Federation Fellows

Keren Asayag, she/her

Host Placement: The Federation (Teen Initiative Advisory Committee)

In 2012, Keren moved to the East Bay with her family from Israel. She holds a bachelor's degree in Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology (with honors) from Bar Ilan University. In Israel, she developed and managed educational and non-educational programs working with youth at risk, students, adults, new immigrants, actors, directors, donors, and volunteers. Keren implemented fundraising events for nonprofits and worked in the Quality Assurance Division of a pharmaceutical company as a Training Manager and Social Involvement Project Manager. Since arriving in California, she has been teaching Hebrew to children and adults in private settings, and at schools: Tehiyah Jewish Day School until it closed in August 2018, and currently at The Brandeis School in San Francisco. In her spare time, she loves to read, travel, cook Shabbat and holiday meals, meet friends, and spend time with family.

Anna Bethlahmy, she/her
Host Placement: Contra Costa Midrasha

Anna is an east coast native, born and raised in New Jersey. After undergrad in Ohio at Miami University, she ventured west to be with her family. She works in technology with a focus on digital advertising. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, historical podcasts, and crafting. Anna is excited to get involved with the Fed Fellows to give back to the local Jewish community.

Katherine Erickson, she/her
Host Placement: San Francisco Hillel

Katherine (Kate) is a recent transplant to the Bay Area from New York City. She is currently a Strategy Director at Firewood Marketing, where she helps the world’s leading tech companies identify new growth opportunities via data-driven consumer and market research. Kate earned a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business. Outside of work, Kate volunteers with the League of Women Voters of San Francisco (LWVSF), which provides voter education resources to San Francisco residents, and ScholarMatch, a nonprofit that provides college counseling and mentorship resources to underserved high school students. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading, and listening to podcasts.

Becky Fenster, she/her
Host Placement: Shalom Bayit

Becky is a Marin County native. She attended the Marin campus of Brandeis Hillel Day School and returned shortly after college to be a full-time teacher. Becky taught at Brandeis for over a decade before she transitioned into a consultant for 3 years and now is a Board member. She sits on the Board Nominating Committee at Congregation Rodef Sholom and participated in the Sholom Hartman Institute for Emerging Leaders at the Marin JCC. She has two school-aged children, is now a stay-at-home mom, and spends her free time volunteering in local schools and for Jewish organizations.

Hannah Frankl, she/her
Host Placement: The Federation (Finance & Administration Committee)

Hannah is originally from Los Angeles, first moving to the Bay Area to earn her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Currently, Hannah works at Google as a Global Product Marketing Manager on the Google for Startups team, dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs around the world with acceleration programs, mentorship, connections, and resources. In addition to her core role, Hannah also develops and leads training on disability-inclusive marketing. Prior to Google, she worked in social entrepreneurship and innovation, with experience ranging from strategy consulting for nonprofit organizations to evaluating venture deal flow as a Product Manager at Microsoft Ventures (now called M12) in Tel Aviv, Israel. Outside of work, Hannah is a leader on the impact team of Minds Matter SF, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting low-income high school students, and she runs an art community out of her home.

David Friedkin, he/him
Host Placement: The Federation (Board of Directors)

David resides in San Francisco and is President of Friedkin Property Group, a private real estate family office. Previously, he was an Associate at Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group in New York City. David has also worked as an analyst at Nonprofit Finance Fund, a national nonprofit and community development financial institution. He was selected as a StartingBloc Social Enterprise Fellow and received the World Partners Fellowship from the American Jewish World Service to spend a year in Mumbai, India, working for a local NGO. Before joining Ackman-Ziff, David received a Diploma with Distinction in Culinary Arts from the International Culinary Center in New York City. He went on to cook for a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the National Multifamily Housing Council. David graduated with a BSBA in Finance and Arabic from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Alex Goldsmith, he/him
Host Placement: The Federation (Teen Initiative Advisory Committee)

Born and adopted into a Jewish household in Los Angeles, Alex was raised with a focus on giving back. He spent his formative years traveling, volunteering with youth and animal charities and working at 20th Century Fox in communications where he fell in love with the art of persuasion. Alex studied business and liberal arts at UCLA (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (M.B.A). After school, he moved to San Francisco to work in communications at Cisco, IBM, and NetApp. Currently, Alex runs corporate technology communications at VMware. His hobbies include trivia nights, tackling an ever-evolving, lifelong bucket list, and studying languages including Chinese and Hebrew. Alex lives with his husband and their adopted chocolate labradoodle.

