Meet Our Lay Leaders

President Deborah Fernandez-Turner, DO, was born in Staten Island, New York.  She did her undergraduate work at New York University.  She attended medical school at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale.  Deb did her residency in general psychiatry at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, which is where she married her husband, Carey.  She did her fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Arizona.  Deborah has a private practice in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry located near Sabino Canyon.  She and Carey have two beautiful daughters, Eva Rose and Nicole Victoria.  Deborah is a graduate of the Hadassah Leadership Academy and in 2005 she became an adult Bat Mitzvah.

Vice President Jill Rich is originally from Rock Island, Illinois.  She moved to Tucson in 1965 to attend the University of Arizona, where she received her BA in psychology and sociology in 1970.  Jill is a Realtor at Long Realty Company and a former small business owner, but her real passion is social action.  She and her husband Jim are the adoptive parents of two now-grown former Vietnamese orphans adopted in their adolescent years.  Jill and Jim are also the de facto parents of 54 “lost boys” of Sudan.  Jill is the founder of a foundation created to support the lost boys, the Sudanese Promise Fund.  Jill first became involved in refugee resettlement at Jewish Family and Children’s Services when she was actively involved in the resettlement of Soviet Jewish refugees in Tucson as a founding member of the JFCS refugee resettlement program.  Jill has received awards and recognition in many forms.  Among the more notable, she was selected as one of President George Bush’s “Points of Light” in 1991, she was named Volunteer of the Year by the American Red Cross in 1992 and 1995, she was named the Tucson Citizen’s Citizen of the Year in 1999, and the National Association of Social Workers named her Public Citizen of the Year in 2001.  At Temple Emanu-El, Jill is the chair of the Social Action committee and Fundraising committee, and she has been the coordinator of the Temple’s participation in Operation Deep Freeze for nearly a decade. 

Vice President Scott Arden was born in Red Bank, New Jersey and raised in New Hampshire.  He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1986 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1992.  He worked as a chief engineer at an architectural products firm, a new product development team leader in the medical device industry, and a consultant in the U.S. and France.  In 2002, he joined Merck Manufacturing Division as a Manager of Operational Excellence, where he led problem-solving efforts and earned a Black Belt in Six Sigma.  Today, Scott is a Principal Engineer at Rain Bird Corporation, where his responsibilities include New Product Development and cost reduction.  He met Sue Brish at Columbia.  They were married in 1994, lived in New York and Pennsylvania, and moved to Tucson in 2007 with their children, Joshua and Miriam.  At Temple Emanu-El, Scott is active in the Men’s Club, where he led an early Goals and Activities effort.  Other Temple experiences include hiking with the Wandering Jews and appearing in the 2009 and 2010 Purim Shpiels.

Secretary Bonnie Golden was born and raised in Chicago, and has lived in Tucson since 1977.  After a 30 year career in the education field, first at the University of Arizona and then at Pima Community College, she is currently consulting and teaching.  She’s the author of two books, and she has been the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Pima Community College Foundation and the Campus Gem Award from the Downtown campus.  She’s a certified yoga teacher and practitioner. Bonnie teaches yoga at Yogaflow, Pima Community College, and Handmaker. Bonnie holds a BS in education from University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, a MEd from the University of Arizona, and she has completed substantial post-master’s course work in higher education.  In 2005, Bonnie became an adult bat mitzvah.  Bonnie is Secretary of the Temple Board, chairs the Temple Spirituality Initiative, chaired the membership committee, and has worked on the Temple dues committee, nominating committee, and the Madrich program, has chanted for Project Ezra, participated in the leadership development class, taken the Zohar class, and been an active participant in the B'nai Mitzvah Kiddush group.  Her husband of 33 years is Norm, a teacher at Mansfield Middle School.  The Goldens have two wonderful sons.  Sam, a composer and musician, and Jesse, a junior at University High School.

Past President Jason Feld, Ph.D., is originally from New York.  He received his BA in psychology and sociology from the City University of New York in 1977, his MA in psychology from New York University in 1979, and his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Arizona in 1986.  He has a long history of involvement in the field of psychology and educational assessment, public policy and research, especially in the areas of early childhood education and K-12.  He has been a frequent speaker at professional conferences and has received a wide variety of national awards and recognition in education and psychology.  He is currently vice president of Assessment Technology and director of corporate projects.  Jason and his wife, Gale Silverman-Feld, are the parents of two children, Michael and Sara.  Jason's family has been a member of Temple Emanu-El since the 1950s. 

Director Sara Baker was born and raised in Tucson. She attended Temple Emanu-El throughout her childhood and as a young adult. She received a B.S. from Washington University in St. Louis studying comparative literature. She received a Master's degree in social work from University of California, Los Angeles with an emphasis in program management and public policy. After graduation, Sara worked for a non-profit in Los Angeles as a training coordinator. In this position, she coordinated staff training (both new staff training and continuing education) as well as training the staff in First Aid and CPR as a certified instructor. She married her husband, Dan Orlowski, in Tucson in 2005, with Rabbi Cohon officiating. At the end of 2005, Sara and her husband moved to Tucson and joined Temple Emanu-El. Sara has worked as a commercial real estate appraiser since January 2006. She serves on the Board of the Southern Arizona chapter of the Appraisal Institute as Secretary and co-chair of Continuing Education. Sara also volunteers with Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN). At Temple Emanu-El she serves on the Adult Education committee and is co-chair of Young Adults.

