- speakers
Throughout the year, JDC has key spokespeople from around the world visit American and Canadian Federations, Foundations and events to share first-hand experiences of how JDC is improving Jewish lives and Jewish life in Israel and overseas. Please contact us at speakers@jdc.org
for more information.
Here is a list of some of the topics and regions and JDC speakers available:
GLOBAL
AFRICA/ASIA
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
FORMER SOVIET UNION
ISRAEL
LATIN AMERICA
NON-SECTARIAN
GLOBAL
Director: Global Program Strategy -- Arieh D.
Prior to this position, Arieh served as Special Advisor to the Executive Vice-President, and Director of Special Projects in JDC’s FSU Department where he was responsible for developing new programs, strategic and financial planning and donor relations. Arieh also spearheaded JDC's pioneering Children's Initiative and oversaw work with local communities in the FSU to develop programs for children at risk and their families.
AFRICA/ASIA
Executive Vice President: Jewish Community of Turkey -- Lina F.
Lina became the first professional leader in the history of the Jewish community when she began serving as the Executive Vice President of the Jewish Community of Turkey in 2001.
Director: Africa & Asia
Deputy Director: JDC-Israel -- Zvi F.
Zvi is the former Director of the Hebrew University’s Schwartz Program, a post-graduate Program for Directors and Senior Personnel for Community Centers in Israel. In previous years, he served JDC as the Country Director for Poland, as the JDC consultant on social services for many countries including Morocco, France, Romania and the transmigrant programs in Vienna and Rome, as well as Chief Program Officer for AJJDC-New York which included serving as Area Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
In Israel, Zvi served for over 18 years as Chairman of the Board of ESHEL - the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel - JDC’s major vehicle for carrying out its programs for the aged in Israel.
Country Director: India -- Elijah J.
In the course of his work, Elijah utilizes his unique and profoundly personal understanding of the Indian Jewish community to develop and implement JDC programs. He has supervised the establishment of a Home for the Elderly in Manpada, Thane and the founding of the Evelyn Peters Jewish Community Center in Mumbai (Bombay). The JCC currently serves as the center for almost all Jewish community activities in the Mumbai/Thane region.
Medical Director: Ethiopia -- Dr. Rick H.
In 1990, Rick began his current position as Director of JDC's Medical Programs in Ethiopia, and a year later was the physician responsible for the 14,400 Ethiopians who were airlifted to Israel in Operation Solomon. Today, Rick manages JDC's two medical clinics in Addis Abba and Gondar City, which care for 10,000 Falash Mura. Rick supervises the clinics' medical programs, which provide treatments, immunizations, pre and postnatal care, health education and family planning services, as well as nutritional assistance. In addition, the doctor acts as an advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Health, is the attending physician at the Mother Teresa Mission and runs a pioneering program he designed that sends Ethiopian children to America for free heart surgery.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Area Director: Hungary, Romania & Bulgaria -- Jorge D.
Jorge was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and immigrated to Israel in 1990. In 1994, he became the first resident JDC Program Coordinator in Havana, Cuba. He then served as JDC Country Director for the Baltic States of the former Soviet Union, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Kaliningrad. Subsequently, Jorge was the Director of the JDC-Buncher Community Leadership Training Program. The Buncher Program strengthens Jewish communities around the world and reinforces the connection between leaders in Israel and in the Diaspora.
As a result of his work, he has acquired broad professional experience in the areas of leadership training and Jewish community development. These skills have been strengthened as a result of his grass-roots work with developing Jewish communities in Latin America, Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union, and India.
FORMER SOVIET UNION
Country Director: Central, Western and Southern Ukraine -- Yitzchak A.
Yitzchak (Itzik) was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, where he attended university and studied engineering, construction and architecture. During the 1960s Itzik was an active refusnik, and in 1971, at the age of twenty-three, he finally realized his dream and made aliyah. As a new immigrant, he began a teaching career at the ORT Technological School in Jerusalem and proceeded to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, where he achieved officer rank.
In 1991, Itzik was approached by JDC to create a logistics program for JDC’s expanding welfare and Jewish renewal operations in the former Soviet Union. Itzik went on to serve as a JDC representative in Moscow and then in the Volga region of Central Russia. Six years later, Itzik was appointed as JDC’s Country Director for Northern and Eastern Ukraine, responsible for all of JDC’s activities in the region. During his tenure, Itzik has helped local Jewish communities establish JCCs and Hesed welfare centers. In addition, he implemented the young Jewish leadership program that trains future Jewish communal leaders, and developed programs for religious communities across the FSU. In 2003, Itzik took on a new JDC position as Country Director for Central, Western and Southern Ukraine, which is home to the largest Jewish populations centers in Ukraine.