David Kiferbaum, he/him
Host Placement: Hebrew Free Loan

David grew up in suburban Chicago, and after 9 years of school and work in New York, he moved to San Francisco in 2013. After a brief stint at law firms, David joined Google in 2015 and is now in Business Development for Google Photos. He loves cooking, reading, learning, and spending quality time with his wife, Lauren.

Gina Kessler Lee, she/her
Host Placement: Jewish Gateways

Gina has lived on Huichin Ohlone land most of her life and is grateful to be able to call this beautiful area home. She is passionate about her work as a college librarian, enjoying the Bay Area with her husband and 1-year-old, and redistributing money to movements for racial, environmental, and economic justice. Until recently, Gina was president of her college’s local alumni chapter, and she was just appointed to a national committee for the Association of College and Research Libraries. She also sits on the board of her family’s foundation. When there isn’t a pandemic, she enjoys attending talks and street festivals, singing karaoke, and introducing her son to the many treasures of our community.

Melanie Levy-Hara, she/her
Host Placement: American Jewish Committee, Regional Board

Melanie was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a vibrant Syrian Jewish community. Her family decided to move to Toronto when she was 7, and she spent the rest of her childhood there. Growing up in the Ashkenazi Jewish community, she was involved in BBYO and her synagogue, and later in college, she made it a point to be part of the Jewish life on campus. Melanie studied Systems Design Engineering for her undergraduate degree and moved to the Bay Area to work at Facebook as a Program Manager in the Data center space. As a proud resident of San Francisco, she has gotten involved in multiple nonprofits inside and outside the Jewish community – she finds great joy in helping humans meet their basic needs. Melanie also spends her time cycling through the city and into the Marin Headlands.

Ellen London, she/her
Host Placement: Sinai Memorial

Ellen lives in Berkeley with her husband and three boys, ages 2, 4, and 6. They are members of Netivot Shalom, and their oldest son attends Oakland Hebrew Day School. They moved to California from New York four years ago and have loved getting to know the Jewish community here. Ellen is a partner at a boutique law firm, which she just joined after nine years working for the federal government. In her free time, she loves to bake.

Carla Mays, she/her
Host Placement: Jewish Community Relations Council

Carla is a San Francisco-based Smart Infrastructure & Disaster Resilient Mega Regional Planner & Researcher and an alum of San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley. She has been recognized by the California State Legislature, Alumna Next City Vanguard, and Singularity Global Impact Scholars Program for addressing fiscal viability, risk mitigation, emergency management, operations and maintenance for long-term smart city and climate adaptive projects, infrastructure, and investments. Carla was a 2018-19 Jewish Family & Children's Services Fellow and is a current fellow in the Federation’s Leadership 365 program working on Jewish congregational and organizational security and disaster/climate resilience.

Dima Mostovoy, he/him
Host Placement: The Federation (Investment Committee)

Dima was born in Russia and immigrated to San Francisco in 1990. He attended Hebrew Academy and UC Berkeley and is currently a Director at KKR & Co. Dima was actively involved with the Federation through young adult programming and the Business Leadership Council before moving to Chicago in 2011 to attend the University of Chicago’s Booth School ofBusiness. From 2013 to 2018 he was involved in Boston’s CJP and served on the Leadership Committee of their Young Financial Services group. Dima moved back to San Francisco in 2018 and is looking forward to getting involved with the Federation again. He, along with his wife and 9-month-old son are members of Congregation Beth Sholom.

Jacqueline Palchik, she/her
Host Placement: Shalom Bayit

Jacqueline lives in Alameda with her two children – Ariella, age 7, and Eyal, age 4. She is a Senior Financial Analyst for a company that provides mental health services for individuals with severe mental illness. She relocated to the Bay Area four years ago after having lived in Texas, Washington D.C., Boston, and Indiana (in reverse chronological order). Jacqueline is very involved in many aspects of her synagogue, Temple Beth Abraham, and enjoys reading, podcasts, and spending time outdoors.

Lauren Palmor, she/her
Host Placement: Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Arts & Culture

Lauren grew up in the Bay Area and returned after receiving a Master of Arts with Merit in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Washington. Since 2015, she has been a member of the American Art department at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where she contributes to publications and exhibitions and frequently supports institutional digital partnerships, working collaboratively to design new ways of sharing and experiencing American art with museum audiences. Lauren approaches her work as an art historian through a lens of social justice—a perspective forged by her Jewish identity, community, and culture. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, learning, baking challah, calling her grandmother, and spending quality time with her husband, David.