Director Harold Blatter was born in Brooklyn NY and received his BS and MS degrees from City College of New York and Rutgers University. He worked at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Laboratory in Princeton NJ for 22 years and another 20 years in Indianapolis as a Principal Member of the Technical Staff in the RCA/Thomson research system. During his 42 years with RCA/Thomson in the scientific field he served on many professional committees, received many technical awards, and is the holder of 27 issued US Patents. He married Carol Wechsler in 1969 and they have one daughter, who is an international human rights lawyer in Washington, D.C. Carol is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Family counselor in private practice here in Tucson. Religiously and politically, he has been involved with Judaism all his adult life. He served as president of mens clubs and as a member of the board of directors in shuls and temples in Princeton, Indianapolis and Tucson. Before joining Temple Emanuel he served as president of Bet Shalom. He has also served as president of his homeowners association for two terms and is now on the board as vice president. Both Harold and Carol believe strongly in Jewish education, especially adult education. Harold is on the Ritual Committee and the Adult Education Committee and both Harold and Carol have been co-chairing the Drash Committee for the past 2 years.

 Director Amy Beyer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and has lived in Tucson for most of her life. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Archaeology from Cornell University, and her Master's in Education from University of Phoenix. Amy taught middle and high school math in Tucson for 6 years. In 2010 she left the world of education to pursue a career in engineering. She is now a Product Validation Engineer at Sunquest Information Systems. Amy has been a member of Temple Emanu-El for most of her life. She was consecrated, became Bat Mitzvah, and was confirmed here at Temple. In recent years, Amy has been a member of the High Holy Day Choir and co-chair of Temple Young Adults. Amy has been involved with the Jewish Federation for over 10 years. She served on the Young Leadership Cabinet twice; once as chair of YJT (Young Jewish Tucson), and once as co-chair of Young Leadership Campaign. Amy has been on Young Women's Cabinet and Campaign Cabinet. Currently, she is serving on the Federation Compelling Needs Committee and the Connections Steering Committee. She has traveled to Israel four times including participating in the March of the Living and two Jewish Federation missions.

Director Art Geiger was born in New York City.  He has lived in New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and has been in Tucson since 2004, having made the move because of the weather.  Art has a BA from Bradley University.  His career has been in the field of IT consulting.  Art and his wife, Sharon, have two sons, one living in Chicago and the other in Detroit.  Art is now Temple Emanu-El treasurer and chair of the finance committee.  He also serves on Temple’s social action committee.  In the past, he has served in a variety of synagogue positions in other places, as well as on a school board and zoning board.  His interests include sports, politics, and hiking.

Director Mona Gibson was born and raised in the New York City area, moving to Tucson in 1978 with her family to attend the University of Arizona where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in General Biology/Psychology, Masters of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling and finally an MBA with concentration in Human Resources and Marketing. Mona worked as a Vocational Evaluator until spending 20 years in the Human Resources departments of Pima County and Tucson Unified School District, working most of that time in employment rights and benefits administration. Currently, she works for UnitedHealthcare as a customer service analyst dedicated to the Arizona State Retirement System assisting state retirees in enrolling and understanding their health insurance benefits. In 1996 Mona married Scott Gibson and gave birth to their wonderful son, Michael, in 1999. Though Mona grew up in a spiritually Jewish family, she did not belong to any temple for an extended period until Michael decided he wanted to learn Hebrew in 2010. At Temple, Michael became a bar mitzvah in 2012 and Mona participates in the B'nai Mitzvah Kiddush Group, serves as the Youth Education Committee chairperson and has an eye toward becoming an adult bat mitzvah in 2015.

Director Charlotte Hegwer was born in San Francisco and eventually moved to Stockton, California where her maternal grandmother lived.  Hal and Charlotte were married in Stockton where their two sons were born.  Eventually they moved to Monterey County in 1977 where they resided until moving to Tucson in August 2005.  She graduated from University of Pacific with a degree in economics.  Her first professional job was a social worker with San Joaquin County.  At 42, Charlotte returned to San Jose State University for an elementary teaching certificate and she taught 5th and 6th grades for 19 years.  Charlotte was a member of BBG and NFTY in her younger years.  She co-chaired the Junior League rummage sale in Stockton and was a president of Hadassah immediately following her mother.  In Salinas, Charlotte served on the temple board as treasurer for 7 years and was a board member of the temple sisterhood.  While in the teaching field Charlotte was the SETC representative (NEA) for Kammann School.  Charlotte has always been a member of Reform synagogues:  Temple Israel (Stockton), Temple Beth El (Salinas), and currently Temple Emanu-El.  Presently Charlotte is the treasurer of WRJ and she volunteers in the gift shop as a substitute when needed.

