Hannah Hochkeppel

Hannah Hochkeppel has more than 10 years of experience in a variety of education and program development spaces and is deeply invested in the work of youth empowerment, advocacy, and peacebuilding. Most important to her is centering youth voices and youth leadership as an integral piece of this work. As a non-profit and education professional, she has a passion for interfaith partnership, supporting social justice movements, and developing strategy for conflict resolution and peacebuilding around the world.

In addition to her non-profit work, she has also previously worked in the fields of mental health counseling and religious education. She holds a B.S in Psychology from Virginia Tech, a M.A in Religion and Theology from Seattle University.

Hannah currently serves as the Director of Youth Engagement for Paths to Understanding. In the past, she has served as the Global Programs Director for Kids4Peace International and the United States Country Director for Seeds of Peace. Her work has focused specifically on creating interfaith and intercultural peacebuilding programs for K-12 students. She has worked with youth in the United States, along with youth globally in Western Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East (with a special focus on Israel and Palestine).

Hannah implicitly trusts the power that youth hold to change the world and hopes that even amidst the messiness of navigating conflict and injustice, upholding the gifts and wisdom that youth bring to this work of building peace is integral to moving our communities forward.

Justine Huxley

Justine Huxley, director, has been with St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London for nine years. ”It is a tremendous privilege to work here. I am constantly inspired by the dedication and creativity of our team and the amazing range of people we work with and who walk through our doors. I see my role as sensing the conversations that are waiting to happen, bringing people together from diverse backgrounds and ideologies, and allowing new ideas and ways of working to emerge collaboratively.” Justine has a PhD in psychology and a diploma in integrative counseling. Previously she worked as a research and communications consultant. She has been responsible for developing our dialogue methodology, training programs and resources, for building our work with narrative and personal story, and for developing the conflict resilience, conflict coaching, and re-imagining the sacred programs. She brings a wealth of experience in deep listening, facilitation, and working with emergent process.

Aamir Hussain

Aamir Hussain, a native of Farmington, Connecticut, graduated from Georgetown University with a Government major and Theology minor in 2013. He is a Muslim of Indian background and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and Hindi-Urdu. Aamir is an alumnus of the Interfaith Youth Core's programs, was the president of the Georgetown Interfaith Council, and a research assistant at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs in Washington, DC. Aamir is currently a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and an Ambassador with the Parliament of the World's Religions.

Mary E. Hunt

Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., is a feminist Catholic theologian and co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dr. Hunt lectures and writes on theology and ethics. She is the editor of A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z (Palgrave, 2004) and co-editor with Diann L. Neu of New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views (SkyLight Paths, 2010).

Rev. Sandra Hulse

Pastor of St. John’s UCC in San Francisco, the Rev. Sandra Hulse spent 15 years in taxable fixed income trading and as an officer with EF Hutton and other brokerage firms before being ordained in 1995. A graduate of Muhlenberg College, Dr. Hulse earned an MA in Counseling from Montclair State University, an MDiv from Drew Theological School, and a DMin from the University of Creation Spirituality. In addition to pastoring churches across the UCC, Dr. Hulse has served on the budget and finance committees of the Central Atlantic, New York, Florida and Northern California Nevada Conferences.

Rev. Robert Hrasna

Rev. Robert Hrasna is a lifelong resident of the New Jersey shore. Previous to entering ministry full time, his professional career ranged in many positions and responsibilities within construction management and the trades. His Christian upbringing guided him into active membership of the Point Pleasant Presbyterian church as a Deacon and director of several initiatives including community service and presenting alternative services.

Acting on a call to ministry, his ministerial education began with a Holistic Studies program at Georgian Court University. Ordination as an Interfaith Minister in 2004 was through The New Seminary in NYC, and an advanced certification in Spiritual Counseling. His studies continue today through the American Institute of Holistic Theology. Robert has served from 2007 to 2014 on the Board of Directors for A World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy, serving the Board as Chairman for three years. During this time he was named as an Ambassador to the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain.

Today, Robert works with Wisdom Circle Ministries as the director of the Language of Interfaith project. His work there began with creating the Wisdom Ministries Multi-Region Cooperation Circle of the United Religions Initiative. He went on to conceive of, plan, and implement the Language of Interfaith project. Robert guided Wisdom Circle Ministries in a series of five Pre-Parliament events and an exhibition at the October 2015 Parliament in Salt Lake City, Nevada.

Thomas Albert Howard

Thomas Albert Howard is professor of humanities and history and holder of the Duesenberg Chair in Ethics at Valparaiso University. His God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide (Oxford, 2011) was winner of a Christianity Today Book of the Year Award. His recent publications include Remembering the Reformation: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Protestantism (Oxford, 2016); and, edited with Mark A. Noll, Protestantism after 500 Years.  Currently he is working on a project provisionally titled The Riddle of the Religious Other: On the Past, Present, and Purpose of Interfaith Dialogue.

