Adina Davies
ADINA DAVIES has over 18 years of experience working with a wide variety of Jewish non-profit organizations and schools. She has spent her career building community, planning logistics and implementing innovative programs for all ages with Jewish and interfaith organizations in Greater Boston, Rhode Island, New York, and Philadelphia. She has been the Temple Administrator at Temple Habonim in Barrington, RI since March 2020.
From 2016 to 2020, Adina was the Administrator and Engagement Coordinator at the Boston-area Jewish Education Program (BJEP) at Brandeis University. She also spent two years as the Development Associate at the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island. Before that, Adina planned programs for families with young children for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston. She also previously worked as a Program Director for the Union for Reform Judaism, where she facilitated capacity building with Union congregation lay and professional leadership and led workshops on improving congregational outreach and membership. At the URJ, she also coordinated the Introduction to Judaism courses.
Adina grew up outside of Philadelphia. She has a Master’s Degree in Jewish communal service with a concentration in nonprofit management from Gratz College. She loves meeting new people, visiting museums, traveling, and learning about different cultures. In her spare time, you can find Adina taking pictures, going on nature walks, cooking, baking, and playing games (especially Catan & Canasta). She enjoys teaching others how to make challah and hamantashen from scratch so they can bring new traditions into their homes. She also loves going on adventures and exploring New England with her husband, Ben, son, and daughter.
Sarabeth Levine
Sarabeth Salzman serves as the Executive Director of BJBE in Deerfield IL. She comes from a professional career within the Jewish community for over 15 years, including Federations, Synagogues and Overnight Camps. Sarabeth has a Masters in Social Work, focusing on Nonprofit Management and Child and Youth Development, as well as a graduate certificate in Jewish Communal Service.
Becky Oliver
Drew Barkley
Drew Barkley joined Temple Sinai's leadership in February 2017. Previously he led Reform Jewish congregations in Chicago and California.
Drew is one of only about 30 people in the country to have earned his Fellow in Temple Administration through the National Association for Temple Administration, where he is a National Board Member. “Most people think those of us that pursue this path are crazy…executive directors either have 5-page job descriptions, or 3 words…everything and anything, anytime”. You can reach out to Drew anytime. He is always looking for tour guides or folks to accompany him to ballgames.
Cynthia Barzilai
Cynthia has been our Executive Director since December 2014. Prior to becoming our Executive Director, she served as our Assistant Director of the Early Childhood Center, and our Religious School Administrator. She has been with Beth Shir Shalom for 22 years. Prior to joining Beth Shir Shalom, she had her own company in the fashion industry.
Stuart Botwinick
Stuart Botwinick joined Temple Beth-El as executive director in August 2015. He has an extensive background as a Jewish communal professional. Prior to Temple Beth-El, Stu served as assistant executive director for development at the Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills/Roslyn. He previously served the JCC as assistant executive director for programming, senior program director and director of teen services. Many of the JCC’s hallmark programs were developed under his leadership during his 15-year tenure.
Stu grew up in the Reform movement, where he was active in Long Island Federation of Temple Youth (LIFTY). He participated in the Union for Reform Judaism’s first Kesher College Israel Experience. Stu is a past vice president of Temple Beth Elohim, which later merged with North Shore Synagogue.
Stu received a BA in Mathematics from SUNY Albany, a dual MA in Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Studies from Gratz College and completed the Institute for Non-Profit Management program at Columbia University’s Business School.
Stu lives in Plainview with his wife, Dana, a teacher, and his children, Greg and Layna. When not at the temple, Stu can be found surfing the Internet, working in his yard, strolling the Jones Beach boardwalk or spending the weekend at an amusement park. An avid fan of ’80s and ’90s pop culture, he welcomes your music, movie and TV trivia questions.
Nancy Drapin
Nancy Drapin, Kol Ami’s executive director, is a specialist in nonprofit management with more than 35 years experience in public education, arts and culture, and Jewish communal organizations.
