Meet Our Staff

Jenniffer Ford

Executive and Operations Assistant

Executive and Operations Assistant, supports the management team, governance and Board needs as well as oversees all systems related to operations & logistics for major events. Jenniffer comes to us with over eighteen years of experience as an Executive Assistant within the medical and commercial insurance fields. Jenniffer’s career goals have always focused on working for a company that focuses on the betterment of our community. Jenniffer is originally from Panama, raised in New York City and has three daughters.

 

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.