Helen Chernikoff, Senior Reporter, eJewish Philanthropy

Helen Chernikoff is The Daily Phil’s reporter. She has worked in Jewish media for a decade and came to eJP from the Forward, where she was an award-winning senior news editor. Prior to the Forward, she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website at the Jewish Week. She started her career at Reuters, covering the housing, lodging, and logistics industries where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. 

Gali Cooks, President & CEO, Leading Edge

Gali is the founding president and chief executive officer of Leading Edge, an organization formed to influence, inspire, and enable dramatic change in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent for Jewish organizations. To Leading Edge, Gali brings extensive professional experience in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors.

Her career began in DC, where she was a speechwriter at the Embassy of Israel and worked as a Legislative Assistant at AIPAC. She was Founding Director of the PJ Library at the Grinspoon Foundation and also served as Executive Director of the Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, overseeing the distribution of millions of philanthropic dollars. In the private sector, Gali was VP of Operations at an ed-tech startup. Gali has served on the boards of Exponent Philanthropy, Keshet, and the NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund. She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Lisa Eisen, Schusterman Family Philanthropies

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.

Roberta Elliott, Jewish Women’s Foundation of NY

Roberta Elliott is an activist, writer, and photographer. Since retiring from a lifetime of work as a communications professional in the Jewish community, she has devoted herself to volunteer work, primarily with refugees both here and abroad. She was the lead member of a welcome team that re-settled a family of Syrian refugees in South Orange and has been to Europe three times since 2015 to work on the front lines of the refugee crisis. Her article, “In Vienna with Syrian Refugees,” published in the Winter 2015-16 issue of Lilith Magazine, was awarded First Prize for Excellence in Social Justice Writing by the Rockower Competition for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. When not working with refugees, she is passionate about shared society in Israel and serves on the boards of several organizations that promote that vision. That vision translates to her work here in the U.S., where she is President of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an 8,000-strong national organization of Muslim and Jewish women devoted to fighting hate and promoting social justice. In her spare time, she is learning bridge, improving her sailing skills, and is a fiber-arts enthusiast, rarely without a knitting project in her hands or a weaving project on her loom. She and her husband split their time between South Orange, NJ, and Tucson, AZ.

Marilyn Gottlieb, Jewish Women’s Foundation of NY

Marilyn is a past President of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York and a previous Chair of the Grants Committee, served as an inaugural Co-Chair of one of JWFNY’s Visionary Circles. Currently retired, she was formerly the Chief Deputy County Executive of Nassau County, having also worked for the Anti-Defamation League and as an attorney in private practice. Community service activities include fifteen years on the Syosset School Board and Child Care Council of Nassau County. Marilyn is deeply engaged with UJA Federation of New York as a former member of the Board of Directors and as Chair of the
Government Relations and Advocacy Committee and co-Chair of the Heritage Society. She also sits on the Family Violence Task Force and is a past Chair of Manhattan Women’s Philanthropy.

Rep. Alma Hernandez, Arizona House of Representatives

Alma Hernandez was born and raised on the south side of Tucson. A proud product of Sunnyside School District’s Public Schools, Alma earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Arizona – majoring in Care Health and Society along with a minor in Public Health.  She went on and earned her Masters’s in Public Health at the University of Arizona as well. She has further Public Health training from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she participated in their summer Biostatistics and Epidemiology institute program focusing on Epidemiology in Evidence-Based Policy and Social Epidemiology.

As a 14-year-old she was brutally attacked and subsequently exposed to the criminal justice system rigged against people of color especially those without means. This experience showed her firsthand what happens in our school-to-prison pipeline that has ruined so many young lives. Alma, as a result, now suffers from severe spinal issues which have affected her physically over the years due to the brutal attack by the officer at such a young age. Because of her experiences, she is an outspoken activist who has worked on a variety of issues from education, women’s rights, criminal justice reform, and health care.

