Meet Our Staff

Melanie Roth Gorelick

Chief Executive Officer

Melanie Roth Gorelick was the former Senior Vice President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (2016- June 2023), a national Jewish organization that represents the consensus positions of the diverse Jewish community in the public square focused on building a just, equitable and pluralistic America and support for a democratic Israel. She has dedicated her life’s work to women’s rights, community relations, and social justice causes in roles at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey, the UN Development Fund for Women (now renamed UN Women), American Association of University Women, among others. Melanie founded the NJ Coalition on Human Trafficking in 2012 and has received a number of recognitions including a Human Rights Award from Kean University, and a Government Affairs Award from the Jewish Federation of North America. In 2022, Melanie produced and wrote a short documentary “A Feminist Lens: Art & Activism of Photographer Joan Roth” and launched “Making Women Visible: The Joan Roth Legacy Project” with the aim to make the plight of women visible through film, photography and storytelling.

Rachel Siegel

Director of Strategic Programs, oversees elluminate’s programmatic activities, including the grants portfolio of Jewish women social entrepreneurs, as well as elluminate’s communications strategy. Prior to joining elluminate, Rachel received her Master of Science in Social Work with a focus in Social Enterprise Administration from Columbia University. During her graduate studies Rachel completed an internship with UJA-Federation of New York where she aided in the grantmaking process for older adults, including a new initiative for voluntarism in the Baby Boomer cohort. Earlier, Rachel served as the Marketing and Communications Assistant for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), where she was responsible for assisting with the organization’s marketing efforts and coordinated the staff and board delegation to the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly conference. She also participated in the Jewish Communal Service Corps Fellowship at the Hillel in Philadelphia, where she was responsible for student engagement in Jewish life at Temple and Drexel Universities. Rachel received her undergraduate degree from Binghamton University.

Eva Stern

Director of Strategic Initiatives, is passionate about empowering communities to make Jewish life more engaging and accessible, Eva trains leaders, organizations, and communities to expand their audiences and increase belonging. Eva spent the first 12 years of her career at Big Tent Judaism/the Jewish Outreach Institute, where she served as the Senior Director of Training. In that role, she equipped hundreds of Jewish communities throughout North America with strategies to find, welcome, and inspire thousands of unengaged Jews and their loved ones in Jewish life each year. Eva then served as the New York Engagement Officer for PJ Library, at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. There, she designed and oversaw strategy to increase Jewish family engagement and partnerships in the New York area. She subsequently served as the Director of Next Gen Engagement at the Jewish Federations of North America, leading a pioneering professional development fellowship to grow the leadership and educational skills of top professionals. Eva is a sought-after trainer and speaker, facilitating motivating workshops that impart the critical leadership skills to build more dynamic and inclusive Jewish communities. Eva holds BA and MA degrees in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. She is a recipient of the 2010 JPRO Young Professional Award, and was named one of the “36 under 36” Jewish leaders by the New York Jewish Week. A native New Yorker, Eva spent a decade as a dedicated congregational lay leader. She received her synagogue’s first Next Generation Leadership award for her pioneering work building a vibrant Jewish community of young adults in the East Village.

Ruth Messinger

Ruth W. Messinger is a social justice activist, advocate and consultant, working primarily in the Jewish and interfaith communities, committed to
teaching about leadership and moral courage. She has worked for Elluminate as its Senior Advisor since 2019. 

President and CEO of American Jewish World Service (AJWS) from 1998 to July 2016, she is currently the organization’s Global Ambassador, continuing her crucial work to engage rabbis and other faith leaders to speak out on behalf of oppressed and persecuted communities worldwide.

Before AJWS, Ruth had a 20-year career in public service in New York City as a City Council member and Manhattan Borough President and became the first Democratic Party candidate for Mayor. 

She also serves, currently, as a parttime faculty member at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and is a social justice consultant at the JCC
of Manhattan.

Ruth is an active member of her congregation, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism—Judaism that Stands for All, and serves on the
boards of the Interfaith Council of New York and Aegis Trust.

She holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College and an M.S.W. from the University of Oklahoma. She is married to Andrew Lachman and has three children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Liron Peleg Hadomi, MSW

Liron is a social worker, a group facilitator, feminist and entrepreneur. Liron has  24 years experience in establishing and leading leadership programs at the national and international level. 

