Lom Friedman - Lom Friedman joined Hazon as the Bay Area Director on August 31st. He will be working half time through June and then become a full time staff person. Friedman’s primary responsibility in his first year will be to create and implement the first California Hazon Ride, and then in his 2nd year, he will build a strategy for growth in the Bay Area which will include the development of strong partnerships, speaking & teaching around the Bay Area, fundraising, and the development of year-round programs.
Friedman worked for 9 years as the Director of Wilderness and Outdoor Education at Camp Tawonga in the Bay Area, has been a trip leader for AJWS and most recently was the Interim Operations Director at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley.
Friedman is in his final year of a MA in Education focusing on Instructional Technology at San Francisco State University.
Gil Friend - Gil Friend is President and CEO, Natural Logic Inc.
He was a founding board member of internet pioneer Institute for Global Communications, and played key or founding roles in such seminal environmental enterprises as EcoNet, GreenLine, the California Office of Appropriate Technology, and Buckminster Fuller's "World Game." He was co-founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, one of the nation's leading urban ecology and economic development think-tanks.
Mr. Friend has written extensively and lectures widely on sustainability issues. He holds an MS in Systems Ecology from Antioch University, a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned presenter of "The Natural Step" environmental management system.
Ilana Gauss - Ilana Gauss is a green programs specialist for the City and County of San Francisco. She is also the founder of EcoJews of the Bay, which aims to engage the Jewish community of the Bay Area in exploring and celebrating the connections between Judaism and environmentalism. She majored in marine biology at Boston University
Betsy Rosenberg - Betsy Rosenberg is an award-winning broadcast journalist who has worked for the three major networks over the course of her 24 years in radio. Betsy has been with the CBS Radio News network for the past 20 years, working as a reporter and anchor on KCBS, Northern California's top-rated news station, as well as a national anchor for CBS Radio News in New York.
After earning dozens of awards for her general news reporting, Betsy decided to start an environmental beat on KCBS. In 1997 she launched Trash Talk, sixty-second segments focusing on what consumers can do to live lighter on the planet in their everyday lives. On the fifth anniversary of the program, and after winning a half dozen awards for this innovative feature at the local, regional, and national levels, Betsy decided to change the name to EcoTalk, to better reflect the broadened scope of her story coverage. While the program began with tips on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle solid waste, it has evolved into a program that chronicles the entire spectrum of "green" living.
Long before it was covered by the mainstream media, Betsy was reporting on trends in energy conservation, green building, renewables, electronic waste, fuel efficiency, sustainable agriculture and much more. Betsy has received six awards at the local, regional and national levels for Environmental Leadership. The honors have come from the EPA, National Recycling Association, California Resource Recovery Association, Peninsula Community Conservation Fund (2) and Keep California Beautiful.
Avi Stewart - Rabbi Avi Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He has lived in a number of cities around the world including Mexico City and Jerusalem. Rabbi Stewart has joined the JSN from Baltimore, Maryland where he received his Rabbinical Training at Ner Israel Rabbinical College. He also attained a Masters of Science in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. He received his training in family counseling from Lighthouse Inc., an adolescent and family counseling center located in Catonsville, Maryland. Rabbi Stewart has experience in organizing and developing programming such as Heritage Retreats. Additionally, Rabbi Stewart is a professional Chazzan [cantor], as well as a recording artist who has soloed on a number of popular Jewish music albums.
On November 8, 2009, hundreds of Jewish leaders met in San Francisco for a conference featuring innovators from the energy industry, investment, sustainability, and policy.
They shared ideas and experiences to help advance the generational movement for clean and secure energy.