Irwin Kula

 I am a disruptive spiritual innovator. As a 7th generation rabbi I feel the responsibility to carry on a lineage and as innovation junkie I wake up every day aspiring to create new value out of ancient wisdom. I have been blessed to lead Clal - The National Center for Learning and Leadership an organization that works at the intersection of religion, innovation, and human flourishing.

I wrote a book Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, developed and  acted in a movie Time For A New God, written a play The Gospel of Jerry, and I get to speak and teach in so many sandboxes: traditional and new media platforms, in businesses, foundations, and think tanks. I have had the privilege to study with extraordinary teachers including HH Dalai Lama, the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter, and the late Professor Clay Christensen. I, Clay and my dear friend Craig Hatkoff co-founded the Disruptor Foundation whose mission is to advance disruptive innovation in non-traditional domains like religion and human development. 

My most important teachers and greatest joys are my wife of forty years Dana, my daughters Gabriella and Talia and my son-in-laws, and my toddler granddaughter Jemma Bea who regularly tells us all, “I can do it by my own self.”