2023 Convention Special Guests

We welcome our 2023 Convention special guests!

  • Keynote Speaker: Amelia Craig Cramer, Attorney and Vice President of the NAACP’s Tucson Branch
  • WRJ Guest: Jane Taves, WRJ Vice President of Engagement​
  • WRJ Guest: Amanda Feldman, WRJ Director of Events and Leadership
  • Special Guest: Mayor Lynne Robinson
  • YES Fund Lunch Special Guests: Megan Brumer, Jessica Brumer, and Kayla Brumer
  • Friday Evening Services and Saturday Installation: Rabbi Molly Weisel
  • Saturday Morning Services: Rabbi Keara Stein, Mikayla Goodkin, and Annette Kozicki
  • Saturday Evening Celebration: Annette Kozicki and Celia Curran Amancio

​Our special guests, along with many others, will share their expertise and experience and engage us during our Opening Session, Shabbat, Torah study, Legislative Body Meetings, and workshops. 
Amelia Craig Cramer is a member of the Women of Kol Ami in Tucson, Arizona. She has served on various committees at Kol Ami, including the Social Justice and Action Committee, Nominating Committee, Rabbi Search Committee, and Bylaws Committee.

Ms. Cramer is a retired attorney with a breadth of diverse experience practicing law in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. During her legal career, she actively promoted civil rights for LGBTQ people by working as managing attorney for the western regional office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles and as executive director of GLAD in Boston. Additionally, she served for nearly 15 years as a reform-minded prosecutor in the position of Chief Deputy Pima County Attorney in Tucson, Arizona, developing and implementing Pima County’s Drug Treatment Alternative Alternative to Prison Program, as well as other innovative criminal justice reform programs.

Ms. Cramer also worked for three large, private law firms in Arizona, California, and Washington, D.C. where she practiced commercial litigation and did pro bono work providing free legal services for immigrants seeking asylum, people with HIV and AIDS, and prison inmates suffering from mental illness. Ms. Cramer is former president of the State Bar of Arizona and presently serves on the Arizona Supreme Court’s Ethics Task Force for Government Lawyers. In her retirement, Ms. Cramer also dedicates a substantial amount of her time to the NAACP, working for racial justice and criminal justice reform. She was recently elected vice president of the NAACP’s Tucson Branch.

Ms. Cramer is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Stanford Law School. She lives in Tucson with her wife, economist Amy S. Cramer, who is president of the nonprofit Voices On The Economy, Inc. Ms. Cramer and her wife are the proud parents of an adult daughter, Margo, who recently graduated from Boston University.
Jane Taves currently serves as WRJ Vice President of Engagement. Jane has been a member of the WRJ North American Board since 2013. Before her current position, she served as WRJ Vice President of Marketing & Communications and Advocacy. 

Jane is an active member of Temple Beth El in Madison, Wisconsin, serving on the Sisterhood Executive Board and the congregation’s Executive Committee. Jane also serves as a trustee on the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) North American Board and is a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) Executive Board.

Jane has a passion for WRJ, the Reform Movement, and Global Jewry. She is retired from a career in healthcare software at Epic Systems, where she was one of the founding members. Over the years at Epic, her roles included software development, project implementation, and sales. Along with her volunteer work, Jane greatly enjoys theater, opera, and worldwide travel. She has one adult daughter and one grand dog.
Amanda Feldman, WRJ Director of Events & Leadership, oversees planning and logistics for the WRJ Fried Women's Conference as well as all other WRJ conferences and committee meetings. She also is the staff liaison to the WRJ Board of Directors, working on all Board meetings, trainings, and webinars; nominations; onboarding; and other leadership-related content.

A lover of travel, Amanda enjoys being able to attend WRJ events in different locations. She is an avid reader and cook who loves spending time with friends and family, a fan of the New York Rangers, and a member of the Garden City Jewish Center Sisterhood in Garden City, NY (with her mom).
​Mayor Lynne Robinson, Bellevue, WA, joined the City Council in 2014 and has a long history of civic involvement. She is a champion for startups and small business, and has encouraged startup and equity crowdfunding workshops at City Hall. Her colleagues voted her deputy mayor in January 2018 and mayor in January 2020 and again in January 2022.
 
Lynne also advocates for the environment, parks and open spaces, human services and affordable housing in Bellevue. She proposed a property tax exemption adopted by the council for multifamily complexes that include affordable housing.
 
She represents the council on the King County Mental Illness and Drug Disability Advisory Committee, the King County Affordable Housing Committee and the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board.
 
Before her election to the council, Lynne served on and chaired the Bellevue Network on Aging and the Parks & Community Services Board.
 
A physical therapist with her own business, Lynne holds a doctorate in physical therapy from Regis University and a bachelor's degree in physical therapy from Northwestern University Medical School. She also earned a bachelor's degree in community services from California State University Chico. In 2015 Governor Jay Inslee appointed Lynne to a three-year term on the state Board of Physical Therapy. Lynne developed an interest in computer science while in college, and she is on the Washington Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council.
 
Lynne and husband Dan Watson live downtown after moving from the Woodridge neighborhood, where they had resided since 1997. Their two children graduated from Bellevue public schools and are successful professionals.
Megan, Jessica, and Kayla Brumer, are three sisters who grew up at our convention host congregation Temple B'nai Torah in Bellevue, WA. All three wonderful young women were avid URJ campers growing up, were active in NFTY in their temple and in NFTY regional leadership, and continue to be engaged in the Reform Jewish world.

