Board Members
2024-2025
Ann Lebowitz
President
Ann has practiced law in Philadelphia for more than forty years. She is Martindale Hubbell AV © rated and has been designated a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer. Her principal areas of practice are government finance and appellate practice. She has served as co-disclosure counsel in numerous Philadelphia general obligation and conduit bond financings. Ann received her law degree from Temple University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College. She is a past president of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia. She also serves as a member on the Advisory Committee of the Beitler Dreyfus Affair Collection at the University of Pennsylvania (committee of international scholars and community leaders on issues of diversity, tolerance and civil discourse). She lives with her husband Mark in Center City Philadelphia
Barbara Hirsh
Vice President
Barbara Hirsh is a sociologist with over 35 years of experience in the non-profit world. Most recently, she served as director of Jewish Life and Learning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Prior to that Barbara was dean of academic administration and director of the campus chaplaincy-training program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she also taught organizational dynamics. She served as associate director of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia where her responsibilities included planning, supervision, staff development, board development and student leadership work.
A life-long learner, she completed a certificate program in Temple’s School of Education in Adult and Organizational Development in 2016.
Her past volunteer activities have included serving as a board member and president of SHALVA, a Chicago-based organization addressing domestic violence within the Jewish community; and a board member of the Lower Merion Library System.
Retired since 2018, Barbara spends time as a member of Visionary Women, a multi-faith dialogue program sponsored by Interfaith Philadelphia; an advisory board member of Dinah, an organization providing legal services for survivors of domestic violence; and a member of Volunteer Executive Consultants, a program providing consulting services to nonprofit organizations.
Andrew J. Cohen is Hillel International’s Vice President for Technology Strategy and Operations. In this role, he directs the digital applications and information technology teams that support the entire Hillel movement. For twenty years, Andrew has served as a technology consultant to influential nonprofit organizations including the American Red Cross, Consumer Reports, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Andrew’s expertise includes information technology, cybersecurity, user experience design, website development, and online community strategy. Andrew received his M.A at the University of Florida and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His son is an undergraduate at Temple University, which is how he found his way into the Owl community.
Andrew J. Cohen
Treasurer
Jordan Ellis
Secretary
Jordan is Director of Employee Relations at Comcast where he is responsible for providing advice and counsel to the HR organization and business leaders regarding the company's labor and employment legal matters. Prior to joining Comcast, Jordan was Assistant General Counsel at Spectra, a Philadelphia-based venue management and food services provider, where he oversaw all labor and employment matters. Jordan previously worked as an associate at the law firms Jackson Lewis and Reed Smith where he focused on litigating employment discrimination, wage and hour, and restrictive covenant lawsuits.
A Philadelphia native, Jordan is a graduate of Yale University and the Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Joy Bernstein
Immediate Past Co-President
Joy Bernstein is a native Philadelphian, and attended University of Pennsylvania (undergrad), class of Dec. 1979, and Temple University School of Law, class of May 1983. She practiced law for 38 years, mainly as a litigator, at the City of Philadelphia, a private firm, and, for the last 30 years, at CIGNA/ACE/Chubb, before retiring in May 2021. She met her husband and co-president, Jon Broder, at Temple Law. They have two children, Rachel (a Temple-Temple Law graduate and practicing lawyer) and Josh (a Johnson & Wales graduate and chef); and a granddaughter, Ella. Joy has been a part of the Temple Hillel family for 10 years as a Board member and co-president. Having a vital and vibrant Jewish presence on-campus is very important to her, as is having an open, diverse and safe space where all members of the Temple community can feel at home, learn, and relax.
Jon Broder
Immediate Past Co-President
Born in New York City, Jonathan M. Broder received a BA from Oberlin College and a JD from Temple in 1983. He also received an MA (2011) and MPhil (2019) from the University Pennsylvania. After receiving his JD and working in private practice as a litigator for several years, he joined Conrail’s law department in 1988, where he specialized in economic regulatory litigation, antitrust compliance, and general commercial litigation. There, Broder served as Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer where he managed Conrail’s legal and corporate affairs, as well as its real estate and business development departments.
