Meet Our Team

Frank GiaouiPresident

A professional corporate advisor, fundraiser and scholar in law & economics, Frank has been a volunteer lay-leader in LGBT and/or Jewish NGOs since 1999.

He is the President of the World Congress – Keshet Ga’avah since 2015. He initiated and led the implementation of structural changes including recruiting a renewed more diverse group of officers and volunteers, simplifying the bylaws, adding donations as a major source of funding together with membership dues. He led or co led the World Congress conferences in Tel Aviv, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, Paris, Rome and soon Sydney. Since he moved to New York City, he made CBST rejoined the World Congress as a full member and has co-produced their first Muslim-Jewish Engagement event. He envisioned, directed and produced Kol Koleinu, the collective book published by the World Congress in 2018, involving 65 contributors in 15 countries and a dozen launch events.

From 1999 to 2016, Frank was a member of the board of the French group Beit Haverim; he was President and then Spokesperson. He led the capital campaigns for 10 years culminating into the acquisition of Beit Haverim house in 2008. He also co-led several interfaith groups of LGBT activists promoting memory and peace between peoples to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Israël and Palestine. He co-produced the book celebrating Beit Haverim 40th anniversary in 2017.
In 2003, Frank founded DiverCity, the LGBT NGO at ESSEC Business School and was its first President till 2006.

As an expert on LGBT rights, Frank was heared by the French government and parliament during the preparation of the law on marriage equality in 2013. He has published and contributed to more than 90 articles, interviews and conferences on LGBT rights.

Frank holds a PhD (Doct.) from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne Law School and an MBA from ESSEC Business School. He is currently a Post Doc JSD candidate at Columbia Law School and a research scholar at Columbia Business School in New York where he lives with his partner.

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Barbara “Goldy” GoldbergVice President

Goldy is passionate about the World Congress providing a voice and networking source for both LGBTQI Jewish organizations and individuals worldwide. An active member of the Washington DC LBGT synagogue, Bet Mishpachah, Goldy served on the Board of Directors in various positions and currently serves on their Rabbinic Liaison and Education committees. Dedicated to her share תיקון עולם (repair of the world), Goldy conducted a study on the business case for diversity for one of the largest school districts in the United States. Her recommendations were included in district-wide diversity initiatives.

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Our Valuable Team Members

Assaf WeissSecretary

He recently graduated with his Master of Laws from Columbia Law School and currently serves as the Director of Programming and Operations at the American Jewish Congress. In Israel, Assaf served as a Senior Advisor to Israel’s Minister of Health and a former legislative advisor at the Israeli Parliament – The Knesset. Assaf initiated and was in charge of many LGBTQ achievements and political campaigns in the Israeli government. They include promoting the first governmental legislation to end surrogacy discrimination for LGBTQ, revolutionizing sex reassignment surgery regulation for the transgender community, fighting conversion treatments, ending the ban on blood donation from MSM in Israel and initiating a special yearly LGBTQ Human Rights Day at the Knesset.

Oded KatzmanTreasurer

Oded lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. Oded was the treasurer and a board member of the Aguda, an LGBTQ organization in Israel, for five years. Oded is an expert in the Tel Aviv real estate market. He sees the world becoming more open, but believes we still need to fight against antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia to achieve the full rights of other populations. He feels it is very important to have a presence in Israel in order to continue the struggle for full LGBTQ equality there.

Oded is currently running for a seat on the Tel Aviv City Council. Elections will be held on October 30.

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Jacq CarverOfficer at Large, Eastern Hemisphere

Originally from London, Jacq has lived for a long time in Amsterdam. Jacq is an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights and inclusion. They are a part of the Global Interfaith Network and were instrumental in the creation of the book, “Behold, I make all things new: What do the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam really say in regard to human sexuality?”

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Marco FiammelliOfficer at Large, Eastern Hemisphere

Marco lives in Rome, Italy working as a professional solider in the Italian army. He’s lived for almost 10 years with his partner Federico with whom he made the ghiur (formal conversion to Judaism) in 2012 in paris at the Mouvement Juif Libéral de France (MJLF). Marco and Federico will get married on September 11th, 2016 in Rome in a religious ceremony with a Rabbi, kippa, ketuba, and lots of friends. He is the head of the organization Magen David Keshet Italia. Their mission is to help Jewish homosexual people to live their lives with serenity without having to give up any part of their personality, especially for those who are religious.

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Sheppard WahnonCultural Inclusion Representative

Shep is based in New York City and works with Congregation Beit Simchat Torah there. Shep has been involved with the World Congress since 1977. His passion is reaching and supporting small, isolated, emerging and re-emerging Jewish communities worldwide, working with Kulanu, as he has visited many in Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa and Cape Verde, where much of his family lives. He is involved in the Assembly of the Federation of Gay Games and is part of the team planning for World Pride: Stonewall 50 in 2019 in New York. He is a long term survivor of HIV/AIDS for over thirty years and is an AIDS activist.

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