Country Director: St. Petersburg, Ural and Volga Regions -- Jonathan P.
Jonathan serves as the County Director for JDC programs in Western Russia, including St. Petersburg, the Volga and Ural Regions. Among his proudest achievements are his part in founding the student organization Hillel in the FSU, and creating "Sefer: The Moscow Center for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilization", the central address for academic Judaica in post-Soviet Russia.
Country Director: Moldova and Belarus and Legal Affairs -- Stuart S.
Stuart joined JDC in 1989, when it was commencing its first ac¬tivities in the FSU since 1938 when Stalin had ordered the JDC out of the USSR. He started work in Belorussia helping Jewish communities to build and reorganize. In 1991, Stuart, together with his family, moved to Odessa, Ukraine, becoming the first and only officially recognized permanent JDC representative in the USSR in 53 years.
Since his return to Israel from Odessa in 1993, Stuart has served as: Director of Field Operations, responsible for legal and administrative questions relating to all sixteen JDC offices in the FSU (1994-2000); Country Director for the Urals and Volga region (2000 - 2001); and Country Director for Belarus and Moldova (2001- present). When not in the FSU, Stuart resides in Jerusalem.
Director of Strategic Development: Moscow -- Mandie W.
Mandie is currently posted in Moscow, Russia. In this role she is responsible for community and external relations, Non-Sectarian interests in Moscow, and oversight of grants provided to Moscow for community development programming. She also works closely with the JDC Representative to implement the strategic planning process for Moscow.
Previous to her appointment to Russia, Mandie served as JDC’s Country Representative for Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, she was responsible for oversight of the implementation and budget of 15 humanitarian assistance and rebuilding projects totaling over $5 million. These non-sectarian efforts constitute JDC's rehabilitation programs in a country that was devastated by the waves of the December 2004 Southeast Asian Tsunami.
Before her posting to Sri Lanka, Mandie was based in Jerusalem. At JDC she was responsible for building partnership programs between communities in the FSU and those elsewhere in the Diaspora as well as other special projects for JDC programs in the FSU, namely Hillel for students and the Children's Initiative.
Community Program Coordinator: Odessa, Ukraine -- Irina Z.
Irina has become a leader in the area of Jewish Community Development in Southern Ukraine. Working in JDC's Odessa office, she utilizes her extensive academic expertise in ethnic and minority sociology—including a Ph.D. from Odessa National University—to lead JDC projects and programming that provide Jewish Renewal as well as welfare relief for Jewish elderly, children and families.
Irina began her career with JDC in the midst of her academic research, as she examined and wrote about the surge of Jewish identification within the Jewish community of the former Soviet Union in the post-Communist era.
Director of Jewish Renewal: St. Petersburg -- Tanya P.
Tatiana (Tanya) joined JDC’s St. Petersburg office in 2002 and is responsible for overseeing community development efforts in the city. She has been actively involved in YESOD (St. Petersburg Jewish Community Home). Tanya also helped develop a pilot program in adult Jewish education. The 120-hour course for Jewish communal professionals is designed for JDC’s William Rosenwald Institute for Communal and Welfare Workers in St. Petersburg and provides community professionals with an in-depth education program in Jewish culture and traditions.
Country Director: Baltics -- Andres S.
Andres is the JDC Country Director for the Baltic States consisting of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and is the Director of Leatid Europe, a JDC leadership development program for professional and lay leaders.
ISRAEL
Director-General: JDC-Israel -- Arnon M.
Arnon is Director of JDC-Israel, the Israel arm of the JDC. Born in Ukraine, he has devoted his professional career to easing the immigration and absorption of newcomers to Israel and to fostering relations between Israelis and the world Jewish community.
Director: Immigrant Integration Division – Danny P.
