The Hadassah Foundation is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors recently elected a new slate of officers and welcomed four new members.

Chairing the Board is Roz Garber Toledano, of Chestnut Hill, MA, who was president and CEO of Garber Travel Services. She served as Director of the Boston Chapter of Hadassah: Women’s Zionist Organization of America and Assistant Director of the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts. She was Executive Director of both Temple Beth Shalom Religious School in Needham, Massachusetts and Temple Emanu-el in Toronto, Canada. She currently serves as an Executive-in Residence at Brandeis University’s International Business School.

 “This is an especially exciting time to become the Chair of the Board,” says Garber Toledano. “The Foundation’s recent growth trajectory and impressive, dynamic Board, put the Foundation in a place to have an increasingly large influence on Jewish women’s philanthropy and organizations promoting gender equality in Israel and the United States.”

The new slate of officers are:

Vice Chair – Audrey Weiner, of Miami Beach, FL, and Lenox, MA, served as the CEO and President of the New Jewish Home. She is the Vice Chair of CFI (The national GreenHouse Initiative) and Vice President of the Funding Arts Network. Audrey serves on the Boards of Innovation: Africa, the Miami Beach JCC, the Miami Jewish Film Festival, the Berkshire Theater Group, and the Berkshire Jewish Women’s Foundation.

Treasurer – Ellen Soffar Steinberg, of Charleston, SC, a Magistrate for Charleston County, was an Assistant Solicitor and prosecuted domestic violence cases prior to her appointment. Ellen has written and presented in the United States and in Israel on domestic violence and protecting the elderly. She serves as Co-Chair of the Charleston County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Ellen is a board member of the Hebrew Orphan Society, the Alzheimer’s Association of South Carolina and the Florence Crittenton Home. 

Secretary – Tracey Spiegelman, of Coral Gables, FL, works in the field of luxury residential real estate.  Active in the community, Tracey serves on the Executive Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and is Chair of Israel and Overseas Division. She was Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council and was the immediate past Chair of the Women’s Amutot Initiative. Tracey serves on the JFNA Board of Trustees and JFNA Israel and Overseas Committee.

The Hadassah Foundation’s new leadership comes on the heels of electing four new board members who bring increasingly diverse experiences and knowledge. These Board Members are:

Michele Foster, of Upper Gwynedd, PA, serves as Vice Chair of American Affairs in the Advocacy Division of Hadassah: Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) and is a past President of the HWZOA Greater Philadelphia Region. Michelle is certified as a Student Assistance Provider and Drug and Alcohol Counselor, and she completed the Chaplaincy program at Gratz College. She is the former Chair of the Hands on the Future Drug and Alcohol Task Force of Montgomery County and is certified as a volunteer Domestic Abuse Counselor.

Deborah S. Meyer, of Philadelphia, PA, is the founder and outgoing CEO of Moving Traditions, an organization supported by the Hadassah Foundation that emboldens Jewish youth to challenge gender stereotyping and other forms of discrimination and to pursue personal wholeness (shleimut), caring connections (hesed), and a just and equitable world (tzedek). Deborah is on the Board of the Covenant Foundation and is an Executive Committee Member of the Women of Vision Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Rabbi Marianne Novak, of Skokie, IL, was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat, an organization supported by the Hadassah Foundation and the first and only Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women for the rabbinate. A lawyer and scholar, Rabbi Novak is on the Judaic Studies Faculty at Akiba-Schechter Day School, is an instructor and curriculum developer for the Florence Melton Adult School of Jewish Learning, and an administrator of the social media project, “A Mitzvah to Eat.” 

Mindy Petock Bloom, of Winston-Salem, NC, is Chief Development Officer of Ronald McDonald House, Piedmont Triad. Mindy is on the Associates Board of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a National Board Member of HWZOA. Among Mindy’s many volunteer positions, she is a former National Vice President of HWZOA, served on the Advisory Council of the Women’s Health and Wellness Center at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, and was President of the Rotary Club of Stratford. 

“I am thrilled to welcome these remarkable individuals to the Board, and work in partnership with Roz and our new leadership,” says Director Stephanie Bluemenkranz. “The new Board Members and Officers have broken glass ceilings, built national organizations, and led social-change movements. Their experiences and knowledge will help the Foundation thrive.”

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ABOUT THE HADASSAH FOUNDATION

The Hadassah Foundation invests in social change organizations that empower women and girls in Israel and the United States. As one of the largest Jewish women’s funds in the United States, The Hadassah Foundation has awarded $11 million in grants to over 110 non-profit organizations and brought increased attention to issues impacting women and girls. For additional information, including a list of all past grantees visit hadassahfoundation.org.