Building a Global Network of Jewish Women Leaders
Driving Equity and Social Change
This spring, Elluminate convened 100+ Jewish women nonprofit CEOs and organizational leaders from across the U.S., Israel, and beyond for our inaugural Global Jewish Women’s Leadership Summit—a two-day strategic gathering session to shape the future of collective impact.
Through facilitated discussions and interactive sessions, participants explored key areas shaping the field:
- Jewish Women’s Leadership and the Path Forward
- Creating an Equitable, Just, and Inclusive World Through a Gender Lens
- Challenges and Opportunities for Women’s Leadership
- Social Justice and Human Rights: Gender Justice, Women’s Safety and Security
- Social Change through Collective Impact: Advancing Equity and Justice
The Summit also included workshops, affinity groups, and gatherings by geography that deepened relationships and informed the Network’s emerging structure. These conversations surfaced shared challenges, identified areas of opportunity, and clarified where collaboration is most needed.
Framing Jewish Women’s Leadership and The Path Forward
Featured Speakers:
- Heather Booth. National Outreach Director, Battleground Alliance
- Ruth Messinger, Dean and Educator, Elluminate Collective
Framing Conversation: Creating an Equitable, Just, and Inclusive World Through a Gender Lens
Creating a more just and equitable Jewish community requires intentional leadership and a deep commitment to belonging. This conversation will explore where Jewish women’s leadership, voice, and influence are most needed to shape more inclusive communities—within Jewish life and beyond—and how centering belonging can drive meaningful change.
Featured Speakers:
- Ela Alon, Co-CEO, Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice
- Maryam Chishti, Co-Executive Director, The LUNAR Collective
- SooJi Min-Maranda, Nonprofit Executive
- Jodi Bromberg, Principal, Bromberg Consulting
- Eva Stern, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Elluminate (Moderator)
Framing Conversation: Challenges and Opportunities for Women’s Leadership
Jewish women are at the forefront of movements advancing justice and shaping a more equitable world. This conversation will explore where their collective voice, leadership, and influence are most needed now—and the responsibility and opportunity to help shape what comes next.
Featured Speakers:
- Yavilah McCoy, CEO, Dimensions Inc.
- Moran Zer Katzenstein, CEO and Founder, Bonot Alternativa
- Rabbi Mary Zamore, Executive Director, Women’s Rabbinic Network
- Rabba Daphne Lazar Price, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
- Melanie Roth Gorelick, CEO, Elluminate (Moderator)
Framing Conversation: Social Justice and Human Rights: Gender Justice, Women’s Safety and Security
Advancing gender justice—centered on dignity, bodily autonomy, and ending all forms of gender-based violence—is at the heart of this conversation. This conversation will explore how Jewish women are driving systemic change across sectors—and where their collective voice and leadership can accelerate progress and shape meaningful solutions.
Featured Speakers:
- Tamar Shwartz, CEO, Women’s Spirit – Financial Independence for Women Survivors of Abuse
- Dina Shalev, Executive Director, Lada’at – Choose Well
- Ronie Nof Malc, Executive Director, Women and Their Bodies
- Keshet Starr, CEO, Shalom Task Force
- Julie F. Kay, CEO and Founder, Reproductive Futures
- Nancy K. Kaufman (Moderator)
Leadership Action Groups: From Insight to Action
Facilitated by Sara Shapiro-Plevan Ed.D., Elluminate Chief Program Officer
Participants reflected on each framing conversation, and suggested strategic direction and possible collaborations, as well as prospective partners for advancing women’s leadership across the network.
Affinity Group Lunches & Network Mapping Experiences
Facilitated by Sara Shapiro-Plevan Ed.D., Elluminate Chief Program Officer
During lunch, attendees gathered based on interests and identities across the Network.
Seeding the Network: Planting Future Growth
Facilitated by Sara Shapiro-Plevan Ed.D., Elluminate Chief Program Officer
Building on earlier framing conversations, participants synthesized insights and shaped a strategic direction for Network collaboration, partnerships and collective impact. The experience culminated in voting on The Network’s next steps.
Launch Celebration: Building The Future of The Network
Activating the Network: Priorities, Possibility, and the Path Forward
Defining the path forward—activating a network to elevate Jewish women’s power, voice, and influence within the Jewish community and society at large.
- Melanie Roth Gorelick, CEO, Elluminate
- Dr. Sara Shapiro-Plevan, Chief Program Officer, Elluminate
Voices of the Network: Building Together
A series of reflections from leaders across the community on what they have observed, what this moment makes possible, and what we can build together.
Featured Speakers:
- Ruth Messinger, Dean and Educator, Elluminate Collective
- Orit Sulitzeanu, Executive Director, The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel
- Idit Klein, Vice President for Public Engagement, New Israel Fund
- Dr. Analucia Lopezrevoredo, CEO, Jewtina y Co.
A Blessing for the Network and the Work Ahead
Featured Speakers:
- Rabbi Benay Lappe, Founder and Rosh Yeshiva, SVARA
- Rabba Daphne Lazar Price, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
- Rabbi Mary Zamore, Executive Director, Women’s Rabbinic Network
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!
Framing Conversation: Social Change through Collective Impact: Advancing Equity and Justice
Jewish women are leading transformative work across the social change landscape, advancing human rights, civil rights, shared society, and efforts to reduce violence and strengthen democracy. This panel will explore where Jewish women’s leadership, perspective, and voice are most needed—and how a network can help shape influence, drive change, and make a meaningful difference.
Featured Speakers: