Steven M. Cohen, a sociologist of American Jewry, is Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR, and Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner. In 1992 he made aliyah, and taught for 14 years at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Previously, he taught at Queens College, with visiting appointments at Yale, Brandeis, and JTS. With Arnold Eisen, he wrote, The Jew Within, and with Charles Liebman he wrote, Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences. His earlier books include American Modernity & Jewish Identity, and American Assimilation or Jewish Revival? His current research interests focus on the emerging patterns of Jewish identity and community among Jews in their 20s and 30s. He also serves as research director of Synagogue 3000, and Director of the Florence G. Heller / JCCA Research Center. He is married to Rabbi Marion Lev Cohen, and they live in Jerusalem and New York. His daughter, Edeet, attends The Hebrew University School of Law, and his son Adam lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Professor Marc Dollinger
Suzanne Dryan Felson
Anita Friedman leads JFCS, one of the largest family serviceagencies in the United States, with 16 Bay Area offices in five counties serving more than 60,000 children, adults and seniors each year. She is a frequent lecturer on Jewish communal services and not-for-profit management. She serves on the Boards of the Taube Foundation, AIPAC and the Koret Foundation. Dr. Friedman has written many articles and essays, and is currently completing a book about cross-cultural psychology and immigration based on her research in the field. Dr. Friedman is a child of Holocaust Survivors, lives in San Francisco with her husband and has three sons.
Maggi Gaines recently assumed a position as Director of Development for a newly merged statewide organization in Maryland that advocates for quality early childhood experiences and after school care. Previously, she served as Vice President for Service Learning and Partnerships at Jewish Funds for Justice. Prior to that Maggi served for six years as the founding Executive Director of Spark: Partnership for Service, which she guided through a merger into Jewish Funds for Justice in February 2007. Maggi was also the founding Executive Director of Baltimore Reads. She has been involved as a Board member in a number of start-ups: a Baltimore Jewish group, an interfaith legislative group, and an organization focused on service to the homeless. Maggi has been Executive Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, an agency of the Baltimore Federation. Maggi is a recovering runner, an avid swimmer, and an adoring grandmother to the offspring of her daughter and son-in-law, and son and daughter in-law.
Jim Heeger has held a number of high tech senior management positions inSilicon Valley over the past twenty five years. Most recently he was President, CEO and Chairman of PayCycle, the leader in on-line payroll for small businesses. Prior to PayCycle he held executive management positions at Adobe Systems and Intuit and was President and CEO of Fotiva. Before joining Intuit, Jim held a number of positions at Hewlett-Packard. He earned an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a BS in management from MIT. Jim is active in the Jewish community in the Bay Area and is a Past President of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. He has served on the Federation Allocation Committee for the South Peninsula. He is currently Vice President of Hillel at Stanford and serves on the Executive Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Jim is currently chair of the Master Planning Committee for URJ’s Camp Newman in Santa Rosa.Jim’s wife, Daryl Messinger, was most recently a principal at a San Francisco-based communications consulting firm, Weisscomm Partners. She is also active in the Bay Area Jewish community. Both their children, Adam and Robbie, are undergraduate students at USC.
Martin Kaminer is the founder and current board chair of Bikkurim:An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas, currently celebrating ten years of investment in and support of Jewish nonprofit startups. He has been a board member and active supporter of numerous other organizations including JESNA, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Jewish Funders Network and Jewish Family & Life. When he's not busy dispensing advice to non-profit start-ups he runs an online learning company. Martin lives in New York City with his wife Sarit, his children Gidon and Ayelet, and a long line of short-lived hamsters.
Mara Berns Langer has a strong background in sales, sales training and non-profit development. Having worked at companies such as United Parcel Service and Siebel Systems, as well as the Schultz Jewish Community Center, Mara has an excellent understanding of the bridge between business and non-profit. She has been involved with the SF Jewish Community since 1995. Serving a variety of roles on several different local agencies, Mara is proud to be a professional volunteer. This fall she began her second year as a Wexner Heritage participant.
Jan Cook Reicher is a Co-Founder of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS). She served as Vice President before assuming the professional positions of Director of Marketing, Interim Director of Development and Interim Co-Head of School. Jan’s experience with innovation and change also includes leading a family owned construction and real estate business, effecting its sale, launching a public relations and marketing firm, and providing business coaching. She continues to exert leadership as a lay leader of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco (Board of Trustees, and President of Women’s Philanthropy), as an advisor to BASIS (Israel education in Jewish Day Schools), and as immediate past President of Brandeis Hillel Day School). Jan served on the Governor appointed New Jersey-Israel Commission and is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Fellowship. Jan lives in San Francisco with her husband Yossi Alouf and their daughters (Adi & Alexandra Alouf ) except when summering at their home in Israel.
Michael Stein is a writer and nonprofit management consultant who works at the intersection of technology, marketing, and fundraising. The author of three books and numerous articles in this field, he recently wrote about uses of mobile phones in civil society for MobileActive. Michael has provided strategic support to numerous organizations on Internet strategy including: The William J. Clinton Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, United Nations Food Programme, The James Irvine Foundation, and American Lung Association of California. Michael's opinion and analysis have been featured in numerous media, including The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, National Public Radio, Wired News, TechSoup.org, and The Nonprofit Quarterly. He serves on the Board of Idealware.org. You can read his blog at www.michaelstein.net.
David Steirman is the Chair of the Board of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA). He previously served as President of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma counties, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Bureau of Jewish Education. He serves as an officer of the United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Senior Living Group and is a board member of the North Peninsula Jewish Campus, TKCJL (Palo Alto based Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life), and the Jewish Home & Senior Living Foundation. He also previously served on the boards of the JCPA (the national public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community) and Peninsula Sinai Congregation. Professionally, he is President of Kestrel Investment Management Corporation in San Mateo. David, his wife, Anne, and two children live in Hillsborough where David serves on the town’s Financial Advisory Committee.
