Who We Are | Rekindle

Charmaine Rice

Co-founder and Board Member

For more than two decades, Charmaine Rice has helped organizations bring out the best in their people. As Senior Vice President of Employee Experience at AmTrust Financial Services, she shapes how a global workforce learns, grows, and connects. Her career has centered on leadership development and inclusion, work she extends as a facilitator and coach with Heart to Heart Communications. That commitment earned her the 2024 LEAD Award and recognition as a Woman of Note. A Rekindle co-founder and board member, Charmaine holds a master’s degree in diversity management and is pursuing a doctorate in Leadership for Change.

Keshia Chambers, PMP, MBA

Board Chair

Keshia Chambers has spent nearly 30 years turning complex public projects into lasting community assets. Trained as a civil engineer and city planner, she began her career managing infrastructure and public outreach for the City of Atlanta before leading strategic planning for Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities. Today she serves as Assistant Director of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects for the City of Cleveland. Beyond public service, Keshia is an entrepreneur whose ventures, Darker the Berry and the Black Singles Network, create spaces for connection within the professional African American community. A Rekindle alum, she now brings that strategic vision to the organization as board chair.

Matt Fieldman

Co-founder and Executive Director

Matt Fieldman has spent more than two decades building institutions that open doors. As founding board chair of EDWINS Restaurant and Leadership Institute, he raised more than $600,000 to launch one of the nation’s first fine-dining training programs for formerly incarcerated people, earning national Fundraiser of the Year honors. He went on to found Cleveland Codes, a software bootcamp for low-income adults, and to lead America Works, a national network for manufacturing workforce training. At Rekindle, which he co-founded, Matt brings that same coalition-building instinct to a new challenge: uniting Black and Jewish communities in a shared fight for justice.

Samuel Dickerson II

Managing Director, Cleveland Programs and Partnerships

Samuel Dickerson has spent more than 20 years strengthening communities through education and partnership. Beginning as a special education teacher in Cleveland, he rose to become head principal of Normandy High School, improving school culture and student achievement along the way. As CEO of A Better You Community Resource Center, he has expanded food access and youth programming, and as chairman of the NAACP Cleveland ACT-SO Program, he mentors high-achieving African American students. A Rekindle alum, Sam now leads the organization’s Cleveland work, deepening trust between Black and Jewish communities across Northeast Ohio. He is also a proud member, past president, and chaplain of the Delta Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Elyse Picker

Managing Director, National Programs

Elyse Picker has built her career around helping people learn, connect, and advocate for themselves. She began as a research analyst before turning to education, and found her way to Jewish communal work as Co-Director of the Early Childhood Center at Kol Rinah Congregation. For more than three years, she served as Program Director at the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, where she helped establish the St. Louis chapter of Rekindle. Now Managing Director of National Programs at Rekindle, Elyse leads the fellowship’s work across the country from her home base in St. Louis. She holds graduate degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Emerson College.