iRPA Participants
Our Participants
Over the years, we’ve hosted many landmark conversations.
Here’s a list of those who have committed to strengthening solidarity by contributing to the dialogue.
OPENING KEYNOTE
Rev. Dr. Walter Earl Fluker
The Reverend Dr. Walter Earl Fluker is Martin Luther King Jr. Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership at Boston University School of Theology, an internationally recognized scholar whose work examines the intersections of religion, democracy, race, and public life. For over three decades, he has served as senior editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project, the definitive scholarly archive of the writings of one of the twentieth century’s most significant theological voices. Fluker has lectured at U.S. embassies in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, Pretoria, and Durban, South Africa; China; and India, extending his scholarship on ethical leadership into public diplomacy across multiple continents. His decades of work on Thurman’s legacy give him a rare vantage point on the theological traditions that shaped the American civil rights movement and their continued relevance to public life today. His latest book, Wake Up Running: Building Democratic Space at the Crossings, will release in September 2026.
PANELIST
Marcus T. Coleman
Marcus T. Coleman Jr. has spent nearly two decades studying what it takes for institutions to earn trust before a crisis hits, not just respond after one. As Vice President of Community Resilience Strategy at United Way Worldwide, he has built a funding model that has moved more than $20 million into communities. Coleman previously served as the Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, where he grew a national network of houses of worship and community organizations from roughly 30,000 to nearly 70,000 people; built a national initiative that promoted protecting places of worship and community spaces; and helped faith leaders navigate everything from active-shooter preparedness to disaster recovery. In 2023, Marcus was named Meta-Leader of the Year by Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. Coleman works from what he calls the F.A.I.T.H. framework: fellowship, appreciative inquiry, integrative thinking, transparency, and humble leadership.
PANELIST
Hurunnessa Fariad
Hurunnessa Fariad is a respected Muslim American community leader known for building meaningful bridges across diverse communities nationwide. She serves as Vice President of Strategic Funding and Relations at the Age of Light Foundation and is founder of Fariad, LLC, a consulting firm supporting organizations committed to equity and inclusion. She previously served as Director of Outreach for the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. Fariad is Secretary of the Board of Directors at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and a former board member for Women for Afghan Women. She is founder and Music Director of The ADAMS BEAT Choir, the first youth choir based in a U.S. mosque, which blends art and faith to inspire and uplift young people. She founded and co-hosts the Sister Act Podcast alongside Dr. Sabrina Dent and Rabbi Susan Shankman. Her work has taken her to the White House and federal agencies for multifaith discussions on countering Islamophobia and Antisemitism.
PANELIST
Dr. Joel Hunter
Dr. Joel Hunter serves as Pastor of Community Benefit at Action Church and as Chairman of the Central Florida Pledge, a call to action asking residents of Central Florida to commit to treating all people with kindness and respect, especially those with whom they disagree. Hunter is a nationally and internationally known advocate for the poor, the marginalized, and those dealing with disabilities. He served on the inaugural White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and as the Chairman of Central Florida’s Commission on Homelessness. In 2018, Orlando Magazine named him as the #1 most powerful voice for philanthropy and community engagement and listed him among “Orlando’s 50 Most Powerful” six years in a row. Dr. Hunter has also served in leadership roles of the World Evangelical Alliance, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, and the National Association of Evangelicals, serving more than 40 denominations and thousands of churches.
PANELIST
Shannon Price Minter
Shannon Price Minter is the legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, where he has directed litigation and legal advocacy for more than thirty years. He represented same-sex couples in the California marriage equality case and married same-sex couples from Tennessee in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing the freedom to marry nationwide. He has litigated many LGBTQ family law cases and is a coauthor of Family Law for LGBTQ People. One of the most senior transgender litigators in the LGBTQ movement, he is widely recognized as an expert on transgender legal issues. Minter is an advisory member of the Dallas Alliance for Religious Freedom and has a strong interest in building bridges between LGBTQ people and conservative religious communities. He was appointed to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships in 2015, and in 2026 was named to the TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people.