Broder is an Adjunct Professor at Temple University’s School of Law and Coeditor of The Temple 10Q: Temple’s Business Law Magazine. He, too, is the Co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Community Engagement Committee and Leadership Cabinet, and a member of their Board of Trustees, Co-chair of the Board of Temple University Hillel, a member of Congregation Rodeph Shalom’s Board of Directors, Co-chair of their membership taskforce, and a past president and trustee of Jewish Learning Venture.
Zach Oppenheimer
Immediate-Past Treasurer
Zach is an experienced, results-oriented leader with distinguished career in the mortgage finance industry. After 30 plus at Fannie Mae, ending his time as a Senior Vice President and Head of Customer Service. He has technical skills in finance, marketing and management, along with extensive experience in all areas of customer segmentation, credit and counter-party risk management, sales force effectiveness, product development, marketing and communications. In 2016, Zach returned to his alma mater of the Fox Business School to become an adjunct professor, primarily senior level marketing classes. Zach lives with his wife Terri in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Mary Bernstein
Mary Ellen Bernstein is a proud Temple owl. A graduate of the Fox School of Business, she worked at the Hay Group, a global management consulting firm. She is a past board chair and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Hillel at Temple University. She was also vice president of the Hillel of Greater Philadelphia Board, serving the campuses of Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, West Chester University as well as some of the smaller campuses such as Bryn Mawr College , Swarthmore College and Haverford College.
She served more than 15 years on the Board of Trustees of Main Line Reform Temple, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Mary Ellen is currently a member of Impact100, a collective giving organization that funds high impact grants to nonprofit organizations in the Philadelphia region.
Rabbi Eli Freedman
Eli Freedman is one of the rabbis at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, on North Broad St. He was ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, after receiving his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University. Prior to joining the clergy team at Rodeph Shalom, Rabbi Freedman served as Rabbinic Intern at the NYU Hillel, spent three years of rabbinical school in London and ran the outreach and engagement program at Columbia/Barnard Hillel. Rabbi Freedman, his wife, Laurel, and their daughters, Josephine and Nora, live in Olde Kensington, where they enjoy all that our amazing city has to offer.
Dr. Marsha Weinraub
MARSHA WEINRAUB is a developmental psychologist and Emerita Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University. From 2007 to 2016, she was Chairperson of the Psychology Department in the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Weinraub has published research on the effects of early childcare, single parenting, and maternal employment on parents and children, evaluated childcare intervention and subsidy programs, and studied the effects of childcare subsidies on child development and parental employment in low-income families. Her research has received federal, state and private foundation funding. Dr. Weinraub was awarded the Lindback Award for Teaching (1985), the Temple University Great Teacher Award (2005), and the University Outstanding Faculty Service Award (2016). Dr. Weinraub received her B.A. from Brandeis University and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
As a person who has been a champion of Jewish education for families and young children through her work with the Buerger Early Learning Center at Rodeph Shalom, Dr. Weinraub is especially happy to be able to move up the developmental ladder to support Jewish life for college students. As a member of the Temple Hillel Board, she will work to foster a campus climate in which Jewish students, regardless of their stance on Israel, can feel safe expressing their identity and values free from harassment, hostility or marginalization.
Rabbi Eric Yanoff
Rabbi Eric Yanoff has served as one of the rabbis at Adath Israel in Merion Station since 2010. Having visited as a guest teacher for student-led dinner/study sessions, Eric was impressed with the self-starting, supportive community provided by Hillel to Temple students, and so he is honored to serve on the Board for Hillel. He hopes to help build and sustain a future for Jewish leadership and engagement through the work of Temple Hillel. Eric lives in Bala Cynwyd with his wife Dava and their four children, Aiden, Ezra, Avi, and Anael. He enjoys playing piano and cycling.