She has held a variety of leadership roles in the community:

• She has served on the Mental Health Committee for Interfaith Community Services.
• Alma has also advocated for Arizona students with the Arizona Students Association pushing for funding and support of our state’s three public universities and community colleges.
• She has served with the Young Democrats of America Hispanic caucus and is the former chair of the College Young Democrats of Arizona including serving as the President of CatPAC.

As a part of her humanitarian work as a Public Health professional Alma has traveled to developing countries including Ghana and Panama where she helped provide medical and public health services through free clinics.

At home in Tucson, Alma has worked with Powersource Tucson as the program coordinator of Bridging the Gap, a program that is helping women living with HIV/AIDS. Most recently she led Arizonans United for Healthcare working to defeat the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In this role, Alma organized protests in Tucson and Washington DC representing the underserved, uninsured, and underrepresented of our hometown. Alma has worked hard to elect Progressive Democrats to offices throughout Southern Arizona for the last decade. Beginning as an intern, she quickly rose to become campaign manager for State Senator Steve Farley, Joel Feinman, candidate for Pima Country Attorney, and State Representative Daniel Hernandez.  She was elected as a Precinct Committeeman since she became old enough to vote in her district and is the former second vice chair of her legislative district board.  Most recently she was selected to be a delegate for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton where she represented her district at the Democratic National Convention.

With a passion for progressive politics, Alma has been selected for and completed several prestigious fellowships:

• “Young People For” by People for the American Way
• “Courts Matter” by People for the American Way
• Future Women in Government
• Anti-Defamation League Glass Leadership Institute.

Alma is also a proud alumni and sister of Alpha Chi Omega Panhellenic Sorority, Rho Lambda National Sorority Leadership Society for Women and Sigma Alpha Pi National Society for Leadership and Success. She is an active member of the Jewish Community. She’s also the dog mom to 5: Bettina, Bettino, Mingo, Simba, and Lola.

Dr. Tarece Johnson, Co-founder of Multicultural Jewish Alliance

Tarece Johnson, EdD is a womanist, entrepreneur, diversity and inclusion expert, poet, artist, author, activist, and advocate. A mother of two, she converted to Reform Judaism in 2016 and is a member of Temple Sinai in Atlanta. She attended La Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Santurce, Puerto Rico, earned her MPA from Columbia University in New York, her MBA from Emory University and her EdD from Capella University. As a public figure, Dr. Tarece Johnson aims to make a difference in her community, nation, and the world through her acts of service, kindness, talents, and love. As a leader in the Atlanta local NAACP, Alliance for Black Lives, and March On Georgia, she has worked tirelessly on issues impacting disenfranchised and marginalized people and communities. She fights passionately against discrimination, antisemitism, systemic racism, inequities, oppressions, injustice, ignorance, and hate. Her multicultural experiences led her to create Global Purpose Academy, an international nonprofit preschool and afterschool program, and The Global Purpose Approach. She is also the co-founder of Multicultural Jewish Alliance.

Kristen Kendrick, American Jewish World Service

Kristen helped to formally establish the AJWS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work in 2017. After several years of working on American Jewish World Service’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative while serving on the Communications and Marketing team as a Senior Graphic Designer, in 2020 Kristen transitioned full-time to DEI work, stepping into her role as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and leads the work with a focus on liberation. Her dedication to Black Feminism and constant participation in community learning spaces and fellowships informs her work. She is joined by an incredible team of colleagues co-leading the work in the AJWS DEI working group.

Rabbi Sandra Lawson, Reconstructing Judaism

She’s a rabbi, an activist, a public speaker, and musician. She has also been known as the Snapchat Rabbi and featured in the JTA as one of 10 Jews you should follow on Snapchat and The 50 Jews everyone should follow on Twitter, and recently named on the Forward 50 2020. She was also featured on the podcast Judaism Unbound Episode 34: The Snapchat Rabbi. She was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Her latest Musical adventures are The Torah of the Blues and Barefoot, Bluegrass and Blues on the Porch. Follow my adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. Currently, she lives in North Carolina with her wife Susan and their three dogs Bridget, Izzy and Simon.

Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate, where she has written her “Supreme Court Dispatches” and “Jurisprudence” columns since 1999. Before joining Slate as a freelancer in 1999, she worked for a family law firm in Reno, Nevada. She covered the Microsoft trial and other legal issues for Slate. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Elle, The New Republic, and Commentary, among other places. She is the host of “Amicus,” Slate’s award-winning biweekly podcast about the law and the Supreme Court.

In 2018 Lithwick received the American Constitution Society’s Progressive Champion Award and the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis. She won a 2013 National Magazine Award for her columns on the Affordable Care Act. She has been twice awarded an Online Journalism Award for her legal commentary. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October of 2018. Lithwick also teaches a course “The Supreme Court: Before, During and After Ruth Bader Ginsburg” at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Lithwick earned her B.A. in English from Yale University and her J.D. degree from Stanford University. She is co-author of Me v. Everybody: Absurd Contracts for an Absurd World, a legal humor book and is currently working on a new book, “Lady Justice,” for Penguin Press.

Ruth Messinger, American Jewish World Service

Ruth W. Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service (AJWS) from 1998 to July of 2016, is currently the organization’s inaugural Global Ambassador. In this role, Ruth is continuing her crucial work of engaging rabbis and interfaith leaders to speak out on behalf of oppressed and persecuted communities worldwide.

Ruth’s remarkable 18-year presidency at AJWS began after a 20-year career in public service in New York City as a City Council member and Manhattan Borough President. Under Ruth’s leadership, AJWS grew exponentially—granting more than $270 million to promote human rights in the developing world and launching campaigns to end the Darfur genocide, reform international food aid, stop violence against women and LGBT people, end land grabs and respond to natural disasters around the globe.

A tireless advocate and social change visionary, Ruth mobilizes rabbis and faith-based communities throughout the U.S. to promote human rights. She previously sat on the State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group and is currently a member of the World Bank’s Moral Imperative Working Group on Extreme Poverty.

Ruth is also currently doing international human rights work for AIDS Free World and serving as the inaugural Social Justice Fellow at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Additionally, she is the Social Justice Activist-in-Residence at the JCC of Manhattan.

Ruth has been honored for her leadership with awards from many national Jewish organizations and honorary degrees from five major American rabbinical seminaries. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award. Ruth was named one of the 10 most inspiring women religious leaders of 2012 by The Huffington Post; the sixth most influential Jew in the world by The Jerusalem Post; and was listed annually on The Forward’s “Forward 50” for nearly a decade.

Ruth is an active member of her congregation, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, and serves on the boards of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Hazon, Aegis Trust and Surprise Lake Camp. She holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College and an M.S.W. from the University of Oklahoma. She is married to Andrew Lachman and has three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Prospère de Passe, Jewish Women’s Foundation of NY

Prospère de Passe is the founder of Goddess Prosper, a private life and relationship coaching firm in Brooklyn, and is a partnering consultant with Talushima Holistic Wellness in Ecuador. She is a voice-over actor, motivational and wellness speaker, and broadcast radio personality at WZAB Miami, The Biz. Prospère’s background is in Holistic Living, environmentalism, the Feminine Arts, and public speaking. Her mission as an environmentalist is to clean up the planet and the community at the same time, showing the ability to give care and love towards themselves and others and at the same time work to better the planet.

Victoria Raggs, Executive Director & Co-founder, Atlanta Jews of Color Council INC

Victoria Raggs is AJOCC’s co-founder and Executive Director.  She is a progressive strategist, DEI consultant, disability rights advocate, and lobbyist. For 15 years she has demonstrated leadership with organizations to build data-driven, measurable commitments to racial justice, equity, and anti-oppression strategies.  She specializes in mobilizing communities to be their own powerful voices against economic and structural inequalities. Due to her unique experience navigating multicultural Jews through all aspects of Jewish mainstream living, she is highly regarded as a change agent and trailblazer in and around the Southeast. She strives to align Jewish values to the contemporary American condition. “We have a tradition of  “Tikkun Olam” to uphold; that we should leave the world better than we found it.”  Victoria serves on the JF&CS (Jewish Family & Career Services) Board of Directors, and on their Board Governance Committee. She also serves on the AJC Atlanta’s (American Jewish Committee) Board of Counselors and is a Co-chair of the Black and Jewish Coalition of Atlanta. 

