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Mr. Larry S. Moses
President, The Wexner Foundation
Larry Moses became President of The Wexner Foundation in July of 1998, and also assumed responsibility for the Wexner Heritage Foundation in 2003. Previously, since 1987, he served as the founding Director of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, and was the principal professional responsible for the creation and development of the fellowship. In this capacity, Mr. Moses created the far-reaching leadership and community development aspects of the program. The fellowship devotes itself to enhancing the quality of professional leadership for the North American Jewish community, and Wexner fellows span a broad diversity of professional interests and Jewish backgrounds.
Mr. Moses, in his capacity of Foundation President, also exercises leadership in the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program, an initiative that brings ten mid-career Israeli government officials to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government each year for an M.A. in Public Administration and a variety of leadership development institutes and activities. In the past sixteen years, 154 Israeli public leaders have participated in the fellowship, many of whom are today at the highest rungs of government service in Israel.
A variety of Jewish and general philanthropic foundations seek Mr. Moses' guidance in developing both individual and institutional grants programs. He sits on many international, national and regional boards, civic and Jewish. Mr. Moses’ published articles and keynote presentations, often centering on the challenges of leadership in modern Jewish life, have been widely circulated.
Prior to joining the professional staff of The Wexner Foundation, he served for three years as the International Director of Hillel (1984-1987) in Washington, D.C. From 1980-1984, he was the Executive Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education in San Francisco. He began his career as the Hillel Director at San Francisco State University, where he also served as an instructor of Jewish history in the History Department (1975-1980). |
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Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson
Vice President, Leadership Programs
Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson is Director of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. She is responsible for the programs, policies, and strategic planning for this major component of the Foundation's activities. Rabbi Abrahamson plays the central role in interpreting the program, recruiting applicants, staffing the fellowship selection committee, engaging and deploying faculty, developing leadership institutes, mentoring fellows, and representing the program to the larger community.
Rabbi Abrahamson has been closely involved with The Wexner Foundation for many years. For close to a decade she served as a member of the fellowship's faculty. In addition, she served on the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Committee.
Rabbi Abrahamson was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with high distinction, with a BS degree in secondary education. She spent the early years of her career creating curriculum for Religious Schools and Informal Jewish Educational settings, particularly Jewish camping. Rabbi Abrahamson received her Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, (HUC-JIR) Los Angeles, in 1983 and was ordained at HUC-JIR, New York, in 1985. She has been invited to return as Alumna-in-Residence at both campuses. She was the assistant, associate and interim rabbi at Peninsula Temple Beth El, San Mateo, CA for several years. With her husband, Rabbi Martin (Misha) Zinkow, she served as co-senior rabbi at Mount Zion Temple, one of fifteen Reform and Conservative congregations participating as a pilot site for Synagogue 2000, a program in synagogue transformation. She has played a key leadership role in the Women's Rabbinic Network, co-chairing the 1993 two of its conventions. |
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Ms. Cindy Chazan
Vice President, Alumni and Community Development
Cindy Chazan is Director of Alumni and Community Development for The Wexner Foundation. She directs the Foundation's alumni programs, facilitates collaborations among the Wexner Leadership constituencies in North America and in Israel, and engages Jewish communities in greater leadership development activities. Ms. Chazan is based in New York City.
Prior to coming to the Foundation, Cindy Chazan was the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. Before that, she was Special Projects Associate for the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America (then the Jewish Welfare Board) where she staffed the Mandel Commission on Maximizing Jewish Educational Effectiveness of JCC's. Ms. Chazan was the Director of the Koffler Centre of the Arts in Toronto.
Ms. Chazan holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from McGill University and an M.A. in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University. Born in Montreal, she is a graduate of the United Talmud Torah Jewish Day School. |
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Ms. Lori Baron
Director, Operations and Conferences
Lori Baron has been with the Wexner Heritage Foundation since 1989. Prior to joining the Foundation, she held several positions during her 10-year tenure with the National United Jewish Appeal, including five years as the Associate Director of the Young Leadership Cabinet. She began her career as a 10th-grade English teacher in New York after receiving her degree in English Education and Psychology. |
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Ms. Brigitte Dayan
Director, Wexner Alumni Network
Brigitte Dayan joined the Wexner Heritage Foundation in 2002. She most recently worked as managing editor of JUF News, a monthly Jewish newspaper in Chicago. Dayan has served as education director at Anshe Sholom Bnai Israel Congregation in Chicago and has taught Jewish studies in adult education programs and in day schools. A native of Paris and Chicago, she holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, where she graduated with Highest Distinction. She also holds a master's degree in Bible from Yeshiva University and spent two years studying Talmud at New York’s Drisha Institute for Women. |
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Mr. Or Mars
Director, Graduate Fellowship Program
Or Mars served for six years as the Executive Director of North Carolina Hillel before coming to the Foundation. He received his MSW from USC and an MA in Jewish Communal Service from HUC, in Los Angeles. An Alumnus of The Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Or also studied at JTS, Columbia, Hebrew University, Pardes and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel. |
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Rabbi Jay Henry Moses
Director, Wexner Heritage Program
Rabbi Jay Henry Moses currently serves as the Director of the Wexner Heritage Program, North America’s premier Jewish Leadership Education program. He joined the staff of the Wexner Foundation in 2003.
Rabbi Moses got his start in Jewish leadership through NFTY, Reform Judaism’s youth movement. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English literature, magna cum laude. He enrolled at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and was awarded a Wexner Graduate Fellowship.
Ordained in 1997, Rabbi Moses then served for five years as Associate Rabbi at Temple Sholom of Chicago. In this capacity, he oversaw one of the leading congregational Adult Education programs in North America. While in Chicago, Moses served as Treasurer for the Chicago Association of Reform Rabbis. Together with an Orthodox rabbi, he published a monthly column in the Chicago Jewish News.
From 2002 to 2003, Rabbi Moses studied Jewish mysticism in Jerusalem where he also taught and mentored rabbinical students at HUC-JIR. Moses has participated in the Rabbinic Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, an intensive study, meditation, and retreat program.
Rabbi Moses sits on the board of Kavod, a non-profit tzedakah collective, and also served as Kavod’s Shaliach (emissary) in Jerusalem and as its allocations chair. He has exercised volunteer leadership with Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, including staffing its homeless shelter. He is also a member of the B’nai Ya’acov Council of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.
Rabbi Moses is on the Faculty of the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan and its Makom: Center for Mindfulness, and has also taught at the 92nd Street Y.
Rabbi Moses lives in New York with his wife, Bat-Ami Moses. |
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Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman
Founding President Emeritus, Wexner Heritage
Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, a former executive chairman of the national United Jewish Appeal for more than 20 years, co-founded the Wexner Heritage Foundation in 1985 with Leslie Wexner, chairman of Limited Brands. Friedman served as the Foundation's president for a decade. He is an eminent authority on Jewish overseas needs and on Israel's birth, growth and development. His contributions to Jewish life are numerous, and range from actively participating in the Haganah and its Aliyah Bet mission to creating the Israel Education Fund. |
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Rabbi Nathan Laufer
President Emeritus. Wexner Heritage
Rabbi Nathan Laufer joined the Wexner Heritage Foundation in 1986, soon after its creation, and served as Director of Programs and Vice President before becoming President and CEO in 1994. Prior to his arrival at the Foundation, he was Director of East Coast Educational Programs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Director of Legal Affairs for the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews. Laufer, who is a graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and the Fordham University School of Law, teaches and lectures across the country regarding issues of leadership, Jewish identity, day school education and the future of Judaism and North American Jewry. |
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