Leadership & Staff
Chair
About David
David Baskin has more than 38 years of experience in the finance, venture capital, and investment fields, having pursued a career in these areas shortly after being called to the Bar of Ontario in 1978. He is the founder of Baskin Financial Services Inc., which provides discretionary investment counseling and portfolio management services to investors in six provinces. The firm currently serves 1,000 families and not-for-profit institutions with more than $2 billion of assets under management. Baskin Financial Services Inc. has 24 employees and is based in Toronto.
David is a regular commentator of the North American and global markets frequently appearing on BNN’s Market Call and other BNN programs as well as on CBC Newsworld. Additionally, he has been a frequent and popular guest on CBC Radio, 680 All-News Radio and CP4 in Toronto. He is quoted often in the business pages of the Globe and Mail, Financial Post and Toronto Star and was for several years a columnist for The Moneyletter, Investors’ Digest and The Investment Reporter.
David is a past president of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He holds an Honours B.A. with a major in economics from the University of Colorado and Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto, where he was president of the Students’ Law Society.
Secretary/Treasurer
About Amy Schwach
Amy Schwach has been the Executive Director at Temple Shaaray Tefila since 2015. She has been a Synagogue professional for 24 years and has worked at Central Synagogue in New York City and North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, NY, respectively.
Amy participated in UJA's Muehlstein Institute for Jewish Professional Leadership as well as UJA’s Jewish Greening Fellowship.
She is currently an officer on the Reform Pension Board and President of the National Association for Temple Administration and holds a master’s degree from Baruch College in Public Administration.
Member
About Anita Aronoff
Anita Aronoff has been the Executive Director of Temple Israel of New Rochelle since 2016. She is currently a board trustee for NATA and also serves as the Assistant Treasurer. Prior to working for Temple Israel, Anita was an Assistant Vice President at JP Morgan Chase for their technology division, providing financial analysis for senior management. She is a graduate of New York University, Stern School of Business and resides in Scarsdale New York with her family.
Member
About Lisa Lieberman Barzilai
Lisa Lieberman Barzilai, RJE, is the Director of Volunteer Leadership Experiences for Hillel International. She was previously Executive Director of Community Resources at UJA Federation of New York serving synagogues, day schools and yeshivot, Jewish communal professionals in New York City, Westchester and Long Island. She also assists UJA’s efforts in volunteerism and crisis response.
Before joining UJA, Lisa worked at the Union for Reform Judaism for 19 years holding a number of positions including: Director of the Leadership Institute, Director of Expanding Our Reach, Young Adult Specialist, Regional Educator for the Greater New York Council and Adult Learning Specialist for the Department of Lifelong Jewish Learning, and URJ Northeast Camps Eisner and Crane Lake as the Educational Director. She began her work with the URJ following 14 years of experience as an educator in Reform synagogue congregational schools in New York and New Jersey. Lisa has had the opportunity to work with students from early childhood to adult. Her programming experience includes family programming, retreats, camping and curriculum development.
In addition, Lisa is one of the authors of the CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life curriculum core developed by the URJ Department of Lifelong Jewish Learning.
Lisa sat on the board of NATE (National Association of Temple Educators), now known as ARJE (Association of Reform Jewish Educators) and served as President 2011-2012.
Member & Chair, RPB Investment Committee
About Amy Brackett
Amy Brackett is a Senior Wealth Advisor at Revolve Wealth Partners, working with individuals, families, and non-profits to manage their investments and help clients build a path toward their financial goals. She has a deep-rooted commitment to helping clients in all areas of wealth planning including investment management, employee benefits, insurance coverage, cash management, and estate and tax planning.
Amy has worked in the financial industry for 20 years, most recently as a Senior Advisor at Klingenstein Fields Advisors (and before that at Solaris Advisors, which was acquired by Klingenstein Fields Advisors). Prior to joining Solaris Advisors in 2007, Amy spent several years as a Research Associate at TIAA-CREF and as an Investment Banking Analyst at CIBC World Markets. Amy received a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated magna cum laude. Amy is a CFA charterholder and holds the Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) certification.
Amy currently serves on the Investment Committee and Board of the Reform Pension Board and as well as the Board of the Union for Reform Judaism. She previously served on the Board of Trustees of East End Temple (where she has been a member since 2006) and on the Investment Committee of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children, who love attending URJ Eisner Camp in the summer.
