Jonathan Arogeti

he/him

Jonathan is a humanitarian aid worker with CARE working around the globe to save lives and defeat poverty. Before that, he worked in political campaigns and government service in Washington, DC, and Georgia. A returned Peace Corps volunteer, he served in both Mali and in Comoros. Jonathan was a founding chair of the Repair the World Atlanta Advisory Board. A native Atlantan, he is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of San Diego and lives in Downtown Atlanta.

Ely Benhamo

she/her

Ely Benhamo (she/her) is a Jewish professional dedicated to service and community building. She is currently the Western Regional Major Gifts Director at Friends of United Hatzalah, where she works with lay leaders passionate about saving lives in Israel and responding to emergencies quickly. Previously, she was Senior Director of Major Gifts at OneTable and spent the first six years of her career at AIPAC, in both the Pacific Northwest and Florida regions.

Ely actively contributes to various community engagement and diversity initiatives. She is Board Chair of Jewtina y Co. and a Wexner Davidson Fellow. Ely previously was a Moishe House resident, co-chaired DLEAD’s Senior Major Gifts Professionals cohort, and served on the JWI Young Women’s Impact Network’s board in San Francisco. A Miami native, Ely currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jill Blair

she/her

Jill spent her career bridging the worlds of the public, private and independent sectors with a dedicated focus on nonprofits and philanthropy. In 1998, she and her wife, Fay Twersky founded BTW Informing Change a Berkeley-based consulting firm providing information based consulting and planning services to nonprofits and philanthropy. At the same time, Jill founded the Grantmaker Forum on Community & National Service – a trade association of philanthropy working to advance the ethic of service and service-learning. 

With abiding devotion to democratic practice and recognizing the relationship between service and civic participation, Jill converted the Grantmaker Forum into PACE – Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement in 2006 and in 2007 she and Fay sold Informing Change. Since then, Jill has served as an independent consultant providing coaching, support, technical assistance and facilitation to organizational leaders and their teams. In 2021, Jill and Fay relocated to the great City of Atlanta, GA where Jill now serves as an advisor on a probono basis to leaders of both national and local nonprofits. 

When not pursuing her passion for democracy, nonprofit excellence and golf, Jill and Fay share adventures with their children, David-Nathan – a 2023 graduate of UChicago who is pursuing a career in medical research, and Jaz, a rising fourth year Rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, MA and also a Repair the World Alumna. 

Allan Bloom

he/him

Allan Bloom is a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, where he serves as co-chair of the firm’s Labor &  Employment Law Department. Allan is a nationally recognized litigator and advisor who represents employers, business owners, and management in a broad range of workplace law matters. He has successfully defended many of the world’s leading companies against claims for unpaid wages, employment discrimination, breach of contract and wrongful discharge, both at the trial and appellate court levels as well as in arbitration, before government agencies, and in private negotiations.

Allan regularly advises boards of directors and senior leadership on highly sensitive matters including executive and key person transitions, internal investigations, and strategic workforce planning. 

Allan has served as longtime pro bono counsel to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and The Public Theater, among other nonprofit organizations. He is a past Vice Chair of Repair the World, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, and a past recipient of the Lawyers Alliance Cornerstone Award for extraordinary contributions through pro bono legal services.

Allan is a proud graduate of the New York City public school system. He studied philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and law at Cornell. He is a native New Yorker, and lives on Long Island with his wife and (when they’re home) three daughters.

Larry Brooks

he/him

Larry Brooks (New York, NY) is the Vice President, Finance of Endeavor, an organization that is leading the High-Impact Entrepreneurship movement around the world. Endeavor supports 800+ High-Impact Entrepreneurs that have generated over $6 billion in annual revenue (2012) and created more than 225,000 high-quality jobs. Endeavor Entrepreneurs represent a wide variety of business sectors stretching across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Before joining Endeavor, Larry provided financial consulting services to several local nonprofits, fulfilling the role of acting-CFO for two organizations and managing nearly $20 million in revenues. He also worked with several for-profit, start-up organizations in technology, healthcare and HR sourcing. Larry holds a BA in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dan Caine

he/him

Daniel Caine is General Manager of the Family Law Software business unit of Centerbase, Inc. Family Law Software develops software for lawyers, financial planners, and individuals, to help with the financial aspects of divorce. Prior to that, he was president and co-founder of Family Law Software, which he and his partner sold in 2021 to Centerbase, a private-equity-backed company developing a range of software products for law firm management and marketing.

Before founding Family Law Software, Dan founded a company that wrote software for calculating income taxes, which he sold in 1993 to H&R Block. (The software itself is still in use today, in H&R Block’s product for consumers.) In the Jewish community, Dan is currently on the Campaign Cabinet of Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), the Jewish federation of Boston. He is also on the board of Friends of Arava Institute, the US fundraising entity supporting the Arava Institute, a small person-to-person Israeli/Arab climate-environmental-peace organization. 

For eight years, ending in 2021, he was Treasurer of the all-volunteer Newton Centre Minyan. In 2021, the minyan split into two minyanim, and he has continued as Treasurer of one of them, Minyan Ma’or, which has joined Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. Previously, he has volunteered with the Technology Group of CJP (chair, 7 years), Jewish Community Day School (board member 2 years), MassChallenge (mentor 2 years), Our Generation Speaks (mentor 4 years) and Taghyeer (development 1 year).

Lisa Eisen

she/her

Lisa Eisen is Co-President of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and leads our U.S. Jewish, and Gender and Reproductive Equity Portfolios. Lisa spearheads efforts to strengthen the Jewish community by supporting initiatives around the world that engage young Jews in service and social action, help people experience and learn about Israel and support efforts to welcome all who seek to participate in Jewish life. In this capacity, she oversees our Jewish and Israel Education grantmaking, Schusterman Fellowship and REALITY program. Lisa also leads initiatives to advance gender and reproductive equity, as well as empower women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. She founded the Safety Respect Equity Network, which promotes women’s leadership and addresses sexual harassment and gender discrimination in Jewish workplaces, and she chairs the Advisory Board. She is a member of the Global Leadership Board for TIME’S UP Foundation and TIME’S UP Now, organizations that fight for safe, fair and dignified work for all. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, which mobilizes funders to protect and advance gender and reproductive equity. Lisa was founding board chair of Repair the World and the iCenter, and she continues to serve on their national boards. She was also the founding board chair of the Israel on Campus Coalition. Lisa serves on the boards of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), Leading Edge, the Israel Institute and OLAM. Lisa has helped to expand Schusterman’s grantmaking over the past 19 years, serving as its National Director and then as Vice President. Prior to joining the organization, she served for nine years as Executive Director of Project Interchange Seminars in Israel, an institute of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). She has also held positions as AJC Area Assistant Director and as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Bart Gordon. Lisa is a frequent presenter in the fields of philanthropy, Jewish service, Israel education, and women’s rights and leadership. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and earned her Master of Arts degree with honors in Israeli and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The proud mother of three adult children, Lisa is a certified yoga teacher, and she enjoys vinyasa yoga, community service, trekking and international travel.

Martine Fleishman

she/her

Martine, born in South Africa, immigrated to NY in 1986 with her husband Stanley. Her love of Israel and her passion for Jewish education, Social Justice and community, formed as early as her day school years and keeps Martine busy within the Jewish communal arena. A past President of the Jewish Education Project, she is past Regional chair of UJA Federation of NY’s Westchester division and member of the Neshamot Women’s Venture Philanthropy fund, past JFNA board member and now serves as co-chair of UJA Federation of NY’s Capital Campaign and is actively engaged on the boards of The Jewish Agency for Israel, OLAM, Repair the World, Jewish Communal Fund and Westchester Jewish Council.

Martine also serves on UJA NY’s Jewish Life Cabinet and on the steering committee of Mosaic United of the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs where she is very focused on strengthening the relationship between Israel and the global Jewish diaspora.

A Wexner Heritage Graduate and recipient of UJC’s Jesselson Young Leadership Award and the Kipnis-Wilson/Freidland Lion of Judah award. Past local and national board member of The American Jewish Committee, President of Hillels of Westchester and Trustee of the Solomon Schechter (now Leffell) School of Westchester.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, entertaining, travel, Jewish study and exercise.

Cindy Greenberg

she/her

President and CEO

Cindy (she/her) is the President and CEO of Repair the World, whose mission is to mobilize Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, igniting a lifelong commitment to service. She was the founding executive director of Repair the World NYC, where she built a robust program focused on mobilizing the Jewish community to meet pressing local needs through service and learning in Central Brooklyn and Harlem. Previously, she worked for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life for fifteen years, including as the executive director of NYU’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. Cindy holds a masters degree in Non-Profit Management from NYU’s Wagner School and is the recipient of the Schusterman Fellowship, the Shirley Chisholm Women of Excellence Award, the Bed Stuy Campaign Against Hunger Harvest Heroes Award, and Hillel’s Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award. Cindy lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Dan, and their three children.

