BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STEPHANIE STRAUSS, Vice Chair
Jerusalem, Israel
Stephanie Strauss is Executive Director of Yeshiva University in Israel, having oversight for all the university's Israel activities. She administers the university’s Jerusalem campus, provides support for multiple divisions of YU, and oversees development and implementation of programs for visiting YU students and staff, as well as alumni in Israel. Stephanie is also tasked with managing the recruitment and enrollment department that works with gap year students from Jewish communities in the US and throughout the world, a role that gives her a unique insight to matters of interest to Jewish youth today. Stephanie and her team are charged with implementing Yeshiva University's forward-looking vision and strategies for its Israel operations, and for enhancing its contribution and presence in Israeli society.Additionally, Stephanie serves as deputy chair of the Board of Governors Geographies and Regions Committee at the Jewish Agency for Israel.
ROBERT BERNTON, Treasurer
New York, NY
Robert Bernton leads the North American Mid-Market Agency Team for Waze, a Google company. Concurrently, he is pursuing an Executive MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with an expected graduation date of 2021. Prior to working at Google, Robert successfully sold The Kosher Express, a company he launched to deliver high-quality kosher meat across the United States. Robert holds a BBA from Emory University , where he was President of Emory Hillel and actively involved in campus lief. Previous to university, Robert attended Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy in Denver, Colorado.
TAMARA BERENS
Washington, D.C.
Tamara Berens is an inaugural Krautheimer fellow at Mosaic Magazine. Tamara hails from London where she graduated with a BA in War Studies from King's College London. She previously worked as a Campus Associate for CAMERA, where she expanded pro-Israel activity in England and Scotland. Her writing has appeared in magazines and news outlets in Britain, the United States, and Israel. These include The Jerusalem Post, JNS, Standpoint, The Spectator, and the Weekly Standard. She was a speaker at the Tikvah Fund's 2019 Jewish Leadership Conference and has participated on panels in London, New York and Tel Aviv.
RABBI PINI DUNNER
Beverly Hills, CA
Rabbi Pini Dunner hails from a prominent European rabbinic family, that survived the Holocaust and ended up in London, England. Following his yeshiva studies in England, the United States, and Israel, Rabbi Dunner majored in Jewish History at University College London and went on to launch the Saatchi Synagogue for post-graduate professional singles in London’s West End. He is currently serving as Senior Rabbi at Young Israel of North Beverly Hills. In 2018 Rabbi Dunner released his first book, Mavericks, Mystics and False Messiahs, and in January of 2021 released his latest work, Hearts & Minds.
JONATHAN FELDMAN
London, UK
Jonathan Feldman is the Executive Director of Global Mutual, a premier London and Los Angeles-based property investment and management platform with more than £1.5 billion in assets under management. Prior to co-founding Global Mutual, Jonathan was a managing director of Jayroma London Limited, a UK-based international clothing manufacturer. In 1994, he qualified as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and was a senior surveyor with Hillier Parker Chartered Surveyors (now CB Richard Ellis), specializing in the retail property sector. Jonathan attended the University of Manchester and graduated with a BSc with Honors in Management Sciences.
RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG
Boca Raton, FL
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is the Senior Rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS), the largest Orthodox synagogue in the southeast United States with more than 800 families and more than 1,000 children. In 2010, he was recognized as one of South Florida's "Most Influential Jewish Leaders." Rabbi Goldberg is the author of a popular blog and is a frequent contributor to Aish.com and OU.org. His writings have appeared in Mishpacha, Klal Perspectives, Mosaic, Jewish Press, Jewish Link, Jewish Life, Jewish Action, Times of Israel, Sun Sentinel, Forward, and YU to Go, and he has been quoted by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Rabbi Goldberg has been a tireless and forceful advocate for Israel. He has been part of a small delegation of rabbis invited to the White House for meetings with the administration about the US-Israel relationship. In 2011, Rabbi Goldberg delivered the invocation to the US House of Representatives. In the same year, he received the "Star of David" award, and in 2014, he was presented with the "Pillar of the Community" and "Israel Award" by the Friends of the IDF.
BRUCE GOULD
Orlando, FL
Bruce Gould was a principal of Gould Publications, Inc., a family-owned publishing business specializing in law books and treatises for the legal and law enforcement communities. At the time of the sale in 2004, the business was one of the leading statutory law book publishers in the country. His philanthropic work is extensive. He is a past Vice President of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando. For more than 20 years, he has served in various roles for the Jewish National Fund. In addition, he had the privilege of giving the lead naming gift for both a new amphitheater and a commemoration hall at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem. Currently, he is leading a campaign to build a new Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity in Orlando, Florida, and is a producer on Upheaval, the Menachem Begin biopic. In his free time, Bruce enjoys biking in countries throughout the world and has completed a 300-mile bike ride across Israel. Gould holds a BA from New York University, a JD from Touro College's Jacob D. Furstenberg Law Center, and an LLM from New York University School of Law.
