JPPI

Keren Karp Director of Israel Operations for the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation, Los Angeles. In this role, she oversees the foundation’s work in Israel in supporting and partnering with initiatives and opportunities that promote the Foundation’s interests.

Keren has a B.A. degree in European History and East Asian Studies from The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a M.A. in Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. As a graduate student she served as VP of the student association, and as an undergraduate was a parliamentary intern to Knesset member Nadia Hilou.

Prior to joining the Glazer Foundation she served as Education Advisor to the Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat engaged in planning and implementation of the mayor's education policies in the municipal school system. She then served as manager of Israel-Asia Academic Cooperation in the strategy and international affairs division of Israel’s Council for Higher Education, and Resource Development Director of the Tovanot B’Hinuch education initiative. A native Israeli, she served in the IDF with outstanding athlete status.

Stephen H. Hoffman, President of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, is a graduate of Dickinson College and received his Masters of Social Work from the University of Maryland and a Master's in Jewish Studies from the Baltimore Hebrew University. He is also a graduate of the Council of Jewish Federation's Executive Recruitment and Education Program (FEREP).

He began his career at the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland in 1974, and served as director of social planning and research and assistant director, before becoming the CEO in 1983. Stephen serves on the President’s Visiting Committee of Case Western Reserve University. He is a board member of the Musical Arts Association (the Cleveland Orchestra), the Mandel Foundation, the David and Inez Myers Foundation, and the Maltz Foundation. He also has served in a number of leadership positions for United Way Services, and is a past board member of the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, an organization devoted to promoting racial harmony in the city of Cleveland.

Stephen’s impact has been national and international in scope. He is the founding director of the Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education. For three years, 2001-2004, he was “loaned” by Cleveland to serve as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Jewish Communities, the national umbrella organization of the federation movement. In 2004, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the United States delegation to the Conference on Anti-Semitism, held in Berlin, Germany, by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He is Founder and Co-Chair of the Secure Communities Network, a national organization concerned with communal security issues and preparedness.

Stephen was the 1999 recipient of the Charles Eisenman Award, the Federation’s highest honor. In May of 2002, Stephen was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from the Baltimore Hebrew University, and in March of 2003, he was the first recipient of the Fuchs Mizrachi School’s Guardian of Zion Award in Cleveland, Ohio. Stephen and his wife Dr. Amy Hoffman have two children – Emily of Cleveland (married to Eric Weingart) and Jessica of Chicago.

Eric D. Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Prior to his appointment at JFNA, Fingerhut served as the President of CEO of Hillel International from 2013-19. At Hillel, Fingerhut led the organization’s Drive to Excellence, which resulted in doubling the number of students engaged by Hillel each year to over 130,000 and the total funds raised each year to nearly $200M. Fingerhut’s emphasis on recruiting, training and retaining top talent for the system, and on building a data and performance driven organization, have become models for the non-profit sector.

Fingerhut has had a varied and distinguished career in public service and higher education. Eric served as Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents from early 2007 to 2011, leading Ohio’s system of public universities and colleges. In that role, he earned a reputation as an innovative leader and ardent advocate of the value of higher education. Working in constant collaboration with the business community and elected officials of both major political parties, Fingerhut developed a strategic plan to prepare students for 21st century jobs. From 1997 to 2006, Eric served as an Ohio state senator, and from 1993 to 1994, represented Ohio’s 19th congressional district in the U.S. Congress. In 2004, he was the Democratic Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate.

Fingerhut received a juris doctorate from Stanford University Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Amy, sons Sam and Charlie, and beagles Pedro and Lulu.

Richard Bernstein has been actively engaged in the practice of law for 40 years including 15 years with the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A. before becoming semi-retired in 2019. He focused his practice on corporate finance, including debt and equity transactions; strategic and venture capital financings; mergers and acquisitions; distribution, licensing and technology transfer transactions; domestic and international joint ventures; non-profit organizations and general corporate matters. Richard has managed mergers and acquisition transactions and technology licensing matters in the United States, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Richard is an experienced advisor in the areas of corporate governance in both the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors and has served in  senior lay leadership roles on local, national and international NGO’s including the Jewish Agency for Israel, One Laptop Per Child,  World ORT, the Jewish Federations of North America and United Israel Appeal.

Tzur Keren has been a senior management consultant for more than 25 years. He has advised the CEOs and top management teams at an array of major corporations and large organizations on business strategy design, planning and implementation of organizational change, complex systems analysis, formulation of core policies, and big data analysis for business intelligence (BI) purposes. He is a strategic adviser to the Jewish Agency’s Executive Chairman and CEO of Otipo, an Israeli company that developed and provides web-based workforce and employee scheduling for shift-work businesses. Keren teaches leadership and CEO development courses at the College of Management and Academic Studies (COMAS). From 1994 to 2009 he was head of the IDF’s Military Psychology Center (MPC) and chief consultant to the IDF’s Ground forces division. Keren is currently completing a doctorate in sociology at Hebrew University.

Sallai Meridor served as Israel’s Ambassador to the USA from 2006 to 2009, and as the Chairman of the Jewish Agency from 1999 to 2005. From 2011 to mid 2018, he served as the Chairperson and co founder of a cyber security focused VC fund. He currently serves as the Chairperson of a Pension and Provident fund and as a board member of several policy institutes.

He is married to Noa, father of 3 daughters, grandfather of 8 grandchildren.

Photo: Muki Schwartz

Doron Shorrer, a C.P.A., is a former CEO of Israel's Ministry of Transportation. He is an insurance and capital markets expert with more than D20Doron Shorrer, a C.P.A., is a former C.E.O. of Israel's Ministry of Transportation. He is an insurance and capital markets expert with more than 20 years experience. Shorrer has served as Commissioner of Insurance, Capital Markets and Savings in the Ministry of Finance. He has also held the roles of Chairman of the Mivtachim pension fund, a leading Israeli financial institution, and Chairman of the Phoenix Insurance Company. Shorrer has a B.A. in economics and accounting and an M.B.A. in finance and banking from Hebrew University.

Sallai Meridor served as Israel’s Ambassador to the USA from 2006 to 2009, and as the Chairman of the Jewish Agency from 1999 to 2005. From 2011 to mid 2018, he served as the Chairperson and co founder of a cyber security focused VC fund. He currently serves as the Chairperson of a Pension and Provident fund and as a board member of several policy institutes.

He is married to Noa, father of 3 daughters, grandfather of 8 grandchildren.

Photo: Muki Schwartz