After 10 years teaching art to students with learning disabilities in Cleveland and San Francisco, Nancy brought her creative and organizational abilities to the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, where her 18-year career included increasingly responsible jobs in adult programs, public relations marketing and development, eventually becoming executive director. In the mid 1990s, Nancy moved to Washington D.C., where she opened the District of Columbia JCC as associate director.
Returning to the Bay Area in the late 90s, Nancy headed up Community Impact, a nonprofit organization that developed community service projects for large corporations. But Jewish communal work called her back, and Nancy joined the staff at congregation Sherith Israel, a Reform congregation, serving as the Membership and Marketing director and as interim executive director. Lured back to the private sector in 1998, Nancy joined a software security company as their administrative director. In 2001, Nancy was asked to return to Congregation Sherith Israel, where she served as Executive Director for ten years. In 2011, Congregation Kol Shofar, a Conservative community, recruited Nancy to help build the congregation’s programs and infrastructure for five years while a rabbinic search was conducted, and as community partnerships were rebuilt as congregation moved into a newly renovated facility.
Always community focused, Nancy has been an active volunteer in national organizations. She served on the boards of the Western Regional Association of Jewish Communal Professionals and the Bay Area Substance Abuse Institute. Nancy’s other community involvements have included the Business and Professional Women’s Association, the program development committee of the UJA Federation of Greater Washington, Congregation Emanu-El’s community service board, the JFCS disabilities task force, and the community relations committee of the San Francisco YWCA. Nancy served as president of the Bay Area Temple Administrators association and also was actively involved with the Jewish Community Federation’s capacity building task forces for membership development.
Nancy has continued her dedication to the community in Scottsdale. She serves as co-chair of the Jewish Women’s Professional group, is a member of the Board of the Women’s Leadership Institute, and a member of the Jewish Advisory Board of the Phoenix Police Department. She has organized a regional group of synagogue executive directors in Arizona and New Mexico who meet weekly. She is also co-chair for local planning for the upcoming National Association of Temple Administrator’s (NATA) conference to be held in Scottsdale in November 2021.
Nancy, her husband, Stewart Reichlyn and their dog Lucy (a wildly-happy Woodle rescue) are looking forward to continue meeting new friends and enjoying unique adventures in the city and the Southwest.
Nancy’s door is always open and she invites everyone into her office for a piece of chocolate and discussion.
Shelley Engel
As Executive Director, I oversee the daily operations of the synagogue, and am responsible for various duties that expand across all aspects of congregational activities. I serve as a liaison between congregants and the Board of Directors.
Prior to coming to Temple Isaiah, I was the Executive Director at Har Shalom in Potomac and B’nai Shalom in Olney, as well as Administrative Director for the Religious Action Center (RAC), the social justice arm for the Reform Movement. Additionally, I serve on the Board of Governors of the North American, and a certified fundraising professional through the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). I was the chair of the 2020 NAASE International Conference.
I have a B.S. from the University of Maryland in Management and Community Studies. I grew up in Bowie, Maryland and now live in Columbia, MD, where I have been for more than 30 years, with my husband Todd. We have two adult children; Randi is married to Richard Leshin and lives in the area, with their two boys, Landon and Ilan, while Jayme is living in Virginia with her husband Justin Boling and their two children Piper and Dax.
Jack Feldman
Jack’s great passion in life is helping people. His work has been focused in the not for profit world, where he has been blessed to have had two very different careers.
After graduating from college, he began his first career as a full-time camp director. He started small, with a 200 bed, regional camp in Alberta, Canada in 1993, and ended his camping career at a 550 bed camp in Pennsylvania in 2005. All of the camps he has directed were faith based (Jewish), and focused on personal growth, relationship building, skill development, and creating a strong spiritual connection with nature and with God.
In 2006, he began his second career as the Executive Director of Congregation Beth Torah, a 600 family synagogue located in suburban Kansas City. He currently serves (for the past 9 years) as the Executive Director of Temple Sinai, a 1650 family congregation in Atlanta.
