For Immediate Release
Contact: Glenn Rosenkrantz
646.245.8975, [email protected]
Rachel Weinstein is Elected President of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York
JWFNY Elects New Officers and Announces New Board Members
New York, NY – July 12, 2021 – Rachel Weinstein has been elected President of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York (JWFNY), along with a diverse group of new officers committed to empowering and elevating Jewish women social entrepreneurs and building philanthropic models to sustain them.
JWFNY also announced today seven new members to its Board of Directors, each with extraordinary experience and perspective, and commitment to social and economic justice and supporting Jewish women visionaries to achieve it.
Approaching the 25th anniversary of its founding next year, JWFNY advances gender and racial equity and justice by nurturing a community of transformational women change makers, accelerating and promoting their impact through philanthropic and public support, and embracing bold ideas addressing seemingly intractable community and global challenges.
Weinstein, who begins her second term as JWFNY President, is a Tony Award-winning producer with Broadway credits including The Ferryman, Jagged Little Pill, The Lehman Trilogy, An American in Paris, and Dear Evan Hansen. She has over 25 years of experience in executive arts management working with theatre companies in New York, London and Chicago, and currently consults with Broadway productions on educational initiatives.
An activist in the Jewish, women’s, and racial justice spheres, Weinstein begins her new term as President at a critical junction for JWFNY, philanthropy, and the social entrepreneurship sector.
In 2019, JWFNY abandoned its strictly grant-making function and redrew itself in definition and practice as a foundation creating a dynamic and worldwide ecosystem of Jewish women visionaries making impact through a gender lens. The Foundation committed to giving these far-sighted social entrepreneurs a variety of resources, platforms, networks and a community to ensure sustainability and effect.
“As the pandemic recedes in many parts of the world, we as a society have not only an opportunity – but an obligation – to think and act differently, and this includes finally and decisively addressing longstanding community and global challenges with new resolve, creativity, and disruption,” Weinstein said.
“JWFNY has pivoted to a place in which women’s leadership in the social entrepreneurial sector – and philanthropic support that drives it – are already producing solutions to uplift lives and communities.
“It is an honor and privilege to be elected to a second term as President of JWFNY and to work with an exemplary and passionate community of women who are committed to new approaches and social innovations informed by gender, equity, justice and inclusion.”
Serving with Weinstein on the JWFNY Executive Committee are:
- Stephanie Garry, Vice President. Garry is Executive Vice President of Communal Partnerships at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel in New York, a non-profit institution founded by Jewish philanthropists and organizations. She is on the board of The Hadassah Foundation, and the lay advisory board of The New York Board of Rabbis.
- Rebecca (Becca) Youngerman, Vice President. Youngerman partners with clients in the areas of meeting design, facilitation and strategic planning. Through her business, RGY Consulting, she works with a range of nonprofits, foundations and businesses seeking bold change. She is based in New York and Madison, WI.
- Madelyn (Maddie) Bucksbaum Adamson, Secretary. A former marketing and investment professional, Adamson is a philanthropist who supports organizations committed to furthering gender equity, such as the Women’s Refugee Commission, Moving Traditions, and The Hadassah Foundation.
- Dana Levinson Steiner, Treasurer. Steiner is the Director of ACCESS Global for the American Jewish Committee and the founder and CEO of Chutzpanit Consulting. With a deep passion for advancing women in Jewish organizational life, Dana is committed to seeking meaningful, impactful, and dynamic pathways to lifelong Jewish leadership and learning.
- Debbie Cosgrove, Immediate Past President and Governance Committee Chair. Cosgrove is a Jewish educator, community volunteer, and mikveh guide, and teaches fifth grade at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York. JWFNY, she says, merges her love of Judaism and her belief that women will change the world.
New members of the JWFNY Board of Directors are:
- Stephanie Ambroise is an experienced executive and legal and business affairs strategist and expert in contract negotiation and crisis management and most recently managed business affairs at TBWA\Chiat\Day and J. Walter Thompson.
- Prosper de Passe is the founder of Goddess Prosper, a private life and relationship coaching firm in Brooklyn and is a partnering consultant with Talushima Holistic Wellness in Ecuador. She is a voice-over actor, motivational and wellness speaker, and broadcast radio personality.
- Roberta Elliott is a former communications professional in the Jewish community and is now devoted to volunteer work primarily with refugees around the world. She is passionate about shared society in Israel and serves on the boards of several organizations that promote that vision.
- Emily Hirsch Katz is a Director at CCS Fundraising, where she helps nonprofits make impact. She served as Assistant Director at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU. Committed to advancing women and girls, she built scaffolding for First, Listen, which facilitates healing for survivors of sexual assault.
- Barbara Pollard is an arts education consultant who has worked in the field for over 30 years, recently as Project Manager for the NYC Department of Education developing a Strategic Arts Education Plan. She was the Director of the Arts in Education division of the New York State Council of the Arts, and has served cultural institutions including Lincoln Center, Town Hall, The Children’s Museum of Manhattan and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Micki Kaplan Reiss worked professionally in human resources, training and development, and presentations consulting. For the past five years, following her interest in geology, she has served as an Earth and Space Explainer and Teaching Volunteer at the American Museum of Natural History.
- Stephanie Weiss is a Vice President and Client Advisor at AllianceBernstein, where she provides investment and wealth planning advice to individuals, families, nonprofits, foundations, and endowments. She is engaged in philanthropy through JWFNY and the Anti-Defamation League, where she is the Co-Chair for ADL: ACT, a national group for emerging leaders.
Jamie Allen Black, CEO of JWFNY, welcomed the new officers and directors: “This outstanding group of women, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the women who came before them, advance gender justice and social innovation through a commitment to Jewish women’s entrepreneurship and leadership, diversity, and activist philanthropy.
“I look forward to working with our powerful Executive Committee – led by our President, Rachel Weinstein – and Board of Directors to give new and unheard voices and ideas their due prominence and support at a time when challenges are mounting in our communities and around the world.”
A full list of the JWFNY Board of Directors is at https://jewishwomen.org/about-us/the-people.
New officers and Board members took their seats on July 1st.