JWA - Who We Are - Board of Directors

Michele Rosen, Chair
A native of Los Angeles, Michele Rosen has worked as a history teacher in high schools and middle schools, and has held numerous positions in the Seattle Jewish Community Center, as well as on the Girl Scout Council. Her volunteer career includes the positions of Women's and General Campaign Chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle; President of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, National Women's Campaign Board of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA); Chair of the Young Leadership Cabinet (UJA); and member of a variety of educational, United Way, and social service boards. She is the Campaign Chair of the Jewish Family Service 35 million dollar infrastructure campaign.

Joyce Antler
Joyce Antler is the Samuel Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Brandeis University, where she chairs the American Studies department. She is the author, most recently, of You Never Call! You Never Write: A History of the Jewish Mother (Oxford, 2007), which won the Emily Toth Award of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association for Best Book on Women's Issues in Popular and American Culture. The book was also awarded the Sophie Brody Medal Honorable Mention Citation from the Jewish American Library Association for Outstanding Achievement in Jewish Literature. Her other books include The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America; Lucy Sprague Mitchell: The Making of A Modern Woman; and Year One of the Empire: A Play of American Politics, War, and Protest (with Elinor Fuchs). She is the editor of Talking Back: Jewish Women in American Popular Culture; America and I: Short Stories by American Jewish Women Writers; co-editor of The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women; and Changing Education: Women as Radicals and Conservators. A Founding Board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, Antler also serves as Chair of the Jewish Women's Archive's Academic Advisory Council.

Susan Asher Calechman
Susan Asher Calechman is Chair of the National Committee of the Wellesley College Friends of Art, and chairs the Nominating Committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston of which she is a Past President. She is a member of the board of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and former Co-Chair of its 2002 and 2003 Annual Fund. She is a founding member of the Boston Jewish Community Women's Fund and has served on the board of the National Women's Constituency of United Jewish Communities and as an Officer of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and of the Goldring-Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. She grew up in Jackson, Mississippi with many strong Jewish women as role models.

Olivia Cohen-Cutler
Olivia Cohen-Cutler is Senior Vice President, Standards and Policy, ABC, Inc, where she leads the department responsible for the acceptability of all entertainment programming, promotional and public service announcements, and commercial material broadcast on ABC networks and serves as the company's liaison to groups concerned with issues of broadcast content. Olivia, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, serves as Chair, the MorningStar Commission founded by Hadassah, advocating for strong and diverse media portrayals of Jewish women, and as an advisory board member for the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at UCLA Hillel. She holds a BA, with honors, and an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Simmons College, where she is a founding member of the Simmons Leadership Council, a Corporator, and has endowed a scholarship supporting women students who are first-generation Americans in honor of her parents. Olivia earned her J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School. She is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, colleges and non-profits around the country and a contributor to The New Gatekeepers: Emerging Challenges to Free Expression in the Arts (2003, National Journalism in the Arts Project, Columbia University). Olivia and her husband Andy are blessed with a long marriage and two remarkable grown children.

Barbara B. Dobkin, Founding Chair
The Founding Chair of JWA's Board of Directors, Barbara Dobkin is also the founder and Chair of Ma'yan: the Jewish Women's Project of the JCC in Manhattan and Chair of the Board of The Hadassah Foundation. An advocate for women in both Jewish and secular life, she currently serves on the boards of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, the White House Project, Lilith Magazine, and the Women's Funding Network. Dobkin is a significant supporter of and advisor to a variety of feminist organizations in the United States and Israel.

See also:
Paean to a Troublemaker: Barbara Dobkin by Letty Cottin Pogrebin
About Barbara B. Dobkin, So Laugh a Little Honoree
A Few Words about Barbara Dobkin by Nicki Newman Tanner
A Letter about Barbara Dobkin from Gail T. Reimer

Sue Bricker Dorn
Sue Bricker Dorn is an experienced development professional, serving as the Vice President and Vice Provost for Development at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College and as Deputy Director for Development and Public Affairs at the Museum of Modern Art. She was also Vice President for Resource Development and Public Information at the Bank Street College of Education, Vice President for Resource Planning and Development at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and Associate Vice President for Development and Director of Medical School Development at Yale University. A former teacher of emotionally handicapped teenage boys, she has consulted at the American Jewish Historical Society and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. A graduate of Stanford University and the Bank Street College of Education, she volunteers for Stanford and is co-chairman of her 55th Class Reunion. An active member of the Central Synagogue in New York, she has two great kids and three wonderful grandchildren. Sue grew up in the Pacific Northwest but has lived in Manhattan for many years.