Danny directs JDC-Israel’s Immigrant Integration Division, a position in which he initiates and develops projects to help resettle and integrate immigrants from places such as Syria, Ethiopia and the FSU. His division’s flagship programs are Atzmaut – family-based intervention to help Ethiopians become more self sufficient and Drop-In Centers for Young Adults. Other successes include entrepreneur training, advancing immigrant women, and work toward preserving ethnic cultures and traditions. For Israel’s Ethiopian community, the division has developed a range of special health-related programs run by health facilitators from the community itself. His division also strives to help the Kavkazim, Caucasus Mountain Jews from the Former Soviet Union, to help themselves to overcome their difficulties in integrating into Israeli Society. Danny has over 20 years of experience in resettlement, including extensive fieldwork in and outside of Israel: he was involved in planning the Operation Solomon rescue of Ethiopian Jews, and with aiding in the absorption of special groups, such as Jews from Buchara, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen, into Israeli society.
Non Profit Sector Area Head: JDC-ELKA -- Galit S.
This program aims to upgrade the social and community services provided by Israel’s voluntary sector. Galit began her work with JDC in 1997. Among her various activities, Galit is in charge of professional training and development programs for NGO executives, creating consultation frameworks and is attempting to influence the process of accreditation of Israeli NGOs. Galit is also responsible for capacity building of Israeli NGOs - a new area of activity at JDC. In the past, Galit has developed and managed training programs for senior government, and local authority executives, among whom: division heads in government ministries, education department directors in local authorities and high ranking executives responsible for senior citizens.
Caucasus Israeli Activist: Kiryat Yam --Tamar N.
Tamar was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1976. She moved to Israel with her family in 1980 and settled in Kiryat Yam. As Kavkazim (immigrants from the Caucasus Mountain region of the former Soviet Union), Tamar and her family experienced severe difficulties integrating into their new home and adapting from their tight-knit, traditional and patriarchal communities to modern, western Israeli society.
Director: Africa & Asia
Deputy Director: JDC-Israel -- Zvi F.
Zvi is the former Director of the Hebrew University’s Schwartz Program, a post-graduate Program for Directors and Senior Personnel for Community Centers in Israel. In previous years, he served JDC as the Country Director for Poland, as the JDC consultant on social services for many countries including Morocco, France, Romania and the transmigrant programs in Vienna and Rome, as well as Chief Program Officer for AJJDC-New York which included serving as Area Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
In Israel, Zvi served for over 18 years as Chairman of the Board of ESHEL - the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel - JDC’s major vehicle for carrying out its programs for the aged in Israel.
Director: JDC-Eshel -- Yitzchak B.
Dr. Yitzhak has been Director General of JDC-ESHEL, the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel since 1988. JDC-ESHEL was formed by JDC and the government of Israel three decades ago to respond to the critical challenge faced by the nation in meeting the needs of its older citizens. The doctor also currently serves as President of the International Federation on Ageing (IFA), one of the leading international organizations developing and promoting policies, programs and services to improve the quality of life of older persons around the world. In addition, he is President of the Israel Council on Social Welfare and Chairman of the Council of Social Workers.
Director: Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute – Professor Jack H.
Jack received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and is professor emeritus of economics and social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently Director of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Israel’s leading center for applied social research.
Jack also serves as Director of the Center for Children and Youth, which was established in 1995 at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute to promote the well-being of children and their families.
Director: ALEH Leadership Program for the Ethiopian-Israeli Community
Director: Operation Atzmaut, Be'er Yaakov -- Matti E.
Having made Aliyah to Israel in 1956, Matti is responsible for the development of leadership in the Ethiopian community in Israel and has been with JDC since 1992.
Director: TEVET Employment Initiative – Professor Yossi T.
Yossi is currently spearheading JDC's new partnership with the Government of Israel for increased independence through employment. The initiative seeks to integrate severely unemployed Israelis and the most vulnerable individuals, such as long-term welfare recipients and young socially-isolated Israelis, into the workforce.
Previous to this appointment Yossi was the Executive Director of Ashalim - The Association for Planning and Development of Services for Children & Youth at Risk & their Families founded by the JDC, the Government of Israel and UJA-Federation of New York. He is also a member of the faculty of the Hebrew University Baerwald School of Social Work. Previously, Yossi was Director General of the National Insurance Institute (Israel’s Social Security administration). In the past, he has served as director of the JDC-Brookdale Institute and lectured at Ben Gurion University. He earned an M.A. in Economics, an M.P.A. from Harvard, as well as an L.L.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yossi is a member of the Israel Bar Association.
LATIN AMERICA
Director: JDC’s Argentina Baby Help Program -- Viviana B.