Member
Member
About Ross Erlebacher
Ross has been a member of the URJ North American Board since 2016. He is from the Chicago area where he calls Mokom Solel Lakeside in Highland Park, IL his congregational home. He has served as its temple president among other leadership positions there. He grew up in the Reform Movement at Temple Judea Mizpah in Skokie which has now merged with Beth Emet in Evanston and was active in NFTY. Professionally, he has spent his career in management and technology consulting and brings a broad perspective on how to drive impactful change. His clients have included the Screen Actors Guild Health and Pension Plans serving them through a merger with the AFTRA Health Fund.
Member
About Rabbi Lisa S. Greene
Rabbi Lisa S. Greene has served North Shore Congregation in Glencoe, IL since 1999. She is proud that her work creates small communities amidst the larger congregation as she teaches, creates experiential learning with lay partners, marks sacred time in innovative ways, and empowers people to learn and lead.
Rabbi Greene was ordained by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1995 and earned her BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. As a former securities analyst at Lazard Freres, she has brought her finance background to the CCAR as Budget & Finance Committee Chair, as well as a member of the Reform Pension Board.
Rabbi Greene was a Clal Rabbis Without Borders fellow and LEAP fellow. She has written for the Huffington Post, Wisdom Daily, Reform Judaism Blog, My Jewish Learning, and her own personal blog, Intersections, which reflects on the intersection of sacred and ordinary in daily life. She created an ELI talk, “Getting Ritual: Making Meaningful Jewish Moments” which speaks to her journey to create new Jewish ritual for divorce and to steps others can take to make their own new ritual to mark sacred times.
Lisa is proud to be a second-generation Rabbi Greene and the mother of Noa, David, and Talia Polish, all of whom greet the world with curiosity, compassion, and creativity.
Member
About Elliott M. Jacobson
Elliott has been a member of the RPB Board of Trustees since 2016. He is also on the Investment Committee, chairs the Audit Committee and served on the 2018-2019 Governance Task Force and on the Governance Committee through 2022.
He has been a member of the URJ Board since 2001, has served on the URJ Oversight Committee and chaired the URJ Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015, and also served on the Executive Committee from 2004 to 2008.
Elliott retired from professional accounting and auditing as a partner in Deloitte & Touche, LLP in 2010.
He is a graduate of the Director’s Education Program sponsored by the Institute of Corporate Directors (Canada). He has served and continues to serve on and chairs various charitable organization boards in Canada.
He is a past president of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto and immediate past chair of the Holy Blossom Temple Foundation. He has served as chair of the Reform Jewish Community of Canada (formerly the Canadian Council of Reform Judaism) from 2004 to 2008, and has served from 2016 through 2022 as its Treasurer.
Elliott is a graduate of Dalhousie University and Queen’s University at Kingston (Ontario). A Canadian Chartered Accountant/Chartered Professional Accountant, he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.
Member
Member
About Rabbi Steven S. Mason
Rabbi Steven S. Mason is rabbi emeritus of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL, where served as senior rabbi from 1997 to 2015. He began his rabbinic career at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C., and continued it at Temple Beth Am in suburban Buffalo.
Rabbi Mason is from Worcester, MA, and graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, ME. He also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while in college. He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, New York School in 1978. In 1996, he returned to HUC–JIR in New York and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in pastoral care and pastoral counseling. In 2003, HUC–JIR awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Rabbi Mason has studied in the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and received the designation Senior Rabbinic Fellow.
Vice Chair
About Ronne
A native of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Ronne Friedman serves as Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Israel, Boston, where he served as Senior Rabbi from 1999-2016, having formerly served there as Associate Rabbi and Educator from 1978-1994. Rabbi Friedman also served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Zion, Buffalo, NY, and began his rabbinic career at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL.
A 1969 graduate of Lafayette College, Rabbi Friedman then studied at HUC-JIR (Cincinnati) from which he was ordained in 1975. He served for fifteen years as the Chair of the Joint Rabbinic Placement Commission of the URJ, CCAR, and HUC-JIR in addition to service on a variety of national, regional and Boston area boards of Jewish, social justice, interfaith organizations.
Rabbi Friedman and his wife, Irene, continue to reside in the Boston area and are the parents of Zachary (married to Lilian Tan).
