Martha Randall, (Soprano, B.M., M.M. from the University of Kansas, Fulbright Scholar in Germany), a longtime student of Todd Duncan, taught voice and voice pedagogy at the University of Maryland in College Park for 28 years, retiring in 2020. She has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Constitution Hall, the Phillips Gallery, and performed with the National Symphony, Washington Bach Consort, and Kansas City Philharmonic. She was a member of the quartet at Adas Israel Synagogue for many years. In NATS, she has held chapter, district, and regional offices, served as Vice President for Membership, President, and as Past President and Director of the Intern Program included Physical Therapist Jodi Barth and Gincy Stezar as clinicians in 2009 and 2010. She is a member of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing, serving as chair from 2012-2018 .She has presented at NATS, MTNA, and the Voice Foundation. She was awarded Teacher of the Year 2000 by the Ponselle Foundation and nominated by her students for the 2002 Outstanding Faculty of the Year. In 2019 she received the University of Maryland Provost’s Professional Track Faculty Excellence Award.
Jodi Maron Barth, PT, CCI is one of only a handful of recognized facial palsy therapists in the United States. She is a licensed physical therapist with 40 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation with a specialization in outpatient rehab. Jodi’s wide range of clinical experience has provided her with the tools to perform in-depth, comprehensive physical therapy evaluations and treatments using dry needling, graded motor imagery, biofeedback, extensive manual therapy, TMJ Rocabado techniques, and more. She is a sought-after speaker nationally and internationally in the areas of TMD (jaw symptoms), facial palsy, postural dysfunction, and performance enhancement for the vocal artist.
Jodi is a published author and certified clinical instructor through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and has served on the APTA House of Delegates for the past three years. She is also a faculty research assistant at the University of Maryland. Jodi is a graduate of the Ithaca College PT program and attended the Master of Science program at Adelphi University in the area of exercise physiology.
Darcy Hirsh is Senior Director of Government Relations and Advocacy at National Council for Jewish Women, where she fights for equity and justice for women, children, and families. Darcy is an advocate and coalition builder who has dedicated her career to engaging the Jewish community in pursuit of justice and civil rights for all. She began her advocacy career fighting for criminal justice reform and prisoners’ rights in New York State and brings fifteen years of experience advocating before federal, state, and local governments. She most recently served as Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance and was previously Associate Vice President, Public Affairs and Government Relations at The Jewish Federations of North America. She has also held policy positions at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, Anti-Defamation League, UJA-Federation of New York, and the Correctional Association of New York. She holds a JD from the Cardozo School of Law, an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, and a BA in Religious Studies from Barnard College. In her personal capacity, Darcy serves on the New Leadership Council of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. She is a proud Buffalo, NY native and lives in Chevy Chase, DC with her family.
Based in Washington, D.C., Karishma Shah Page is a member of the firm's Public Policy and Law practice. Karishma concentrates her practice on federal legislative and regulatory policy, focusing on tax, financial services, healthcare, retirement, and employee benefits issues. She has extensive experience working on a variety of legislation, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Affordable Care Act. She also works on related rulemaking and regulatory activity.
Karishma develops and implements a variety of advocacy strategies to advance client objectives, both from a Congressional and administrative perspective. In particular, she leads complex, multi-faceted policy campaigns incorporating lobbying, coalitions and third-party advocates, grassroots/grasstops strategies, and traditional and new media. Additionally, she has experience building, managing, and working with coalitions.
Karishma counsels clients with respect to the key legislative and regulatory developments that impact their operations. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies, trade and member associations, and tax-exempt entities.
Karishma works closely on issues involving the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Financial Services Committee, Senate Banking Committee, House Education and the Workforce Committee, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Senate Aging Committee, as well as the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and financial regulators.
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner (he/him) serves as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and has led the Religious Action Center since 2015. Rabbi Pesner also serves as Senior Vice President of the Union for Reform Judaism, a position to which he was appointed in 2011. Named one of the most influential rabbis in America by Newsweek magazine, he is an inspirational leader and tireless advocate for social justice.
