The PresenTense SocialStart Trainers have all completed a three-part certification program that includes training & teachbacks, webinars & clusters and shadowing. Meet the graduates of our 2011-12 cohort!
Amy Born
Amy has worked as a Hay Group consultant for four years focusing in the area of leadership and talent strategy, assessment, and development. Prior to that, she worked at Hillel's Schusterman International Center. Amy is originally from Pennsylvania, spent some time in St. Louis, 7 years in Washington, D.C., and recently moved to New York City.
Avi Janssen
Avi is a web project manager at Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and works on websites and social media as part of his day job. He and his wife met at Hebrew University many, many years ago. They have 2 children who attend Solomon Schechter Day School. They attend Kol Sasson Congregation.
Benjamin Goldman
Benjamin Goldman has his B.A. degree in History from Indiana University and an M.S. in Financial Markets from Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been an entrepreneur, starting numerous businesses, and is an Director of Entreprenurial Studies for Truman College's Department of Continuing Education. Benjamin has made numerous presentations and produced original academic research including an upcoming presentation at Cambridge University in conjuction with the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Benjamin currently works as a business consultant to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Chicago focusing on articulating business ideas and creating a productive culture to nuture their ideas.
Beth Finger
Beth is the founder of Jewish Without Walls, an initiative to build vibrant Jewish communities across denominations and affiliations. In June, she left her job after seven years at The Jewish Education Project. In this position, she provided professional development and networking opportunities to educators of Jewish teenagers on Long Island. Beth is a Wexner Fellow and holds a Masters degree in Judaic Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. She volunteers with Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County, Hadassah and UJA/Federation. She lives in Nesconset with her husband, Alex, three children; Jessica (9), Zachary (7) and Gabriel (4), and a myriad of pets.
Dave Weinberg
A serial social entrepreneur, Dave Weinberg is the CEO of CAUSIL. Through events, strategy and consultation, Causil helps organizations engage in the best practices of communications, marketing and technology. Dave started his career by founding Not Now Not Ever, evolving into the Save Darfur Coalition, an organization with international exposure and impact. Since then, Dave has founded multiple socially-conscious organizations as well as various technology and entrepreneurial ventures. Under Dave’s leadership, Causil produces the Future of Jewish Nonprofit Summit series around the world in order to inspire growth, facilitate change and spark creativity. The New York Jewish Week responded: “be sure Dave is on your radar.” Often tapped for his opinion on technology, Dave was listed in the “Top 50 Influential Personalities Online” by the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA). Dave lives in Silver Spring, MD with his wife and two sons. You can follow Dave on Twitter @weinberg81.
David Gloss
A seasoned social entrepreneur and strategy professional, David has several years of experience working in venture capital and technology-enabled companies. Most recently, David was the VP of Product Development and Charity Partnerships for Ryzing, a prized-based social gaming company. David currently sits on the Executive Committee at The Spruce Foundation in Philadelphia, a unique fund that drives philanthropy and volunteer engagement among Next Generation professionals. David holds an MBA in International Business from Temple University and a B.A. in Political Science from Dickinson College.
Jay Stone
Jay Stone is a beat-boxing, globe-trotting, sustainability-consulting, humanitarian-thriving adrenaline junkie. He advanced to the Hollywood Week Finals on Season 9 of American Idol with his beatbox rendition of "Come Together." Jay has also served as a dedicated Israel advocate and performed his "Sh'ma Israel" beatbox in 2010 for a crowd of 10,000+ people, including Israeli President Shimon Peres. Jay recently completed his MBA at NYU Stern School of Business and currently works with Deloitte Consulting's Sustainability & Climate Change practice.
Lani Hart
Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Lani Hart graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Sociology, Jewish Studies and Hebrew. During college, Lani was active with Wisconsin Hillel and also spent a semester studying and volunteering in the Jewish community in Prague, Czech Republic. Following graduation, Lani worked for four years, first as a fellow at PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values and more recently as the Assistant Director of Young Leadership at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. She took more than 150 young adults to Israel on Taglit-Birthright Israel trips and engaged hundreds of alumni as a Birthright Israel NEXT professional. Lani is a first-year student in the NYU Nonprofit Management and Jewish Studies dual degree program and is a recipient of The Federation Executive Recruitment & Education Program (FEREP) scholarship. In her free time, Lani enjoys traveling, watching sports and exploring New York City.
Mordechai Liebling
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling directs the Justice Organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and has his own organizational consulting business. Previously he served as the Executive Vice-President of Jewish Funds for Justice, prior to its merger with The Shefa Fund, he was the Torah of Money Director at TSF. He was the Executive Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation for 12 years. He has served on the boards of national and international non-profit organizations. Currently he is on the boards of the Faith and Politics Institute, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and is the President Emeritus of the Shalom Center. Rabbi Liebling is married to Lynne Iser and they have five children. Their family was the subject of the award winning documentary Praying With Lior.
Rachel Brody
As an alum of Teach For America, Rachel has continued to pursue a career in special education and led training sessions for beginning teachers in the USA and abroad with affiliated programs. Rachel is currently the Inclusion Team Leader and 4th grade teacher at DC Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, DC. In addition to her work at DC Bilingual, she provides consulting services for international schools that are working toward developing and/or improving special education and inclusive programs. Outside of work, Rachel loves to read, run, go camping and spend as much time traveling as possible!
Rachel Lerner
Rachel is currently a doctoral candidate in Jewish education at the Jewish Theological Seminary as a Wexner fellow. Her dissertation research is about how new teachers learn about and understand the vision of their day schools. Rachel's background includes day school teaching and administration, leadership training for high school students and supervision in a Jewish summer camp. She lives in Riverdale with her husband Aaron and daughters Lily (3.5) and Gavriella (1).
Todd Schechter
Todd Schechter is a Strategy and Organizational Development Consultant because he loves helping others overcome obstacles, seize opportunities and achieve their potential. Todd specializes in supporting individuals, teams and organizations working for social impact; his clients include non-profit organizations, government agencies, social businesses and corporations with a commitment to CSR. Specifically, he helps clients improve their effectiveness and efficiency by guiding situation analysis, sculpting intervention planning and propelling implementation. He also provides similar services to early stage social businesses and non-profit organizations such as directing need assessment, challenging mission definition and bolstering strategic planning. Todd has mixed sector and mixed industry experience previously having worked as a documentary television producer, video brand consultant and social entrepreneur. He has a passion for learning, building things and sharing great food with great people. Todd holds an M.P.A. in Public and Non-Profit Management and Policy from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU and a B.S. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He lives in New York City and loves having engaged conversations.
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