With Claudia E. Cohen, Bonnie Berman Cushing, and Robert A. Marchman.

The Initiative's Yom Kippur presentation is an attempt to constructively address issues of injustice and inequality.  We are honored to present three distinguished speakers, all of whom have had wide and deep experience working with people of diverse backgrounds to overcome bias to further sensitivity and fairness.  

Please note: you may submit questions for the panel in advance through the RSVP form below.

Who's Who

A through line in Dr. Claudia E. Cohen’s career is her commitment to social justice, anti-racism, and the skillful resolution of conflict. As a social psychologist, her research has spanned stereotyping and implicit bias; barriers to effective communication; strategies for cooperation and conflict resolution, and the power of “dialogue” to build authentic interfaith and multiracial relationships. She has taught psychology and conflict management at Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology and at Teachers College, Columbia University. During a stint with AT&T Bell Labs, Claudia supported efforts to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion as an internal consultant, a trainer and as an Ombuds. For the last 20 years, her consulting company, The Third Alternative, LLC, has worked to foster authentic dialogue, to challenge gender and racial/ethnic stereotypes and to promote organizational communication and conflict competency skills within many nonprofit and educational organizations. Claudia’s approach to social and political polarization is informed by her research and writing on the socio-cognitive processes underlying stereotyping, implicit biases, microaggressions and othering.” While inherent in our socialization, it is possible to make these processes visible and to challenge them. Her vision of how to “stand up for justice & equity in a polarized nation” includes the following elements: 1) be aware of your own stereotypes and what triggers them? (e.g., what descriptions are being used to demonize immigrants? faith and/or ethnic communities?); 2) be curious about folks with different opinions; hone your skills for deep listening and “nonviolent communication”; 3) find like-minded individuals and groups to provide you with support and community. Since 2015, Claudia has been actively engaged in the growth of Dialogue Circles on Race, a project of the Summit NJ’s Interfaith Council’s Anti-Racism Committee (ARC.) Ethnically and racially diverse groups of 8 – 10 participants and co-facilitators meet for 5 weeks, two hours at a time and discuss a curated set of readings describing America’s accurate racial history. These co-facilitated groups practice “dialogue” (which is distinct from “debate” or “discussion” ) as they reflect on their reactions to painful and/or challenging aspects of our history. Participants observe and share their own reactions, to listen with openness to the reactions of others and avoid the temptation to persuade or to challenge others’ beliefs.

Bonnie Berman Cushing, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an Antiracist Organizer and Educator. She has worked in the mental health field for over 36 years as a systems therapist serving individuals, couples and families. For the past 30 + years she has also been devoted to the movement for racial and social justice and to infusing both her own, and others’, clinical practice with an analysis of the dynamics of power, privilege and oppression. Bonnie is a Core Trainer with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, a Senior Consultant with the Human Solidarity Project and a facilitator with the Center for Racial Justice in Education, the Eikenberg Academy for Social Justice and the Center for the Study of White American Culture. She is a co-founder of the North Jersey Chapter of the AntiRacist Alliance and an affiliate of the Antiracist Mental Health Alliance of NJ. She also sits as a Trustee on the Board of the Human Solidarity Project. Bonnie has authored various articles about race and clinical practice, as well as a chapter in the book The Enduring, Invisible and Ubiquitous Centrality of Whiteness, published by W.W. Norton & Company in 2022. Previously, she was the Lead Editor of the multi-authored book Accountability and White Antiracist Organizing: Stories From Our Work and Living in the Tension: the Quest for a Spiritualized Racial Justice, both released by Crandall, Dostie & Douglass Books.

Commencing in January 2020, Robert A. Marchman served as the Senior Policy Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion at the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He resigned from the position in March 2025. As Senior Policy Advisor, his responsibilities included advising the Commission senior leadership, including the Chairman’s Office, on the development and implementation of mission-related strategies to promote diversity and inclusion both within the SEC and through external engagement with agency partners and market participants. He also assisted, including chairing the Investor Advisory Nominating Committee, the SEC’s efforts to enhance diverse representation on its independent advisory committees and was recognized for exponentially increasing such representation on the advisory committees. Mr. Marchman also assisted the agency’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in underserved portions of the investor community. In June 2010, Mr. Marchman joined Finra as Executive Vice President and Head of the Market Regulation Department’s Legal Group. Under his leadership, his team brought several significant enforcement actions on behalf of client exchanges. He also assisted with the implementation of the organization’s diversity initiative and served as a member of Finra’s Executive Diversity Leadership Council. Prior to joining Finra, Mr. Marchman, the first African-American Executive Vice President in the NYSE’s history, headed the New York Stock Exchange Regulation’s Enforcement Division and Regulatory Risk Group, as well as its Market Surveillance Division and was responsible for spearheading several high-profile investigations that resulted in significant regulatory outcomes. Mr. Marchman also served as Chairman of NYSE Diversity Council from its inception in 1999 until his departure from the NYSE. In 1983, Mr. Marchman commenced his legal career as an attorney in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  Mr. Marchman is a magna cum laude graduate of Allegheny College, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In addition, Mr. Marchman attended Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development and received Certificates for Diversity and Inclusion studies from the Harvard Kennedy School and Cornell University. Mr. Marchman is engaged with numerous civic and professional organizations, such as the Maplewood, New Jersey Library Board of Trustees
(currently serves as President), Community Coalition on Race, PFLAG, the NYC Bar Association,  Allegheny College Board of Trustees,  Operation HOPE and the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). He has been recognized for his professional accomplishments and diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the financial services industry from organizations including the National Bar Association, Rainbow PUSH, the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Savoy Magazine.

He is a long-time resident of Maplewood, NJ.