A professional with over 20 years experience in designing and implementing social welfare programs, Viviana currently serves as the director of JDC’s Baby Help Program in Argentina. The Baby Help Program ensures that pregnant women, and mothers of young children from birth to the age of three, are supplied with necessities such as food, medicine, nutritional supplements and proper vaccinations.
Program Coordinator: Latin American -- Monica C.
Since 1994, Monica C. has worked in the JDC's Buenos Aires office where she has held responsibility for the development of special educational programs for the Jewish community and served as a consultant in the areas of leadership and community development. She has also overseen JDC activities in Uruguay and Venezuela, designing and implementing programs that trained local leadership and strengthened existing community programs.
Most recently, Monica has been working on helping Argentinean Jews who have been affected by the recent economic crisis find employment through the coordination of a special Job Guidance and Counseling Service of the Professional Council for Latin America. This program offers effective responses to employment needs of Jewish professionals by matching them with job openings in community institutions.
Director: JDC Programs Leatid – Diego F.
Associate Director: Argentina/Leatid -- Jorge S.
Jorge is currently serving as both the Executive Director of the Tzedaka Foundation and Associate Director of JDC in Latin America. The Tzedaka Foundation is JDC's active partner in Argentina for initiating and implementing welfare programs.
Jorge is responsible for providing Argentina's Jewish community with professional help and support. His considerable experience working in communities throughout Latin America has enabled him to coordinate and implement a response to the ongoing economic crisis facing the Jewish population. Jorge is also the Director of Latin America's Division of the Leatid Training Center, which works to support and develop the country's Jewish institutions and ensure Jewish continuity through training of professional and lay leaders.
Director: European Community Development & Latin American Programs -- Alberto S.
Director: Social Welfare in Argentina -- Dr. Fabian T.
As Director of Social Welfare programs for JDC in Argentina, Dr. Fabian is responsible for overseeing the extensive JDC-supported social welfare network of Social Assistance Centers that has been developed in response to the economic crisis in the country. This includes supervising welfare services such as food programs in Jewish schools, distribution of medicines, and cash assistance that have been provided to the country's impoverished Jews.
NON-SECTARIAN
Assistant Executive Vice President -- Will R.
Will serves as the senior staff person regarding all of JDC’s non-sectarian and disaster relief programs. Will is also the Desk Director for Latin America and Europe Community Development at JDC headquarters in New York.
Please contact us at speakers@jdc.org with any questions or requests.
Here is a list of some of the topics and regions and JDC speakers available:
GLOBAL
AFRICA/ASIA
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
FORMER SOVIET UNION
ISRAEL
LATIN AMERICA
NON-SECTARIAN
GLOBAL
Director: Global Program Strategy -- Arieh D.
Prior to this position, Arieh served as Special Advisor to the Executive Vice-President, and Director of Special Projects in JDC’s FSU Department where he was responsible for developing new programs, strategic and financial planning and donor relations. Arieh also spearheaded JDC's pioneering Children's Initiative and oversaw work with local communities in the FSU to develop programs for children at risk and their families.
AFRICA/ASIA
Executive Vice President: Jewish Community of Turkey -- Lina F.
Lina became the first professional leader in the history of the Jewish community when she began serving as the Executive Vice President of the Jewish Community of Turkey in 2001.
Director: Africa & Asia
Deputy Director: JDC-Israel -- Zvi F.
Zvi is the former Director of the Hebrew University’s Schwartz Program, a post-graduate Program for Directors and Senior Personnel for Community Centers in Israel. In previous years, he served JDC as the Country Director for Poland, as the JDC consultant on social services for many countries including Morocco, France, Romania and the transmigrant programs in Vienna and Rome, as well as Chief Program Officer for AJJDC-New York which included serving as Area Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
In Israel, Zvi served for over 18 years as Chairman of the Board of ESHEL - the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel - JDC’s major vehicle for carrying out its programs for the aged in Israel.
Country Director: India -- Elijah J.
In the course of his work, Elijah utilizes his unique and profoundly personal understanding of the Indian Jewish community to develop and implement JDC programs. He has supervised the establishment of a Home for the Elderly in Manpada, Thane and the founding of the Evelyn Peters Jewish Community Center in Mumbai (Bombay). The JCC currently serves as the center for almost all Jewish community activities in the Mumbai/Thane region.
Medical Director: Ethiopia -- Dr. Rick H.
