Don Friend is a licensed attorney involved in the real estate investment and management business in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his BA from University of California at Davis, and his JD from Hastings College of the Law. He has been active in synagogue life in San Francisco at Congregations Sherith Israel, Beth Shalom and Temple Emanuel. He became interested in synagogue transformation when his oldest son began preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. To insure that there would be participation at the ceremony, he sent out a tape of the T’fila melodies to the invitees. He chaired the Temple Emanuel “Synagogue 2000” team that was part of the 2nd National Cohort and continues to be involved in making and keeping the synagogue the spiritual center of people’s lives. He has volunteered as a song leader for both all three synagogue religious schools and currently helps leads services in the Martin Meyer Minyan (contemporary style service) at Temple Emanuel. Don presently serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Center, AIPAC and Jewish Home. He is the former chair of the Jewish Family Education Project at the Bureau of Jewish Education and has emphasized outreach to families to become involved in Jewish ritual together. He is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Foundation Leadership Seminar Program (1996-1998). He has extensive fundraising experience having chaired the Jewish Community Federation and AIPAC Annual Campaigns. He is married to Janie and has three children, Benjamin (21), Jason (18) and Lauren (15).