Jack graduated from the University of Toronto with an undergraduate degree in Sociology and English, and Masters’ Degree in Social work, with specializations in Geriatric Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Development. He is both a Certified Social Worker and a Certified Camp Director. He is married to Nicole, and they have 2 wonderful children, Hannah and Matthew.
He is a Senior Member of NATA (the National Association for Temple Administration), and received his Fellow in Temple Administration (FTA) designation in 2020. Jack is the Immediate Past President of NATA – the National Association for Temple Administration and is also the President of SEDAR, the Synagogue Executive Directors, Atlanta Region group.
Gordon Gladstone
Gordon brings to Sherith Israel a long and distinguished career within the Bay Area Jewish community, most recently as executive director at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos. He has served as the executive director of Berkeley Hillel and was the founding regional director of J Street for our northwest region.
Those familiar with Gordon and his work describe him as a person with a deep knowledge of and commitment to Judaism, a remarkable capacity to connect and communicate with diverse communities, and recognized leadership skills. Well respected by his peers, Gordon is president of the Bay Area Temple Administrators, the local chapter of the National Association of Temple Administrators.
Andrew Goldfeder
Andrew spent over nine years with the St. Louis Holocaust Museum & Learning Center, where he served as their Manager of Programs and Logistics. In this senior role, Andrew organized and managed tours, coordinated community outreach and donor programs, managed scheduling, and built relationships and partnerships with volunteers, donors, and guests.
He is currently a community volunteer for the St. Louis Senior Olympics and "NORC” (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community).
Andrew grew up in Creve Coeur and graduated from Parkway North High School. He earned his undergraduate degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, and his Masters degree in non-profit organizational leadership & management from Webster University.
David Lamden
David Lamden, a Cleveland, OH native, was raised in Tucson, AZ where he received his Reform Jewish education and spent many years attending Reform Jewish camps. A graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in Judaic Studies, he served as a camp counselor and song leader at Camp Charles Perlstein (now Camp Stein) in Prescott, AZ, and URJ Camp Swig (now URJ Camp Newman) in Santa Rosa, CA.
Upon graduation, he relocated to Columbus, OH, where he served for six years as Education Director/Family Jewish Educator at Congregation Beth Tikvah. David then became Religious School Director/Program Director and Technology Coordinator at Temple Israel, a position he held for eight years.
Recruited to Phoenix to become Executive Director of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley, AZ, in 2007, David served in that capacity until July 2013 when he assumed the position of Executive Director at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, FL. In November 2016, David assumed his role as Executive Director of Congregation Emanu El, where he served until January 2023. He now serves at the Executive Director of Temple Shalom in Dallas, a position he began in May 2023.
David was advanced to Senior Member in the National Association for Temple Administration (NATA) in 2011 and in November 2014 received his Fellow in Temple Administration (FTA) designation. He serves on its Board as well as its Web Site Committee Chair, in 2013 served as Co-Chair of the Association’s National Conference, and co-chaired the 2016 National Conference. He was elected a vice president of the Association in November 2018.
David is the father of two adult children, grandfather of one, and the proud owner of three standard poodles and two cockatoos.
Cori Neidenberg
Cori has worked in the St. Louis Jewish community since 2001 and joined the United Hebrew staff in 2010, moving into the role of Executive Director in July 2021.
Cori has a degree in Theatre and Communication from Northwestern University. She has worked at ABC News-20/20 in New York and at the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis where she served as Camp of the Arts Director and founded Theatre Chaverim, the JCC’s youth theatre program, and until 2013 produced Theatre Unlimited, the JCC’s theater company for adult actors with disabilities which she had done for 13 years.
She serves as Treasurer on the Board of the Program and Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism (PEP-RJ), which is the national organization serving professionals working in programming, membership and communication at Reform synagogues across North America. Recently, she served as a manager for Team USA during the 2019 European Maccabi Games in Budapest, Hungary.