In 1990, Rick began his current position as Director of JDC's Medical Programs in Ethiopia, and a year later was the physician responsible for the 14,400 Ethiopians who were airlifted to Israel in Operation Solomon. Today, Rick manages JDC's two medical clinics in Addis Abba and Gondar City, which care for 10,000 Falash Mura. Rick supervises the clinics' medical programs, which provide treatments, immunizations, pre and postnatal care, health education and family planning services, as well as nutritional assistance. In addition, the doctor acts as an advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Health, is the attending physician at the Mother Teresa Mission and runs a pioneering program he designed that sends Ethiopian children to America for free heart surgery.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Area Director: Hungary, Romania & Bulgaria -- Jorge D.
Jorge was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and immigrated to Israel in 1990. In 1994, he became the first resident JDC Program Coordinator in Havana, Cuba. He then served as JDC Country Director for the Baltic States of the former Soviet Union, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Kaliningrad. Subsequently, Jorge was the Director of the JDC-Buncher Community Leadership Training Program. The Buncher Program strengthens Jewish communities around the world and reinforces the connection between leaders in Israel and in the Diaspora.
As a result of his work, he has acquired broad professional experience in the areas of leadership training and Jewish community development. These skills have been strengthened as a result of his grass-roots work with developing Jewish communities in Latin America, Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union, and India.
FORMER SOVIET UNION
Country Director: Central, Western and Southern Ukraine -- Yitzchak A.
Yitzchak (Itzik) was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, where he attended university and studied engineering, construction and architecture. During the 1960s Itzik was an active refusnik, and in 1971, at the age of twenty-three, he finally realized his dream and made aliyah. As a new immigrant, he began a teaching career at the ORT Technological School in Jerusalem and proceeded to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, where he achieved officer rank.
In 1991, Itzik was approached by JDC to create a logistics program for JDC’s expanding welfare and Jewish renewal operations in the former Soviet Union. Itzik went on to serve as a JDC representative in Moscow and then in the Volga region of Central Russia. Six years later, Itzik was appointed as JDC’s Country Director for Northern and Eastern Ukraine, responsible for all of JDC’s activities in the region. During his tenure, Itzik has helped local Jewish communities establish JCCs and Hesed welfare centers. In addition, he implemented the young Jewish leadership program that trains future Jewish communal leaders, and developed programs for religious communities across the FSU. In 2003, Itzik took on a new JDC position as Country Director for Central, Western and Southern Ukraine, which is home to the largest Jewish populations centers in Ukraine.
Country Director: St. Petersburg, Ural and Volga Regions -- Jonathan P.
Jonathan serves as the County Director for JDC programs in Western Russia, including St. Petersburg, the Volga and Ural Regions. Among his proudest achievements are his part in founding the student organization Hillel in the FSU, and creating "Sefer: The Moscow Center for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilization", the central address for academic Judaica in post-Soviet Russia.
Country Director: Moldova and Belarus and Legal Affairs -- Stuart S.
Stuart joined JDC in 1989, when it was commencing its first ac¬tivities in the FSU since 1938 when Stalin had ordered the JDC out of the USSR. He started work in Belorussia helping Jewish communities to build and reorganize. In 1991, Stuart, together with his family, moved to Odessa, Ukraine, becoming the first and only officially recognized permanent JDC representative in the USSR in 53 years.
Since his return to Israel from Odessa in 1993, Stuart has served as: Director of Field Operations, responsible for legal and administrative questions relating to all sixteen JDC offices in the FSU (1994-2000); Country Director for the Urals and Volga region (2000 - 2001); and Country Director for Belarus and Moldova (2001- present). When not in the FSU, Stuart resides in Jerusalem.
Director of Strategic Development: Moscow -- Mandie W.
Mandie is currently posted in Moscow, Russia. In this role she is responsible for community and external relations, Non-Sectarian interests in Moscow, and oversight of grants provided to Moscow for community development programming. She also works closely with the JDC Representative to implement the strategic planning process for Moscow.
Previous to her appointment to Russia, Mandie served as JDC’s Country Representative for Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, she was responsible for oversight of the implementation and budget of 15 humanitarian assistance and rebuilding projects totaling over $5 million. These non-sectarian efforts constitute JDC's rehabilitation programs in a country that was devastated by the waves of the December 2004 Southeast Asian Tsunami.
Before her posting to Sri Lanka, Mandie was based in Jerusalem. At JDC she was responsible for building partnership programs between communities in the FSU and those elsewhere in the Diaspora as well as other special projects for JDC programs in the FSU, namely Hillel for students and the Children's Initiative.
