Officers
Jeffrey Laurenti, Chairman of the Coalition for Peace Action since 2024 and a member of the Coalition since 1983, served as executive director of policy studies at the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA) and as director of foreign policy programs at The Century Foundation. He directed international task forces on peace-making in Afghanistan and on UNESCO, and of studies with grassroots components on global environmental policy, narcotics, and arms control. Before entering the U.N. arena he served as executive director of the New Jersey Senate majority.
He has advised presidential campaigns on international organization issues, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was his party’s nominee for Congress (NJ-4) in 1986. A resident of Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood and native of New Jersey’s capital city, he is a public member and the board secretary of New Jersey’s Capital City Redevelopment Corporation, a volunteer instructor of English as a Second Language at the Trenton Diocese's El Centro for recent immigrants to Trenton, and a member of Trenton Cycling Revolution. A graduate of Trenton Central High School, he earned his A.B. at Harvard College, magna cum laude, and his M.P.A. at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Marc Tolo, Vice Chair As a college student in California during the Vietnam War, I remember going to demonstrations and stuffing envelopes for antiwar candidate Gene McCarthy. Not long after graduation, I found myself teaching in Afghanistan with the Peace Corps. And after a couple years in Brazil, I wound up as an ESL teacher and, later, a writer for TOEFL (The Test of English as a Foreign Language) in the Princeton area.
In the 1990’s, I was introduced to the Coalition for Peace Action, where I found local citizens who shared my concern for democracy, social action, and international peace. Especially important to me was CFPA’s record in successfully using civic action and advocacy to help get important issues addressed. And to support its mission, it has been able to draw on an incomparable depth of expertise in diplomacy, nuclear weapons, gun violence prevention, and other peace issues. So, along with the friendships I have made here, the stimulating and empowering environment has kept me active as a longtime CFPA volunteer.
Carol Allen, Secretary has been an active member of "the Coalition" since its founding by local religious groups as the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament. One high point was the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999 when people from over 100 nations gathered to affirm citizen-based peace goals. Carol has also worked for economic justice via Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community, CWA - State Government Workers union, the Anti-Poverty Program, and the Solidarity Singers.
Carol earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Colby College in Maine in 1956, and a Master of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960's. She finds hope in the Treaty for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and CFPA's future work in persuading nuclear-armed nations to meet the terms of the treaty.
Dawn Day, Treasurer has a PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan. She has taught at both the University of Maryland and Brooklyn College. She was a Vice President of Response Analysis and played a major role in the development of the US Government’s statistics on household energy consumption. For several years she authored yearly pamphlets highlighting the medical basis for needle exchange. The pamphlets were used successfully by AIDS activists to promote needle exchange in a number of cities across the United States. She authored Adoption Agencies and the Adoption of Black Children and with others wrote Protest, Politics and Prosperity and The American Energy Consumer.
Members of the Board
Kip Cherry is a licensed NJ Professional Planner and a certified member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) with 55 years of experience in environmental, urban planning, and historic preservation issues. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is presently on the Board/Steering Committee for the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) (also Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee), Sierra Club NJ (Elected Member at Large; also Conservation Chair-Central Group); Save the Dinky, Inc. (STDKY), and the United Mercer Interfaith Organization (UMIO) (Secretary). At the Sierra Club NJ she is very active in the Warehouse/Data Center, Conservation, Transportation, and Legislative Committees.
Her career has included stints in economic analysis and historic preservation in Kalamazoo MI; economic analysis and development advocacy in Madison, WI; economic analysis and project development in Trenton, NJ; and marketing engineering services in Camp Hill, PA; architectural services in Indianapolis, IN; and architectural services in Princeton, NJ. Probably her most stimulating job was working for Michael Graves at the pinnacle of his career when he was awarded the AIA Gold Medal. At that point, the Middle East was very focused on American design inspired by Middle Eastern forms.
She tries to focus on where she can be the most effective; most recently working on Electric School Bus Legislation, Monmouth Battlefield Property Acquisition (to stop a warehouse), Amazon Data Center Issues, WRV Nurseries Data Center (Sentinel Data Center) Problems, Design and Installation of a Battle of Princeton State Marker, and finally 250th Exhibit Arrangements. As a peacemaker, her clear goals in working with Congress are on enforcement of the 4th Amendment and Nuclear Disarmament.
W. Wayne Conrad is an ordained United Methodist minister with a distinguished career spanning ministry, public policy, and international diplomacy. He holds a degree in Philosophy, Economics, and Liberal Studies from McDaniel College, specialized in Theology and Culture during his seminary training at Northwestern and Drew Universities, and completed master’s and doctoral coursework in Urban Policy and Planning at Rutgers University.
For two decades, Reverend Conrad served in the New Jersey State Department of Education, working as a lead policy researcher, Assistant Director of Teacher Education, and inter-agency planning coordinator. His academic contributions include serving as department chair at Stockton State College and teaching at Rutgers as a founding member of its Urban Planning Department.
In his pastoral ministry, he served congregations across New Jersey—notably founding a new church in Middletown/Holmdel—and later spent 18 years as a hospice chaplain.
A lifelong advocate for international relations, Conrad participated in a 1961 U.S. State Department exchange in the Soviet Union during the erection of the Berlin Wall. He later founded Hands Across the Waters, a Northern Ireland exchange program featured in The New York Times. A dedicated community leader, he has co-founded numerous nonprofits and remains the longest-serving planning board member in Stone Harbor.
Irene Etkin Goldman has had a distinguished career as an advocate for peace and human rights with decades of leadership experience. A longtime board member and Chair Emerita of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA), she has been active with the organization since the early 1980s and was named one of "100 Women Peacemakers—Five Generations."