Gloria Feldt
Gloria Feldt is the leading expert and an expert leader in women's rights, health, media, and politics from where the personal meets the political. A former teen mom who became leader of the world's largest reproductive health care provider and advocacy organization, she was dubbed "the voice of experience" by People Magazine. She's a powerful voice for women through her books, keynote speeches, and media commentary. Gloria's newest book, in collaboration with actress Kathleen Turner, is Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles and was published by Springboard in February of 2008. Her two previous books are The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back and Behind Every Choice Is a Story. Her commentary has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, ELLE, and MS magazines among others, and on-line in Alternet, Salon, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, WIMNsVoices, Women’s e-News, and RH Reality Check. Gloria has appeared on most major radio and television news and public affairs programs and is a SheSource expert. Currently a fellow of the International Leadership Forum, she serves on the Women's Media Center board of directors and the advisory board of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Vanity Fair magazine named Gloria one of America's "top 200 women legends, leaders, and trailblazers." Glamour magazine honored her as Woman of the Year. She was one of Women's e-News' 2007 "21 Leaders for the 21st Century." She and her husband, Alex Barbanell, have a combined family of six children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. They live in New York and Arizona.

Roz Garber
Roz Garber is the President of Garber Travel, a global travel management company headquartered in New England. She has previously served as Executive Director of Hadassah in Boston and as Assistant Director of the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts. Roz holds an M.A. from Brandeis University, a B.A. from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Travel School of America. She serves on the Board of the International Business School at Brandeis University; as well as the Boards of Hadassah Boston and Mayyim Hayyim, Living Waters and Education Center.

Penina Migdal Glazer
Penina Migdal Glazer has recently retired from Hampshire College, where she served as Dean of Faculty, Vice President, and Marilyn Levin Professor of History. With a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Rutgers, she is the co-author of several books, including the recently published study Jews in a Promised Land: The History and Development of the Jewish Community of Northampton, Massachusetts. She is currently working with several colleagues on a jointly authored book on teaching about social justice. A Founding Board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, she recently served as Chair of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and is very active on the Board of the National Yiddish Book Center.

Lynda M. Goldstein (on leave, 2009 – 2010)
Lynda M. Goldstein is Founder and board Chair of the Jewish Women's Foundation of Colorado. In addition, she is currently on the boards of The Hadassah Foundation, the Director's Council of the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard University Divinity School, the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), the Jewish Free Loan Society, and the Girl Scouts of America. Lynda organized Generations of Giving: Women, Philanthropy and Faith in 2001, exploring intergenerational issues in philanthropy. Her volunteer efforts and philanthropy primarily focus on issues critical to women and girls with a keen interest in strategic funding for social change. She holds a degree from Tufts University and currently resides in Denver. She has 3 children, and two grandsons aged 2 and 4.

Felicia D. Herman
Felicia Herman is Executive Director of The Natan Fund, a grantmaking foundation supported by over 70 young philanthropists that focuses on funding emerging, innovative Jewish and Israeli nonprofits. Before becoming Natan's first Executive Director in 2005, Felicia was Research and Program Officer at Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Religion from Wellesley College, and an M.A. in Jewish Women's Studies and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Felicia also serves on the board of Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas, on the Advisory Council for the Joshua Venture Group, and as an evaluator for Slingshot. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, David Ben-Ur, and their three children.

Carol M. Joseph
Carol M. Joseph of New York City is a partner in the law firm of Blank Rome LLP. She specializes in real estate finance and development. She has extensive experience representing leading lenders, owners and developers in the financing, acquisition and disposition of commercial and multifamily properties and particular expertise representing lenders in the securitization and sale of mortgage loans in the secondary market. Carol received a B.S. in accounting from NYU and her JD from Fordham University School of Law. She is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey and Florida and is an active member of numerous prominent trade organizations. Carol is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Foundation program for Jewish leadership and has served on the Board of the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan (1995-2009), Change the Truth Foundation (2007-present) and is currently Board Chair of The Haddassah Foundation. In addition, she is an active supporter of a variety of other charitable organizations.

Ann F. Lewis
Ann F. Lewis is president of NoLimits.org, a non-partisan, non-political organization that uses new technology and personal networks to provide information and opportunities to discuss local, national and global challenges. After serving from 2005 – 2007 as Director of Communications for HillPAC and Friends of Hillary, Lewis was Senior Adviser to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She was National Chair of the Women's Vote Center of the Democratic National Committee from 2002 – 2004. Lewis served as Director of Communications for President William J. Clinton from 1997 through March 1999 and then as Counselor to the President. At the White House, she co-chaired the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. Lewis had previously served as Vice President for Public Policy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and as Chief of Staff to Maryland Congresswoman Barbara A. Mikulski. She has lectured on public policy at the University of Pennsylvania and Brandeis University.