Known for his dynamic professional style and analytical approach, Marc thrives on using data and analytics to take an objective perspective to improving human performance. Marc partners with clients to provide guidance and develop custom-built programs that are constructed around individual, team, and organizational outcomes.
His key areas of focus include working with organizations to integrate empirically supported methodologies into the management of human capital. His expertise is on optimizing the selection, development, engagement, retention, and leadership due diligence of employees through use of people analytics, assessment, and psychology. Marc brings a fresh perspective and strength to MIP Consulting and the clients we serve.
Marc has over twelve years of consulting experience working with organizations from financial services, technology, life sciences, manufacturing and both federal and local government. Marc earned his Ph.D. in Business Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, M.A. from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and undergraduate degree from Temple University. He is an adjunct professor in statistics and his work has been published in the Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company.
Marc Prine
Michael Goldstein
Michael Goldstein is a Senior Vice President and the Global Head of Tax for National General Insurance Company, now a division of Allstate Corporation. Outside of a short “vacation” working in the Tax Department at Verizon Communications, Michael has focused his career almost exclusively on the taxation of insurance companies. He began his career with Strategic Management Group, a small consulting firm in Philadelphia. Subsequently, after graduate school, he relocated to NY and worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the insurance tax practice. Prior to joining National General, Michael spent nine years as a Vice President and Senior Tax Director at AIG. During his tenure at AIG, he oversaw the tax function for AIG’s Property and Casualty division.
Michael received a Master’s in Taxation and an MBA with a concentration in Accounting from St. John’s University in New York, and his Bachelor’s degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
Richard Weiss
Richard Weiss joined the Hillel At Temple Board of Overseers in the early 2010's. The Rosen Center had recently been completed and Hillel was entering an exciting growth period and he wanted to be a part of the excitement. From 2014 to 2016 he served as Chairman and was a part of the process which brought Rabbi Daniel Levitt to Temple. Dick graduated from the College of Arts and Science with a degree in Biology in 1961 and then from our Medical School in 1965 and upon completion of post-graduate training practiced Radiology for 42 years. He is a Life Member of the Alumni Board of the College of Liberal Arts.
Sarah Wittman
Sarah Wittman is one of the newest Temple University Hillel Board members, joining in 2021. She graduated from Temple University in 2018 with a B.A. in Adult and Organizational Development and a minor in Psychology. During her time at Temple Sarah was an active member of the Hillel student board, serving as the new student engagement chair and vice president. After graduating, Sarah worked as a case manager providing resources and support for individuals with an opioid use disorder. Sarah is currently completing her masters degree in mental health counseling with a concentration in addiction and offender counseling at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She will graduate in August 2021 and will then work toward pursing her license as a professional counselor.
Steven G. Kelsen, MD
Tom Biron
Marshall Brooks
Laura Frank
George Pomerantz
Gene Spector
Toby K. Eisenstein
Recent Past Secretary Z’’
Dr. Eisenstein is a Professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine of Temple University. She is a basic scientist with appointments in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Inflammation, and the Department of Neural Sciences. She is Co-Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CSAR). Her laboratory in CSAR investigates the effects of abused substances, particularly opioids and cannabinoids, on immune responses. She is Director of the Cell and Immunology Core Laboratory that is part of a designated national Center of Excellence funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at NIH. She is a native Philadelphian and graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. She began her career as an Instructor at Temple Medical School and rose through the ranks to her present position.
She is passionate about the heritage of the Jewish people and about their right to exist in the United States and in Israel. Her concerns about preventing and responding to antisemitism on college campuses motivated her to volunteer for the Board of Directors of Temple Hillel, where she is now serving as Secretary of the Board. She also serves on the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Community Council and on the World Jewry Affairs Committee, both part of the Federation of Greater Philadelphia.