Board Members

Second year of two-year term, ending June 30, 2024:
Desiree Gatten
Shay Matters

First year of two-year term ending June 30, 2025:
Mary Kleiner
Kim Werker
Eadie Kaltenbacher
Amanda Versteeg
Francini Lino
Pam Halpern
Tabitha Gallo

Programming:
Sisterhood Service: Jean Angus
Sisterhood Choir: Joyce Cherry
Women’s Passover Seder: Jenny Glickman-Rynd

Social & Community Action:
Soup Schvesters: Reesa Devlin
Tikun Olam Gogos: Marie Henry

Sisterhood Groups:
Book & a Bite: Dale Wormei & Barbara Brezer
A Story & Schmooze Book Club: Marielle Solan
Rosh Chodesh Renewal: Kathy Jones
WRJ Lilith Salons: Donna Ornstein
Walking Group: Annica Carlsson
West Side Meet Up Group: Iris Dayson & Reesa Devlin
Richmond Sisterhood: Alisa Streat
Appys and Yappys: Rachel Roubini & Laura Tuan

Other:
Constitution, Procedures & Policies: Donna Ornstein
History Book: Donna Ornstein

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Ashley Speed
Ashley Speed is a new member of Temple Sholom, and dove right into being an active member of the Sisterhood. She and her four year old daughter are regular Saturday morning Tot Shabbat attendees; and her daughter attends the TS School. In her non-temple life, she is a Montessori preschool teacher who has dreams of opening her own Jewish Montessori school one day.
Ashley is looking forward to COVID-19 being over so she can start getting to know people in person again- her family joined TS in March just as things were ramping up!

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Jenny Glickman-Rynd
Jenny joined the Temple Sholom community after moving to Vancouver from Calgary in 2010. Once here, she became involved in the Temple school, both as a teacher and interim principal while Jen Jaffe was on maternity leave (twice in fact!). For spiritual enrichment, she relishes Torah study as well as services on Shabbat mornings and Rosh Chodesh once a month as they provide a place to look for answers to big questions. As far as Sisterhood is concerned, she participated in many Sisterhood events before joining the board in 2015 as Vice-President, Programming, and is now very pleased to partner with Annette as co-president. Although her responsibilities have broadened, the Sisterhood service and the Women’s Seder continue to hold a special place for her. Outside of Sisterhood, the treasures in and around this beautiful city, as well as her seven grandchildren, scattered across the continent, make life very rich.

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Amy Gilbert
Amy grew up in rural West Virginia. She was a secondary school music teacher in Ohio and Toronto, and served as Music Director for Toronto’s Temple Emanu-El for 25 years. She now shuttles back and forth between Vancouver and Chicago to enjoy three grandchildren in each city. Currently Sisterhood’s co-VP for Membership, she also serves as one of the congregation’s Gabbaim. She practices piano every day and is chief dog walker for the Vancouver family’s mastiff.

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Jean Angus
have been a member of Temple Sholom since 1979. My first position on the Sisterhood Board was as Secretary. I have held several positions on the Sisterhood Board since then and became President six weeks after losing our beloved synagogue on West 10th Avenue. I am now serving as Co-Vice-President, Membership maintaining the Sisterhood membership information and I arrange participation in Sisterhood services.I have served on the Temple Board for over twenty years and am chair of the Ritual Committee. After retiring, I became active in Sisterhood groups: Tikun Olam, Rosh Chodesh Renewal and Women’s Knitting Circle. I enjoy going to plays, music concerts, and photography.

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Marielle Solan
Marielle is originally from the East Coast of the US moved to Vancouver in 2019 after living in New York City for 13 years with her husband Craig. She works at Temple Sholom doing Events and Facilities Management. She’s been a Sisterhood member for three years and enjoys singing in the choir and discussing Jewish romance novels with the Story and Schmooze group, which she started. She’s also a wedding/portrait photographer and mom to a plucky toddler named Nell.

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Alisha Eckersley
Alisha officially joined Temple Sholom in 2021, and is proudly serving their second year on the Sisterhood board, this year as co-VP of Social Action. They are extremely passionate about the “bigger tents and longer tables” style of welcoming Judaism that Temple Sholom embodies so well. Alisha is queer, and disabled, and hopes that being openly identifiable as both will encourage other potential Sisterhood members to see that a place for them as well!