Born in St. Louis and raised at United Hebrew, she was a member of one of the first preschool classes at UH. Her photo can be found on the “Confirmation Wall” in the Messing Auditorium.
Jason Plotkin
Plotkin has served as Executive Director of Temple Israel (West Bloomfield, Mich.) since June 2022 following an eight-year run as the Program Director at Congregation Emanu El (Houston, Texas).
A 'Senior Member' of NATA, Plotkin is a former member of URJ North American board and a past president of the Program & Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism. Plotkin currently sits on the ShulCloud Advisory Council and administers the ‘ShulCloud Users’ hub, which is home to more than 1,000 synagogue professionals and lay leaders.
Plotkin and his wife, Aliza have a seven-year old son Isaac.
Amy Schwach
Amy Schwach has been the Executive Director at Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York City since 2015. Before that, Amy was the Executive Director at North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, NY, Prior to that, she worked at Central Synagogue in Manhattan for 11 years in numerous roles, most recently as Assistant Director. Amy has her Master's degree in Public Administration from Baruch in NYC, was part of UJA’s Jewish Greening Fellowship and the Muehlstein institute for Jewish Leadership.
She is currently the President of NATA, and in that capacity serves as an Officer of the Reform Pension Board as well as a member of the North American Board of Union for Reform Judaism.
Amy, her husband Miguel, live in NYC.
Brett Shankman
Brett Shankman joined Suburban Temple – Kol Ami as Executive Director in April 2014. He has worked in the organized Jewish community for most of his professional career, including the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Menorah Park Foundation.
Brett is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He lives in Shaker Heights with his family.
Steven Stark
Steve has been a passionate and dedicated Jewish communal lay leader for over 25 years. Most recently, Steve served as the Treasurer of the Allied Jewish Federation (now Jewish Colorado), Treasurer of the Jewish Community Foundation, and Treasurer for the Mizel Arts & Culture Center at the JCC. Steve also served as President of the Colorado Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. There, he was recognized on a national level when he was selected for the Konrad Adenauer Fellowship, the Shalom Comay Fellowship, and the Blaustein Leadership Institute.
In 2010, Steve’s commitment to the Denver Jewish community and deep love for Jewish life led to his selection as a Wexner Fellow, giving him the opportunity to learn with some of the most prominent scholars of our day. With gratitude, he brought his new knowledge and energy back to Denver where he put it to work in the community. At the Hebrew Educational Alliance, he, along with the rabbis and a small team of lay leaders, developed Shir Hadash, a vibrant new service that increased engagement within the congregation and the community.
Steve joined Temple Emanuel as Executive Director to further pursue his life-long passion for Jewish communal work. Previously, he was the Managing Partner at StarkSchenkein CPAs, a 25-year-old family business that successfully merged with a larger, regional firm. While at StarkSchenkein, Steve’s areas of expertise included Merger & Acquisition, Strategic Planning, Business Valuation, and Litigation. Steve also maintained operational and financial oversight of the firm.
During his time with StarkSchenkein, Steve was proud to lend his experience to area civic and professional organizations. He served as Treasurer of the Board for Cherry Creek Dance and provided his expertise to the Association for Corporate Growth, the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, and others.
Steve earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Colorado, Boulder and his MBA from University of Colorado, Denver. Steve is a third-generation native of Denver, Colorado.
Ben Wachstein
Ben Wachstein brings a wealth of experience to Beth El, having spent nearly ten years in senior-level positions at Jewish communal organizations, including nine years as a synagogue executive director, most recently at Beth El Congregation in Baltimore. Ben grew up in the Jewish community of suburban Philadelphia. His passion for Jewish life led him to take leadership positions at Jewish youth organizations like BBYO, NFTY - The Reform Jewish Youth Movement, and Hillel before leveraging his considerable talents inside the synagogue walls. Ben has a wife, Amanda, and a 14 year old daughter named Mila, who became a Bat Mitzvah in the Spring of 2021.