Megan is currently completing her rabbinical studies and will be ordained from HUC-JIR in May as a rabbi with a Masters in Jewish Education. She will be the Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth El of Great Neck, NY after ordination.

Jessica serves as the Assistant Director at URJ Camp Kalsman and has also worked at Temple B’nai Torah as Director of Youth Engagement.

Kayla recently graduated from Brandeis University and is currently working in the adolescent mental health treatment field as a Care Coordinator at a teen female residential facility in Kirkland, WA.
Rabbi Molly Weisel returned to Temple B'Nai Torah, Bellevue, WA, the temple in which she grew up, in 2020 - this time as the associate rabbi. She was joined by her husband, Noah, and their young children, Alice and Milo.

Rabbi Molly attended rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. While there, she pursued her interest in the intersection of Judaism and the environment, writing her rabbinic thesis on the topic of "Implementing Green Theology in Reform Synagogues." Rabbi Molly spent her summers working for URJ Camp Kalsman, Adamah Adventures, a Jewish outdoor adventure camp, and interning as a hospice chaplain.

During rabbinical school, Rabbi Molly took an extra year to earn her Masters in Jewish Education. During that year she wrote a curriculum guide for adult learning on the topic of "Intentional Living: Refining Your Beliefs and Realigning Your Actions" as well as co-creating a philanthropy curriculum guide for teens.

In her most recent role as Director of Education at Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, CA, Rabbi Molly was a creative educator and capable administrator who led their school of 250 students through a time of transition and transformation. She also ran the B’nai Mitzvah program and loves to chant Torah and lead text study.
Rabbi Keara Stein is the Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Beth Hillel, Valley Village, CA. As an integral member of the senior professional staff, she is responsible for the operation of the Religious School, adult and family education, and oversight of Judaic and Hebrew curriculum and instruction in the Elementary School.  Additionally, Rabbi Stein performs rabbinic duties and provides support for programs within our congregation.

Rabbi Stein was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Prior to that, she received her Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters, completed a Rabbinic Student Interdenominational Program and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies with a minor in music from Willamette University in Salem, OR.

Before joining TBH, Rabbi Stein worked in Development at the Jewish Community Center in Silverlake. Additionally, she has served as Rabbi for Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf and Director of InterfaithFamily Los Angeles where she provided counseling and teaching to couples, individuals, and families relating to religion, tradition and lifecycle events. Rabbi Stein brings to TBH an extensive background working with individuals and families to have positive Jewish experiences and has specific expertise working with interfaith families to navigate religious and family challenges, and as a hospital chaplain.
Mikayla Goodkin grew up at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, Washington, and is the current music specialist at Congregation Beth Israel in Bellingham, WA. She loves working with youth and bringing Jewish music into their lives in all sorts of ways.

She is a student at Western Washington University, continuing her studies as a part of the Master’s in English Studies Program starting in the Fall, with the intention of becoming a high school English teacher. When not at school or at temple, you’ll find her writing poetry, walking in the early morning while listening to audiobooks, and spending time with her friends.
​Annette Kozicki is an accomplished singer and songwriter. As “Music Specialist” she leads and teaches music and worship for the children of Temple Sholom in Vancouver BC as well as tutors the B’nei Mitzvah students.
 
Annette has been an active member of the Sisterhood of Temple Sholom for over a decade and is currently the Immediate Past President. The Sisterhood Choir is one of her happy places, and she’s blessed to have 2 songs of hers being sung by them.
 
At home Annette has 2 yummy kids who also sing her music, (as well as write their own) and a rockstar husband!
 
She’s very excited to be leading the choir this year at the WRJ PD Convention, and to be hosting the Saturday night entertainment with her WESTY pal Celia! The evening is sure to be full of song and giggles!
Celia Curran Amancio was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and was handed a love of music down from her parents and grandparents. She grew up with classic musicals from the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein and was lucky to have a family that encouraged her to pursue music and theater. She began playing viola around the same time she began Hebrew School at Temple B’nai Torah (back when we were still on Mercer Island!) During Hebrew School she was encouraged to sing with the Temple Youth Choir, and it was under the wonderful tutelage of Cantor David Serkin-Poole where she began to discover her talent for singing. Her Bat Mitzvah was a musical revelation, and she continued to be involved with singing in choir and musical theater throughout junior high and high school. Eventually Celia found her way to New York City where she graduated from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music with a degree in Vocal Performance.
 
A few years later, Celia returned to the PNW where she was invited to audition for the newly formed Seattle Jewish Chorale, now in their 15th season! It was during her first Chanukah performance with the chorale that she was discovered by the music director for a small congregation, Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue. She is now part of the music team at Bet Alef as well as continuing to sing with the Seattle Jewish Chorale, both in the main chorus and the chamber group called Banu Lashir, which means “we come here to sing.”
 
When not singing or rehearsing, Celia is proud to be the Business Development Director for Craft Elixirs, a small, artisan cannabis candy manufacturer. She also enjoys spending time with her husband Brandon and their dog Quincy. She is overjoyed to be a part of this year’s WRJ conference with her WESTY camp friend Annette!
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