Anne H. Meyer, Clerk
Anne Meyer has been a practicing attorney at Goulston & Storrs in Boston since 1981 where she is a partner in the real estate department. In addition to her commercial real estate practice, she devotes significant time to pro bono matters, particularly representation of affordable housing developers in Boston and Cambridge. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Anne earned a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan and a J.D. degree from Boston College Law School. She sees JWA "as a living tribute to Jewish women who have played a role in the advancement of women, families and communities," and says, "Being part of JWA reminds me of the importance of documenting, preserving and teaching the achievements of all Jewish women in our society."

Linda Morse
Linda Morse brings years of experience in information technology and strategic planning, as well as organization building, business development, and leadership skills. As CEO and COO for a dot com start-up company specializing in providing internet transactions between governments and their constituents, and Vice President of American Management Systems, Inc., she was part of a leadership team that built a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded, information systems and management consulting firm. Linda has had a career-long special interest in women's work and work-life issues. She has mentored large numbers of women and developed personnel policies – including Princeton University's 1970 maternity policy which became an industry standard – as well as early flex time and job-sharing policies. In 2002, Linda "realized a dream" when she created String, a hand-knitting boutique in New York City that offers a unique collection of the most luxurious yarns available, in addition to workshops, classes and events. Her book Luxury Knitting: the Ultimate Guide to Exquisite Yarns – Cashmere, Merino, Silk has been called a "must-have for any serious knitter." As for joining the JWA board this year, Linda says, "I am excited to have the opportunity to work with JWA, an organization whose mission is to honor our grandmothers and mothers, provide role models for our daughters, and inspire our granddaughters."

Beth W. Newburger
Beth W. Newburger is the President/CEO of Epoch Communications, a marketing consulting company serving the historic preservation community. Prior to joining Epoch, she was Director of Communications at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, held executive positions with several media companies and started and sold eight profitable businesses. She was a senior political appointee under the Clinton Administration where she co-chaired a Presidential and a Congressional Commission on women's history. In addition to her professional career, Newburger is former Chair and presently a trustee of the National Children's Museum, Secretary of the board of directors of Arena Stage, member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Advisory Board, the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Boat Owners Association of the United States. A Cornell University graduate, she has been listed in Who's Who in America since 1986 and Who's Who in the World since 1998.

Sarah Perry (on leave, 2009 – 2010)
Sarah Perry has worked extensively in the social enterprise sector, and as a consultant to for-profit businesses. A graduate of Harvard Business School, with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, she has most recently served as Executive Director of The Community Action Partners of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Boston, which provides pro bono consulting services to non-profit organizations. She also served as Managing Director of Community Wealth Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary of Share Our Strength. Perry is a frequent lecturer and panelist on social enterprise for non-profits, and is an active supporter of numerous non-profits, The Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, The Boston Foundation, and WBUR public radio, and serves on the Temple Emanuel Sisterhood Board of Directors.

Barbara Ellison Rosenblit
Barbara Ellison Rosenblit won the Covenant Award in 2004 for being an exceptional Jewish educator, and has received numerous accolades for her ability to integrate Jewish and secular learning. She is a teacher of humanities and tanakh and Director of Mentoring at the Weber School, a transdenominational Jewish high school in Atlanta, Georgia. Barbara's wide-ranging interests have taken her Jerusalem to study at the Pardes Institute, to Siena, Italy to study Dante under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and to Japan as recipient of a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund award. "The mission and materials of JWA have changed my teaching and changed me, too," says Barbara, "They helped pull me out of my fascination with the Biblical period and into an awareness of the power and importance of women whose lives can guide ours."

Susan Levin Schlechter
Susan Levin Schlechter is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, instructing students becoming English teachers. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Schlechter has a Ph.D. in English education from NYU. Schlechter is on the board of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, an independent Jewish day school in New York City, JBI International (formerly the Jewish Braille Institute of America), the Wellesley Centers for Women.

Carol Shalita Smokler
Carol Shalita Smokler is a clinical psychologist with post-doctoral training in Sport Psychology. She has worked with athletes and teams at the collegiate, professional, and Olympic levels, as well as weekend warriors, teaching them performance enhancement skills. Her first love, however, is the volunteer work she does in the Jewish community. Currently, Carol is the chair of the UJC Emergency Committee. She sits on the Board of Governors and Board of Directors of Hillel International where she is Chair of the Human Resources Committee and a member of Executive Committee. She recently joined the Board of JCPA. In her local community, South Palm Beach County, she has served as chair of the Israel-Overseas Committee and member of the Federation Executive Committee.