Desiree Gatten
Desiree is a newer member of Temple Sholom as of 2022. She and her husband Ryan live in Vancouver’s West side in the Dunbar area and love it! Desiree was technically born in Vancouver but is an “American Born Abroad” (long story), so most of her family resides in Seattle. Desiree works for the City of Vancouver where she manages Filming and Special Events. She is looking forward to being part of the Sisterhood Board and community!

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Annette Kozicki
Annette has been a member of Sisterhood for 10 years. In that time, she started the Women’s Knitting Circle, sang in the Sisterhood Choir, led and volunteered for countless programs and events and held the Co-VP of Marketing position. Annette is currently is the Co-President of Sisterhood and is very excited about the impact she hopes to have on the board, as well as the Sisterhood at large. At home, her husband Ryan and she are blessed with 2 beautiful children, Max and Skylar, as well as their gorgeous fur-girl Sidney. They run a family contracting and renovations business. For the Temple, she is one of the Gabbaim, fills in as Cantorial Soloist as needed, is the B’nai Mitzvah tutor and teaches Preschool 4 at the Temple’s Religious School.

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Peggy Wang
I begin the Temple Shalom journey in year 2018 for attending the JIC class. Shortly after my mikveh I joined Temple Shalom as a member and joined Sisterhood as well. I was not a very active member, but I did join Sisterhood’s knitting circle and Tikun Olam Gogos. I enjoy knitting and crafting and I feel I learned a lot from other members in these two groups. I had a great opportunity to become a Sisterhood board member. I always enjoy attending all of the events held by Sisterhood and the Temple. Everybody makes me feel very welcome and very supportive. For a new mom (my son just turned 1 year old) and my parents are very far away in Taiwan, everyone in the Temple does make me feel like a big welcoming family.

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Mary Kleiner
Mary has been a member of Temple Sholom since 2011. Mary converted through the JIC program, followed by studying for her Adult Bat Mitzvah with Cantor Naomi. She is a mother and wife to a beautiful growing family. She is a proud co-owner of a professional moving company founded with her loving husband, Konstantin. Mary currently sits on the Temple Executive Board and recently a Co-President of the Sisterhood. She started the Childminding program for young families on Saturday morning services, which has now developed into the Tot Shabbat program with Annette Kozicki. She is the Ruach Rep Chair at VTT, where her children attend. Mary and Konstantin strongly believe in getting involved and supporting the community.

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Ricki Mintz
My husband Ron and I emigrated from Toronto to the West Coast in 2019. We felt that joining a Reform shul would be a positive move for us. Boy, were we right! My husband died on May 28, 2023 and immediately I was surrounded by the women of Temple Sholom Sisterhood. Their support and love kept me from going over the edge. Whether it was a hug, offers of food, or being there for Ron’s memorial, it warmed my heart. I ran my Interior design company for thirty years and retired to go back to school to learn how to be a travel consultant. I did that for 10 years and then finally retired for good. Since then, I have enjoyed quilting and various other textile art forms. Becoming a member of TS Sisterhood was the best decision for me, by far.

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Donna Ornstein
My husband, Neil, and I first joined the Temple in 1972. I was a Sisterhood Executive Officer from 2002 to 2017, including serving as Recording Secretary, Executive Vice-President, Sisterhood President (2006 to 2009) and Vice-President, Marketing & Communications (2009 – 2017). I undertook the marketing for Sisterhood from 2004 to 2017. In June 2017, I stepped back from the Executive to become a Trustee. I remain involved in the Sisterhood’s WRJ Lilith Salon discussion group and Book & Bite. I have also held Executive Committee positions on the Board of the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District as Corresponding Secretary and then Vice-President, Marketing and was proud to represent our Sisterhood at this level. Before retiring from my career in 2008, I was a Securities and Corporate Finance paralegal at major Vancouver law firms for over 40 years. In the last couple of years after the loss of Neil and other family members, I have developed new interests such as playing golf, bridge, attending cultural events, making new friends, reading and taking courses.

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