The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life
6 East 39th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016
tel: 212-279-2288
fax: 212-279-1155
info@steinhardtfoundation.org

Michael H. Steinhardt, Chairman

Robert P. Aronson, President

Rabbi David Gedzelman, Executive Vice President

Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Founding President

Jonathan J. Greenberg, z"l, Founding Director

For information about JJ Greenberg, the Founding Director of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, please see www.jjgreenberg.org.

STAFF

Connie Lawlor
Receptionist/Office Assistant
connie@steinhardtfoundation.org

Daniel Nieciecki
Program Associate
daniel@steinhardtfoundation.org

Eli Schaap
Program Officer for Education and Research
elischaap@steinhardtfoundation.org

Lois Feldhendler
Controller
lois@steinhardtfoundation.org

Linda Lehman
Executive Assistnat to the President and Executive Vice President
linda@steinhardtfoundation.org

Eli Valley
Senior Foundation Writer and Editor, Contact
eli@steinhardtfoundation.org

Michael H. Steinhardt, Chairman

Michael H. Steinhardt is a legendary money manager turned philanthropist who is dedicated to creating a renaissance in American Jewish life. After he graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 1960, Mr. Steinhardt began his financial career as a research associate, staff writer and securities analyst. In 1967 he formed his own hedge fund company, Steinhardt Partners L.P., where he made his fortune in one of the most spectacular careers in the history of Wall Street. Mr. Steinhardt has always believed that wealth and financial achievement alone are not sufficient to give full value and meaning to life. At the same time, he has felt growing alarm over the erosion of Jewish life in the Diaspora. In 1995, Michael Steinhardt stunned the financial world by announcing that he would close his lucrative hedge fund to devote his time and fortune to the causes of the Jewish world. Mr. Steinhardt directs his Jewish philanthropic activities through The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. In 2001, Mr. Steinhardt published his memoirs, No Bull: My Life In and Out of the Markets (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). He and his wife, Judy, are the proud parents of David, Daniel and Sara, and the grandparents of Jacob, Joshua, Kira, Talia, Nathaniel, Lila, Aetien and Infinity.

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Robert P. Aronson, President

Robert P. Aronson was appointed President of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life in October 2007, after serving as an advisor to the Foundation for a number of years. Mr. Aronson also serves as the President of the Birthright Israel Foundation, the organization responsible for raising funds to support Taglit-Birthright Israel. For the past twenty years, Robert served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Mr. Aronson also served as a private philanthropic consultant to William Davidson, z"l, and worked together with Mr. Davidson and Michael Steinhardt to create the Areivim Philanthropic Group, which he currently Directs. Mr. Aronson is a founder and creator of the Professional Leaders Project, and he is also a member of the World Conference of Jewish Communal Service and an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan's School of Social Work. Mr. Aronson's love of Israel goes back to his family roots and memories of his grandparents, who were the founders of Kibbutz Yif'at in the Central Galilee. Mr. Aronson is also an accomplished artist, having graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the proud father of Max, Natasha and Isaac Aronson.

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Rabbi David Gedzelman, Executive Vice President

Since January, 2003, Rabbi David Gedzelman has been Executive Vice President of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. David has been actively involved in the Foundation’s programs since 1995, when he was recruited to conceive and develop Makor in New York City. As the Founding Creative and Rabbinic Director of Makor, David created and led a cutting-edge venue for New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s, providing innovative arts, cultural and educational programming aimed at engaging an under-involved population in possibilities of Jewish life and meaning. Before serving at Makor, David was Director of Hillel and Rabbi in Residence at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. He also served as Director of Hillel at Pierce and Valley Colleges in Woodland Hills, California. At the same time, he was a Lecturer in Rabbinics at the American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Rabbi Gedzelman holds a B.A. from Hamilton College, an M.A. from Duke University in Comparative Religion and Rabbinical Ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He has studied in Israel at the Hebrew University and at the Pardes Institute. He is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement and serves on the Boards the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School, the Hebrew Charter School Center, The American Pardes Foundation, Hillel International, My Jewish Learning, and The Curriculum Initiative. Rabbi Gedzelman lives in New York City with his wife Judith Turner and their three children, Nomi, Anina and Ziv.

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Jonathan J. Greenberg, z"l, Founding Director

JJ served as Executive Director of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life from its inception in 1995. He supervised the creation, development and direction of all SFJL programs, and he was intimately involved in overseeing SFJL's college programs, including Hillel's Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps and Steinhardt Scholars, and the Steinhardt/Neubauer Jewish Heritage Programs. JJ worked closely with Michael H. Steinhardt and Rabbi Yitz Greenberg in developing, directing and implementing SFJL's philanthropic vision. JJ's responsibilities at SFJL included the conceptualization, development and supervision of programs; goal setting and strategic planning; development and administration of budget; and management and administration of policy and operations. Prior to his involvement in SFJL, JJ worked with outreach programs for Jewish youth and adults. He served as National Advisor for the National Conference of Synagogue Youth and as Executive Director of the Jewish Youth Movement (JYM), which ran culture clubs in forty public and private high schools in the New York area. JJ was on the board of the Jewish Funders Network and was a board member of Lights in Action, a national Jewish student group that provided Jewish and Zionist education to college students in the United States and Canada.

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Lois Feldhendler Controller

Lois Feldhendler holds a Master of Accounting from The University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts from Binghamton University. Prior to joining SFJL, she served as Director of Finance at Marble Collegiate Church and Director of Administration and Finance at Children's Rights Inc.

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Connie Lawlor, Receptionist/Office Assistant

Connie Lawlor attended Katharine Gibbs and City Tech in Brooklyn for Business. She has been producing music and dancing for the past six years. Connie enjoys reading about modern technology, healthy diets and conservation. She enjoys spending time with her friends in America and networking with friends from abroad. She lives in Queens with her mother and daughter, Cierra.

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Daniel Nieciecki, Program Associate

Daniel Nieciecki is proud to have been helping to support and promote the philanthropic mission of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life since 2006. His primary focus lies in grants management and corporate governance for the Foundation and its related entities and providing Board-level support to the start-up and operation of Hebrew language charter schools. Previously, he served as Records and Archives Analyst at the National Historic Preservation Center for the Girl Scouts of the USA, and then as Administrative Assistant in its Membership Credentials Department. He holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Humanities and Social Thought from New York University and a BA in History from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.

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Eli Schaap, Director of Education and Research

Eli Schaap’s focus is on transforming Jewish education through consensus decision-making, action research, and other elements of change organizing. Most recently, he worked as a consultant to several national Jewish organizations. Previously, Eli served as the Associate Executive Director of CAJE. Prior to that, he worked for twenty years in the business community. As a volunteer, he founded and served as president of the Partnership Fund for Teaneck, a non-profit devoted to improving Teaneck intergroup relations. Eli received his training in a Ph.D. program in Ecology and Evolution at SUNY at Stony Brook. He has conducted action research and published several articles on the culture of employment, recruitment and retention of Jewish educators, on early childhood Jewish education, and on institutional finances. He has frequently presented his research at the Conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

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Eli Valley, Senior Foundation Writer and Editor, Contact

Eli holds a B.A. with Honors in English from Cornell University. Prior to joining SFJL, he spent several years working with the Jewish Community in Prague. He has written articles for a variety of publications and published a book, The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide and Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Cracow and Budapest (Jason Aronson, 1999).

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