Tricia Ginis is the Executive Director of Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Arizona State University with a focus on child development and family studies. Tricia’s previous experience includes serving as the Director of Early Childhood Education for Temple Solel of Paradise Valley, Arizona. She also served as the Director of Education for 5 of those years directing the early childhood center, religious school, and programming for families with young children. Tricia’s role as Executive Director involves working closely with the Board of ECE-RJ planning and implementing professional development opportunities, webinars, and conferences. She provides guidance to congregations who are going through the placement process and focuses her time on advocacy in the areas of compensation and benefits for early childhood professionals in collaboration with related organizations to bring together like-minded individuals to move the needle on fair and equitable compensation, and retention in early childhood education. 

Tricia and her husband, Rob, live in San Diego, CA. They have 2 adult children, Maddy who is in her final few months of PA School at Touro University, and Brenden, who is studying music production and sound design at Icon Collective. Tricia and Rob enjoy traveling, concerts, and spending time with family and friends. 

Rachel Raz has extensive experience in the field of Jewish education at all levels. She is an entrepreneur, visionary and consultant. Rachel led the Hebrew College Early Childhood Institute for ten years. During this time, she initiated and chaired the Annual Educators’ Conference. She directed the Boston Haifa Early Childhood Educators’ Connection, a program sponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropy (CJP) and the Haifa Municipality, department of early childhood education. Likewise, Rachel designed and led educational seminars in Israel and Boston for educators and professionals. In 2015 she founded the national Jewish Early Engagement Forum (JEEF), a platform to share the state of the field with professionals in the field and inform strategic actions needed to ensure a stronger foundation for young children and their families.  

Rachel has published multiple articles about early childhood education, education in general, and the Jewish ecosystem. She authored two children’s books: ABC Israel (2012) and the Colors of Israel (2015). Recently she initiated and led the making of the Space Torah film (2020)  - a documentary about Dr. Jeff Hoffman an American Jewish Astronaut (spacetorahproject.com).  Rachel earned her BA from Bar-Ilan University (Israel) and MJED from Hebrew College (Newton, MA).   

Elana Naftalin-Kelman has been working at the intersection of special education and Jewish education for over 20 years.  She was inspired on this path by her time as a camper at Camp Ramah in Ojai, where she has been directing their Tikvah program for campers and young adults with disabilities for 15 years.  These programs include a camper program, a vocational program for young adults, a camp for families that have children with disabilities and a year-round program for job support and placement in the Los Angeles area.  Elana is an adjunct professor of Special Education at San Francisco State University where she teaches in the Special Education Department.   She has consulted with multiple Jewish institutions to aid them in thinking about how to be more inclusive of Jews of all abilities. She has taught professional development courses in differentiated instruction, behavior management and teaching Hebrew.  She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and three sons.