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Rabbi Sarah Hronsky
Rabbi Sarah Hronsky has served Temple Beth Hillel, Valley Village, since 2003, and her rabbinate is filled with teaching, counseling and liturgical exploration. She is currently president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. She also has served on the board of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. A native of St. Louis, she graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia, with a bachelor of science in secondary education.
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Canon Robert Williams
As Canon for Common Life, Bob Williams serves the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and its bishop by sharing in leadership of communications, public affairs, and interfaith initiatives. Also diocesan historiographer and archivist, he first joined the bishop's staff in 1986. Based in New York from 2004 to 2008, he served as director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Communication and its news service, for which he has reported from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and across the Americas. In 1998, he was editor of the newspaper of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops, an every-decade international gathering convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Canon Williams is president of the board of trustees of the Neighborhood Youth Association and a parishioner of St. James' Church, Wilshire Center. He is a three-term past president of the Interreligious Council of Southern California, a Los Angeles city commissioner, and a fourth-generation Southern Californian.
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The Venerable Bhante Chao Chu
Bhante Chao Chu is Abbot of Rosemead Buddhist Monastery and president of the Los Angeles Buddhist Union (LABU). Born in Sri Lanka, he was ordained in the Buddhist monastic order in 1964, graduating from the Buddhist College in 1970. Since coming to the United States in 1981, Bhante Chao Chu has been involved in numerous Los Angeles interfaith and inter-Buddhist activities. He has served as president of the Center for Buddhist Development, executive committee member of the World Fellowship of Buddhists and World Buddhist Sangha Council, and vice president of the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California. In addition, he founded the Bosath Children’s Education Foundation, which offers computer and English learning to underserved children .
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Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
Archbishop Derderian is Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of North America. The Western Diocese covers the Western United States.
Archbishop Derderian was born in 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1980, he was ordained as a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 1987 Archbishop Derderian received his Master's Degree in Theology from Oxford University, and was raised to the rank of “Dzairakuyn Vartabed.” In 1990 he was elected Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church in Canada, and later in 1990, was ordained as a Bishop by His Holiness Vazken I. On February 18, 1993 he was made an Archbishop. In 2003, Archbishop Derderian was elected Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America by the 76th Annual Assembly. Since being elevated to the rank of Archbishop, he has led many projects of great importance to the Church and the community. He created the Christian Youth Mission to Armenia in 2003 which builds ties between youths living in America to Armenia through travel and internship programs. Under his leadership, the Church completed construction of the first ever Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church on the West Coast, located in Burbank, California. |
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Sister Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker
Jackie Dupont-Walker is founding president of Ward Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and chairs the Social Action Committee of the AME Church. She is a member of the METRO board of Los Angeles County.
For more than 40 years, Jackie Dupont-Walker has been a professional in the public and private sectors. Her strong commitment and calling to “faith-centered and empowering” development has made her a prophetic voice locally and nationally. She was a pioneer for desegregation at a major university, and has trailblazed on behalf of women and people of color in many arenas. She is the founding president of the Ward Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and for 30 years has led it in developing over 280 units of affordable housing and one major shopping mall. WEDC has encouraged indigenous leadership, created neighborhood networks, facilitated job creation, conducted asset mapping, and spearheaded an intergenerational community building effort. In addition to WEDC, she serves as President of the Lafayette Square Association, Social Action Chair of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Century City), and a host of other civic organizations. As a lifelong member of the AME Church, Mrs. Dupont-Walker created AME V-Alert (voter mobilization). She is an officer of Ward AME Church in Los Angeles where she serves on the Board of Stewards (Membership Education Chair) and chairs the Social Action Commission, Lay and Missionary ministries. She has served on a host of committees and commissions. Jacquelyn Dupont Walker is the youngest of 5 children born to Rev. King Solomon Dupont and Eleanor Jiles Dupont in Tallahassee, Florida. Early in life she was impacted by the models an entrepreneurial and visionary father (an AME Itinerant Elder, civil rights leader and logging truck company owner) and a maternal grandfather (a local AME church leader, shoemaker and farmer) who taught her self- determination and self- reliance. Her mother (public school teacher) and maternal grandmother (seamstress and homemaker) modeled educational excellence, nurturing a family, and volunteering in under-supported causes. All instilled in “Jackie” the importance of knowledge, skills, and human values needed in the context of a strong faith and a commitment to community service. A pioneering Black graduate of Florida State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree “Jackie” holds the Master of Social Work degree from Atlanta University and has done post-graduate studies (credentialing) as a developer at USC (U.S.C. Commercial Dev. program), and as substance abuse advisor (Washington University in Maryland). Jacquelyn is a licensed clinician (LCSW) in California and holds national certification (ACSW). She holds an honorary doctorate from Payne Theological Seminary. |
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Bishop Brenda Bos
The Rev. Brenda Bos was elected to serve a six-year term as Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America on June 5, 2021, and her term of office began September 1, 2021. She is the first woman to serve as bishop in the Southwest California Synod, and the first openly lesbian bishop to serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A native Californian, Bishop Bos was ordained in 2014 in her home congregation of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, a congregation known for its welcome of LGBTQ people.