For two years Victoria has participated as a Core leader with Bend the Arc, Atlanta. The Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta (JWFA) selected Victoria for their 2020-2021 Agents of Change Cohort. 

The mother of four has been on numerous committees and associations at Jewish Day Schools such as The Atlanta Jewish Academy (formerly The Greenfield Hebrew Academy), The Epstein School, and The Weber Jewish High School.  She and her family are active members of the Congregation B’nai Torah synagogue.  She has served on her synagogue’s Education, Inclusion, and Sisterhood Committees.  In 2018, she traveled to Israel with the Jewish Women Connect/Momentum trip. Victoria is also a member of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival’s Programming Committee. During Advocacy Days at the Georgia State Capital Victoria works as a team lead lobbyist for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities.

She holds a BA in Communications from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and studied for a Masters in Education Administration at Virginia Tech University. While at Illinois,  Victoria was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American in the sport of Track and Field and competed in the USA Olympic Trials.

Daryl Roth, Broadway Producer

Daryl Roth is an award-winning producer whose mission is to champion thought-provoking, inspiring work onstage. She is honored to hold the singular distinction of producing 7 Pulitzer Prize-winning plays: Anna in the Tropics; August: Osage County (2008 Tony Award); Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award); How I Learned to Drive; Proof (2001 Tony Award); Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women; and Wit.

The proud recipient of 12 Tony Awards and London’s Olivier Award, her over 120 productions both on and off-Broadway include Kinky Boots, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, which ran for 6 years on Broadway and is now represented on tour in the US and around the world (London, Toronto, Australia, Korea, Japan, Germany); Larry Kramer’s seminal play about the AIDS crisis, The Normal Heart (2011 Tony Award); Paula Vogel’s award-winning play Indecent; Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron’s international hit play Love, Loss, and What I Wore; and Gloria: A Life, a play about the iconic Gloria Steinem. Upcoming: The new musical Between the Lines; the Broadway premiere of Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive.

Daryl is a Trustee of the Kennedy Center, and served on the Board of Lincoln Center Theatre for twenty years, and remains the Co-Chair of the Patron Committee and an Honorary Trustee. Previously, she served on the Boards of the New York State Council on the Arts, the Sundance Institute, the Vineyard Theatre, and LAByrinth Theater Company. She actively supports a diverse group of charitable and cultural institutions and is involved in LGBTQ rights causes, animal rights organizations, and numerous theatre, dance, public television, and cultural arts organizations.

The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award annually honors a gifted theatre artist or organization, providing them with financial support as they develop new works in an artistic residency. The Daryl Roth Theatre, a landmark building on Manhattan’s Union Square, is home to three distinct performance spaces.

Honors include The New Dramatists Outstanding Career Achievement Award; New York Living Landmarks Award; and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. She is proud to have been inducted into the 2017 Theatre Hall of Fame and be named to Crain’s 2019 “50 Most Powerful Women in New York.”

Leah Soibel, Founder & CEO of Fuente Latina

Leah Soibel, a Hispanic American and Israeli, has more than a decade of experience on the ground in Israel, the U.S, Latin America, and Spain working with thousands of Spanish-language journalists and opinion leaders from around the world. Leah established Fuente Latina in 2012 after recognizing a void in the Latino media market and in response to the growing demand by global Hispanic journalists for factual information about Israel and the Middle East in their language and in real-time. Since then, she has brought millions of Spanish speakers an accurate image of Israel and the region through international media events, expert interviews, and briefings, as well as helicopter tours and many other initiatives.

