Aharon Horwitz
Aharon Horwitz is the co-founder and director of the PresenTense Group, a leading platform for social entrepreneurship. Operating across the global Jewish Community and Israel, PresenTense programs ignite and develop start-up ventures in civil society, environment, philanthropy, social justice, community organizing, and education. An entrepreneur himself, Aharon has founded and directed initiatives that harness technology for community building, education, and organizational programming. Aharon writes, teaches, and consults with community organizations on the subjects of campaigning, Transmedia communications, strategic planning, and organizational development. As an activist, Aharon has volunteered for the Jerusalem based social justice organizations B'Maaglei Tzedek and Atzum's Task Force on Human Trafficking. Aharon is a recipient of the World Zionist Organization's Herzl Prize and the AVI CHAI Entrepreneur Fellowship. Aharon holds a degree in Political Science from Columbia University, where he studied Political Science and Arabic. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Alieza Salzberg.
Ariel Beery
Ariel Beery is the co-founder and co-director of the PresenTense Group, and serves as the editor and publisher the Group's Magazine, as well as directs its educational fellowships. With over a decade of experience managing social movements and nonprofit organizations, Ariel is especially interested in social enterprise strategy and development as well as the life and times of the Jewish People in the Digital Age. Ariel holds graduate degrees in Jewish Studies and Nonprofit management from New York University, and undergraduate degrees in Economics and Political Science from Columbia University. A widely-published columnist in over a dozen papers around the world including the Forward, the London Jewish Chronicle, the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, Ariel also enjoys teaching and lecturing at conferences worldwide, focusing on issues pertaining to the Jewish People, Zionism, and the impact of the Information Age on human communities. Ariel was named one of the 10 Jews to Watch by the World Jewish Digest, along with Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and was a finalist in the Brandeis University search for a Visiting Professor for Jewish Communal Innovation. In 2011 he was named one of the ten "Jewish Leaders of the Future" by the Jerusalem Post.
Brachie Sprung
Brachie has been working with PresenTense for over three years, and over that time she has overseen the training of more than 100 entrepreneurs throughout Jerusalem and the world. Brachie is involved in developing PresenTense's business model in Israel and building new relationships with local communities. She previously worked at Ruder Finn, where she served as an account executive working with hi-tech startups and not for profit organizations in Israel and abroad. Brachie's academic background is in Political Science and Communications, and she has worked with Knesset Members and spent time on the American West Coast as a Shlichah. Her passion? Changing the world, of course. Brachie is Israeli-born, but completely bilingual, adding to PresenTense's language force.
Brian Meister
Brian is the Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer of the PresenTense Group. He is a lawyer and CPA with ten years of experience working at Big Four public accounting firms. However, Brian's passion is the work he has done as a lay leader within the Jewish community of Washington, DC. Brian was a board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington ("Federation") and a dedicated fundraiser who, in previous years, served as Co-Chair of the Ben Gurion Society (BGS) and the young leadership campaign, respectively. He served as Co-Chair of the young leadership mission to Israel in November 2008 and attended the Washington, DC BGS mission to Moscow in 2009. He also served as Co-Chair of Routes, a day of Jewish learning, for the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning and as Treasurer of the DC Minyan - a lay led egalitarian minyan. In recognition for his role in the Jewish Community, Brian received Federation's annual Jerome J. Dick Young Leadership award in 2010. Brian received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan and Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland. He is very excited to be a part of the PresenTense Team to help build community and increase its global impact well into the future!
Daniel Bloom
Daniel studied Computer Science and Jewish Studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, before completing his degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He moved to Israel in 2006, learned at Yeshivat Hamivtar for a year and then served in the IDF for six months. After moving to New York City, Daniel worked at Hazon, as well as a Torah and social justice writing fellowship at AJWS. Prior to joining PresenTense, Daniel spent 12 months travelling around the world with his wife, exploring 27 countries across 6 continents.
Elinor Kaufman
Elinor is the Office Manager of the PresenTense Jerusalem hub. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Elinor moved to Israel in 2006. She has a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from McGill University, and a Master of Arts in Community Leadership and Philanthropy Studies from the Rothberg International school of the Hebrew University. Before coming to PresenTense, Elinor worked as the Tourism and Development Coordinator for Emunah, the National Religious Women’s Organization. Elinor currently lives in Jerusalem with her husband.
Erez Marchini
Erez, a native Jerusalemite, has a B.A. in Political Science and Jewish Thought from Hebrew University. He was the head of a Jewish Agency delegation to California. He is currently studying for a M.A. in Education from Hebrew University.
Michael Podberezin
Michael is the Russia Programs Director for PresenTense. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in International Relations. He grew up in Be'er-Sheva, after his family made Aliyah in 1992, and has lived in Jerusalem for the last 4 years. Michael was a JAFI Shaliach at Camp Ramah in California for four summers, and has previously worked at the Knesset, the Menachem Begin Center, and Ramah Israel.
Before joining the team, Michael was a 2009 Global Institute Fellow, and a volunteer with the Global steering comittee.
Naomi Korb Weiss
Naomi is the Director of Training for PresenTense, where she manages the venture development curriculum, SocialStart Trainers program and PTSchool, all geared toward providing fellows and organizational professionals with the tools to develop their ventures. Naomi's passions lie in meaningful Jewish engagement and organizational sustainability. Last year, she co-founded a small business with a friend called 'We've Got You Covered,' marketing attractive, affordable headcoverings for married women (500+ sold to date).
In 2011 Naomi completed her MBA and MPA at NYU’s Stern School of Business and Wagner School of Public Service, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and Vice President of Admissions for the Social Enterprise Association. Prior to graduate school Naomi worked for four years in informal Jewish education, managing training programs at the Foundation for Jewish Camp and JEXNET and serving as the Bronfman Fellow to Avraham Infeld at Hillel’s International Center. Naomi holds a B.S. in Marketing and Rhetoric from the University of Maryland and spent a year in Israel studying Jewish texts at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband, Hadar.
Nurit Tsur
Nurit is a social entrepreneur and political activist who is integrating activism, technology and business in order to inspire people to change their perceptions of how society should act. Prior to joining PresenTense, she served as the Executive Director of the Israel Women’s Network (IWN), the leading Israeli women’s rights organization. For six years, Nurit served as a political Advisor and spokeswoman for MKs Avraham (Baiga) Shochat and Danny Yatom. In her various roles, Nurit gained a wide range of experience in advocating for civil, human and women’s rights agendas.
Nurit has a Master's degree in Politics and Government of the European Union from The London School of Economics, as well as a Master's degree in Public Administration and a BA in Political Science from the University of Haifa. Nurit served as a medic in the Israeli Air Force and achieved the rank of Sergeant.
Shelby Zitelman
Originally from the DC metro area, Shelby joined PresenTense after spending a year in Israel studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and working for a joint MBA program between the University of Maryland Entrepreneurship Center and the Technion. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where she studied entrepreneurial management at the Wharton School, and pursued this degree as an analyst at two early-stage venture capital funds in Philadelphia while living in Moishe House Philly.
Simi Hinden
Simi Hinden is the Director of Online Community at PresenTense. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a degree in biology and also served as co-president of Columbia Students for Israel. She has also studied at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Drisha Institute, and previously was an Opinion and Analysis Editor for Seeking Alpha, and has been a longstanding volunteer with PresenTense. Originally from New Jersey, Simi made aliyah and lives in Jerusalem.
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