Our Leaders

Board Bios

Michael E. Gorden (President) — I grew up in Southern California for about 10 years and then moved to Reno in 1986. I grew up in a Reform Jewish Home. As a youth and an adult, I have always ensured to the best of my ability to belong to a Synagogue. I have been happily married (Don’t tell my wife) to my wife Jennifer for almost 14 years now and we have three rambunctious children – Nathaniel 11 years, Shalom 10 years (no he is not peaceful), and that red-headed child who everyone thinks is cute–boy she has everyone fooled–Sasha 4 years. I am a Social Worker and have been working for the State of Nevada for about 12 years and currently am the Manager of three District Offices for Medicaid. I also have been in the Bowling business (My Hobby) for over 25 years. Currently, I am a supervisor at Coconut Bowl and I am an Association Manager for the Greater Reno-Sparks Bowling Association. My family and I have been members for about 5 years currently. I attended services as a teenager and into adulthood – as long as I have been in the Reno area. I served on the Board for three years as a Member-at-Large and just completed my second year as the Chair of Building/Grounds and Security Committee. My family and I are always involved with events and holidays and try our best to volunteer time and labor to help out. We are very dedicated to Temple Sinai. I am honored to serve as President for our Greater Sinai Community. I feel that I bring a positive, analytical, methodological, and Social Work perspective to growing and engaging our community in leading Temple Sinai.

Tova McGilvray (1st VP, Strategic Planning) — Tova McGilvray was “Battle Born” and raised in Reno, Nevada and is a graduate of UNR’s writing program. She has worked in Title and Escrow for six years and looks forward to a long career helping people make Reno their home. She trained most of her life as a dancer and thespian, and cut her teeth at leadership managing and choreographing productions. Her experience co-founding the Nada Dada Art Show exposed her to the plight of the residents in Reno’s weekly motels and introduced her to community activism. While always identified as a Nevada Jew, it was not until attending Temple Sinai only three years ago that she found a home where she could practice community service from a proudly Jewish perspective. Tova now chairs the Temple Sinai Social Action Committee, sits on the Temple Board and is the upcoming president of the Rotary Club of Reno Midtown. 

Jay Goldberg (2nd VP, Membership) — Jay Goldberg, and his wife Amy, moved to Reno in January 2016. He works as the Vice President, Internal Audit at Employers Holdings Inc., a workers’ compensation insurance company. He has served on several Temple Boards, both in Houston and New Jersey, as a member-at-large and as both Vice President and Secretary; and Judaism has always been an important part of his life. He has over 25 years of business experience including starting and leading the internal audit function at various companies, both public and private, for over 15 years. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Bentley University McCallum Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University.

Terry Levenberg (CFO) — Coming Soon!

Marilyn Roberts (Treasurer) — Marilyn and her husband Ken have lived in the Reno/Sparks area for over 12 years after moving from Brea, CA where they lived for 30 years. They have two grown children still living in Orange County. Keith is a lead software engineer and Jennifer is a CPA with Ernst and Young. Marilyn has a BA in Math and an MBA in Operations Research and Accounting from UCLA. She ‘retired’ from a yogurt manufacturer doing purchasing, inventory management, and plant accounting. She has served on several synagogue boards and was the Administrator/Financial VP at Adat Ari for 11 years, and Religious Practices VP at Temple Beth Tikvah for eight years, both in Orange County. She has been the Chair of Temple Sinai Jewish Practice Committee for several years, involved with the finance committee, and has also served as treasurer on the Temple Sinai Board. She has been a member of the Sinai community for over 12 years.

Unfilled (Secretary) — Contact Michael Gorden if interested in serving on the Board of Trustees as Secretary. 

Alexa Foley (Member-at-Large) — Alexa’s roots are in Miami with loving but crazy Jewish and Cuban families. After a 15-year pitstop in the Minneapolis area, Reno became her beloved home shortly after the turn of the century. Later, she became Mrs. Foley after meeting Jay Foley at a Reno coffee shop. Today, they are raising their two sons Quinten (who became a Bar Mitzvah Spring 2021) and Jameson (who will become a Bar Mitzvah Spring 2023).