Richard Ralston, he/him
Host Placement: The Federation (Finance & Administration Committee)

Richard (Ricky) has lived in the Bay Area his entire life. Raised in Sonoma County, he came to San Francisco in 2011 and moved to Marin in 2018 where he currently lives with his wonderful wife, Rachel, and their cat, Minerva. He works in wealth management at First Republic Bank, helping high net-worth clients develop long-term financial goals and manage their investment portfolios. Ricky feels very fortunate to have a career that he loves and is passionate about. When not at work, he tries to spend as much time outside as possible – he loves camping, hiking, basketball, and snowboarding. During shelter-in-place, he’s picked up his guitar again. Ricky is nearing the end of his conversion to Judaism. The process has been years in the making, and he finds it very meaningful to find connection and spirituality in this community.

Tory Reiss, he/him
Host Placement: The Federation (Executive Grantmaking Committee)

Tory is a two-time founder of VC backed financial technology startups. Most recently, he was the Cofounder of TrustToken, the creator of the world’s first fully-backed USD Stablecoin, TrueUSD with ~$4B+ in avg. 30-day volume. TrustToken was backed by $30M from a16z, Founders Fund, and others. Prior to TrustToken, Tory co-founded Harvest, the first AI-driven debt management and refinancing platform meant to accelerate consumers’ journeys out of debt. Outside of business, Tory is an active advocate for criminal justice reform and financial literacy in public education. He's been teaching free financial literacy "boot camps” for over 7 years. He's also active in the Jewish community as a Bay Area  Reality hub leader and hosts monthly shabbos dinners for the community. Tory graduated cum laude from Northwestern University with a focus on behavioral economics and entrepreneurship in emerging economies.

Jacob Rosenberg-Wohl, he/him
Host Placement: Congregation Emanu-El

A San Francisco native, Jacob is finishing up his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business where he is president of the Jewish Business Students Association. Before business school, Jacob worked in the SF office of Altman Vilandrie & Co., a strategy consulting firm that focuses on tech, media, and telecom. Jacob studied Egyptology and Statistics at Yale University, writing his thesis on the literary texts of Hatshepsut and her successor, Thutmose III. Jacob enjoys hosting murder mystery parties, whiskey tasting, board games, ultramarathons, and hiking.

Emily Simons, she/her
Host Placement: Jewish LearningWorks

Emily is the Development Associate for San Francisco Hillel. For the past 4 years, Emily has worked on SF Hillel's student life team, most recently as the Director of Student Experience. Prior to moving to San Francisco four years ago, she was living in Philadelphia studying Social Work at Temple University. Emily is passionate about Jewish experiential education, providing modern ways to connect to ancient ritual. She has facilitated over 15 various immersion trips, both domestically and abroad, for college students. When she's not working, Emily enjoys walking through Golden Gate Park with her tripod pitbull, Pumpkin.

Jen Vaughan, she/her
Host Placement: Jewish LearningWorks

Jen currently works at Assembled, an early-stage startup building customer support software. Before this, she worked at Stripe where she had the opportunity to see the company grow from 300 to 2000 employees. Prior to her career in tech, Jen worked at Bain & Company, consulting companies across Southeast Asia. Her favorite project was advising a telco operator in Myanmar (Burma) in 2014. It was there that she met her husband Jesse and discovered the power of connectivity and community. She is excited to have this opportunity to deepen her engagement with the Bay Area Jewish community as a Fed Fellow. Jen is originally from the Philippines and attended the National University of Singapore where she received her degree in law. She and her husband live in San Francisco and are currently looking to buy a long-term home. In her free time, she enjoys trying out new recipes with her cookbook club, baking bread, trail running, and writing her newsletter.

Nina Whitney, she/her
Host Placement: American Jewish Committee, Regional Board

Born and raised in South Florida, Nina has been passionate about Jewish life since her adolescence, leading in service trips to Israel, starting a Jewish sisterhood at university, and more recently through her participation in Congregation Emanuel’s Chuppah and Beyond Class. For her “day job,” she is a Business Operations Manager at LinkedIn where she helps drive strategy and operations for their go-to-market (sale and marketing) teams. Nina also leads the SF Women At LinkedIn Employee Resource Group which supports ~2k women and allies in the LinkedIn San Francisco office. In joining the Federation Fellows, she is looking to merge her interest in Judaism with her business acumen to develop additional skills (nonprofit operating models, leadership), meet other Jewish-minded people, and advance the SF Jewish community.

