MEET OUR STAFF
Cary Clarke
Executive Director
Cary Clarke (he/him) has made fostering community through culture the throughline of his life in Portland, the East Side of which he has called home since 2002 when he moved here to play in an indie rock band. Prior to joining the EJC team in Fall 2025, Cary guided nonprofits large and small, start-ups and legacy organizations alike, towards greater impact, sustainability and success. In addition to this work — highlights of which include co-founding local music organization PDX Pop Now! and leading the financial and programmatic turnaround of the region’s cornerstone arts education nonprofit — Cary has also served Portlanders as the City’s Arts & Culture Policy Director, a Russian-bilingual English Language Learners educator at East Portland’s Parkrose Middle School, a columnist for the Portland Mercury, a non-profit coach and consultant, and a producer of concerts, festivals and other events. He grew up in Los Angeles, where his Jewish identity was shaped by many years as camper, counselor, and teen leadership mentor at Camp Alonim (part of the Brandeis Bardin Institute and American Jewish University), where his family has now been involved for four generations. Cary graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale University where he majored in Russian & East European Studies and was highly involved in campus theater as an actor. He proudly comes from religiously and culturally mixed parentage, is Dada to his elementary-school-aged daughter, husband to his middle school sweetheart, and designated back-scratcher to his fluffy tuxedo cat, Joey. Cary loves swimming, tea, music, pizza, biking, foreign films, books, Thorns and Timbers matches, and unstructured time with beloved friends and family.
Eric Stern
Director of Programming and Cultural Arts Ambassador
Eric Stern (he/him) is a performer, producer, and arts advocate. As a performer, he’s appeared on NPR and has performed at the Kennedy Center, throughout the Northwest, and internationally from Portland to Paris to Poland. Best known as the founder and leader of Vagabond Opera, Stern has returned in recent years to his Jewish roots, studying and playing Oud (a kind of lute that is played throughout the Mizrachi, and Sephardic world). Along with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb he founded the Jewish Theater Project in New Mexico, Vagabond Opera in Portland and Hungry Opera Machine, a modern-opera company. He has produced productions from intimate cafe events to full-scale theatrical performances and loves working with the EJC community to make the Commons a hub that nurtures and showcases Jewish culture in all of its facets. Eric loves to hike with his son Jascha, and his wife, Jill. He is a beginning birder and enjoys kayaking with friends at Smith and Bybee lakes. He is the representative for the lakes for Portland's Metro Advisory Committee. Oddly, he also enjoys creating budgets.
Mervin Kurnaiawan
Events Support: A/V Specialist
Mervin (he/him) is an Indonesian-born, first-generation immigrant to the United States, having moved to the Portland area when he was four. He is a graduate from Oregon State University with a degree in Economics. He was also a radio DJ and Internet content engineer at the campus radio and television station, KBVR. This is where he began his interest in audio and visual equipment. Beyond his technical experience, Mervin also has a passionate interest in spiritual practice and the mystic traditions of the world religions. He enjoys the works of teachers such as Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He also enjoys spending time baking, engaging in social activism, and having restful moments with his wife and cat.
Event Staff
Tave Fasce, El Wendrow