Laynie Held Helman

she/her

Laynie Held Helman (Los Angeles, CA) is the Executive Director of the Held Foundation, where she works alongside her family to support organizations advancing health access, families and youth, food security, and Jewish life across Southern California through innovative, community-driven solutions.

 

Prior to transitioning into philanthropy, Laynie spent a decade building her career across consulting, technology, and startups. From advising Fortune 500 companies on growth and digital strategy to leading marketing and operations at a health tech startup during the COVID-19 pandemic to building products at TikTok that supported small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs, she has deep experience building and marketing human-centered products and solutions.

 

Laynie is deeply committed to Jewish communal life, civic engagement, and strengthening cross-community relationships through hands-on action and philanthropy. She is especially passionate about how service and volunteerism can foster belonging, empathy, and long-term community connection.

 

Laynie earned her B.S. in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and her M.S. in Management Studies from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Outside of work, Laynie enjoys exploring her native Los Angeles with her husband, Ben, and their dog, Franklin. Together, they spend their weekends hiking and searching for the city’s best taco trucks.

Christina Jefferson

she/her

Christina is the first-ever Senior Director of Inclusion and Culture at the San Francisco 49ers. She leads inclusion and diversity efforts across the organization and created the team’s internship program. She is also responsible for managing the team’s recruitment and hiring activities and its internship and fellowship programs.

Before joining the 49ers, Jefferson spent six years at Sephora, working in stores and then leading diversity and inclusion efforts company-wide. This included facilitating and creating diversity training and providing oversight of all cultural programming.

Jefferson earned her B.S. in Ceramics from the University of Southern Indiana and her master’s in human resource management from Golden Gate University. Christina has been a coach for Resetting the Table since 2021 and is a member of several boards, including the Jews of Color Initiative, Resetting the Table, and Better For You Wellness.

Anna Kovinsky

she/her

Anna Kovinsky has over 20 years of professional experience as a management executive, consultant and entrepreneur. Anna led a division of a cultural exchange company (Intrax) that allowed thousands of university students from around the world to experience American culture through internships and other work programs. Anna also founded and ran an apparel company, including concept development, fund raising, product design, manufacturing and marketing. She was also a Senior Product Manager at Siebel Systems, where she worked on the founding team of a new product. Anna has degrees from McGill University and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. A native of Vancouver, Canada, Anna has made the San Francisco Bay Area her home since 2000. She is an active member of Temple Emanu-el and a former board member of the American Jewish Committee in San Francisco. She resides with her husband and two daughters in Mill Valley, where she regularly trail runs on Mt. Tamalpais with her dog, Blue.

Jen Leshnower

she/her

As a Bridging & Democracy Advisor at AmeriCorps, Jen provided strategic advising and direction to agency leadership on program design, partnership development, funding and research. She was the AmeriCorps representative to the White House Office of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships under the Biden-Harris Administration.

As Special Advisor for Member Experience at California Volunteers in the Office of the Governor, Jen designed and led the inaugural cohort experience for 3,200 College Corps Fellows. Prior to this, Jen served as Volunteer Director at California Volunteers, where she played a crucial role in launching a robust volunteer program to support COVID-19 vaccination distribution, education, and outreach.

Jen is a proud Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Saint Lucia, Eastern Caribbean); AmeriCorps VISTA Alum (Newark, DE); Jewtina Puentes Fellow and former Jewtina Advisory Board member.

Geoff Lieberthal

he/him

Geoff is a Partner at Two Sigma Impact. Geoff comes to Two Sigma from Lee Equity Partners, a U.S. growth buyouts firm, where he led the firm’s healthcare investments and served as a partner and member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to Lee Equity, Geoff worked in the private equity funds of TPG Capital and Bain Capital. He began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company. Geoff was a faculty lecturer at Stanford Business School and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Private Equity Association. Geoff has been a director of several companies, including Solaris Health, Summit BHC, Westfall Technik, Eating Recovery Centers, PDR Networks, Key Health, Paragon Industries and Axcan Pharma. Geoff earned an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School and a B.A. in Engineering Sciences, cum laude, from Dartmouth College.

