Members
Zigi Avni
married to Dafna and father of Yuval, Omri and Amit. Vice President in a high-tech company. Member of and current chairman of the steering committee.
Hilla Hadas
executive director of the Anush association, member of the committee since 2003 and past chairperson.
Ronit Boytner
Social activist, employee of the technology division of Mizrahi Tefahot bank, member of the steering committee since 2014.
Sherri Aharoni
married and mother of 3 children. Executive assistant of the director of the Heart Center at Shaare Zedek Hospital. She started as a member of the Committee for Cultural Exchange in 2006 and after several years became a member of the committee.
Ester Mehani
Retired IDF Officer, mentor in leadership programs, member of the committee since 2022.
Yon Minyi
married to Tami, father of three daughters, architect. Member of the committee since 2016
Yariv Kehati
married to Limor and father of two children. A contractor of security and communication systems. Member of the committee since 2014, has also served as past chairman.
Moshe Foxman
married to Meirav, father of Aya and Gili. Project manager for the establishment of the Knesset Museum, lecturer in the Department of Politics and Communication in the Department of Political Communication at Hadassah Academic College. Member of the steering committee since 2021.
Efrat Firer
mother of four, speech therapist and lecturer at Hadassah Academic College, PhD student in education. Member of the committee since 2021F
Aviva Dvir
Manager of the Partnership and a former School Principal
Samuel Pescara
Born in Italy and immigrated to Israel, father of four. International business consultant, speaks five languages and member of the steering committee since 2021
Yonat Stav
Coordinator of mutual relations of the Partnership
Meredith Dragon
Meredith Dragon is the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester since April of 2016. She served from 2009 to 2016 as Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. Prior to that Meredith was the Assistant Director at the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville, Florida for 13 years. Meredith lived and worked in Israel at the beginning of her career for Britain’s Joint Israel Appeal. During her time with Federation, Meredith has worked on bringing donors, agencies, synagogues, and institutions together for the greater good of the Jewish community. Increasing awareness and support for the work of the Federation and its various departments and enhancing the role of Federation in the community motivates her professionally and personally. Meredith is married to Ze’ev and is the very proud mother of three boys, Matan, Ori and Etai. is the
Julie Nusbaum
Julie Nusbaum, Immediate Past President of Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester. Julie is a freelance writer, editor and public affairs consultant, and social activist. She is married to Mitch, has three children and been a member of P2G since 2018.
Jocelyn Goldberg-Schaible
Jocelyn Goldberg-Schaible, President of the Rochester Research Group, has surveyed the JFI alumni participants and their parents, and the Ramim participants, providing strategic insight to help those cornerstone Partnership programs evolve and thrive. She has been a member of the committee since 2012.
Michele Ruda
I am currently on the boards of Jewish Senior Life and the Federation. I also serve on the ShinShinim committee, P2G and the social action committee which I will be co-chairing. I have 2 children who are my greatest joy, Alec lives in Israel, he made alliyah a few years ago and Jake lives in Denver. I look forward to getting to know you all.
Roger DeBell
Roger DeBell, retired principal of Thornell Road Elementary School in Pittsford, NY (2010-2022). Partnership between TRES and Asif School in Modi'in started in 2015.
Martin Zand
Martin Zand, married and father of 2 children, is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester, Rochester NY. He has been a member of the committee since 2015.
Marc Reich
Marc Reich is husband to Becca and father to Sammie, Carly and Maci. He is Director of Applications and Data at a Facilities Optimization Company. Marc is co-chair of the partnership together program.
Michal Spivak
Michal Spivak, ShinShinim Program Director, has been involved in the Partnership2Gether program since she began working at the Jewish Federation in 2018. Michal grew up in Israel, is married to Igor and has two kids.
Richard Goldstein
Richard L. Goldstein is CEO at MAPCO Auto Parks Ltd. Rick is an active Rochester community volunteer, serving on the Executive Board of the Jewish Federations of North America, the Farash Foundation Jewish Life Advisory Board, the John F. Wegman Foundation, Hillel at the University of Rochester board, and is a past co-chair of Partnership2Gether.
Mona Kolko
Mona Friedman Kolko is the President of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester. She is a retired social worker.
