, modifying the Congressional seniority system, and reforming US political processes by eliminating abuses of power and the corrupting influence of money on American politics. He is married to Carla Furstenberg Cohen and is the father of two adult children. [TIA Board list]
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Norma Curtis Cohen is a retired clinical social worker. She is married with three adult children and six grandchildren. Norma is a long time member the Unitarian Universalist Congregetion at Shelter Rock. She is the founder of the Long Island affiliate of TIA. She joined months after national TIA was formed. [TIA Board list]
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The Rev. Dr. David R. Currie is the coordinator of Texas Baptists Committed, an organized, educational effort to resist takeover of the Baptist General Convention of Texas by fundamentalist, politically conservative groups. He has served as field coordinator of Baptists Committed to the Southern Baptist Convention and as a staff member of the Christian Life Commission. Dr. Currie is also an author or co-author of three books and hundreds of published articles in Baptist publications. [TIA Board list]
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The Honorable Amo Houghton served as a United States Representative from the state of New York, 29th Congressional District. He is the founder of the John Quincy Adams Society which brings together moderat office holders with top business leaders, and is also a founding member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which seeks to strenghten the political center. Amo has served on serval boards of major corporations, including Proctor & Gamble, IBM , Citicorp, N.Y. Telephone, B.F. Goodrich and Genentech. He is a former trustee of St. Paul's School, the Brookings Institution, a former member of the Harvard Board of Overseers, a past director of the Episcopal Theological Seminary and holds 16 honorary degrees. He now serves as a board member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, and is a special intern for Bishop Tom Shaw of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. [TIA Board list]
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Acharya Swami Krishnapriya is the Executive Director of Kashi Foundation, an interfaith spiritual and residential community. She is a senior instructor of Kali Natha Yoga and various forms of meditation practices. She facilitates inter-religious workshops and lectures internationally, and has been actively involved in bringing issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness, spirituality, and exploring the role women play in the world of conferences and centers both nationally and globally. She is also an international diplomatic liaison for Kashi, as well as the program director of the Kashi Center for Advanced Spiritual Studies. She has served on the International Interfaith Task Force for the Parliment of the World's Religions. [TIA Board list]
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Dr. Maureen McCormack, SL, is a Sister of Loretto and a former president of the Loretto Community. She is President of The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado and Nation al Secretary of The Interfaith Alliance. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology and education from the University of Denver, has taught at elementary, junior high and college levels and was a college dean of students. She has served on a number of local and national non-profit boards. Her publications include a chapter in a book, Midwives of the Future, on changes in religious life, articles on her work with women in prisons, and an article in the London Tablet on the role of religion in society. McCormack is a founding memeber of the Loretto Earth Network and is a co-founder of Women's History Week celbrations in the U.S. (now Women's History Month each March), coordinated a StudyAction event called "Women Gathered for Peace" for the State of Colorado, designed an International Roundtable on Women's Spirituality for the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing and participated in the World Conferences in Copenhagen and Nairobi. She was part of a National Women's delegation to Central America. She served as a consultant for management training for the US Forest Service. [TIA Board list]
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Rabbi Jack Moline, Chair, is the rabbi of Agudas Achim congregation of Northern Virginia, in Alexandria. He is the former President of the Washington Board of Rabbis and the Alexandria Interfaith Association. Rabbi Moline has served on the boards of the Faith and Politics Institute, the Rabbinical Assembly, Gesher Jewish Day School, the Cathedral College of Washington National (Episcopal) Cathedral and Operation Understanding DC, among others. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Virginia Theological Seminary and frequent contributor to radio, television and newspaper coverage of religious affairs. [TIA Board list]
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Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagakiis is the head resident minister of New York Buddhist Church - Jodoshinshu (Shin Buddhist) Temple; chairperson of the Eastern District Buddhist Ministers Associations of BCA; former president of the Buddhist Council of New York; UCM Buddhist Chaplain at Columbia University; adviser of American Buddhist Study Center; Active in interfaith communities such as Interfaith Center of New York, Religions for Peace, Interfaith Alliance; Also active in Asian and Japanese communities such as Japanese American Association (board member), Japanese American Lions Club (honorable advisor), Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (religious advisor). He is an author of "New york Bozu Indo o Aruku (Gendai-shokan Publisher in Japan)". He was ordained in 1980, and came to USA in 1985 as oversea minister from Hongwanji Mother Temple, Kyoto, Japan. He graduated from Ryukoku University in Kyoto (B.A.) majoring in Buddhist History in 1983; graduated from California State University, Fresno (M.A.) majoring in Linguistics in 1994. [TIA Board list]
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The Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell, is president and CEO of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, Inc. (OICA). He serves as Deputy General Secretary for National Ministries for the National Council of Churches in Christ (NCCC). He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina, his master's of divinity degree from Duke University and doctorate from North Carolina Central University. Powell has served many pastorates in the A.M.E. Zion Church and has served on the boards of several interdenominational organizations including the U.S. World Council of Churches, National Conference of Christians and Jews, World Council of Churches Sharing and Services Commission, Black Church Liaison Committee and World Methodist Council. He currently serves on the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education Board of Directors, at the Balm In Gilead Religious Advisory Board, and as a member of the Black Leadership Forum. [TIA Board list]
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The Rev. Dr. Daniel Rosemergy is minister of the Greater Nashville Unitarian Universalist Congregation. He is deeply committed to peace, social justice, human rights, and interfaith issues. In addition to being a TIAF board member, Rev. Rosemergy is a founding Board member and current chair of the Interfaith Alliance of Middle Tennessee. He was recently elected to the national Board of Trustees of the Mountain Retreat and Learning Centers in Highlands, North Carolina. Dr. Rosemergy attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees. After serving four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, he pursued a first career in higher education administration, primarily at the University of Michigan. He received a Master of Divinity degree with honors from the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennesse, in 1982, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the same institution in 1988. [TIA Board list]
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Amandeep Singh Sidhu, is an associate at the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Washington, D.C. and serves as Pro Bono Counsel for the Sikh Coalition, a community-based advocacy organization. He was involved in the establishment of the Sikh Coalition's organizational presence in Washington, D.C. after September 11th, where he led education efforts in the local Sikh American community, worked with lawmakers, and interacted with federal agencies. Mr. Sidhu is currently involved with the advisory boards of A More Perfect Union "Anti-Bias Project" and the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, and previously served as Law Clerk to Chief Judge Walter S. Felton, Jr. on the Court of Appeals of Virginia and served on the Commission on Virginia Courts in the 21st Century: To Benefit All, To Exclude None. Additionally, he received the Virginia State Bar's 2005 Oliver White Hill Law Student Pro Bono Award in recognition of his contribution to public service initiatives engaging law students and members of the bar. [TIA Board list]
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TIAF Members