Community Program Coordinator: Odessa, Ukraine -- Irina Z.
Irina has become a leader in the area of Jewish Community Development in Southern Ukraine. Working in JDC's Odessa office, she utilizes her extensive academic expertise in ethnic and minority sociology—including a Ph.D. from Odessa National University—to lead JDC projects and programming that provide Jewish Renewal as well as welfare relief for Jewish elderly, children and families.
Irina began her career with JDC in the midst of her academic research, as she examined and wrote about the surge of Jewish identification within the Jewish community of the former Soviet Union in the post-Communist era.
Director of Jewish Renewal: St. Petersburg -- Tanya P.
Tatiana (Tanya) joined JDC’s St. Petersburg office in 2002 and is responsible for overseeing community development efforts in the city. She has been actively involved in YESOD (St. Petersburg Jewish Community Home). Tanya also helped develop a pilot program in adult Jewish education. The 120-hour course for Jewish communal professionals is designed for JDC’s William Rosenwald Institute for Communal and Welfare Workers in St. Petersburg and provides community professionals with an in-depth education program in Jewish culture and traditions.
Country Director: Baltics -- Andres S.
Andres is the JDC Country Director for the Baltic States consisting of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and is the Director of Leatid Europe, a JDC leadership development program for professional and lay leaders.
ISRAEL
Director-General: JDC-Israel -- Arnon M.
Arnon is Director of JDC-Israel, the Israel arm of the JDC. Born in Ukraine, he has devoted his professional career to easing the immigration and absorption of newcomers to Israel and to fostering relations between Israelis and the world Jewish community.
Director: Immigrant Integration Division – Danny P.
Danny directs JDC-Israel’s Immigrant Integration Division, a position in which he initiates and develops projects to help resettle and integrate immigrants from places such as Syria, Ethiopia and the FSU. His division’s flagship programs are Atzmaut – family-based intervention to help Ethiopians become more self sufficient and Drop-In Centers for Young Adults. Other successes include entrepreneur training, advancing immigrant women, and work toward preserving ethnic cultures and traditions. For Israel’s Ethiopian community, the division has developed a range of special health-related programs run by health facilitators from the community itself. His division also strives to help the Kavkazim, Caucasus Mountain Jews from the Former Soviet Union, to help themselves to overcome their difficulties in integrating into Israeli Society. Danny has over 20 years of experience in resettlement, including extensive fieldwork in and outside of Israel: he was involved in planning the Operation Solomon rescue of Ethiopian Jews, and with aiding in the absorption of special groups, such as Jews from Buchara, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen, into Israeli society.
Non Profit Sector Area Head: JDC-ELKA -- Galit S.
This program aims to upgrade the social and community services provided by Israel’s voluntary sector. Galit began her work with JDC in 1997. Among her various activities, Galit is in charge of professional training and development programs for NGO executives, creating consultation frameworks and is attempting to influence the process of accreditation of Israeli NGOs. Galit is also responsible for capacity building of Israeli NGOs - a new area of activity at JDC. In the past, Galit has developed and managed training programs for senior government, and local authority executives, among whom: division heads in government ministries, education department directors in local authorities and high ranking executives responsible for senior citizens.
Caucasus Israeli Activist: Kiryat Yam --Tamar N.
Tamar was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1976. She moved to Israel with her family in 1980 and settled in Kiryat Yam. As Kavkazim (immigrants from the Caucasus Mountain region of the former Soviet Union), Tamar and her family experienced severe difficulties integrating into their new home and adapting from their tight-knit, traditional and patriarchal communities to modern, western Israeli society.
Director: Africa & Asia
Deputy Director: JDC-Israel -- Zvi F.
Zvi is the former Director of the Hebrew University’s Schwartz Program, a post-graduate Program for Directors and Senior Personnel for Community Centers in Israel. In previous years, he served JDC as the Country Director for Poland, as the JDC consultant on social services for many countries including Morocco, France, Romania and the transmigrant programs in Vienna and Rome, as well as Chief Program Officer for AJJDC-New York which included serving as Area Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
In Israel, Zvi served for over 18 years as Chairman of the Board of ESHEL - the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel - JDC’s major vehicle for carrying out its programs for the aged in Israel.
Director: JDC-Eshel -- Yitzchak B.