Fuente Latina has grown quickly under her leadership and today is recognized as the only media organization that breaks down geographical, cultural, and linguistic barriers for Spanish-language media covering Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world. Leah is the go-to expert for Spanish-language media covering stories about Israel and the Middle East. She is regularly published in influential outlets such as Infobae and Univision.com and is frequently interviewed by Spanish-language media about regional issues. Leah established Fuente Latina after seven years at The Israel Project where she was among the original core staff in Jerusalem. Previously she worked in intelligence. She is a National Security Education Program Fellow and received an Arabic-language certificate from the American University of Cairo’s Arabic Language Institute.

She has a BA in Middle East History from Dickinson College, an MA in Security Policy Studies from George Washington University, and has completed coursework for a Doctorate in Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Leah mainly splits her time between Miami and Jerusalem and is mom to toddler Zack Pedro.

Amy Spitalnick, Executive Director , Integrity First for America (IFA)

Amy joins IFA with extensive experience in government, politics, and advocacy. She previously served as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the New York Attorney General; Communications Advisor and spokesperson for the New York City Mayor; and Communications Director in the New York State Senate. She has also worked on a variety of local, state, and federal campaigns and advocacy organizations. Amy frequently appears in national media and has been awarded a number of fellowships and honors, including being named a Women inPower Fellow at the 92nd Street Y, a Truman National Security Project Fellow, and a City & State 40 Under 40 Rising Star. Amy graduated from Tufts University.

Dr. Elizabeth Webster, Epidemiologist & Researcher

Dr. Elizabeth Webster is a former Congressional candidate and Ga State House, Candidate. She is currently the Managing Partner of Webster&Harrigan Research Center. Prior to running for elected office, Dr. Webster worked in global public health as a Subject Matter Expert in capacity building, system strengthening, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge transfer. Additionally, Dr. Webster provided technical assistance, instructional design, and training to build public health leadership and management laboratory capacity to respond to especially dangerous pathogens in Georgia, Armenia, Uganda, and Kazakhstan.

Prior to Dr. Webster’s work in global health, she directed vaccination outreach efforts for a major Georgia health system and served as Executive Director for a public health non-profit. She has over a decade of leadership experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating chronic disease programs, public health education, screening programs, and operations including budget, finance, and personnel management. She also has extensive experience in stakeholder development and coalition building.

Dr. Webster has a BA in Asian Studies, an MBA, an MSPP in Public Policy, and a Ph.D. in Public Health and Epidemiology in addition to industry certifications of MCHES and CPH.

Dr. Webster is originally from Queens, New York City, but calls Georgia her adopted home.

Tali Farhadian Weinstein, Attorney

Tali Farhadian Weinstein is a prosecutor, a professor, and a proven criminal justice reformer. She is also an immigrant, a daughter, a wife, and the mother of three girls.

Tali came to America as a child in search of hope on Christmas Eve 1979, having fled the violence and anti-Semitism of revolutionary Iran. Tali’s family depended on the free lawyers of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to guide them through a decade of legal proceedings until they became American citizens.

Like so many immigrants, Tali’s parents, Farah and Nasser, had the courage to sacrifice everything and to face the unknown so that she and her siblings could grow up experiencing safety, fairness, and justice. Tali, in turn, has dedicated her career to fighting for those principles; to serving the country and city that gave her refuge, opportunity, and freedom; and to standing up as a champion for those who face vulnerability and violence in their lives.

After earning degrees from Yale College, Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School, Tali was a Law Clerk for Judge Merrick B. Garland at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, Tali worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, first as Counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder, and then as a federal prosecutor. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Tali investigated and prosecuted cases ranging from gun violence and murders to public corruption, tax and other frauds, and national security matters.

Most recently, Tali served as the General Counsel of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, which, under the leadership of Eric Gonzalez, is regarded as a national model of progressive prosecution, and which has kept crime – especially violent crime – at record lows for the borough. In this role, Tali served as a close advisor to the District Attorney, and was an important part of the leadership team charged with implementing the office’s criminal justice reform agenda. She also managed multiple bureaus of the office, directed complex litigations, and led the design and creation of the nation’s first Post-Conviction Justice Bureau, a unit dedicated to reviewing and correcting some of the excesses and mistakes of the past.