Rabbi Pesner’s work focuses on encouraging Jewish communities to reach across lines of race, class, and faith while campaigning for social justice. In 2006, he founded Just Congregations (now incorporated into the Religious Action Center), which engaged clergy, professional, and volunteer leaders in interfaith social justice efforts. Rabbi Pesner was a primary leader in the Massachusetts campaign for health care access that has provided coverage to thousands and became a model for nationwide reform. Over the course of his career, he has also led and supported campaigns for racial justice, economic opportunity, immigration reform, LGBTQ+ equality, human rights, and a variety of other causes. He is dedicated to building bridges to collectively confront antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate.
Rabbi Pesner is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, speaks regularly on college campuses, has trained students on all four campuses of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and gives speeches in interfaith and secular venues all over the world. Rabbi Pesner serves as a board member of the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and the New England Center for Children. He is a member of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council for the Department of Homeland Security, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Solidarity Council on Racial Equity and the Leadership Team of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. He has served as a scholar for the Wexner Foundation, The Chautauqua Institution, American Jewish World Service, the Nexus USA Summit, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
Rabbi Pesner was the co-editor of “Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority: Our Jewish Obligation to Justice,” wrote the afterword to the newly published “Social Justice Torah Commentary,” and is a widely-published author (view the full list).
Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997, Rabbi Pesner was a congregational rabbi at Temple Israel in Boston, Massachusetts and at Temple Israel in Westport, Connecticut. A graduate of Wesleyan University and the Bronx High School of Science, Rabbi Pesner is married to Dana S. Gershon, an attorney. They have four daughters: Juliet, Noa, Bobbie, and Cate.
Yolanda Savage-Narva (she/her) is the vice president of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) for the Union for Reform Judaism. For more than 20 years, Yolanda collaborated with Tribal governments to strengthen public health systems, promoted pedestrian safety and advocacy and coining the phrase, “Walking is a civil right,” and advancing health equity in states and territories. Most recently, Yolanda was the executive director with Operation Understanding DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting understanding, cooperation, and respect while fighting to eradicate racism, antisemitism, and all forms of discrimination.
Yolanda is an alumna of the Union for Reform Judaism's JewV'Nation Fellowship and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as well as an immediate past member of the Religious Action Center’s Commission on Social Action.
Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin is an Associate Rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation. Prior to joining the clergy team at WHC in July 2023, she was the Director of Jewish Programs at the One America Movement and a rabbinic fellow at Temple Micah in Washington D.C. where her primary role was as a worship music leader.
Rabbi Schmelkin currently serves on the board of the Women’s Rabbinic Network as the VP of Programs. She also represents the Central Conference of American Rabbis at the National Council of Synagogues which focuses on interfaith relationship building and dialogue.
Rabbi Schmelkin served as Associate Rabbi at Charlottesville’s Congregation Beth Israel from 2016-2020. She received Truah’s “Action Under Fire Award,” for her work during and after the 2017 Unite the Right Rally. In September 2022 she was honored as a Uniter at the inaugural United We Stand Summit at the White House for her work crossing divides.
She received her bachelor of arts in psychology and Jewish studies from Indiana University at Bloomington with minors in Hebrew and history. She was ordained through Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and was a recipient of the Tisch Rabbinical Fellowship.
Gincy Lockhart Stezar, PTA, CCI is a licensed physical therapist assistant with more than 18 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation. For the past 16 years, she has collaborated with Jodi Barth specializing in facial neuromuscular retraining, postural restoration, and TMD. Prior to that, Gincy worked for eight years at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as the clinic fitness director.
Gincy has presented both nationally and internationally on facial palsy, postural restoration, graded motor imagery, and TMD rehabilitation. She is a certified clinical instructor through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and is presently serving as an alternate to the APTA House of Delegates. She is also a faculty research assistant at the University of Maryland. Gincy earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from the University of Maryland, as well as an associate’s degree in applied science as a physical therapist assistant at Montgomery College.