Robb Lippitt

he/him

Robb Lippitt is Interim Chief Operating Officer at Leading Edge. He is a serial entrepreneur, having successfully led and grown multiple businesses throughout his (ongoing) career. Robb currently serves as COO of Clarity Voice, a cloud phone company which ensures your business will never miss a call (even the annoying ones). Before that Robb was COO of High Level Marketing, a digital marketing agency which, contrary to popular opinion, believes more traffic is a good thing and before that CEO of Revolution Dancewear, a private equity backed manufacturer and distributor of dancewear. Robb is also the Founder of Secret Sauce Capital, an early stage venture capital and consulting company. Robb has been inexplicably tolerated by his endlessly patient and saint-like wife Debbie for 35 years, 31 of them in marriage. He is blessed by two daughters, Molly and Eryn, both of whom are thankfully shorter than he is and far better looking. Robb has been involved in far too many communal committees and activities to list (or that make sense to any rational person), including: Treasurer of Detroit’s Jewish Federation, JFNA’s Executive Committee, Co-Chair for JFNA’s National Young Leadership, and as an Executive Board Member of the Fresh Air Society, a Federation agency dedicated to providing a Jewish camping experience to every child who wants one (and even some that don’t but get forced by their parents to go). Robb has been required in the past to compile a complete list of his charitable activities (no, that wasn’t anywhere near a complete list), so it is available upon request to those wishing to cure insomnia.

Connie Meltzer

she/her

Connie Meltzer began her career as an AmeriCorps member with a college access and success organization. Since then, she has continued to work with nonprofits as a team member or a consultant in development, programs, finance, and operations. Currently, she is a Manager in BDO’s Nonprofit and Grantmaker Advisory practice working with complex organizations to ensure their leaders have the finance and operations staffing, processes, and technology in place so they can focus on making change in their communities. She leads financial planning, process design and infrastructure development projects and serves as a trainer and coach in cohort programs. Connie has been involved with Repair the World as a volunteer since 2014 and she currently lives in Bozeman, Montana with her dog, Babs and her partner, Paul.

Sidney Pertnoy

he/him

Sidney is a native of Miami and a lawyer by trade. His Family has been active in the Miami Jewish Community for three generations. He has held various leadership positions over the past thirty five years, having served as Board Chair of Hillel International and several local Hillel Boards, President of his Synagogue, Chair of the Foundation of the Miami Jewish Federation, Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, Chair of the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE), Chair of the Audit Committee of Mount Sinai Medical Center, Chair of the iCenter Board, Chair of the Board of the Friends of the March of the Living, and a member of the Board and Executive Board of the Miami Federation. Sidney lives in Miami and is married to Nadine. They have three children and eight grandchildren.

Kathy Reich

she/her

Kathy Reich currently serves as Executive Director of a private family foundation and has spent more than two decades in the philanthropic sector. Prior to taking on her current role, she led a $2 billion global initiative at the Ford Foundation to strengthen key institutions that fight inequality. Earlier in her career, Kathy directed a program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation that helped non-profits around the world strengthen their strategy, leadership and impact. She also has worked as a foundation program officer, a policy director of a non-profit, and a legislative assistant for a United States Senator.

In addition to her board service with Repair the World, Kathy is a proud member of the board of American Jewish World Service. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Kathy has two adult children and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, a cuddly white dog, and a highly opinionated cat.

David Rittberg

he/him

David serves as Senior Director for U.S. Jewish Grantmaking at Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, where he advises leadership on how to best leverage their investments in existing organizations and take new initiatives to scale. While some may know him for his semi-pro guitar skills, David’s true calling card is his hands-on approach to his philanthropic portfolio: David spends much of his time working directly with organization staff and board members to help build their team’s capacity, develop a long-term strategy and grow as integral players in common ecosystems. Prior to arriving at Schusterman, David’s career took him across the country, from his hometown of Binghamton to streetwise Brooklyn, misty San Francisco and the hidden gem that is Tucson, AZ. Notably, David served as Executive Director at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU, Hillel at New York University, and, in 2011, received NYU’s Hallmark Award for outstanding university administrators. David was also part of the Hillel staff at The University of Arizona and Stanford. David received his BS in Marketing from the Smeal College of Business Administration at Penn State University, and an Executive MPA from NYU Wagner.

Mark Rothschild

Mark Rothschild is Founder and Chair of Right At School, which provides before and after school enrichment programs for more than 60,000 students in 18 states every day, right in their own schools.  Mark has led several JCCs, was president of Knowledge Advisors, Sr. VP at FastWeb, and a communication specialist at McKinsey and Arthur Andersen. Mark has a Ph.D. in educational policy, is an ordained rabbi, cofounder of the Chicago Giving Circle, and a personal essayist at Kveller.com. Learn more at markrothschild.org.