Nicole Cruz
Nicole Cruz is a Southern California native currently residing in the Bay Area. She works at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center assisting with the implementation of their Salesforce-based database. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, outdoor activities, and participating in Jewish community events in the Bay Area. She is excited to participate in the Fed Fellows program and give back to the local community in a meaningful way.

Marina Eybelman
Marina grew up in Moscow, Russia and moved to the States in 2002. In college, she studied Jewish Literature and the Eastern European Jewish oral tradition. For the last 4 years, Marina has been working on Speak Memory Project and had multiple exhibits in New York City and San Francisco. She is a photographer working in a documentary photography style with a strong emphasis on storytelling; each photo tells a story (and sometimes a multitude of stories) that play out in the imagination of the viewer. Marina lives in San Francisco with her husband and two daughters. Her work can be found at www.marinaeybelman.com.

Noah Figdor
Noah is a CPA who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating from college in 2014. Noah holds a longstanding commitment to the Jewish community and has a history of getting involved, in various capacities, in local causes in the cities he has lived in — from participating in local Jewish youth groups, raising money for various cultural causes, to spending weekends volunteering with Jewish families with brave children who navigate life with disabilities. Noah is excited about the opportunity to join the 2018-2020 Federation Fellowship cohort and is looking forward to becoming more involved within the local Bay Area Jewish community, and to learn from the community at large.

Sami Greenberg
Born and raised in Chicago, Sami moved to San Francisco in 2013 to pursue her career in digital health. She cares deeply about providing more affordable and accessible healthcare solutions. Sami is actively involved with Congregation Emanu-El's Jewish community and is joining the Federation to expand her Jewish involvement in the Bay Area. She lived and/or worked in New York, Washington, DC, and London, and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS from Cornell University. In her spare time, she enjoys hosting Shabbat dinners, participating in her Cookbook Club, and hiking with her puppy and husband.

Laiah Idelson
Laiah Idelson was born and raised in the Bay Area and has lived and worked in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and sub-Saharan Africa. She currently is the Strategic Partnerships and Innovation Lead at YTH, an Oakland-based nonprofit using technology to develop solutions to youth health and wellness. Laiah lives in Oakland with her husband. She enjoys spicy food, traveling to new cities, and a good book.

Michelle Peleg
Michelle Peleg is excited to join the cohort of Federation Fellows. Originally from Los Angeles, Michelle spent her first stint in the Bay at Berkeley Law and has recently moved back to San Francisco. She is a corporate attorney at Cooley, working with emerging companies and venture capital firms. Michelle is thrilled to be back in Northern California and looking forward to diving into the Jewish community here.

Sari Bourne Kaplan
Sari is a rare native San Franciscan! She was born and raised in West Portal and attended Brandeis Hillel Day School. She moved to Short Hills, NJ in 7th grade, and returned back to the Bay Area to go to Stanford. After graduating, Sari spent a year working on the Hillary Clinton Campaign, working in various Jewish organizations, and went to law school. Most recently, she worked at two law firms, and just moved back to the Bay Area in January to work as an attorney at Genentech. Sari just got married to her wonderful husband, Matt, who works on the Public Policy team at Lyft, and they're very excited to be back home! She enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing Jewish geography (and meeting people generally), and traveling.

Robert Kaufman
Robert Kaufman grew up in Manhattan Beach, CA, and studied political science and business administration at the University of California, Berkeley. Robert currently works for FTV Capital, a growth equity firm in San Francisco. Prior to joining FTV, Robert worked for The JBG Companies in Washington, D.C., Hellman & Friedman, and Hall Capital Partners in San Francisco. Robert is president of the board of Berkeley Hillel, a member of AIPAC's National Council, and a Birthright Fellow. Robert enjoys playing basketball, snowboarding, hiking, and traveling the world.   

Jessica Kocen
Jessica Kocen was born and raised in Virginia, went to the University of Virginia, and made the big move out west to San Francisco in 2016. All of her life she has been passionate about social impact, volunteerism, and philanthropy and has been involved in leadership positions with a variety of Jewish organizations including BBYO, Hillel, Joint Distribution Committee, and most recently the Jewish Federation. Jessica works for Airbnb and helps drive hotel supply growth on both the HotelTonight and Airbnb platform. As a side project at work, Jessica serves as a Social Impact Champion for the Airbnb SF Campus.