Director Bruce Martin was born in West Germany and grew up in Arkansas.  He received a B.A. in sociology from Hendrix College and a J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law.  He has lived in Tucson since 1992.  Bruce and his wife Linda, an Oregon native, married in 1994.  Bruce and Linda have been members of Tempe Emanu-El for 5 years.  They have two sons, Archer and Zev.  Archer will be starting kindergarten at Tucson Hebrew Academy this fall.  Zev is in his second year at the Strauss Center for ECE.  Bruce is an attorney with the Tucson estate planning and elder law firm of Bogutz & Gordon, PC, where he specializes in contested and uncontested matters in the areas of wills, trusts, and estate planning; estate and trust administration; probate; guardianships and conservatorships.  Bruce is also a member of the Project Dor Habah committee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.  Linda is a CPA and works at University Medical Center.

Director Stephen Shawl, PhD, a native San Franciscan, majored in astronomy at Berkeley and earned his doctorate in astronomy from the University of Texas in Austin. Steve’s dissertation research was conducted at observatories in the Tucson area where he and Jeannette moved in 1970 to complete his degree while working at Kitt Peak. A busy 1972 saw him complete his PhD; be hired at the University of Kansas (KU); and serve on active duty as a captain in the Army. Many summers were spent in Tucson during the early 70’s as well as a sabbatical year during 1978-79. Steve is the principal author of a college-level introductory astronomy textbook (now working on the 6th edition). He served for many years as the chair of the Working Group for Astronomy Education of the American Astronomical Society. Steve was on the board of the Lawrence KS Jewish Community Center, and served as its vice president. He served on the board of the KU Hillel Foundation, and as the board president. During his spring 2001 sabbatical in Tucson, Jeannette and Steve decided that Tucson would be their place of retirement—beginning January 2005. They are members of the Santa Catalina Volunteer Patrol at Sabino Canyon. Steve and Jeannette have co-chaired Temple’s Bilgray Committee and the Linda Nadell Centennial Torah Education Committee. He has also served for five years on the committee for the Adult Education Academy. Their daughter, Jessica, lives in California and their son, Jeremy, in New York City.

WRJ President Dana Adler was born and reared in Denver, Colorado. She moved to Tucson in 1986. After staying home to be with her children, in 1988 Dana began her volunteer involvement at Temple Emanu-El, first as treasurer of Sisterhood and then president. Dana served on Temple Emanu-El's board of director's from1991 through October 2010 as member, vice president, and president. Other community involvement has included serving on the boards of Jewish Family and Children Services of Southern Arizona, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Jewish Foundation of Southern Arizona, Israel Center, and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. In addition she served one term on the Pacific Southwest District of the URJ. The Jewish Community Foundation recently employed Dana as the Areivim Community Legacy Program Coordinator. Currently she is President of the Women of Reform Judaism and is District Area Director for the Pacific District. She enjoys hiking, spinning, playing golf, and spending time with her husband.

Men's Club President Jerome (Jerry) Shulman was born and raised in Brooklyn New York. He attended Brooklyn College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and a minor in Education. He went on to The Baruch School of Business at The City University of New York where he completed his accounting sequence. Jerry later went to St. Johns University where he received a Masters Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision. Jerry served for 35 years as a teacher and School Principal in the New York City school system.  Upon his retirement from Public Education, Jerry co-founded and was managing partner of TaxMaster Financial Services an accounting, tax and financial consulting firm in New York City.  Jerry met his future wife at a B'nai Brith social. They were married in 1956. Micki, Jerry and their grand-daughter, Samantha left the Big Apple to settle permanently in Tucson.

Union for Reform Judaism Trustee Simon Rosenblatt was born in Brooklyn, New York, and he grew up in Florida (after a short stay in Havana, Cuba). He graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh with a degree in electrical engineering. He served on active duty in the U.S. Army for six years, including a tour in Vietnam. Simon remained in the Army Reserve for an additional sixteen years and is now retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. He worked for the Army (first on active duty and later as a civilian employee) as an engineer for thirty years at Fort Huachuca until his retirement in 2003. Simon is a founding member of Temple Kol Hamidbar in Sierra Vista, where he served as the congregation's secretary and lay leader for more than fifteen years. He is a trustee of the Union for Reform Judaism, the parent organization of Reform congregations in North America, and he still serves on several URJ committees. He is also a vice chair of the URJ West District. He is a member of the Tucson Jewish Community Relations Council executive committee, serving as a member of the steering committee for the LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project Steering Committee, one of only two such Jewish Federation-funded groups in the nation. He is also an emeritus member of the board of Arizona Public Media, operator of Tucson's public broadcasting stations. Simon is married to Louise Greenfield, who is a Librarian Emerita at the University of Arizona. Simon's other interests include aviation – he is a licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor – and amateur radio. Simon enjoys retirement and manages to stay as busy as he ever was during his working years.