Operations Team

Rev. Diane Berke is the Founder and Spiritual Director of One Spirit Learning Alliance. Ordained as an interfaith minister in 1988, she is a respected pioneer in the field of interfaith/interspiritual education; this past June (2020) she stepped down after 18 years as Director of the One Spirit Seminary Training. Diane has worked closely with Andrew Harvey in his Institute for Sacred Activism, is a founding member of the Contemplative Alliance of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, and is a co-founder of Transformation 365, an online platform to introduce people to a broad range of contemplative practices. She is also a certified facilitator of the Circle of Trust® work of the Center for Courage and Renewal. Diane maintains a private practice in spiritual counseling/companionship and supervision of spiritual counseling students and practitioners. In addition, she is a licensed mental health counselor in New York State. A student and teacher of A Course in Miracles for over 30 years, Diane has led retreats and workshops on spiritual development throughout the United States and internationally. She is the author of several books and educational manuals, including Love Always Answers, The Gentle Smile, Developing and Deepening Your Spiritual Practice, and Forgiveness as a Path of Awakening. Diane is known for the clarity and wisdom of her teaching, the sincerity and depth of her compassion, and her ability to create exceptionally safe and nourishing learning and companioning spaces in which people can heal and blossom. She continues to actively serve One Spirit as a "spiritual grandmother" and guide.

As One Spirit's Interim CEO, Gordon Brode integrates his fascination with human and organizational learning, systems thinking, and reinvention methods into the development of visionary solutions that dynamically empower One Spirit's mission. His experience in a diverse variety of industries including intensive phases in professional theater, talent management, software design, branding, web design, and systems development has fed his passion for creating the conditions for collaborative wisdom and visionary innovation.

Gordon is a 2015 graduate of One Spirit Seminary and received his MS with distinction in Positive Organization Development and Change at Case Western University's Weatherhead School of Management and a certificate in Emotionally Intelligent Leadership and Executive Coaching in 2020. Gordon is also a Certified Reinvention Practitioner and certified in the Kolb Experiential Learning Profile by the Institute for Experiential Learning and in the SQ21 Spiritual Intelligence Assessment. A lifelong learner and avid student of consciousness, his interests include shamanic journeying, awakening collaborative wisdom, twelve-step community spirituality, appreciative inquiry, and other methods of whole-systems change.

Ilene Sameth is now Senior Advisor at One Spirit. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of One Spirit Learning Alliance from 2016 - 2023, and brought many structural changes to the organization that resulted in increased programming, fundraising and community connections. She has an extensive background in strategic planning, fundraising, capital campaign management, financial oversight, event management, staff and community development and IT. Prior to her position here, she had a 20-year career leading synagogues throughout New York City. including at Romemu, a ground-breaking community that experienced historic growth during her time there. From 2003 to 2012, Ilene served as Executive Director at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) in Greenwich Village, a dynamic organization in both the Jewish and LBGTQ worlds. Ilene is drawn to organizations, both professionally and personally, that challenge participants to deepen their connection to spirituality and community and that stress education as a path to both. Before beginning her career in the religious non-profit world, Ilene was an opera singer for 15 years, performing at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and throughout the country. In her spare time, Ilene enjoys hiking, cooking and “House Hunters.”

Darren graduated from One Spirit in 2009 and sort of never left. He is an artist, dancer, and performer who seeks to stir people's awe and enthusiasm through playful perspectives. Darren leads One Spirit's Experience Ecstatic Dance events and has been using dance as a spiritual practice all his life and as a conscious practice for over 25 years. In other incarnations in this lifetime, he has been a hairstylist/makeup artist, event/display designer, and the official tour guide for Food Network Kitchens and Studios.