Marian Scheuer Sofaer
Marian Scheuer Sofaer is an attorney who handled Holocaust restitution claims in eastern Germany after reunification. Prior to that, she worked as an Assistant Attorney General of the New York State Department of Law, as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, and in private practice. She is a producer of the film Poumy about a young Jewish mother's role in the French Resistance in WWII. She is the project director for the exhibition in the restored synagogue in Chennamangalam near Cochin in India (soon to be part of the Muziris Heritage Project), and she edited and published Hanukkah in Eight Nights: Bring the Past to Light, a history-oriented handbook for celebrating Hanukkah. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Columbia Law School and is the manager of an innovative commercial arbitration service, Federal Arbitration, Inc.

Prudence L. Steiner
Prudence Steiner is a member of the Founding Board of the Jewish Women's Archive. In addition to her engagement with JWA, she is also a board member and past president of Harvard Hillel, a member of the Dean's Advisory council of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and was a founding board member of InterFaithFamily.com. She has served as an instructor in the English Department of Harvard University, and Director of the Harvard University Extension School's Writing Program. Her extra-familial work is as a translator; her translation of Voltaire's Philosophical Letters was published by Hackett in 2007, and her translations of Molière's Tartuffe and The Misanthrope, also published by Hackett, appeared in one volume in 2009. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and rejoices in two married children and five grandchildren.

Nancy Schwartz Sternoff
Nancy Schwartz Sternoff has served as Director of the Dobkin Family Foundation since 1998, where she gives technical assistance to programs and organizations funded by the foundation. She spent five years as Executive Director of the Women's Department at The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, and was the first and only Women's Campaign director in any major city to be promoted to Vice President at the Federation. Sternoff chaired the first CJF/UJA Women's Division Professional Institute and has served as National Director of the National Republican Coalition for Choice and as senior aide to former Congressman John Miller of Washington. A Founding Board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, she also serves on the board of the American Jewish World Service.

Nicki Newman Tanner
A Founding Board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, Nicki Newman Tanner is a trustee of several institutions, including WNYC (New York's public radio stations), the New York Community Trust, StoryCorps and Auburn Theological Seminary. On the Board of Wellesley College for 18 years, Tanner co-chaired the capital campaign for Wellesley that broke all fundraising records for liberal arts colleges and debunked the myth that women do not give as much as men. She created and chaired, for 20 years, the Oral History Project for New York's UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

Jeane Ungerleider
The Director of Psychological Services at Boston IVF, a reproductive medicine clinic, Jeane Ungerleider is Chair of the Boston IVF's Ethics Committee. She consults with medical staff and works with individuals and couples in consultation and psychotherapy, and leads workshops on various aspects of infertility and issues of third party reproduction in family building. Ungerleider is Director of the Dorot Foundation and of the Union Square Fund. She received her Masters degree from Simmons College School of Social Work.

Carol B. Wise
Formerly Regional Marketing Director for a national real estate company, Carol Wise is now a marketing consultant, developing marketing plans and strategies for a variety of clients, including financial institutions, small businesses, real estate developers and institutions of higher education. She has served as President of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, and Chair of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Wise serves on the Executive Committee and Board of the Hillel International Foundation and serves as President of Tulane Hillel. She is a Commissioner of the Vieux Carré Commission and is past Chair and a founding member of the Women's Leadership Initiative of the United Way of New Orleans and Success by 6 United Way Collaborative.

Diane Wohl
Diane Wohl, a past president of her Conservative synagogue, is a past chair of the Long Island Women's Campaign of the UJA. She is an endowed Lion of Judah, a member of the Giving Circle of the Jewish Women's Federation, and a member of the Limmud FSU International Steering Committee. Diane is very involved with Hillel at Hofstra University and also sits on both the International Board of Governors and National Board of Directors of Hillel, where she co-chairs the Hillel Israel Committee. She is a member of the Gurwin Jewish Foundation Board which oversees a nursing facility and assisted living complex, and also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Board of Directors of UJA Federation of New York, where she is a member of the Hillel Task Force. Diane is focused on building a strong Jewish connection in the Former Soviet Union through Hillel, Project Kesher and Limmud. Diane and Howard, her husband of over 40 years, have three children and five grandchildren.