Transformimg Jewish Lives
Gary Gross is a partner in Gross builders, an award winning builder and developer of residential communities in the Midwest and Southeast United States.
Gary currently serves as General Chairman of State of Israel Bonds of Cleveland and Chair of the Washington University Regional Cabinet. He also serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland and Green Road Synagogue. Gary is the immediate past President of The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. He was an officer of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland for six years - three as Treasurer and three as Vice-Chair of the Board. He is also involved with Gross Schechter Day School where he previously served as President, Co-Chair of Fundraising and head of the Building Committee. In these roles he was involved with land acquisition, zoning, approvals and construction.
Gary received the Milton and Marvin Kane Young Leadership Award of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, the State of Israel Bonds City of Peace Award, and the Eli Witt Award for Outstanding Service from the Cleveland Hillel Foundation.
Richard Krugel, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, and practices surgery with the University Orthopedic group.
Dr. Krugel is Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, and serves on its board and Executive Committee. Richard also is a member of the Federation’s Israel and Overseas Committee, the Shiffman Day School Scholarship Committee, and currently chairs the community collaboration steering committee – a committee looking at how the Detroit Federation and its agencies will do business in the future. Dr. Krugel is also a member of the Board of the Jewish Fund. Dr. Krugel has been President of The Fresh Air Society/Tamarack Camps, the Detroit Jewish communities overnight camping agency, and was involved in Jewish camping for over 20 years. Nationally, Dr. Krugel is a member of the UJC Board of Directors, and Executive Committee, and serves as a board member at JESNA.
Cynthia has spent over 20 years working in the event field. Before being recruited to Vanderbilt, she owned two events companies which produced and managed events for Fortune 500 companies, trade and professional associations, nonprofits, and educational institutions. She began her events career through the area of public relations.
Cynthia recently became a Bat-Mitzvah. She is also President of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. She is a former President of Congregation Micah. She has served as Chair of the Federation Jewish Education Services Committee and Chair of the Education Committee for Congregation Micah.
Cynthia is married to Richard Morin, former Executive Director for the National Association of Temple Educators and longtime religious educator.
Gil Graff has served as Executive Director of BJE in Los Angeles since 1993. Gil, who earned graduate degrees in history, education and Jewish studies, holds a J.D. and Ph.D. from UCLA. Prior to joining BJE, Dr. Graff was a teacher and administrator at day and complementary schools, as well as Director of Camp Ramah in New England. He is the author of numerous articles and two books in the fields of Jewish history and education. His most recent work, "And You Shall Teach Them Diligently": A Concise History of Jewish Education in the United States, 1776-2000, was published by JTS in September 2008. Gil has been a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, a Lady Davis Fellow, Jerusalem Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and has served as an adjunct faculty member at American Jewish University, HUC-JIR, Spertus College, Touro College and AJR, CA. Dr. Graff is currently a board member at JESNA.
Sandra Gold is dedicated to helping the Jewish community and has been a leader in providing for those with disabilities. She has been an officer and is a member of the board of numerous local and national organizations, including: the Jewish Community Association of North America (JCCA), the JCCA Florence G. Heller Research Center where she was President, and JESNA where she is currently Chair of the Berman Center for Research and Evaluation’s Steering Committee. In New Jersey she serves on the Allocations Committee of her UJA-Federation and as an officer and member of the Board of Trustees, Women’s Division and Business and Professional Group. She also serves on the state board of the ADL and is Vice President of the Jewish Home at Rockleigh. Sandra is on the Board of Trustees and was President of the 12,000-member Jewish Community Center on the Palisades in New Jersey where she founded the JCC Thurnauer School of Music. She is founding President of the UJA Community Advocacy Program, and the founder and President Emeritus of the UJA - Federation Association for the Developmentally Disabled (now called Jewish ADD).
Sandra also serves on the New York Presbyterian Committee on Patient Centered Care and Service Quality and the Columbia University Health Sciences Advisory Council. She is Executive Vice President of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, a public foundation which promotes humanism in medicine. Nationally certified as a counselor and career counselor, Sandra received her doctorate from Rutgers University, and with her husband, Dr. Arnold Gold, professor of clinical neurology and pediatrics at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, received Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from the Universities of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
David Steirman is the current Chair of the Board of JESNA and serves on the boards of a number of organizations in his community. He previously served as president of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma counties, the Bureau of Jewish Education and the Jewish Community Relations Council. He has also served on the boards of the Jewish Federations of North America and JCPA, the national public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community. Professionally, he is president of Kestrel Investment Management Corporation.