Board of Directors

Pronouns: he, him

Greg joined Temple Beth Am in the late ’90s. He was born and raised in Seattle’s north end. Over the years, he and his family have been involved in virtually all aspects of temple life. He has served on a wide range of committees – including the Finance and Strategic Planning committees – usually with his wife Ruth Berkman. They consider a temple meeting “date night.” Most recently, Greg has been active on the Development Committee. He has been involved with a variety of businesses and nonprofit organizations in Seattle and finds satisfaction elevating operational standards by applying industry best practices. He brings his skills and experience in management, operations, accounting, and finance to his service on the Board of Directors. Greg and Ruth have four children and an aging sailboat that keep them busy!

Pronouns: she, her

Gaby and her husband, Dan, joined Temple Beth Am in 2008. Since that time, they have had two kids, both of whom are enrolled in the Gan. Gaby originally joined the Board of Directors in 2014, later holding roles of secretary and 2nd VP. In addition to her work on the Board, she has previously been chair of Young Families at Beth Am (YFBA), which she helped found in 2010, chair of the Development Committee and has chaired several TBA Galas. Over the past few years, Gaby has also served on the board of The Perkins School. Gaby works as a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King County. When not lawyering, wrangling kids, or volunteering, Gaby feeds her not-so-secret desire to be the Jewish Martha Stewart by being crafty. She is looking forward to returning to the TBA Board!

Lauren has been part of the Temple Beth Am community since she and her husband, Jarrod Dudakov, moved to Seattle from New York City in 2016. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, the Young-Dudakov family joined Temple Beth Am for the Young Families at Beth Am program, and now both their kids, Quinn and Baxter, are enrolled in The Gan. Lauren is involved in The Gan Committee, the Hearth Group Committee and has served as an Elul Group lay leader.

Lauren worked for many years as a bench scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before switching to Public Health where she now works as data manager on vaccine clinical trials at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In addition to passionately working in the global health arena, Lauren loves to read, travel and spend time outdoors in her spare time.

Pronouns: he, him

T.J. and his wife, Nora, have been proud members of the Temple Beth Am community since 2013 and are devoted parents to Guri and Myer. T.J. works in the King County Executive Office developing budgets and business plans for agencies serving the county’s two million-plus residents. He is delighted to have the opportunity to learn from and serve the community through the Beth Am Board.

Pronouns: she, her

Carole is a 25-year member of Temple Beth Am, a long-time member of the Finance and Investment Committees, and is now a past board Treasurer after many years of service in that capacity. She and her husband, Bruce Peterson, are a bi-coastal family with a daughter in New York City and two adult children and three grandchildren in Seattle. While Carole deals with finance, Bruce takes charge of their travel plans. Carole is trying to be a retired financial planner, but some clients think otherwise. Her favorite hobby is gardening, roses being her big passion.

Pronouns: she, her

Stacey joined Temple Beth Am in 2018, soon after moving from Madison, WI for work. She lives with her two great kids, Sadie (16) and Lev (13), and 2 adorable cats. They have appreciated the many opportunities for older kids to stay engaged through religious school and the Madrichim program, as they progress through middle and high school. Stacey has served on the Gala Committee and Acknowledgement Committee, and helped organize several congregational surveys for the Temple, given her graduate training in survey methodology. In her work life, Stacey works in User Experience Research at a large tech company in Seattle. Outside of work and Temple life, Stacey is a member of the board of the Seattle Jewish Chorale where she sings in the soprano section and manages their grants and enjoys puzzles of all types and volunteering to help reduce food insecurity.

In her professional work, Stacey typically works with survey, web and behavioral data and segmentation to describe customer needs and activities in order to drive more customer-friendly experiences. She uses data visualization and presentations of various types in order to bring this data to life.

Pronouns: he, him

Joel grew up in the Seattle area and never left. After attending UW, he continued to move north to Mountlake Terrace where he settled down with his wife Katie and their two children, Jackson and Hannah. Joel is big into the BA Brotherhood and volunteers as a Cubmaster/Den Leader for Pack 76 in Mountlake Terrace. His biggest passion is hanging out with our TBA community and Joel’s favorite thing in life is coffee and doughnuts.

Pronouns: she, her

Rebecca and her spouse, Robert Heller have been members of Temple Beth Am since 1992. Their adult son and daughter, who live on the east coast, both celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah and Covenant Renewals in the Sanctuary. Rebecca participated in TBA’s first adult B’nai Mitzvah cohort. She is co-chair of the Sisters of Beth Am, and is part of a long-term TBA chavurah. Rebecca is a retired city planner, who loves to travel (pandemics permitting), and is passionate about voting rights

Pronouns: she, her

Kaitlin and her husband Zach joined Temple Beth Am in 2016. Since joining, they’ve had the pleasure of observing multiple life cycle events with the TBA community, including their wedding and welcoming two children, Solomon and Lilah. Kaitlin is involved in the Advancement committee, and Kaitlin and Zach both volunteer with the Gala committee. When not engaging with Temple or chasing her children around, Kaitlin enjoys baking, knitting, reading, and navigating the complexities of international tax law and accounting at Deloitte.