Immediate Past Chair
About G. Leonard Teitelbaum
G. Leonard Teitelbaum previously served as chair of the RPB Board of Trustees and previously held positions on the Union for Reform Judaism board. Len has a long tenure in the financial services industry in leadership positions, including as managing director at Merrill Lynch Global Securities and the global coordinator for food & agribusiness research for Merrill Lynch. Mr. Teitelbaum was associated with Bankers Trust Company and with Morgan Bank.
Prior to his banking experience, he was associated with Seidman and Seidman, Certified Public Accountants in New York City. Mr. Teitelbaum received his BBA and MBA from the University of Michigan. As an undergraduate, he majored in industrial relations and marketing and as a graduate student specialized in finance and accounting. Mr. Teitelbaum is a member of the New York Society for Security Analysts, past president of the Consumer Analyst Group of New York and a Fellow in the Financial Analysts Federation.
Member
About Rabbi Erica Seager Asch
Erica Asch is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Augusta, Maine. She received her rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Cincinnati) in 2008 and then took a position as a community organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation. After three years with IAF, she served at Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C., before moving to Augusta in June 2013. She was installed as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in February 2023 in Tel Aviv. She also serves as the Senior Program Associate at the Center for Small Town Jewish Life.
Member
About Melissa
Missy Bell, RJE is the Director of Congregational Learning and Engagement at Congregation Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL. She has a Master of Arts in Jewish Education and a Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service from HUC-JIR. Previously, she has served at Congregation BJBE in Deerfield, IL and Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.
Missy serves as the Vice-President for Finance of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators and on faculty of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. Outside of her time as a Jewish educational leader, Missy loves baking, traveling, and spending time with her family.
Member
About Jill
Jill has been the Director of Early Childhood Education at Temple Emanu-El of Westfield, New Jersey’s Early Childhood Education Program since 1999.
She is a founding member of the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ), an affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, where she served on its Executive Board for 7 years and continues to assume various roles. She is also sits on the Early Childhood Advisory Committee for the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
Jill has a Master’s degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Hunter College, graduating with high honors. She is also a member of the National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC) of which she has successfully guided the school multiple times through its national accreditation process. Jill is also an active member of NAEYC’s New Jersey Chapter where she advocates at the state and federal level for funding to support early childhood education.
Member
About Rabbi Denise Eger
Rabbi Denise L. Eger is an international Jewish leader, author, coach and social justice activist. She is the founding rabbi emerita of Congregation Kol Ami, in West Hollywood, CA. She is Past President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and served as the first openly gay or lesbian person in that position. She also was the first woman ever elected as President of the Southern California Board of Rabbis. She has served as a Trustee of RPB for several years.
Rabbi Eger is the co-author of 7 Principles for Living Bravely with Rev. Neil Thomas. She is also the editor of the groundbreaking book, Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells: A Celebration of LGBTQ Jewish Life and Ritual.
Eger was named as one of the 50 most influential Jews by Forward and one of the 50 most influential women rabbis.
Currently, Rabbi Eger coaches non-profit executives and clergy through her company ReZilience Strategies.
Raised in Memphis, TN, Rabbi Eger graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Religion in 1982. She received her master’s degree from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985 and was ordained as Rabbi in 1988 at the New York campus of HUC. She received her Doctor of Divinity in 2013 from HUC-JIR. Eger is a Sr. Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. In 2022 Rabbi Eger received an honorary Doctorate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. She holds a certificate in Non-Profit Management from Kellogg School at Northwestern University.
Rabbi Eger is married to Rabbi Eleanor Steinman who serves as the Sr. Rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Austin, Texas.
Member
About Julie S. Gordon
Julie is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism North American Board of Trustees, and currently serves on its Planning and Budget Committee. She joined RPB in 2020.
Julie is retired, after enjoying a career at a leading Human Resources Consulting and Outsourcing firm. As an Enrolled (pension) Actuary, she spent the majority of her career consulting with large organizations on the funding requirements, design and administration of their retirement programs. She also co-led their Asset-Liability Projection business which, among other goals, helped large organizations determine the appropriate asset allocation of their pension assets. She became on Officer of that firm and served on their Board of Directors.