Dr. Yitzhak has been Director General of JDC-ESHEL, the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel since 1988. JDC-ESHEL was formed by JDC and the government of Israel three decades ago to respond to the critical challenge faced by the nation in meeting the needs of its older citizens. The doctor also currently serves as President of the International Federation on Ageing (IFA), one of the leading international organizations developing and promoting policies, programs and services to improve the quality of life of older persons around the world. In addition, he is President of the Israel Council on Social Welfare and Chairman of the Council of Social Workers.
Director: Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute – Professor Jack H.
Jack received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and is professor emeritus of economics and social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently Director of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Israel’s leading center for applied social research.
Jack also serves as Director of the Center for Children and Youth, which was established in 1995 at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute to promote the well-being of children and their families.
Director: ALEH Leadership Program for the Ethiopian-Israeli Community
Director: Operation Atzmaut, Be'er Yaakov -- Matti E.
Having made Aliyah to Israel in 1956, Matti is responsible for the development of leadership in the Ethiopian community in Israel and has been with JDC since 1992.
Director: TEVET Employment Initiative – Professor Yossi T.
Yossi is currently spearheading JDC's new partnership with the Government of Israel for increased independence through employment. The initiative seeks to integrate severely unemployed Israelis and the most vulnerable individuals, such as long-term welfare recipients and young socially-isolated Israelis, into the workforce.
Previous to this appointment Yossi was the Executive Director of Ashalim - The Association for Planning and Development of Services for Children & Youth at Risk & their Families founded by the JDC, the Government of Israel and UJA-Federation of New York. He is also a member of the faculty of the Hebrew University Baerwald School of Social Work. Previously, Yossi was Director General of the National Insurance Institute (Israel’s Social Security administration). In the past, he has served as director of the JDC-Brookdale Institute and lectured at Ben Gurion University. He earned an M.A. in Economics, an M.P.A. from Harvard, as well as an L.L.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yossi is a member of the Israel Bar Association.
LATIN AMERICA
Director: JDC’s Argentina Baby Help Program -- Viviana B.
A professional with over 20 years experience in designing and implementing social welfare programs, Viviana currently serves as the director of JDC’s Baby Help Program in Argentina. The Baby Help Program ensures that pregnant women, and mothers of young children from birth to the age of three, are supplied with necessities such as food, medicine, nutritional supplements and proper vaccinations.
Program Coordinator: Latin American -- Monica C.
Since 1994, Monica C. has worked in the JDC's Buenos Aires office where she has held responsibility for the development of special educational programs for the Jewish community and served as a consultant in the areas of leadership and community development. She has also overseen JDC activities in Uruguay and Venezuela, designing and implementing programs that trained local leadership and strengthened existing community programs.
Most recently, Monica has been working on helping Argentinean Jews who have been affected by the recent economic crisis find employment through the coordination of a special Job Guidance and Counseling Service of the Professional Council for Latin America. This program offers effective responses to employment needs of Jewish professionals by matching them with job openings in community institutions.
Director: JDC Programs Leatid – Diego F.
Associate Director: Argentina/Leatid -- Jorge S.
Jorge is currently serving as both the Executive Director of the Tzedaka Foundation and Associate Director of JDC in Latin America. The Tzedaka Foundation is JDC's active partner in Argentina for initiating and implementing welfare programs.
Jorge is responsible for providing Argentina's Jewish community with professional help and support. His considerable experience working in communities throughout Latin America has enabled him to coordinate and implement a response to the ongoing economic crisis facing the Jewish population. Jorge is also the Director of Latin America's Division of the Leatid Training Center, which works to support and develop the country's Jewish institutions and ensure Jewish continuity through training of professional and lay leaders.
Director: European Community Development & Latin American Programs -- Alberto S.
Director: Social Welfare in Argentina -- Dr. Fabian T.
As Director of Social Welfare programs for JDC in Argentina, Dr. Fabian is responsible for overseeing the extensive JDC-supported social welfare network of Social Assistance Centers that has been developed in response to the economic crisis in the country. This includes supervising welfare services such as food programs in Jewish schools, distribution of medicines, and cash assistance that have been provided to the country's impoverished Jews.
NON-SECTARIAN
Assistant Executive Vice President -- Will R.
Will serves as the senior staff person regarding all of JDC’s non-sectarian and disaster relief programs. Will is also the Desk Director for Latin America and Europe Community Development at JDC headquarters in New York.
Please contact us at speakers@jdc.org with any questions or requests.
Updated January 2007
