Gard Jameson
Chair, Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada
Gard Jameson received his PhD from Pacific Graduate Institute in 2005. He teaches Asian philosophy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to his tenure at UNLV, he spent 25 years practicing as a CPA, CFP at Piercy, Bowler, Taylor & Kern and Touche Ross. He is the author of three books, Footprints on the Sands of Time, the story of his mentor, Dr. Raymond M. Alf, Phaethon, our Mythic Moment, an ancient Greek tale that illuminates our current predicament, and Monkey, Our Mythic Moment, the grand epic of Chine. He chairs the boards of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance and the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada. he sits on the boards of the VMSN and the Stillpoint Center for Spiritual Development.
Dr. Aslam Abdullah is the director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, the editor of the Muslim Observer and the director of the Muslim Electorates Council of America http://aslamabdullah.blogspot.com/
Sanford Akselrad came to Las Vegas in 1988 where he has served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid located in Henderson. During this time the Synagogue has grown from 60 to over 600 families, becoming the largest Reform Synagogue in the State of Nevada. In his nearly 26 years of service to our Congregation, Rabbi Akselrad has served on a wide variety of community boards including the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada, Humana Hospital Pastoral Advisory Board, the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, Jewish Family Services and the National Conference of Community and Justice. He is a past President of the Clark County Board of Rabbis as well as a founding member. He is a past chair of the National Conference of Community and Justice’s Inter-faith Council and past chair of the Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council (CRC). Rabbi Akselrad is currently a board member of the Anti-defamation League in Las Vegas and the Inter faith Council of Southern Nevada. He served for over twenty years as a member of the board of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust Education. Rabbi Akselrad has served on a National Commission on Jewish Living, Worship and Music for the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) since 1999. He has also served on the Outreach Commission (to inter-faith families) of the URJ.
Rabbi Akselrad was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1984. His rabbinic thesis dealt with the moral implications of the Holocaust and how the Holocaust is taught in public and private schools. Upon ordination, Rabbi Akselrad served as the associate Rabbi of one of the largest Reform Congregations in the mid-west, Temple Israel of Columbus, Ohio. Rabbi is married to Joni and has two children, CJ and Sam.
Mary Lou Anderson has been a lifelong leader and practitioner in the healing of people’s greatest fears and barriers, which still them from a fulfilling, joyful existence. Mary Lou’s experience in Consulting, Counseling, Coaching, Self-Improvement, Manifestation and Healing work spans over twenty-five years, representing a diverse population of clientele, cultures and business industries. Educated at Gannon University, a private, Catholic institution, along with extended studies at University New Mexico, University NV, Reno and University of Phoenix, Anderson embarked upon a lifetime career of managing the business of business – and life, through diverse Human Relations, Human Resources, General Business and Technology management.
Anderson’s love of empathetic listening and healing modalities initially launched her into the more traditional realm of corporate enterprise, where she spent many years as a Human Resources professional, V.P., and Director for a variety of hospitality, gaming, healthcare and long-term care company’s throughout the United States, including a wonderful period of time with a Tribal Government and Gaming organization in the Pacific Northwest. Simultaneously, her passion for advocating for those at-risk population segments – the elderly, the impoverished, those with developmental disabilities, the homeless, led Mary Lou into private work with several non-profit groups, sitting as Board Member or Officer for many including the NV Public Health Foundation, Northern NV Health Care Coalition, NV Public Education Foundation, NV Desert Experience, the Catholic Worker movement, the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada and People First of Nevada, to name a few.
In 2002, a year of substantial, personal life change and growth, Anderson embarked upon studying and embracing the teachings of Abraham Hicks followed by a decade whirlwind of deeper studies in Buddhism, Hinduism, Vedic history and philosophy, Paganism, Spiritual Wellness and ultimately, Nonviolence tenets, Ghandi Teachings, the Interfaith Movement and her ultimate passion for change in our world – global Peace Activism. This manifested, life-cycle awakening led Anderson to experience amazing journeys and missions of peace and wellness around the world. From a two-week, humbling Peace delegation to Afghanistan in 2011 with Voices for Creative Nonviolence to an unforgettable International Gensuikyo Peace Conference as a delegate, for the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 2011, to many Interfaith, Catholic Worker and peace organization managed events, conferences, community gatherings and global actions with purposes of peacemaking, servitude, self-growth and renewal, Anderson’s passion for advocacy, social justice and global healing has been re-birthed into helping individuals and businesses also streamline their life-purposes – through Mind, Body & Spirit, peaceful purpose management. Soulfood for your Business and Your Life!
The spiritual guidance, the journeys the teachings and the wisdom gained in the past ten years serve as the foundation for Spirit & Serve, LLC.
Spirit & Serve, LLC offers Business and Life-Management Services & Resources through powerful offerings of traditional Business, H.R. And I.T. Management expertise as well as+ Mind, Body and Spirit Consulting, Counseling, Coaching, Speaking, Workshops, Yoga and Writing engagements for Businesses, Individuals and Groups. (Non-Profit, Socially Responsible and Small Business services receive lovingly, discounted rates).
Contact Mary Lou at Spirit & Serve, LLC at (702)572-7249, mlavegas@yahoo.com or hrmgmnt@yahoo.com
Complementary initial Consultation (1 Hour).
