Please join us for the Business and Professional networking breakfast and program about the state of the city as Rabbi Peter Berg engages Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens in conversation. Rabbi Berg and Mayor Dickens will discuss Atlanta’s past, present, and the Mayor’s vision for the future of the city.

This event has a minimum gift of $1000 to the 2024 Partners Fund campaign. ($365 under 40.) To make a gift, email Kenny Silverboard at ksilverboard@jewishatlanta.org or make your gift online HERE. (If you are unsure if you have already made a gift to the campaign and would like us to check, please contact Kenny directly.)

Event Speakers

Mayor Andre Dickens, 61st Mayor of the City of Atlanta

Mayor Andre Dickens is a proud native of Atlanta and is focused on bringing opportunity and equity to the city that he loves. As he shared in his first State of the City address, his vision for Atlanta is: One city with one bright future. A city of safe, healthy, connected neighborhoods with an expansive culture of equity, empowering upward mobility and full participation for all residents, embracing youth development, and an innovative, dependable government moving Atlanta forward, together.

Mayor Dickens was sworn in as Mayor in January 2022. Early accomplishments include making the City’s first-ever investment in early childhood education; the establishment of the Nightlife Division to address establishments with a history of high crime; the reestablishment of the Pothole Posse to rapidly respond to residents’ reports; and leading the successful coalition to keep Atlanta whole in opposition to a de-annexation effort.

Prior to his election as Mayor, Dickens served eight years as an at-large City Council member. He was an entrepreneur for over a decade in both the private and nonprofit sectors and a leader in Atlanta’s tech sector. Mayor Dickens is a graduate of Mays High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology as well as a Master of Public Administration from Georgia State University.

Mayor Dickens previously served as the Chief Development Officer for TechBridge, a nonprofit that drives community impact by bringing affordable technology and business expertise to other nonprofit organizations. He also previously served as the Assistant Director of Outreach Initiatives for Georgia Tech’s Office of Institute Diversity. He spearheaded Tech’s African-American Male Institute, which resulted in a significant increase in the GPA and graduation rate among Black males. Early in his career, Mayor Dickens worked as a sales engineer for DSM Engineering Plastics and became the youngest and first Black salesman of the year. At the age of 28, he co-founded City Living Home Furnishings, which grew into a multi-million-dollar retail business with two locations. Mayor Dickens ran the company for nine years until 2011.

Rabbi Peter Berg, The Lynne and Howard Halpern Senior Rabbinic Chair at The Temple

Peter Berg became the fifth senior rabbi of The Temple since 1895 in July of 2008. Prior to coming to The Temple, he served as rabbi of Temple Beth Or in Washington Township, New Jersey and as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. Additionally, he served Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, New York as a rabbinic intern and at Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, as its Youth Director.

Over the years, Rabbi Berg has spent a great deal of time working with advocacy groups on issues including but not limited to:  poverty & homelessness, criminal justice reform, preventing the human trafficking of minors, civil rights, religious freedom, ending mass incarceration, gun safety, hate crimes, the environment, combatting antisemitism, and strengthening the U.S.- Israel relationship.

Rabbi Berg currently serves on the Board of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Anti-Defamation League, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS), Faith In Public Life, OUTCRY: Faith Voices Against Gun Violence, Three Star, Home First, Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center, The Atlanta Community Foundation, and the Commission On Social Action for Reform Judaism. He is a Past President of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association.

A native of Ocean Township, New Jersey, Rabbi Berg holds a degree in Education and Human Development, with a focus in human services, counseling, and Judaic Studies, from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He earned his M.A. in Hebrew Literature and his rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and Jerusalem, where he was a Steinhardt Fellow.

In 2013, Rabbi Berg was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of the top 50 most influential rabbis in the United States of America.  From 2016-2022, he was named annually by Georgia Trend as one of the Most Influential Georgians and from 2019 -2023 as one of Atlanta’s Most Powerful Leaders.  In 2023 he received Atlanta’s highest honor from Mayor Dickens, they Phoenix Award, as well as the Distinguished Advocate Award from The American Jewish Committee.

Register for this event below.