Ben Samuels

he/him

Ben Samuels is the Director of the Samuels Family Foundation which supports education, children, civil rights, and the Jewish Community.

 

Ben is the former CEO of Victory Packaging, the company he led for most of his career. He joined Victory Packaging in 1995 as regional operating manager of Texas. From 2007 through 2018, Ben was CEO and led an executive team that managed more than 1,750 employees. Ben was also the Chair of Leedo Cabinetry, a family-owned manufacturer with 600 employees serving the multi-family construction market. Ben is on the Boards of Directors of Packaging Exchange, a national packaging distributor, and Bridgewell, a distributor of building materials for the multi-family construction industry.Previously, he was on the Board of Directors of Workhorse, a publicly traded technology company developing electric delivery trucks, and Saxco, a packaging distribution company serving the wine and spirits industry.

 

Ben is an active member in the community, where he primarily focuses on education, the fight to end hunger, and the Jewish Community. He is the current Co-chair of the Board of Teach for America in Houston and is the immediate Past Chair of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. Ben has served as the Chairman of the Houston Food Bank and the Board Leadership Council of Feeding Texas. He is the Chair of the Leo Baeck Education Center Foundation and was the President of the Houston Chapter of the American Jewish Committee before joining their National Board of Governors. He also is currently on the boards of J Street, Emerge, Brighter Bites, and served on the boards of Children at Risk, Move For Hunger, Holocaust Museum Houston, Congregation Shma Koleinu and Jewish Family Service.

 

Samuels received a bachelor’s degree in American studies and economics from Amherst College as well as an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He and his wife, Marci Rosenberg, reside in Houston and have a son, Ethan, and a daughter, Mimi.

Sarene Shanus

she/her

Sarene is a longstanding volunteer in the Jewish community following in the footsteps of her parents. In addition to serving as a Board member of Repair the World, she is Chair of the Board of Hadar and an active volunteer at UJA Federation of New York, where she is a member of several committees, including Recovery and Rebuild in Israel and the Network Cabinet. She is also committed to her synagogue, Westchester Jewish Center, where she is currently cochair of the Spiritual Life Committee and previously served as President and Chairman of the Board.

Sarene is an attorney by training and works with her brother and nephew in a family business owning, managing and developing commercial real estate. She lives in Mamaroneck, New York with her husband Harold Treiber who also does significant volunteer work in the Jewish community. They share four children and five grandchildren

Josh Sherbin

he/him

Josh Sherbin has served as the General Counsel and Chief Administrative Office of US publicly traded manufacturing companies for the past 20 years. In these roles, he has provided strategic counsel to boards of directors, executive leadership, and operational teams. In addition to leading global legal teams, Josh has led the following functions – human resources, environmental, health and safety, governmental affairs, and corporate communications. Prior to his General Counsel roles, Josh’s legal career included stints with a French publicly traded company and a regional corporate law firm. Josh graduated from Wayne State University Law School and Kalamazoo College.

In addition to his longstanding involvement with Repair, most recently as the Detroit Advisory Council Chair, Josh has served as Board Chair of Temple Shir Shalom and of two Michigan based arts organizations.

Josh and Lisa have three adult children a Golden Retriever named Vern. As a family, they enjoy spending time in Northern Michigan, cooking, hiking, and traveling.

Yoshi Silverstein

he/him

Yoshi Silverstein is Founder and Executive Director of Mitsui Collective, which builds resilient community through embodied Jewish practice and racial equity. He is also a Cleveland community organizer for Edot: The Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity Collaborative, a cohort six Schusterman Fellow, and is part of M² Institute for Experiential Jewish Education’s inaugural Jewish Pedagogies Circle. Formerly, Yoshi was Director of the JOFEE Fellowship at Hazon from its launch through its first four cohorts, through which he catalyzed the growth and leadership of over 60 emerging professionals working across the US and Canada in the realm of Jewish relationship to land, food, culture, climate, and community. As a Chinese-Ashkenazi-American Jew, Yoshi is an active advocate and educator in the Jews of Color community and speaks regularly on racial equity and inclusion. A former founding member of the Repair the World NYC Advisory Board, he is currently a member of the Grants Advisory Group for the Jews of Color Initiative, an alumnus of Selah (Cohort 14, Jewish Leaders of Color), and a member of the Selah Advisory Council, and has been a cast member of Kaleidoscope Project’s “What Does Jewish Look Like to You” monologue series, an ELI Talks speaker, and a Dorot Fellow. Yoshi holds certificates in Spiritual Entrepreneurship (Columbia Business School through GLEAN Network), social entrepreneurship (PresenTense NYC), permaculture design, ecovillage design, and environmental education; and earned his Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at University of Maryland with a thesis exploring Jewish frameworks, concepts, and vocabularies for landscape journey and experience in Jewish outdoor learning environments. Also a 2nd degree blackbelt and aficionado of Chinese Roast Duck, Yoshi lives in the Cleveland area with his wife, daughter, and pup.