Personally, her work includes leading the recovery of Soviet/Russian art collections stolen in the US after exhibitions here, and leading one and co-leading a second international campaign to secure the release of whistleblowers from the former Soviet Union. In recognition of her work, she was invited to serve on the board of the New York Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Human Rights of Scientists.
In addition to her work with CFPA, Irene maintains a long-standing commitment to civic and community initiatives, including ongoing leadership and involvement with the NAACP and the Nakashima Foundation for Peace. She was inducted into the Douglass Society of Douglass College, Rutgers University, for outstanding achievements in human rights and activism.
Joel Griffith is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he earned a degree in Political Science. Professionally, he is a Senior Account Strategist at Google. A deeply rooted member of the Trenton community, Joel serves on the Board of Directors of the Capital City Redevelopment Corporation and is an active member of the Trenton Municipal Democratic Committee. Driven by a commitment to responsive, community-centered leadership, he is a candidate for Trenton City Council At-Large.
Rev. Carol S. Haag is a fourth career minister, who served for 13 years as the religious educator at The Unitarian Church in Summit. Following a brief career in social work, she spent 20 years at home with children, volunteering in church, scouts and community. In the 1980s she joined the peace movement as both a volunteer with The Coalition for Peace Action and on the staff of the Nuclear Dialogue Project. In 1990 she felt called to the ministry, combining employment at the Summit Church with study at Meadville/Lombard Theological School, earned an MDiv degree and was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1996.
Stephanie Harris was the agricultural monitor for Ralph Nader’s Center for the Study of Responsive Law, Public Citizen, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Upon moving to New Jersey, she created a small organic farm and was a founding board member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association. She has been a peace activist for many decades and was the chair of the Voting Integrity Task Force for CFPA.
Stephen J. McGeady, age 84 yrs, is a semi-retired Professor of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. He has been a member of the Sacred Heart Peace Community (SHPC) since 2003, when the Community formed in opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The SHPC is a ministry of Sacred Heart parish in Camden, NJ., and has been an affiliate of Coalition for Peace Action since 2019, and shares in the mission of opposition to armed conflict, nuclear weapons and promotion of reasonable firearms policy. SHPC has also been active in opposing environmental degradation and injustice in the city of Camden, NJ.
Evan Miller was born and raised in Chesapeake, Virginia, but moved to New Jersey in 2024 to pursue a doctorate in economics and economic history at Princeton University. In his free time, he serves as the Peace Education Committee Chair and volunteers with CFPA to advocate for peace issues.
Manisha Patel is a community leader and peace advocate who has served on the Board of the Coalition for Peace Action since 2023. She is committed to advancing peace, nuclear disarmament, climate action, human rights, and global cooperation through education, advocacy, and community engagement. Manisha is a former President and current Board member of the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia (UNA-GP), where she has led initiatives promoting international understanding and global citizenship. She also serves on the Board of Peace Day Philly. Having lived in London, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, she brings a global perspective and a deep commitment to building collaborative solutions for a more peaceful world.
Jay Tyson is involved in the Coalition as a representative of “Together”—an associated organization dedicated to bringing people of diverse religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds together in a common understanding. Improving our attitudes toward people who are different from us is seen as the foundational to the establishment of universal peace. As a European-American, Jay’s understanding was broadened by spending a summer in India, then four years in West Africa, followed by seven years in Israel. He is also a member of the Baha’i community, which regards all of the prophetic religions as having come from the same Divine Source, and the differences between them as things that have arisen from human misunderstandings. Originally from Michigan, Jay graduated from Princeton University in 1976 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He has used his education in a variety of capacities as a Professional Engineer during his 44-year career. More recently, he has embarked on a post-career effort as a writer of religious novels to assist readers in understanding a wider variety of religious perspectives.
Jay Vaingankar is a former White House / Department of Energy official and current New Jersey business leader, dedicated to building a peace economy rooted in clean energy, unions, and consumer protection. Born and raised in Mercer County, he began his public service journey at Hightstown High School addressing inequalities in his school district’s policies. Jay earned a dual degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in international studies and economics in 2020.
In 2021, Jay was appointed to the White House, where he helped establish technology, operations, and personnel systems and managed COVID-19 operations to protect staff and senior officials. In 2022, as special advisor in the Secretary of Energy’s domestic policy office, Jay briefed senior leaders on classified matters, traveled nationwide promoting job-creating projects, and helped implement the largest climate investment in U.S. history.
In 2025, Jay returned to New Jersey to lead policy and market strategy in the clean energy industry. As a former security clearance holder, he is dedicated to ending forever wars and to building an economy powered by workers and bold investments to ensure America’s global leadership in the 21st century.
Rev. Vernon K. Walker was born and raised in Philadelphia. He attended Penn State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership with a minor in Psychology. Following his undergraduate studies, Rev. Walker attended Boston University, where he earned a Master of Theological Studies (MTS). He later attended Tufts University, earning a Master of Public Policy (MPP). Rev. Walker is one of the associate ministers at the Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Philadelphia.
Rev. Walker is currently a candidate in the online Master of Organizational Leadership (Sc.M.) program at Brown University.
Rev. Walker is a Senior Fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and a Senior Fellow at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. He has also completed the Boston Bridges Fellowship at Hebrew College and served as a Climate Health Organizing Fellow with Cambridge Health Alliance. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Center for Collaborative Leadership.
Rev. Walker’s social justice work has been featured in several publications, including the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Bay State Banner, and Commonwealth Magazine, among others. He has also appeared on television outlets such as Fox 25, New England Cable News, Boston Neighborhood Network, CBS Boston, and NBC 10 Boston. Rev. Walker has lectured on his social justice work at universities and colleges across the United States.
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