Meet the Team
The Prism Core Team, a group of dedicated Clevelanders, meets monthly to shape and steward the work of The Prism Project, and to develop and guide the Prism Leadership Lab with our professional collaborators and guides at Insyte Partners.
Prism Core Team Members
Aaren Alpert
Aaren Alpert is a career program manager and educator. Currently Aaren serves as the Director of the Dorot Fellowship in Israel. Born in 1985 and raised near Los Angeles, Aaren earned both a BA and an MA at the American Jewish University, where she was a FEREP Scholarship Fellow of the Jewish Federations of North America. Aaren is a graduate of Kivun, a Schusterman Foundation Professional Development Program as well as the M2 Senior Educators Cohort. She is an alumna of the Jeremiah Fellowship of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the Shatil Fellowship of the New Israel Fund and The Dorot Fellowship in Israel. Aaren lives in Cleveland with her husband, Rabbi Micah Shapiro and their two children.
Gregg Alpert
Born/raised in So Cal and now retired in Cleveland, married for 50 years to his life partner Merrill, and parents to four amazing women who are all Jewish educators and/or Social Justice professionals. MA's in Jewish Education & Communal Service from Hebrew Union College. A lifelong Jewish educator who specializes in educational media, online resources, and online learning, Gregg created the interactive exhibits at the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles and the 9th grade Jewish Studies curriculum at Milken Community High School. He was the National Director of eLearning for Hebrew Union College for 17 years, where he created an online Executive Master's program and then served as the Director of Online Educational Content at the Jewish Education Project in New York, where he designed and created their online resource portal.
Sue Borison
Susan Borison founded Your Teen Media in 2007 after practicing law and raising five children. She serves on the Board of The Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the Mandel Jewish Community Center (JCC), and is the current chair of the Community Relations Committee. Susan has been a mentor with College Now and with a program through the YWCA. Susan also participated in the Wexner Heritage Leadership Program.
She is the founder of Makom, which addresses the needs of Orthodox Jewish LGBTQ members and their families.
Havi Carrillo-Klein
Havi Carrillo-Klein is a social impact organizer and consultant dedicated to building spaces for constructive, nuanced dialogue on Israel and Palestine and decreasing polarization across the country. Throughout her career, Havi has worked on building and executing learning cohorts and international travel delegations focused on multi narrative perspectives in Israel and Palestine, Jews of Color and our intersecting identities, multi stakeholder criminal justice reform, and more. In her role as Project Shema’s Program Manager and in her independent consultancy, Havi is dedicated to combating antisemitism, racism, and other intersecting forms of hateful rhetoric. Havi proudly serves on the Board of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, on the Executive Committee of Cleveland’s J Street chapter, and on the Community Relations Council for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
Jane Joseph
Jane practiced plaintiffs’ pharmaceutical litigation for 38 years before retiring in January 2023. She serves on the Board of Greenstone Lifeline Connection and on the Executive Committee of J Street Cleveland. From 2018 to 2021, Jane was Board President of her synagogue, The Temple-Tifereth Israel, now Congregation Mishkan Or.
Her current volunteer work focuses on fostering dialogue across differences, and she is especially proud of her involvement with the Prism Project.
Ilana Horowitz Ratner
IIana's work integrates her skills as a lawyer, community activist, Jewish educator and leadership coach. She has facilitated text study and training sessions for those committed to social change through various organizations in Cleveland, New York and Jerusalem.
Ilana is president of The Horowitz Ratner Family Foundation. She is a board member of both The New Israel Fund and J Street. She was founding board chair of The Pardes School and has served on many boards focused on children and Jewish education.
She was a children’s and family law attorney for more than two decades, adult Jewish educator for more than three decades and a Hebrew school principal.
Ilana received a BA in philosophy from Goucher College, a JD from New York Law School and a coaching certificate from The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She also studied at Hebrew University. She is married to Chuck and they are both dual citizens. Together they have four married children and eight grandchildren
Rabbi Steve Segar
Rabbi Steve Segar, a 1995 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, has served as rabbi for the Kol HaLev community for more than 25 years, and has been instrumental in its growth since that time. In addition to his rabbinic degree, he holds a BA in Western European Studies from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in Jewish education from Gratz College in Philadelphia, and a master's degree in Positive Organizational Development from the Weatherhead School at Case Western Reserve.
Rabbi Steve currently serves as a board member for both Greater Cleveland Congregations and the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis and is a member of the Joint Israel Commission of the Reconstructionist movement.
His interests include interfaith and intercultural dialogue, the current conversation about the relationship between science and religion, the role of religion in building a more just world, and the reclamation of spiritual practice among contemporary American religious communities. Rabbi Steve lives with his wife Andy in Shaker Heights and is the proud father of three young adult sons.
Nancy Zimmerman
Nancy Zimmerman is Prism’s Project Manager. She brings creativity, warmth, and a deep love of Jewish learning to everything she does. A lifelong Jewish educator and connector, she’s passionate about building spaces where people can explore big questions, listen deeply, and feel part of something larger than themselves.
Before joining Prism, Nancy served as Director of Jewish Life and Culture at the Mandel JCC and Director of Special Projects at the Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies. Her career has always centered on creating meaningful, community-building experiences rooted in Jewish tradition and curiosity.
Nancy holds a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and an M.A. from Siegal College of Jewish Studies, and is a graduate of the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute. She’s happiest when ideas turn into programs that bring people together — ideally over good conversation, laughter, and a great cup of coffee.
There are other members of the Core Team who prefer to remain anonymous who represent different parts of the Cleveland Jewish community.