Amy Taxman

she/her

After a rewarding 30-year career in human resources, Amy has recently retired. Over the years, she worked with some amazing people at companies like Walgreens Boots Alliance, Fortune Brands, RR Donnelley, Solo Cup, and Zebra Technologies. Along the way, she built lasting friendships, learned a lot, and truly enjoyed helping people and organizations grow.

Amy is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA in Economics) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (MBA). Now in retirement, she is excited to spend more time with family, travel, support charitable causes, and enjoy swimming at her local JCC. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and their Labrador retriever, Winnie, and is the proud mom of two adult children.

Rabbi Deborah Waxman

she/her

The first woman rabbi to head a Jewish congregational union and seminary, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., became president and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism in 2014. Since then, she has drawn on her training as a rabbi and historian to be the Reconstructionist movement’s leading voice in the public square.

Through visiting numerous congregations (more than 60 at last count), making public appearances in person and online, and writing for the Forward, The Times of Israel, The Philadelphia Inquirer, HuffPost, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and other news and academic outlets, Rabbi Waxman projects a vision of Judaism that embraces all people and inspires Jews to be strong allies to the most vulnerable among us.

Rabbi Waxman leads the Reconstructionist congregational union through close collaboration with the Board of Governors, the leaders and congregants of the nearly 100 affiliated Reconstructionist communities, and her extraordinary colleagues in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. She also serves as the sixth president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the movement’s sole seminary and a key part of the Reconstructing Judaism organization. This matrix of institutions has collaboratively achieved many milestones to support the movement leadership’s vision of 21st-century Reconstructionist Judaism.

Rabbi Waxman is the creator and host of the podcast, Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience.

In connection with LGTB History Month 2020, she was named an LGTB History Icon.

Jenna Weinstein

she/her

Board Advisor

Jenna Weinstein is a principal in Bridgespan’s San Francisco office. Since joining the firm in 2018, she has worked with both non-profit and philanthropy clients, as well as with collaborative funding platforms, like TED’s The Audacious Project, that connect them. She has supported organizations focused on a range of issue areas−including government and public systems, place-based change, and health−to develop effective and equitable strategies and operating models. Jenna also serves as an advisor to Phare Bio, a social venture using artificial intelligence and deep learning to tackle the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Prior to joining Bridgespan, Jenna was a senior consultant at Deloitte Consulting in Washington, DC, where she worked with public, social, and private sector clients, primarily on growth strategy and customer experience. Jenna graduated summa cum laude with an AB from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Melissa White

she/her

Melissa is Executive Director at the Key Biscayne Community Foundation (KBCF). Over the last ten years, Melissa has led the foundation and the Key Biscayne community in making a collective impact in Miami through a network of partner organizations, focused on collaboration. KBCF initiatives during Melissa’s tenure have included a sister-city initiative created by Melissa and the Key Biscayne Police Chief between KBCF, the Village of Key Biscayne, and the under-served neighborhood of Liberty City as well as one of the first university, foundation, and municipal partnerships for citizen science. Before joining KBCF, Melissa was a senior program coordinator at the University of Miami. She is a board member of Friends of Cape Florida State Park and served in the past on the board of governors of the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. Melissa holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Virginia Tech and a MA in International Administration from the University of Miami. She and her husband are proud parents to three children who provide them with laughter and love.

Jennifer Wolfe

she/her

Jennifer Wolfe is an accomplished, mission-driven leader with over 20 years of experience building and scaling organizations. She is a notable strategic thinker who innovates and leads communications and marketing strategies. Jennifer is a consultant and currently is engaged as the Strategic Communications Director for EF+Math, an inclusive research and development program. She previously was a partner with The Learning Accelerator (“TLA”), the catalyst to transform American K-12 education through personalized learning on a national scale. Jennifer is the Immediate Past President of the JCRC Bay Area Board of Directors and current Chair of its Governance and Nominations Committee. She is a graduate of New York University’s School of Law and Washington University in St. Louis. Jennifer lives in Mill Valley, California.