Brett Reid Parker, Chief Operating Officer

Brett Reid Parker (he/him) is thrilled to join CBST as Chief Operating Officer. He has significant synagogue experience, having served as Executive Director of shuls in Brooklyn and Long Island. In previous incarnations he was a social worker, a public interest attorney, a recruiter, and a manager of large international recruiting divisions. He brings his extensive background in operations and people management, as well as his love of Yiddishkeit and deep commitment to Am Yisrael, to help ensure that CBST continues to be the warm, welcoming, inspiring, heymish place that members of the community love and cherish. 

Brett grew up in the Bronx, Detroit, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and has lived and worked in California, Connecticut, Texas, and New York, as well as in Paris and London. He also spent a year studying and traveling in Asia, where he indulged his passions for cultural exploration and comparative religion. He was raised in a Conservative Jewish community and—following a period of estrangement from Jewish practice—has been a member of, and a lay leader at, a number of synagogues across the “denominational” spectrum, so wherever you are in your Jewish journey, he can probably relate, at least a little bit.

Brett received his BA in Philosophy and Asian Studies from the University of Puget Sound, his Certificat de la Langue Française (niveau supérieur) from the Université de Paris IV, and his JD (with honors) from the University of San Francisco School of Law. He lives in Crown Heights with his partner Paula and their children, and he loves reading (especially learning Torah), music (especially proto-punk and roots reggae), traveling, and inadvertently yet decisively butchering the French language.