Julie is a member of the Board of Trustees for North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL. She also is a member of the United Way of Lake County Board of Directors, and has previously served on other not-for-profit boards, including Junior Achievement USA.
Julie is a graduate of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, receiving a B.S. in Actuarial Science with highest distinction honors. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
Member
About Rabbi Ilene Haigh
Rabbi Ilene Harkavy Haigh, has been the rabbi and sole spiritual leader at Congregation Shir Shalom In Woodstock, Vermont since 2012. She has served RPB since 2019 and is a member of the JVI advisory committee.
Rabbi Haigh received ordination from the Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion as well as a masters degree in Hebrew Letters. She deeply committed to the cause of liberal and progressive Judaism. Prior to coming to Shir Shalom VT, Rabbi Haigh served as a student rabbi and sole clergy at North Fork Reform Synagogue in Cutchogue, Long Island. She also served as a Tisch Rabbinic Intern at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She served for seven years as a chaplain and student rabbi at Sarah Neuman Center/Jewish Home and LifeCare in Mamaroneck, New York.
She has been the recipient of many rabbinic fellowships and awards including the Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Leadership Fellowship; The Alexander and Anna Lurie Prize in Human relations; the Michael Chernick Prize in Rabbinic Literature; the Dreyfus award in human relations, and the Weisman Memorial Prize in Homiletics.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Summa Cum Laude, she had a successful 19-year career in banking before deciding to pursue her lifelong interest in Judaism and deep desire to serve the Jewish community.
She is married with three children.
Member
Member
About Rabbi David A. Lyon
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Rabbi David Lyon was ordained in 1990, at HUC-JIR, Cincinnati. Upon ordination, he served as Assistant Rabbi and Associate Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel, Houston, Texas, 1990-1997; Rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Zedek, East Lansing, Michigan, 1997-2000; Rabbi of Temple Shalom, Dallas, Texas, 2000-2004; and, in June 2004, he returned to Congregation Beth Israel to serve as Senior Rabbi.
Rabbi Lyon enjoys the full complement of rabbinic duties in a robust congregation of 1,600 families with emphases on inclusive participation in education, worship, interfaith outreach, and Israel advocacy. In Houston, he currently serves on the board of Jewish Community Legacy Project (JCLP), and on the ADL’s Coalition of Respect. In national leadership, he is President-Elect of the Central Conference of America Rabbis board and serves on the RPB Board of Trustees.
Rabbi Lyon writes a weekly blog to his congregation, and delivers a weekly Sunday morning radio message that can be heard on iHeartRadio’s podcast, “Heart to Heart with Rabbi David Lyon." He is the author of the book “God of Me: Imagining God Throughout Your Lifetime."
Rabbi Lyon is married to Lisa, and they have four grown children, Jeremy and his wife, Mimi; Adam and his wife, Claire; Abby and her husband Randy; and Emma; and their grandchildren, Ronen, Annabelle, and Henry.
Member
About Rabbi Hara Person
Rabbi Hara Person is the Chief Executive of Central Conference of American Rabbis. Previously, she was the CCAR’s Chief Strategy Officer. In that capacity, she oversaw the Communications Department and served as Publisher of CCAR Press, and worked with leadership on overall organizational strategy.
Rabbi Person was ordained in 1998 from HUC-JIR, after graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College (1986) and receiving an MA in Fine Arts from New York University/International Center of Photography (1992).
She served as Educator at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue from 1990-1996, and was the Adjunct Rabbi there from 1998-2019. Since 1998, Rabbi Person has been the High Holy Day Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Olam, Fire Island Pines, NY.
Before joining CCAR, Rabbi Person was the Editor-in-Chief of URJ Books and Music, where she was responsible for the 2005 revision of The Torah: A Modern Commentary and the publication of many significant projects, including the Aleph Isn’t Tough adult Hebrew series and Mitkadem: Hebrew for Youth as well as several award-winning children’s books. While at URJ, she was also the Managing Editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, named the National Jewish Book Award Book of the Year in 2008.
Rabbi Person is also the co-author of Stories of Heaven and Earth: Bible Heroes in Contemporary Children’s Literature and as well as co-editor of That You May Live Long: Caring for Your Aging Parents, Caring for Yourself, and Editor of The Mitzvah of Healing. Her essays and poems have been published in various anthologies and journals.
Rabbi Person lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is the mother of two adults.
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