Shijia Bobby Lu
Shijia Bobby Lu is a regional planner with the Bay Area’s metropolitan planning organization. His current work emphasizes understanding regional economic trends and coordinating local and regional economic development efforts. He is also a liaison to Marin and Napa Counties and manages grants that fund local planning projects in these counties. Bobby grew up in central China and majored in Sociology at Renmin University of China in Beijing. He came to the United States in 2012 and received his Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. He believes strongly in the power of people’s relationships with each other, as well as with the cities and communities to transform them into thriving places where people live, work, play, and feel happy and proud. Bobby moved to San Francisco in 2014, and has been enjoying cycling and swimming in this beautiful city.   

Josh Mitrani
Originally from Miami Beach, Florida, Josh is a second-year MBA candidate at Stanford. Before business school, Josh worked at Long Ridge, an NYC-based private equity firm, where he invested in and worked with high-growth companies. Prior to Long Ridge, he started his career as a strategy consultant. Josh graduated from Cornell University with a double major in English and Economics and wrote his thesis on Shakespeare’s sonnets. Josh enjoys lifting weights, reading nonfiction books on Shabbat, and cooking (and eating) spicy food with his wife Ariel.    

Danielle Nemzer
Danielle Nemzer is so thrilled to be joining this cohort of Federation Fellows. She's lived in San Francisco for a little over three years now, but is originally from Santa Monica. Danielle has worked in management consulting ever since graduating from Johns Hopkins. When not at work, you can find her teaching spinning classes, cooking, or spending time with family and friends!

Rachel Nilson Ralston
Rachel is a Bay Area native who is thrilled to join Federation Fellows! By day, she serves as San Francisco Hillel's Assistant Director, empowering students across the city to create meaningful Jewish communities. She's passionate about inclusion and innovation, which is why she's especially excited to learn to better serve our diverse and cutting edge corner of the Jewish world. In her spare time, Rachel can be found exploring coastal hiking trails, museums, or trying out new recipes.    

Yelena Ostrovsky
Originally from the Former Soviet Union, Yelena immigrated to the US with her family in 1989. Since then, she received a DDS degree from the UOP School of Dentistry in SF and now lives in San Francisco with her husband and 2 children. 

Irad Ratmansky
Irad grew up in Israel and came to the Bay Area to work at Facebook. He has a baby daughter and therefore asks himself what kind of Jewish community and values he would like her to grow up in. That drove him to look for community involvement opportunities, such as signing up for the Fed Fellows program and being an ENGAJ fellow. His hobbies include programming video games, books, sports (running, swimming, etc) and coffee (roasting beans and drinking it fresh).

Hannah Schlacter
Hannah moved to San Francisco in August of 2017. Originally from Chicago, she moved to the Bay because of her passion for tech and love of the outdoors. Growing up, she was active in the Chicago Federation, so it was important for her to become active in the SF Jewish community—including the Federation. During the day, she spends her time working in management consulting, advising different clients across industries. In her free time, she likes to build her community blog, Life Hacks for Women. She also enjoys skiing, running, hiking, reading, and spending time with friends and family.

Donna Solen
Originally from Miami, Florida, Donna eventually moved to Washington, D.C., where she met her now-husband. They had both always dreamed of living in the Bay Area and made those dreams come true about 5 years ago. After [too] many years as a lawyer, she made a career change a couple of years ago and is now loving her new life as a real estate agent in SF. Donna and her husband live in the Excelsior neighborhood with their daughter Lois, a 3-year-old Shih Tzu. 

Adina Wollner
Adina grew up in San Diego and graduated from UCSD. She has been involved in the Jewish community in San Diego both on and off-campus through Hillel, the JCC, and the SD Jewish Federation. However, before college, she spent two years in Israel serving in the IDF and living on a kibbutz. Adina moved to San Francisco a year ago and currently works as a security engineer. She lives with her two cats and enjoys biking around the city, Israeli folk dancing, and going to see musicals in the theater.

Greg Zale
Greg Zale grew up in a big, active Jewish family in Dallas and has been looking to join an organization like this, where he can make a positive difference in the Bay Area. Greg speaks German and has traveled independently through over 60 countries on 6 continents. He also loves taking advantage of living in Northern California, whether it's tubing down the Russian River or skiing around Lake Tahoe. Greg recently had his first child and is looking forward to introducing her to the community!