Rev. Bud Heckman is an ordained United Methodist clergyman from Ohio, currently serving as the chief development officer at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, a unique theological school that
focuses on interreligious dialogue and enjoys a diverse student body of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. He is the former executive director of Religions for Peace-USA, where he started as a consultant working with local U.S. communities on interfaith issues. He delights in the relationships established with fellow contributors during these times.
Rori Picker Neiss is program coordinator for the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and former lead staff of Religions for Peace-USA. A graduate of the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in New York City, Rori researched interfaith dialogue among Orthodox Jews and wrote her thesis concentrating on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's seminal treatise "Confrontation" on the barriers to Jewish participation in interfaith dialogue.
Rev. Dirk Ficca is the executive director of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and moderator of Chicago Presbytery’s Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy is the president of the Interfaith Alliance and the Interfaith Alliance Foundation. Rev. Gaddy has held numerous positions of leadership both within and outside of the Baptist movement and is a member of the Council of 100 Leaders, which seeks to bridge the gap between Islam and the West. The author of more than twenty books and the host of a nationally syndicated radio show, Rev. Gaddy focuses on promoting religion as a positive force in national life.
Rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro is the author of the controversial book Messianic Judaism: A Rabbi's Journey through Religious Change in America, which examines the validity of Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism. Rabbi Harris-Shapiro has taught courses at several major universities and currently serves as an assistant professor of contemporary Jewish studies at Gratz College in Melrose Park, Pennsylvainia.
Abby Stamelman Hocky, MSW, is the executive director of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia. She has worked toward fostering interfaith dialogue, particularly between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Abby is currently working on a project with synagogues in New York that will ultimately seek to reimagine the current model of Jewish youth education.
April Kunze is the vice president of programs for the Interfaith Youth Core. A young woman with extensive background in grassroots community building and youth leadership, April joined the IFYC in 2000 as a volunteer and later became its first staff member. Her articles about interfaith work among young adults have been published in a multitude of publications, and she is the founder of the Crib Collective, which seeks to create social entrepreneurship among the youth of Chicago.
Rev. Dr. Clark Lobenstine is the executive director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and also a parish associate at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church in Maryland. With thirty years of experience working with religious leaders of diverse faiths and traditions, Rev. Lobenstine lends his experience to many groups throughout the Washington, D.C., community, and is a member of the Mayor's Interfaith Council. After 9/11, Rev. Lobenstine organized more than a
hundred lectures, many given by Muslims, in hopes of expanding the public’s understanding of Islam.
Dr. Eboo Patel is the founder and director of the Interfaith Youth Core and is one of the world's most sought-after speakers on the subject of the interfaith movement and the interfaith youth movement in particular. He serves as a board member for several major interfaith associations and holds membership in such exclusive organizations as the Council on Foreign Relations and the EastWest Institute. Dr. Patel is currently working on a book on the role of religious youth in the
modern era. He is author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.
Noah Silverman is the content coordinator for the Outreach Education&Training Program of the Interfaith Youth Core. Among his many accomplishments, Noah managed the 2006 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service, organized the fourth National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work, and co-taught a course on interfaith peacebuilding in DePaul University's Peace Studies Department in Chicago.
Rev. Susan Teegen-Case is the founder and director of the Arts&Spirituality Center, an organization comprised of both artists and spiritual leaders that focuses on the interplay of artistic and spiritual avenues as a path to healing. Her experiences as an interfaith chaplain helped shape her theories about the power of creative expression to fuel nonviolence and community revitalization.