PASTOR TERRY KIRK
Baltimore, MD
Terry Kirk is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, the largest evangelical group in the world. In 1983, he founded Central Christian Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland, and he currently serves as founding and senior pastor over two campuses located in White Marsh, Maryland and Bel Air, California. Terry received his ministerial credits for ordination from Global University, formerly Berean School of the Bible in Springfield, Missouri. Pastor Kirk has given more than 45 years of dedicated service to the ministry, and in 2005 he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Divinity from Freedom Bible College and Seminary in Rogers, Arkansas. Terry has served on the boards of the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation, teen Challenge of Maryland (a drug and rehabilitation center), the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, and the Advisory Council for Convoy of Hope (a global humanitarian crisis organization). He also served as an associate to Jimmy Swagart Evangelistic Association, a global ministry organization. Pastor Kirk is currently an advisor and overseer to Pastor Rick Bezet of the New Life Church, which has approximately 40,000 members in Conway, Arkansas, and is a co-founder of Pastors and Executives for Israel and Hope Experience Tours, which solely focuses on Israel. His wife Carol of more than fifty years and their two children and three grandchildren make their homes in Baltimore, Maryland.
JUDITH LUPATKIN-BERNSTEIN
Stamford, CT
Judith Lupatkin Bernstein has worked in the entertainment industry for more than a decade. She currently works at HBO as Program Marketing Manager for documentary films. In her role, she oversees the creative development of the key art, marketing plan strategies, and promotional activations for the documentaries. She also maintains a blog where she writes about TV and film and how these mediums inform and are informed by American culture. Prior to working at HBO, Judith spent a number of years at the USA Network where she worked in the marketing department that launched the hit USA shows The Starter Wife, White Collar, Burn Notice and Suits. She started her career in the entertainment industry as a page at NBC. Judith graduated from Brandeis University with a BA in American Studies and a concentration in Film, and holds an MA in Cinema Studies form New York University's Tisch School.
TAMIR OREN
Tel Aviv, Israel
Tamir is the former StandWithUs UK Executive Director and was in charge of all the programs to c counter antisemitism and educate about Israel across Europe. Tamir initiated a flagship program for students on campus called “The StandWithUs UK Leadership program”, which empowered current students on UK campuses to be informed, active and articulate future leaders. These students were trained to combat delegitimization on campus, biased university professors and anti-Israel activists.
Tamir is also a reserve duty officer in the Paratrooper’s brigade. As part of his service, he participated in defending Israel on all fronts and represented StandWithUs as a speaker in the “Israeli Soldiers’ Stories” tour on U.S. campuses.
Tamir is currently an executive in "Exactius", a growth marketing company based in NY, and the Founder of “Noga”, an admissions consultancy company that helps hundreds of top Israelis with their application process for ivy league universities in the U.S. and UK.
GARY M. SIMON
Cedarhurst, NY
Gary M. Simon is Managing Member of UVE Partners LLC, a small cap, value-oriented investment fund since its inception in March 2000. Prior to founding UVE Partners, Gary was the CFO of NASDAQ listed companies including Concord Camera Corporation and Multi-Media Tutorial Services. Gary was also an investment/merchant banker in the M&A Group of Ernst & Young, Oxbridge Partners and Barington Capital Group. He holds a BS in Accounting from Yeshiva University and an MBA from the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.
ELIAS SITTON
Denver, CO
Elias Sitton was born and raised in Mexico City, and moved to Colorado in 2019 with his wife and two kids. He graduated from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City with a degree in Business Management. His entrepreneurial efforts center around international business, and he is the Co-Founder at Gipsy Group, which successfully represents major American, Israeli and foreign companies in Mexico to distribute various consumer products through major mass market retailers and department stores. Elias is the Current Managing Partner and CEO at LB Logistics, a leading cross-border logistics & Sourcing solution company between Mexico and the United States. He volunteers for Mexico’s Holocaust Survivor Association, hosting events and raising funds to support holocaust survivors and their family members.
RABBI DR. MEIR SOLOVEICHIK
New York, NY
Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik is the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, and director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Prior to this, Rabbi Soloveichik served as associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan. He graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva College, received his smicha from RIETS, and was a member of its Beren Kollel Elyon. In 2010, he received his doctorate in religion from Princeton University. Rabbi Soloveichik has lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Israel to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on topics relating to Jewish theology, bioethics, wartime ethics, and Jewish-Christian relations . His essays on these subjects have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, First Things, Azure, Tradition, and the Torah U-Madda Journal. In August 2012, Rabbi Soloveichik gave the invocation at the opening session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. He is the son of Rabbi Eliyahu Soloveichik, grandson of the late Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik, and the great nephew of the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik.