Brenda Bos holds a bachelor's degree in Broadcasting from Pepperdine University, and was a television producer at Warner Bros. studios, working on sitcoms such as “The George Lopez Show” and “The Golden Girls.” Bishop Bos attended Claremont School of Theology and Pacific Lutheran Theology Seminary, receiving a Master of Divinity and a Certificate of Theological Studies, and was the first of eight vicars at St Paul's in Santa Monica. She was ordained in 2014 in her home congregation of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, a congregation known for its welcome of LGBTQ people, and served congregations in Canoga Park and Danville, California. Before her election, she served as Assistant to the Bishop for Rostered Leadership for the Pacifica Synod and the Southwest California Synod. She also served Christ Lutheran Church in San Clemente, where the congregation advocated for the rights of unhoused persons, seniors and those living with addiction. |
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Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank
Rev. Dr. Dottie Escobedo-Frank, Resident Bishop of the California-Pacific Conference, has been on the leading edge of church vitalization and transformation. She has served the church and community in progressive roles and responsibilities including working with people on the street, founding a church Farmer’s Market, working with immigrant populations, the opening of The Inn, and gathering a community rich in diversity. Bishop Dottie is a preacher, speaker, writer, community leader, wife, mother and grandmother.
Bishop Dottie grew up as a daughter of Lutheran missionaries, living on the border of Arizona and Mexico. A social worker, she specialized in foster care and medical pediatric crisis management. She earned a Masters of Social Work from Arizona State University. Later, she completed a Masters of Divinity from Claremont School of Theology. She earned her Doctorate of Ministry from George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Bishop Dottie has pastored six churches: Liberty UMC, Mission Bell UMC, Community Church of Joy (ELCA), CrossRoads UMC, Catalina UMC, and Paradise Valley UMC. She has also served as South District Superintendent, and Dean of the Cabinet, in the Desert Southwest Conference. Bishop Dottie has authored several books on the subject of church vitalization and transformation. |
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Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Most Reverend José H. Gomez is the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Catholic community. He also serves as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In his ministry, Archbishop Gomez encourages people to follow Jesus Christ with joy and simplicity of life, seeking to serve God and their neighbors in their ordinary daily activities.
Archbishop Gomez is a native of Monterrey, Mexico, and a naturalized American citizen. Prior to becoming Archbishop of Los Angeles, he served as Archbishop of San Antonio (2005–2010) and Auxiliary Bishop of Denver (2001–2005). He holds a doctorate degree in theology (S.T.D.), as well as undergraduate degrees in accounting, philosophy and theology. He speaks and writes often on issues in the Church and American society. |
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Commissioner Nirinjan Singh Khalsa
For more than eighteen years Nirinjan Khalsa has served as a commissioner on the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission; being president of that commission for more than 6 years. Nirinjan is also an activist for, and has publicly represented the Sikh Community for more than 35 years. He is the executive director of the California Sikh Council, a cultural intelligence educator and advisor to the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, LAPD, Los Angeles and Orange County Sheriff’s Departments, and many other public and private organizations. He has lobbied state and federal legislators concerning discrimination against Sikhs and Sikh civil rights issues, in Sacramento and in Washington D.C.
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Swami Mahayogananda
Swami Mahayogananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, which is part of the Hindu monastic order consolidated by Sri Shankaracharya some 1,200 years ago. He has been serving at the Vedanta Society of Southern California since 2013, and joined the Order in 1997. He is currently president of the Interreligious Council of Southern California.
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Right Reverend Alexei Smith
Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, a Greek Catholic priest, has served as Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles since November, 2000. As such he directs the Catholic Church’s relations with all other faiths in Los Angeles. He is a past president of the Interreligious Council of Southern California. |
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Sister Hedab Tarifi
Hedab Tarifi, a past president of the Islamic Center of Southern California, holds a bachelor's degree in computer software engineering from the University of Florida and an E-Business MBA from University of Phoenix. Hedab worked as an IM Program Manager at General Electric Energy for 20 years. She is now an IT consultant and financial coach and on her way to becoming a certified financial planner.
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The Right Reverend John Harvey Taylor
The Rt. Rev John Harvey Taylor was elected as seventh bishop of Los Angeles in December 2016 and took office in December 2017. Besides his duties as chief pastor and teacher to some 55,000 Episcopalians in six counties, he has devoted himself to promoting reconciliation, transparency, and a stronger financial and organizational foundation for the diocese’s 200 parishes, missions, schools, and other institutions. In those called to leadership in the church, whether lay or ordained, he encourages the exercise of empathy and curiosity as tools of evangelism, to enrich relationships and build new ones across the barriers of difference and prejudice according to race, language, geography, orientation, identification, age, and socioeconomics.
Spouse of Canon Kathy O’Connor, father of four, and grandfather of two, Bishop Taylor is a former newspaper reporter, director of the Nixon library, and chief of staff to former President Richard Nixon. A lifelong Episcopalian, Bishop Taylor was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1954, the son of journalists. He is a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and received a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of California, San Diego, and a master of divinity at the Claremont School of Theology and Bloy House. Ordained a priest in 2004, he served as curate at St. Andrew’s Church, Fullerton, and in 2009 was named vicar of St. John Chrysostom Church and School in Rancho Santa Margarita. Bishop Taylor has written two novels, Patterns of Abuse and Jackson Place, in addition to numerous newspaper and magazine articles and a blog, “The Episconixonian,” as well as regular posts on social media. |