Laura and her husband, Chris, have been members of Temple Beth Am since 2015, when their oldest son started in pre-K at the religious school. Laura and Chris relocated to Seattle from Chicago in 2005. Their family has been actively involved in the Young Families at Beth Am group, and Laura served on the committee. Laura has been a commercial real estate attorney for more than 15 years and is currently the general counsel of a Seattle-based real estate company. In her free time, Laura enjoys spending time with her family (including two active boys and a dog), reading, watching movies and running marathons.

Betsy and her husband, Andrew Schulman, joined Temple Beth Am in 1995. They have celebrated the birth, Bat Mitzvah, and Covenant Renewal of their daughter at Temple Beth Am as well as Andrew’s adult Bar Mitzvah. Betsy has served on a variety of temple committees as a member, co-chair, or chair, and is a past Board President. When she’s not volunteering for TBA, Betsy enjoys practicing employment law, singing with the Seattle Jewish Chorale, and hanging out with her dog.

Pronouns: she, her 

Liz and her husband Joe joined Temple Beth Am in 2010. All three of their daughters—Shoshana, Miriam, and Simone—got their start at SEED Early Childhood Center and now continue their Jewish education through the Gan. Liz grew up in Northern Virginia, where she was a member of Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, a reform synagogue that reminds her a lot of Temple Beth Am. Liz attended Brandeis University and, after living in Boston and San Diego, Liz settled in Seattle in 2007. Liz is an Elementary School Principal in the Bellevue School District and lives in the Fremont neighborhood with her family and very lively puppy corgi (named Goose). Liz is looking forward to deepening her connection to the Jewish community and applying her educational insights to the Temple’s future plans through her service to the TBA Board.

Pronouns: they, she

Maya joined Beth Am in 2021 with their husband Blake. Maya has participated in Hearth groups and is currently the TBA Teen Feed lead. Outside of temple, Maya was previously on the Limmud Seattle executive committee and has been involved with JFS and UW Hillel’. Maya converted to Judaism in North Carolina during college and moved with Blake to Seattle for the UW Master’s in Social Work program. Maya works for child protective services during the week and works at Title Boxing Club as a

trainer on the weekends. Maya is always looking for new opportunities to get involved at TBA and feels very lucky to have found such a welcoming community!

Pronouns: she, her

Kelly and her family have been living in Seattle since 2012, after returning from 12 years in France. They joined Temple Beth Am in 2016 when her then 4th grade daughter decided she wanted to have a bat mitzvah. Her two teenage sons still don’t want to, but they attend services once a month just the same. Kelly enjoys being an active member of Temple Beth Am: participating in the B’Yachad small group program, Prayerbook Hebrew classes with Debbie Massarano, and as a member of the current Adult B’nai Mitzvah cohort, in addition to her work on the Advancement, Finance, and Small Groups committee. In her spare time, Kelly is a senior director of digital engagement at a large technology company, and likes to garden, read, and spend time with her musician husband, Eddy, three kids, four cats, and a dog.

Pronouns: he, him

Josh and his wife, Katherine, joined Temple Beth Am in 2012 after attending several warm and welcoming Young Families at Beth Am (YFBA) events with their oldest daughter. Two more have come along, and they all agree – Purim is rad. Josh became an active member right away, first serving on the YFBA Committee. Then, he served multiple times on the Board Nominating Committee and completed two consecutive terms on the Religious School Committee. Josh is a professional photographer and avid endurance athlete.

Steven and his wife Helen Spencer-Snyder, and their children Hannah (25), Lev (22) and Ari (16), joined Temple Beth Am when they moved to Seattle in 2016. By day, he’s a lawyer for a family office who loves working with innovators and philanthropists. At home, it’s all about family, great books (especially history), singing and guitar, long Shabbat dinner conversations over good food and good wine, bike rides, hikes and kayaking. Before moving to Seattle, he served for many years on the Board and the Quality Improvement Committee of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston, and more recently on the Board and the Development Committee of Temple Ner Tamid in Blomfield, New Jersey. At TBA, he’s served on the Development Committee.

Pronouns: they, them or she, her

Rachel, who was known as Rachel Zeno until she married her partner Tim one-and-a-half years ago, has been a Temple Beth Am member for 32 years. Since moving back to Seattle in 2008, Rachel has been involved in the Welcoming Synagogue Taskforce, H2R, the Interfaith and Intercultural Initiative, as a delegate to the RAC’s Consultation on Conscience, as a Torah reader, and by teaching Religious School, as well as being a part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Advanced Leadership Development program. As a Senior Program Manager for Diversity & Inclusion Strategy at Amazon, Rachel works on finding innovative ways to disrupt unconscious bias, effectively develop and retain people from underrepresented backgrounds, and build organizational capability to collaborate across many kinds of differences; you might also run into her doing anti-racist organizing in Seattle with CARW and JUIR. She’s thrilled to roll up her sleeves and help Temple Beth Am actualize the Strategic Plan and move into the future in a way that lives our values.