.webp)
RABBI STUART WEINBLATT
Potomac, MD
Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt is the founding rabbi of Congregation B'nei Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, a vibrant Conservative synagogue founded in 1988. He as been recognized by The Forward as "one of the most inspiring Rabbis in America" and voted "Best Rabbi in Washington" by readers of the Washington Jewish Week for several years. Rabbi Weinblatt has given the opening prayer at sessions of the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, both houses of the Maryland State Legislature, the inaugurations of Maryland's governors and Montgomery County executives, as well as numerous other public gatherings. In addition, Rabbi Weinblatt is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), was ordained at Hebrew Union College, is president of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JFNA, is head of the Jewish National Fund's "Rabbis for Israel," and has chaired two national RA conventions. Rabbi Weinblatt also has served as president of the Washington Board of Rabbis, chaired the Annual Israel Bonds' "Ambassador's Ball" in Washington, DC, received the "Pillar of the Community" award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and, with his wife, was honored by Israel Bonds for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of Israel.
JUDY MESSINA FLEISCHER
New York, NY
Judy Messina Fleischer is an award-winning journalist and published writer. Her activities include being a Member and Vice President/Secretary, the Jewish Childcare Association, Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Tikvah Fund, former Trustee at the Tenement Museum, former Trustee and Chair of the Board of Trustees at Hood College.
ANDREA KUPFER SCHNEIDER
New York, NY
Andrea Kupfer Schneider is a Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo School of Law. Andrea was the previous director of the nationally ranked dispute resolution program at Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin, where she taught Dispute Resolution, Negotiation, Ethics and International Conflict Resolution for over two decades, leading student trips to Israel multiple times.
Andrea has published numerous books and articles on negotiation, plea bargaining, negotiation pedagogy, ethics, gender and international conflict. In 2016, she gave her first TEDx talk titled Women Don’t Negotiate and Other Similar Nonsense. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
Andrea served as Campaign Chair, Foundation Chair and Board Chair for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation; served on the JFNA National Young Leadership Cabinet, the JFNA National Women’s Philanthropy Board and the JFNA National Board. She is married to Rodd and the mom of 3 almost fully grown boys—Josh, Noah, and Zach.
MEL BOTTNER
Scottsdale, AZ
Mel Bottner is a prominent family medicine physician in Scottsdale, AZ, where he practiced as a clinician for 43 years. By the time he retired from active medical practice in 2022, he was a co-medical director of ten clinics and 120 physicians, as well as a part-time teacher and lecturer.
Born in Toronto, Mel attended the University of Toronto Medical School. He has been a leader in multiple Jewish charitable organizations over the years, including Federation, synagogues, AIPAC, and high schools, including serving on the board of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School, and serving as medical director for the Phoenix Maccabi Games. Now, he is the vice president of finance at Ahavas Torah.
Mel has been married for 48 years to Mim, with whom he shares a with a son and two grandsons.
BARRY GURLAND, Chair
Miami, FL
Barry Gurland is a partner in DB Family Office Services, a Miami metropolitan-area company that helps high net worth individuals and their families build their business plans for the future. He is a also a partner at Daskal Bolton LLP, a leading regional certified public accounting firm where he serves in an advisory capacity to professionals of the firm on estate, succession and retirement planning issues as well as business structuring. Active in the community, Barry has served in leadership roles for numerous organizations throughout his more than 40-year career. Barry was honored as the first recipient of the Stanley C. Myers Young Leadership" award from the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and has served on several federation and agency committees, including in his current role as the Chair of the Security and Collections Committee and as an active member of the Administrative Committee. Additionally, he is a past trustee of the Maccabi USA Sports for Israel Endowment Fund and has held numerous officer positions for this organization, which also honored Barry as a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2015.
REV. BECKY KEENAN
Houston, TX
Rev. Becky Keenan is the founder and president of One With Israel (OWI), a movement committed to supporting Israel and breaking down barriers. OWI transcends barriers and reaches people of different ages, backgrounds and political affiliations. Her passion for this cause stems from her father's experiences as a US Army member during WWII where he witnessed the mistreatment of Jews by the Nazi regime. Rev. Keenan is also involved in various organizations related to Israel and humanitarian efforts. Rev. Keenan is a former member of AIPAC’s National Council. She is an Advisory
Council Member with IsraAid and has participated in humanitarian missions in Puerto Rico and Guatemala. Rev. Keenan has traveled to Israel as the guest of the State of Israel, Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) founded by Tom Newman. She led a delegation of religious and community leaders at the invitation of Israel's Foreign Ministry and was the guest of the AIEF program in 2013. In 2015, Pastor Becky graduated from Yad Vashem’s Christian Leadership
Seminar in Jerusalem. She continues to lead delegations of leaders on In-Depth Educational Journeys to Israel with One with Israel. She has been appointed as a Commissioner to the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission and served as National Hispanic Outreach Director for Christians United with Israel until 2023. She is a professional technical translator, voice talent, and interpreter. She was awarded an honorary PhD by the Association of Evangelical Gospel Assemblies (AEGA). Rev. Keenan, and her husband Rev. Joseph S. Keenan, are the Senior Pastors of Living Hope Church, a non-denominational, multicultural congregation in Houston, Texas. She is the proud mother of two wonderful young adults, Katie and Joey.