Ron Newman
was born raised and married in Rochester. worked as a psychologist in a Soecial Education School with students with behavior challenges . also taught at a local college and along with his wife Karrn, directed a camp for kids and adults with disabilities.he has been involved in the Jewish Community was president of Temple Sinai, was on the Jewish Federation Board and have been involved with the P2G Partnership. he has two adult kids and four grandkids. he ran 15 marathons including the Jerusalem Marathon and raced in the Lake placid Empire State Games Nordic Skiing, coming in last place. he loves Israel and his friends and family there.
Joy Getnick
Joy Getnick, PhD, (she/her) is the Executive Director of Hillel at the University of Rochester. She is the founding director of Camp Seneca Lake (CSL) in Israel, a summer Israel program for teens. She is an ADL “Words to Action” facilitator, the author of the Florence Melton Adult Mini School Scholars Curriculum Elective on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and spent many years teaching part-time in the SUNY Geneseo Department of History. Joy, her husband, and two young sons live in Pittsford, NY.
Pauline Rutberg
Pauline began her P2G journey as a member of the Ramim 4 cohort in 2018 and then joined the steering committee, serving as Co-Chair since July 2019. Pauline is a member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester’s Board and Executive Committee, and is a former board member of NCJW, Greater Rochester Section. She lives in Pittsford with her family and when not participating in P2G activities works as Controller of Cobblestone Capital Advisors and enjoys reading, pickleball and spending time with friends and family.
Helen Kashtan
Helen Kashtan is a Marketing Manager at Pathfinder Engineers & Architects. She is President of Temple Beth David, chairs the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester’s Center for Holocaust Awareness (CHAI) and is a Jewish Federation Board member. She has volunteered for Journey for Identity for many years, taking teens to Poland and Israel to connect and learn about the Holocaust. Helen is the daughter of survivors.
Gal DiMambro
Gal is the Director of Israel Programming and is a Hadera native. She directly oversees Education Bridge and Ramim. She has two daughters who are learning to love Israel as much as she does.
Leah Goldman
Leah is the Chief Planning and Programming Officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester. She is an attorney, an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program and co-founder of ROC Against Antisemitism. Leah’s parents are immigrants from Poland and Latvia; her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Leah’s husband, Justin, participated in Ramim 2 and they adore their Modi’in family, the Zakens. They have two daughters, Madelyn, 12, and Ilana, 9.
Iris Giancola
Rami Katz
Rami Katz is the COO of Excell Partners, a VC fund focused on Upstate NY. He moved to the U.S. in 2001 from Israel, where he practiced law. Rami teaches at the University of Rochester, Simon School of Business about entrepreneurship in Israel and leads groups of over 20 MBA students on annual visits to Israel. Rami has served on the board of the Jewish Federation, was the director of education at IHSC Hebrew School, co-founded ""Israelis Speak"" that brought together Israeli and Jewish community members to discuss the connection between Jews in the US and Israel and co-founded ROC Against Antisemitism.
Rickie Birnbaum
Ricki Korey Birnbaum, Ed.D. is the Founder of Effective Literacy Methods, devoted to the development and testing of research-based literacy programs and materials. Ricki is an active volunteer in the Rochester community and has served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.
Jeff Rosenbloom
Jeff Rosenbloom is Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric. He has been a long time participant in Partnership2Gether and has hosted shinshinim for many years. Jeff is married to Ellie and they have two sons, one of whom is a lone soldier in Israel.
Ellie Rosenbloom
Ellie Rosenbloom is an active community volunteer. She has served as President of the Brighton Central Schools Parent Teacher Student Association, participated in the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, and has hosted many shinshinim. She is the mom to two boys, one of whom is serving in the IDF and is married to Jeff. Ellie is on the board of NCJW, Greater Rochester Section (she will become President July 1).
Candice Leit
Candice Leit is an attorney who lives with her husband Michael in the City of Rochester, New York. Together they have four children and as a family they are members of Temple Sinai. She currently works as an Editor for Thomson Reuters on a global compliance product. Two children Aliza and Aidan have made Aliyah. Aliza is completing a master’s degree in Marine Biology at Tel Aviv University and Aidan is serving in the IDF as a medic. Her oldest and youngest are in Rochester. Jeremiah is pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering at RIT and Josie is completing her senior year of high school at Harley. The family enjoyed hosting Shinshin Oren Katz during 2020. They also had an excellent experience with Josie’s hosting for Journey for Identity #9.