Ruthie Howard

Ruthie Howard is a passionate newcomer to the interfaith world. Growing up in Northern California without a formal religious or spiritual upbringing, a series of unexpected events brought her to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2009 where she began a life changing position with the AmeriCorps Program at the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada. AmeriCorps recruits and trains full-time volunteers to nonprofit, faith-based, and other community organizations needing to create and expand their programs. Through AmeriCorps, Ruthie served for two years with the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada, learning about interfaith culture and the importance of interfaith dialogue. In 2011 the Council hired her officially as it program manager. Ruthie is driven to include youth in interfaith work. She serves on the Young Adult Committee of the North American Interfaith Network.

Miranda Hovemeyer

Miranda Hovemeyer currently serves as the Administrative Director of the Interfaith Families Project of Greater Washington, D.C. She is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, but she has lived all over the world and most recently, in Australia. She completed her undergraduate degree in English Literature at Colorado State University and has recently earned her M.A. in Religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago. Miranda’s work and studies focus on interfaith theology and community building, specifically through using humor. For her Master’s Thesis, Miranda planned and executed an interfaith comedy show in Chicago.  The show hosted Christian, Muslim, and Jewish comedians and ended with a community Q&A on comedy and interfaith dialogue.

She is an alumna of Interfaith America (formerly Interfaith Youth Core), where she worked as a Community Ambassador in the “One Chicago: One Nation” program, which “brings together Chicagoans of diverse faiths and cultures, with an emphasis on the Muslim community, to get to know each other through addressing local needs.”

She is currently one of Interfaith America’s Emerging Leaders. Miranda is also certified in Interfaith Conflict Resolution by the United States Institute of Peace. Miranda lives in Silver Spring with her husband Scott and their two sons. In her spare time, she enjoys making stained glass art, hiking, and reading cheesy mysteries.

Jonathan Homrighausen

Jonathan Homrighausen is an MA student in Biblical Studies at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, where he focuses on Abrahamic scriptures and interreligious dialogue, particularly conversations between Bible and Qur’an. He is co-author, with J. David Pleins, of the forthcoming Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary by Conceptual Categories: A Student’s Guide to Nouns in the Old Testament (Zondervan).

Zachary Hoover

Zachary Hoover is the executive director of LA Voice, part of the PICO National Network, a coalition of 55 community organizations in 19 states representing over one million families. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard and a ministry license in the American Baptist Churches of the USA. Zach has been organizing in PICO for seven years. He has extensive experience in cultivating congregational leadership in diverse religious communities, speaks Spanish fluently, and has co-led national trainings for clergy and professional organizers. The record for organizing campaigns he has led includes winning millions in parks improvements, creating fairer impound policies for immigrant drivers, saving citizens millions each year, increasing access to groceries for low-income residents in food deserts, and bridging gaps between communities often divided by race, class, and freeway. Zach brings his faith, discipline, and commitment to building a powerful, multicultural LA Voice, currently organizing 25 churches, synagogues, and mosques in six city council districts of Los Angeles. Zach is married to Saskia Pallais and lives in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Dabney Hochman

Elizabeth Dabney Hochman is the founding editor of KidSpirit Online and KidSpirit Magazine, a nonprofit web community and magazine that empowers teens to explore life’s big questions in a spirit of openness. A graduate of Princeton University, with a Masters in Music from the Mannes College of Music in New York City, she has over fifteen years’ experience as an opera singer. From her experience working with adolescents through KidSpirit, Ms. Dabney Hochman has published a number of articles on spiritual development in youth, including “KidSpirit Magazine: Youth in dialogue about life’s big questions,” in New Directions for Youth Development (Jossey-Bass, 2008); and “Six Steps to Nurturing the Spirit in Adolescents,” in Good Things to Do: Expert Suggestions for Fostering Goodness in Kids (Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education, 2009).

Ibrahim Hirsi

Ibrahim Hirsi covers workforce and immigration issues for MinnPost. He can be reached at ihirsi@minnpost.com or follow him on Twitter at @IHirsi.

J. Andreas Hipple

J. Andreas Hipple is senior program advisor with Arbor Philanthropy, working primarily with the GHR Foundation on its Inter-Religious Action initiative and with the Better Way Foundation on early childhood development in Tanzania and the United States. Prior joining Arbor in 2011, he was the director of programs for the Washington, DC-based Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty, where he directed a multi-million dollar program – including significant support from GHR – that mobilized thousands of Muslim and Christian religious leaders in Nigeria to teach their congregations about malaria prevention and treatment. Previous experience includes consulting on international development, evaluation, and program design for a range of clients.

Andreas was a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin for two years and began his career as an analyst for an investment consultancy in Minneapolis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College and earned his master’s degree in international relations with honors from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), concentrating on conflict management and African studies. He has completed all but the dissertation for his Ph.D. from SAIS.

Fadi Hindi

Fadi Hindi is United Religion Initiative’s Consultant for Marketing and External Outreach as part of the Global Support Office Team. Fadi comes to URI with extensive experience in the technology sector as a global minded Talent and Operations leader skilled in developing human capital strategies and solutions for early stage SaaS companies. His strengths are grounded in systems design, data analytics, and organizational effectiveness practices, which allow him to influence at all levels of the organization. Furthermore, his passions for creating a bespoke employee experience across the organization comes from his ability to collaborate with diverse groups of global stakeholders, to diagnose and analyze business problems and opportunities to scale. 