Before becoming Co-Conspirator and Chief Transportation Executive of the Foley Family, she proudly achieved a double major plus minor (Urban Affairs and Communications with a Cross-Cultural Relations emphasis; Human Resources) at St. Cloud State University while working as many hours as she could to pay for it. Her professional past included teamwork and leadership roles with various national and regional professional affiliations. Most of her career was positioned as COO of small to midsize companies. While she enjoyed the success and recognition that she earned in the Midwest, her favorite job title is that of Big Mama Foley.

She stays busy with family/friends and hobbies and is most grateful for the wonderful people she gets to walk through this life with. Temple Sinai holds a special place in her heart as it is where she chose to become a Bat Mitzvah as an adult and where she can raise her boys in our small, but enriched Jewish community. Her faith and religion are very important to her, and Alexa is thankful for this opportunity to better serve Temple Sinai.

Joanna Petersky — Joanna was born in South Lake Tahoe, California, and moved to the Northern Nevada area in 2010. She first attended services with Temple Sinai in 2017 because she wanted to reconnect with her family’s Jewish heritage.

After spending 10 years in the aerospace industry, she became a full-time computer science student at UNR in 2020. In addition to her studies, she is a liaison for queer Jews on campus as the President of Keshet Reno – the local branch of Keshet which is an organization working to provide community, support, and education for the greater LGBT Jewish population.

Joanna lives in Midtown, Reno with her fiancée Rose and cat Rumpelstiltskin. When not involved at Temple Sinai or UNR, she enjoys riding her bike, designing 3D models, tabletop gaming, working on home improvement projects, and visiting her in-laws in Seattle.

Laura Smith (Member-at-Large) — Thank you for considering me for an at-large position on the Temple Sinai Board. Belonging to Temple Sinai has made Reno feel like home since moving here three years ago. In this community, I have served on the Jewish Practice Committee, volunteered as part of our collective effort to staff the overflow shelter tent on Record Street, coordinated biweekly breakfast deliveries to Our Place, led services, tutored Russell Slamowitz in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, sang in the High Holiday Choir, and acted in the most recent Purim Spiel. In my prior affiliation with Congregation Shaarei Shamayim in Madison, Wisconsin, I served on the Ritual Committee, the Social Action Committee, volunteered for The Road Home’s Interfaith Hospitality Network’s temporary family shelter program, ran monthly community meals for the Friends of the State Street Family, and had an active role in the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, engaging in friendship and solidarity with our Muslim neighbors. I currently teach math at Clayton Middle School and feel particularly invested in our cohort of active young families, as the parent of a toddler.

Jen Wulf — I moved to Reno from Las Vegas in 2017. I have been a temple Sinai member since 2019. I have been a member at Congregation Ner Tamid in Las Vegas for many many years and I was active with the sisterhood and created a Rosh Chodesh program. I was involved with social action and the caring committee. I have been the temple coordinator for Family Promise, an interfaith homeless program, and was president of their board. I completed the Hadassah Leadership Academy. I am a retired RN (retired on October 1 of this year) I completed 400 hours of CPE (clinical pastoral counseling) and was the volunteer chaplain at Northern Nevada Medical Center. Completed a three-year program at Aleph, a Jewish Renewal ordination program, and am a spiritual director. I am hoping that I will be able to help out and be active on the board.

John N. Louie (Immediate Past President) — John Louie (President) grew up in Southern California, where his parents had been Israeli folk dancing since 1962. He started Israeli dancing 32 years ago while working on his Ph.D. at Caltech’s Seismo Lab. Recruited to Nevada in 1992, he teaches geophysics at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, doing research in energy exploration and earthquake hazards. The family began attending Sinai services in 1999, with both Anna and Ben becoming B’nei Mitzvah at Sinai. First joining the Sinai Board in 2001 as Secretary, John subsequently converted with Rabbi Soifer. John served the Temple Sinai Board of Trustees as President from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2019.

Board Member Nominations

• CLICK HERE for a list of our current volunteer needs. Some things can even be done from home! 

• CLICK HERE for information on our committees and how you can become involved.