Liron is currently the Elluminate’s representative in Israel helping to convene their Israeli Cohort which brings together the Israeli women who are current and former fellows of the organization’s Collective Leadership Advancement Program for Jewish entrepreneurial women nonprofit CEOs working for social change through a gender lens. The Cohort was developed to help the CEOs navigate and support women executives during wartime taking place since October 7th.

Liron is the Founder and CEO of GENDA: Center for Training & Certificate Studies for the Advancement of Gender Equality – a  partner  with Haifa University in Israel.

Among the programs she has led over the years  are ‘Galilead’: Jewish and Arab leaders in the Galilee 2006-2009; ‘Learning Exchange” – mutual learning between social justice leaders from Haifa and Boston 2008-2014; and “Women Leading Change”  2010-2015 on behalf of the global organization Vital Voices. 

Liron was the National Council of Jewish Women representative in Israel when she developed and led the Connecting for Impact Fellowship Program to strengthen the feminist field in Israel from 2018-2021.  Prior to this she established the first ever round table of foundations and founders with a gender lens at the Forum for Foundations in Israel (2018). 

Liron received the VITAL VOICES 2011 Fern Holland Global Leadership Award (2011) which honors and celebrates women leaders who are working towards strengthening democracy and the Diane Von Furstenberg  Award for her work with Jewish and Arabs women in leadership positions in Israel (2014).  

She lives in Kiryat Ata in the north of Israel together with her partner Eran and her two kids Mika and Matan.

 O Or Mel B Br theSara Shapiro-Plevan, EdD

Sara Shapiro-Plevan, EdD, is all about relationships: Her essential focus: understanding how human connection influences our ability to seek wholeness and strive for equity as we create sustainable networks, communities and workplaces.

As the founder and CEO of the Gender Equity in Hiring Project, Sara put Jewish values of equity and justice into action to build workplaces that reflect the best of our human potential—transforming pervasive cultures of bias that too often prevent women and people of all genders from advancing into leadership. Drawing on her extensive experience as a consultant, coach, facilitator, and educator, Sara has invested her career in exploring how gender, power, and privilege shape the Jewish professional landscape. A member of Cohort 3 of the Collective, Sara is a product of Elluminate’s investment in feminist leadership.

Sara holds an EdD and an MA from the Davidson School of The Jewish Theological Seminary, a BA from Brandies University, and was Senior Educator at the Melton Center at Hebrew University. She is a Certified Salary Negotiation Specialist and an Advanced Career Facilitator for the 21st Century, Equitable Compensation Certification, and holds DEI in the Workplace Certification from MUMA School of Business at the University of South Florida. In addition, she is an ICF certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach. Sara serves as a board member of Camp Ramah New England and American University Hillel. 

While not originally from New York City, Sara has made the urban jungle home for most of her life, loves wearing lots of black and living in an apartment. Her favorite ways to share time with others typically involve bringing people together for meals and sharing conversation over coffee. If she is not busy organizing people, she’s likely reading a book (ask for a recommendation) or looking for the closest bookstore. She proudly uses sports metaphors in her work (mostly incorrectly), thanks to her son, who teaches her about gender equity every day.

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Ari Mosbacher

Ari Mosbacher (they/them) is an avid storyteller, champion of descriptivism, and all-around nerd. As an advocate for social justice, they have spent many years speaking about their experiences as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially their experiences as a queer person in the Jewish world. A lover of all things philosophical and linguistic, Ari ‘does the words good’ and seeks to make a positive difference in the world through open and compassionate communication of knowledge and shared experience.

Sasha Somers

Sasha Somers joins Elluminate as an Engagement Associate, managing communications and events for the organization. Prior to joining Elluminate, Sasha taught middle and high school Environmental Science in Louisiana Public Schools. Following her years as a public educator, Sasha worked as the Camp and Teen Director at the New Orleans JCC, where she oversaw year-round youth programming and founded a teen social justice program. Sasha is currently enrolled at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service’s Masters of Public Administration program and has committed herself to strengthening sustainable and responsive social justice programs. Sasha is an avid reader, loves doing art projects, and hopes to be on CBS Survivor one day.