Like her mother, Tali is also a teacher. She has taught immigration law and policy at Columbia Law School, and is currently Adjunct Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law at NYU Law School, where she teaches “Criminal Justice Reform and the District Attorney.” Tali is a national expert on the transformation of local prosecution happening around the country today.

Barbara Whitman, Broadway Producer

Barbara Whitman is a theatrical producer who made her Broadway debut producing A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, and Sanaa Lathan. Other Broadway credits include Diana – The Musical, Burn This starring Adam Driver and Keri Russell, Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk Award, Best Play Revival), 1984, The Glass Menagerie starring Sally Field, War Paint starring Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole, Oh, Hello starring Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, Fully Committed starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, The Humans (Tony Award, Best Play), Fun Home (Tony Award, Best Musical), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Best Musical Revival), Of Mice and Men starring James Franco, If/Then starring Idina Menzel, Hands on a Hardbody, Red (Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Best Play), Next to Normal (Pulitzer Prize), Hamlet starring Jude Law, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda, Mary Stuart, Legally Blonde – The Musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Upcoming productions include the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop.  

A native New Yorker, Barbara attended NYU’s Gallatin School and received an MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University. She’s on the Board of the Tectonic Theater Project, the Dean’s Council of Columbia University’s School of the Arts, as well as Northwestern University’s School of Communications National Advisory Council.  She’s also a member of the Broadway League where she serves on the Board of Governors. Her proudest productions are her two sons, Daniel and Will.

Elana Wien, Executive Director, SRE Network

Elana Wien (she/her/hers) is the inaugural Executive Director of the SRE Network, a national Jewish network of over 150 organizations committed to creating safe, respectful, equitable workplaces and communal spaces in North America. SRE Network is focused on building community, research & learning, and strategic community investments using an intersectional lens of gender justice.

A trusted community leader, Elana brings a wealth of experience. Prior to joining SRE Network in November 2019, she served as vice president for the Center for Designed Philanthropy at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles where she led grant programs and provided philanthropic counsel to individuals and families, overseeing $100M in grants benefiting hundreds of nonprofits over the course of her tenure.

Elana has a strong track record of supporting innovation, building capacity, fostering meaningful partnerships, and taking projects and organizations to scale. With a passion for civil rights, community relations, strategic communications, fundraising, and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, her prior roles have included assistant regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles and consultant to nonprofit clients including a regional medical center, a national early childhood think tank, a major LA County community clinic system, and a youth homeless services agency.

Elana graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in geography and received a master’s degree in anthropology from the Universidad de las Americas as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Mexico. Elana is a Wexner Field Fellow (2018-2021), a graduate of the Coro SoCal Women in Leadership Cohort 2, a member of the LGBTQ Professionals Network of Southern California Grantmakers, and a member of Chief, a network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. She was featured as an “Amazing Woman in the World of Philanthropy” in local Los Angeles media. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently resides in Ventura, California with her wife and children, having also lived in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., NYC, Brazil, Mexico and Spain.

Sivan Ya’ari, Innovation: Africa

Sivan Ya’ari is the founder and CEO of Innovation: Africa, a nonprofit that brings Israeli solar, agricultural and water technologies to African villages. She was born in Israel, raised in France, educated in the United States with degrees in Finance from Pace University and a masters in International Energy Management and Policy from Columbia University. Sivan has been working in Africa for over 20 years and over the past decade, using Israeli technologies has brought clean water and light to over 3 million people across 10 African countries.

Sivan and her organization, Innovation: Africa, have received multiple awards including the Innovation Award from the United Nations. Sivan has been recognized as one of the most “Inspiring Israeli this Decade” by Grapevine in 2019, one of 50 “Most Influential Women in Israel” by Forbes, one of the “Top 10 Most Influential Israelis in International Business, science, and Culture” by NoCamels, and one of the “Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life” by Algemeiner. Sivan lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and 3 children.