Mark Pelavin was a senior professional for the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest denomination in North American Jewish Life, for over 25 years serving as Director of its Commission on Social Action, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center, Director of the Commission on Interreligious Affairs, and, later, as Senior Advisor to the President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and as the URJ’s Chief Program Officer.
He was the Director of the URJ’s Biennial General Assembly, the largest conference of North American Jews, growing the event to over 5,000 participants. Pelavin was responsible for all facets of the five-day event, including plenaries (where speakers included President Barak Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), learning sessions, worship, music, a large exhibit hall, and all the related logistics. Pelavin also played a leadership role for the URJ’s other North American events.
In 2020 he founded Hambleton Cove Consulting, a boutique consulting firm helping congregations and other non-profits craft strategies – internal and external – to deal with their greatest challenges.
A member of the Maryland and U.S. Supreme Court bars, Mark is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and of Brandeis University. He lives., very happily, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.