Spirit & Serve, LLC
Mary Lou Anderson, Owner
4584 Casa Mia Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89121
Jo Ann Buckner has a MA degree in Counseling and is a Returned Peace Corps
Volunteer, who served two years in French West Africa. Over the years, Jo Ann has been a Teacher, Counselor, trainer, and Licensed Practitioner with The Centers for Spiritual Living. She is a Professional Storyteller as well as a workshop presenter and facilitator.
Jo Ann retired from United States Department of Agriculture as a
Commodity Processing Food Program Specialist, Western Region Office.
She is the founder of a developmental program, Beauty Shop for the Soul
and subsequently developed a program/workbook for children… “Beauty Shop for The Souls of Our Children”. Currently Jo Ann serves on the Board of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada and on the Board for the United Religious Initiative.
Cyndi has been involved with hospice programs for more than 35 years, and currently serves as a Spiritual Counselor for Family Home Hospice. She is an enthusiastic advocate for education and advance planning relating to end-of-life decisions, and presents workshops and counseling for families and individuals to become informed in Advance Directives, end-of-life choices in healthcare and final arrangements. Using the skills acquired through a Master of Science in Counseling, Cyndi offers grief counseling and bereavement support while serving as a staff minister, teaching the Science of Mind philosophy through the Center for Spiritual Living Greater Las Vegas.
Candace C. Kant, Ph.D. is an emerita professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada. She holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a Ph.D. in history from Northern Arizona University. She has written two books on western writer Zane Grey, Zane Grey’s Arizona (1984) and Letters From a Marriage: Dolly and Zane Grey (2008). At CSN she taught courses on US history, Nevada history and Women’s Studies. In addition she developed courses on the History of Witchcraft, Goddess Traditions, Introduction to Modern Paganism, and Modern Pagan Thought. With Anne Key she is co-managing editor of Goddess Ink, Ltd. a press dedicated to publishing high quality, affordable and accessible scholarly and creative books in Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Studies. She co-edited Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet which was published in 2011, and Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses which was published in 2014. She also serves as the Dean of Students for Cherry Hill Seminary, the leading provider of education and practical training in leadership, ministry and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualties. Candace was ordained at the Temple of Goddess Spirituality dedicated to Sekhmet, by Crone Witch Patricia Pearlman in 2003, and served as one of the priestesses there from 2007 to 2011.
Mel Li
pman is an attorney licensed to practice in New York and Nevada. After retiring from full-time legal practice, he worked as an arbitrator and mediator while teaching Constitutional Law and US History at Nevada State College and at the Nevada campus of the University of Phoenix.
He is a past president of the American Humanist Association and is a Trustee and Treasurer of The Humanist Foundation, the American Humanist Association’s endowment fund. He is also the chair of AHA’s board Nominating Committee. (www.americanhumanist.org)
Mel is a former board member of The Humanist Institute and currently teaches the three year course in Humanism given by the Institute. He also served as Vice-President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He is a Humanist celebrant, licensed by the state of Nevada to officiate at weddings and is on the board of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada.
Mel was president of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las Vegas from 1987 to 1993 and was on the staff of the Unitarian Universalist Pacific Southwest District’s Leadership Training School. He is currently a “fellow” at the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Symposium.
He is a founding member of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas Nevada, serving as its president for 6 years and now as a board member. (www.halvason.org)
Mel welcomes every opportunity to clarify the Humanist perspective as it relates to interfaith participation.. He is frequently on talk shows and public forums, and gives public talks to voice his advocacy for interfaith participation by Humanists.
Rabbi Yocheved Mintz is the spiritual leader of Congregation P’nai Tikvah, the only Reconstructionist and Renewal synagogue in Nevada. Ordained in 2004, at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, Rabbi Mintz also earned a Masters in Rabbinic Studies and was certified as a “Mashpiah Ruchanit” (Spiritual Director) through the ALEPH Hashpaah program. Co-founder and Director of Education Emerita of the Moadon Kol Chadash in Chicago, past Consultant to the Judaica Department of the Milton I Schwartz Hebrew Academy of Las Vegas, she is the granddaughter of the late Rabbi Israel Porath, (zt”l), and is the first female rabbi in 18 generations of Porath rabbis. Rabbi Mintz is Chair of the Federation Foundation Committee, Immediate Past-President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern Nevada, Immediate Past-President of OHALAH, President of the Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education, and Founder and Board Chair for the Florence A. Melton School for Adult Jewish Education, Las Vegas. A member of numerous boards, including the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada, the Clark County Ministerial Association, the formation Board of the Nevada Institute for Spirituality and Health, and the Jewish Family Services Agency, she was the 2013 Woman of the Year, honored by Hadassah of Southern Nevada. Rabbi Mintz is Managing Director of the Las Vegas Jewish Center for Education, Media & the Arts, a Past- President of the AJR/CA Alumni Association, and a member of the AJR/CA Board of Governors. Rabbi Mintz is the widow of the late Dr. Alan Mintz. z”l, to whom she was married for nearly 48 years. She is the mother of four, grandmother of fourteen, and is often seen in the company of Shepsi, her trusty German Shepherd.