• Dr. Diana L. Eck
• Rev. Dr. James Forbes
• Rabbi David J. Gelfand - Vice Chair
• Rev. Galen Guengerich - Chair
• Rev. Dr. William McKinney
• Rabbi Jack Moline - TIA Chair
• Rabbi David Saperstein
• Dr. Herbert D. Valentine - Founding President
• Claudia Wiegand - Treasurer
• Mr. Jacob Worenklein

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TIAF Biographies

The Rev. Dr. James Alexander Forbes, Jr., is the first African-American to serve as Senior Minister of The Riverside Church, an interdenominational, interracial, and international church built as a result of the generosity of John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1927. The 2,400-member church is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ. Known as the "preacher's preacher" in national and international religious circles, this pastor, educator, administrator, community activist, and interfaith leader was designated as one of America's greatest Black preachers by Ebony Magazine in 1984 and 1993. In 1995 he emerged in the Baylor University Survey as one of twelve remarkable and most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. From 1992 to the present, Dr. Forbes has been co-chair of A Partnership of Faith, an interfaith organization of clergy among New York's Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim communities. He is a consultant to the Congress of National Black Churches and past President of The Martin Luther King Fellows. [TIAF Board list]
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Rev. Galen Guengerich is Co-Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He is widely acclaimed for his eloquent and thought-provoking sermons and speeches. His sermon at All Souls on Sept. 16, 2001—the Sunday after 9/11—was selected to be included in Representative American Speeches 2001-2002. Titled “The Shaking of the Foundations,” the sermon appears along with speeches by Governor George Pataki, President George Bush and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as one of seven “Responses to September 11th.” Rev. Guengerich regularly appears on Morning Meditation, a semi-monthly half-hour radio show on WQXR, the radio station of The New York Times, and he has been the featured speaker at conferences across the nation. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Musica Viva of New York and has served as Visiting Scholar at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. [TIAF Board list]
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William McKinney Vice Chair, is President and Professor of American Religion at Pacific School of Religion, as well as a teacher, administrator, writer and consultant whose work focuses on helping faith communities play an active role in public life. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a sociologist of American religion, McKinney is former Research Director for the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and former Dean and Professor of American Religion at Hartford Seminary. [TIAF Board list]
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Rabbi Jack Moline, TIA Chair, is the rabbi of Agudas Achim congregation of Northern Virginia, in Alexandria. He is the former President of the Washington Board of Rabbis and the Alexandria Interfaith Association. Rabbi Moline has served on the boards of the Faith and Politics Institute, the Rabbinical Assembly, Gesher Jewish Day School, the Cathedral College of Washington National (Episcopal) Cathedral and Operation Understanding DC, among others. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Virginia Theological Seminary and frequent contributor to radio, television and newspaper coverage of religious affairs. [TIAF Board list]
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Jacob J. Worenklein is chairman and chief executive officer of US Power Generating Company, which owns and operates power projects in the United States. Before forming US Power Generating Company in April 2003, Mr. Worenklein served as a senior banker at Lehman Brothers and Societe Generale. In 2002 he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Infrastructure Journal in London. Mr. Worenklein served as Adjunct Professor of Finance at New York University and is a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Globeleq, a power company owned by the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and of Ormat Technologies, Inc., an NYSE-listed public company which develops and owns geothermal and other renewable energy projects in the United States and around the world. Mr. Worenklein has served on the Board of Trustees of United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc. and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. He has served for over 25 years as President and now Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Old Broadway Synagogue in New York. He has a BA degree from Columbia College (1969) and JD and MBA degrees from NYU Law School and from NYU Graduate School of Business Administration, now the Stern School of Business (1973). [TIAF Board list]
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