PANELIST
Amy Spitalnick
Amy Spitalnick is CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national convener of Jewish coalitions working across communities to build a just and inclusive American democracy. A nationally recognized leader on countering antisemitism, hate, and extremism, she previously served as Executive Director of Integrity First for America, which won its groundbreaking lawsuit against the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Spitalnick has extensive experience in government and politics, including as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the New York Attorney General and as spokesperson and advisor to the New York City Mayor. She serves on the boards of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Tufts University Hillel, and the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) as well as on Tree of Life’s Academic Advisory Council and Bedrock’s National Leadership Council, and is a graduate of Tufts University.
CLOSING KEYNOTE
Rabbi David Saperstein
Rabbi David Saperstein is Director Emeritus of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, an organization he led for forty years, representing the largest movement in American Jewish life to Congress and the country. The first rabbi in American history to be designated as a U.S. Ambassador, he served as Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom — the nation’s chief diplomat on behalf of religious liberty worldwide — from 2015-2017. Also an attorney, Saperstein taught seminars on church-state law and on comparative Jewish and American law for 35 years at Georgetown University Law Center. After his government service, Rabbi Saperstein continued his academic work as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Foreign Service School and Center for Jewish Civilization. Newsweek has named Saperstein the most influential rabbi in America, and The Washington Post has called him the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill” — recognition of a career built at the intersection of faith, law, and public life.
CO-HOST + MODERATOR
Melissa Rogers
Melissa Rogers is the Distinguished Scholar in Faith, Law, and Public Policy at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in both the Obama and Biden administrations, where she advised on public policy and promoted partnerships between federal agencies and faith and community organizations to serve people in need. Rogers has long experience — both inside and outside government — in forging the kind of alliances that are a focal point of the symposium, and she has gathered a fascinating group of leaders to speak at the event. “Time and again, these influential leaders have brought together unlikely allies to defuse conflict and make common cause,” Rogers said. A nationally known expert of religion and public life, Rogers is author of Faith in American Public Life and co-author of Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court.
CO-HOST
Corey D. B. Walker
Corey D. B. Walker is an acclaimed scholar, academic leader, and public intellectual committed to a broad and inclusive vision of human flourishing. He serves as Dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Inaugural Director of the Program in African American and African Studies where he brings visionary leadership and a deep commitment to the transformative power of education, ethical engagement, and critical scholarship. In recognition of his scholarly excellence, Dean Walker was named the 2023-2024 Phi Beta Kappa Frank M. Updike Memorial Scholar, becoming the first Wake Forest University professor selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. Dean Walker was named the Sterling A. Brown ’22 Distinguished Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College for the spring of 2026.
2026 Symposium Agenda
10:00 am
Welcome
Melissa Rogers
Distinguished Scholar in Residence in Faith, Law, and Public Policy
Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Corey D. B. Walker
Dean and Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities
Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Opening Keynote
Wait Chapel
Dr. Walter Earl Fluker
Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership
Boston University School of Theology
11:30 am
Break
1:00 pm
Public Conversation “Strengthening Solidarity Across the Nation”
Wait Chapel
Marcus Coleman
Vice President, Community Resilience Strategy
United Way Worldwide
Hurunnessa Fariad
President
Fariad, LLC
Rev. Dr. Joel Hunter
Chairman, Central Florida Pledge Campaign
The Pledge
Shannon Minter
Vice President, Legal
National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights
Amy Spitalnick
CEO
Jewish Council on Public Affairs
2:45 pm
Break
3:00 pm
Closing Keynote
Wait Chapel
Rabbi David Saperstein
Director Emeritus
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
4:30 pm
Closing Remarks and Reception
Wait Chapel Narthex
Join us at the 2026 Symposium
Thursday, September 17, 2026 | Wait Chapel | Wake Forest University