Fadi's focus for URI is digital transformation and creating an external marketing strategy that has a vibrant outreach program enlivening URI’s existing network, enlisting new members, and forging new partnerships through innovative approaches to online learning, media, social media, and marketing. 

Fadi has a degree in International Relations and Peace & Justice Studies, and is experienced and committed to all forms of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Fadi's passion for interfaith engagement in peacebuilding flows from his history as a refugee from the Iraq war and encounters with the diversity of people of all beliefs across the world. 

Chris Highland

Chris Highland has an M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary and B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Seattle Pacific University.  A former Protestant minister, he is a freethinker and humanist celebrant who worked as an interfaith chaplain for nearly 30 years in the SF Bay Area.  He and his wife Carol Hovis, a Presbyterian minister and former executive director of the Marin Interfaith Council, now live in Asheville, North Carolina where he teaches courses on Freethought at the Reuter Center (UNCA) and Blue Ridge Community College.

Chris writes a weekly “Highland Views” column for the Religion page of the Asheville Citizen-Times (USA Today affiliate).  His published books include Meditations of John Muir, My Address is a River and A Freethinker’s Gospel.  See www.chighland.com

John Hewko

John Hewko is the General Secretary of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, leading a staff of nearly 800 at Rotary’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. Before joining Rotary in 2011, he was vice president of operations and compact development at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance in a new and innovative manner.

Karen Hernandez

Karen Leslie Hernandez is a Theologian with a focus in Christian-Muslim understanding, as well as religious fundamentalism and extremism. She has a Master of Sacred Theology in Philosophy, Theology and Ethics with a focus in religion and conflict transformation from Boston University School of Theology, ‘11; a Master of Theological Research in Christian-Muslim Understanding from Andover Newton Theological School, ‘07; and a BA in Peace and Justice Studies with a concentration in Islam from Wellesley College, ‘05. Karen has published with Feminism and Religion, the Women’s United Nations Report Network, State of Formation, The American Muslim, the Journal for Inter-Religious Dialogue, and is the only Christian woman to write a bi-weekly column with OnIslam out of Egypt. Karen currently lives in San Francisco where she is consulting with United Religions Initiative and is an Ambassador with the Council on the Parliament of the World Religions.

Shaikh Kabir Helminski

Shaikh Kabir Helminski is a translator of the works of Rumi and others, a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order (which traces back to Jalaluddin Rumi), co-director of The Threshold Society (Sufism.org), and director/founder of the Baraka Institute (barakainstitute.org). In 2009 and subsequent years Kabir was named as one of the "500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" by Georgetown University and the Royal Strategic Studies Center (Jordan). He has toured North America as Shaikh with the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey bringing Sufi culture to more than 100,000 people.

The focus of his work has been developing an “applied spirituality,” based in classical Islamic Sufism, that can meet the needs of our time. The Threshold Society offers spiritual training to small groups throughout North America, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

In March 2017 Holistic Islam: Sufism, Consciousness, and The Needs of Our Time will be published by White Cloud Press. His books on spirituality, Living Presence and The Knowing Heart, have been published in at least eight languages. In 2017 Living Presence is being published in a commemorative 25th anniversary edition in the Spiritual Cornerstones series by Penguin Books. Among his recent publications are: Love’s Ripening, Rumi on the Heart’s Journey (Shambhala 2010); and The Rumi Daybook (Shambhala 2012). In total, his books have sold about 250,000 copies.

He regularly writes and blogs for The Huffington Post, Tikkun, Patheos.com, and The Times of India.

Shaikha Camille Adams Helminski

Shaikha Camille Adams Helminski, who has been within the Mevlevi tradition of Sufism for more than 35 years, is Co-Director of The Threshold Society, a non-profit organization rooted within the traditions of Sufism and dedicated to facilitating the direct personal experience of the Divine. She has helped to increase awareness of the integral contribution of women to the spiritual path of Islam with her book, Women of Sufism: A Hidden Treasure. As co-founder of Threshold Books she helped to bring into English many classic Sufi texts, and has co-translated a number of volumes of Sufi literature, including Jewels of Remembrance (excerpts of the Mathnawi of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi) and The Rumi Daybook, with her husband, Kabir. Camille is the first woman to translate a substantial portion of the Qur’an into English: The Light of Dawn: Daily Readings from the Holy Qur’an. She has authored two anthologies, The Book of Character, and The Book of Nature: A Sourcebook on Nature and the Environment, as part of a new curriculum for Islamic education. Her most recent publications are Rumi’s Sun: The Teachings of Shams of Tabriz, and Rumi and His Friends, and Words from the East, poetic reflections. 

Camille has been a core faculty member of the Spiritual Paths Foundation, which promotes peace, respect, and mutual understanding between peoples of diverse religious and spiritual traditions through programs in Interspirituality rooted in contemplative practice. She has, also, been designated as one of the spiritual leaders of WISE (Women’s Initiative in Islamic Spirituality and Equality).