Our Team
Our Staff
Yona Shem-Tov
Chief Executive Officer, New YorkYona Shem-Tov
Chief Executive Officer, New YorkDan Lange
Chief Operating Officer, New YorkDan Lange
Chief Operating Officer, New YorkDan is the Chief Operating Officer at Encounter Programs. In this role, he works with staff, board members and other stakeholders to advance the organization’s strategic priorities. He is responsible for leadership around strategy, finance, human resources and operations. Dan previously worked at the Union for Reform Judaism, where he served as the Director of Youth Programs, overseeing a suite of teen and young-adult travel programs to Israel and directing a biennial convention of 1,000+ young people. Prior, Dan served as Associate Director of Camping, where he oversaw professional development, international staffing, safety, security, and other operational aspects for a network of 16 camps, 120 full time employees, and 1500+ seasonal employees.
Dan holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Leadership from Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program, where he was named a Wexner Graduate Fellow and Davidson Scholar. Additionally, he was an inaugural Ruskay Fellow at UJA Federation of New York. Before working in the nonprofit field, Dan pursued his passion for storytelling and filmmaking, working for Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. Dan lives in Westchester, New York with his wife and son.
Samantha Pohl
Chief Advancement Officer, New YorkSamantha Pohl
Chief Advancement Officer, New YorkSamantha Pohl serves as Chief Advancement Officer at Encounter, where she oversees fundraising, communications, and development operations for the organization. Throughout the past 15+ years, Samantha has held fundraising and programming positions at Met Council, Israel Policy Forum, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), UJA-Federation of New York, Brown RISD Hillel, and the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. A Wexner Fellow/Davidson Scholar, Samantha received her Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from USC and her Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service degree (now Jewish Nonprofit Management) from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Leah Solomon
Chief Education Officer, IsraelLeah Solomon
Chief Education Officer, IsraelLeah is Chief Education Officer at Encounter. She has worked since 1997 in the field of experiential pluralistic Jewish education, most recently as Associate Director of the Nesiya Institute and prior to that at Genesis at Brandeis University and Gann Academy in Boston. Leah holds a degree from Harvard University, completed advanced studies at the Conservative Yeshiva, Pardes, and the Hartman Institute, and is a Schusterman Senior Fellow. She serves as Chair of the Board of Zion: An Eretz Yisraeli Community. Leah writes frequently about the Israeli-Palestinian reality for outlets such as the Times of Israel, JTA, and Sources Journal, and is editor and publisher of the Anim Zemirot bencher. An L.A native, she moved to Jerusalem in 1999 where she lives with her family.
Neta Polizer
Director, Israeli Network, IsraelNeta Polizer
Director, Israeli Network, IsraelFrom a small village in the north of Israel, Neta has extensive experience of more than a decade in the fields of experiential Jewish education and group facilitation. Neta has worked for ‘Bina,’ where he founded leadership and social change programs for youth from social peripheries. He has also worked in the Institution for Experiential Jewish Education (M2) where he conducted research on experiential Jewish education in Israel and developed training programs for educators. In addition to his work at Encounter, Neta is working at the Bronfman Youth Fellowship as the educational manager of the Israeli fellows’ program. Neta holds a BA in Arabic literature and comparative literature from the Hebrew University. He is currently writing his MA thesis in Islamic studies at the ‘Freie Universitat’ in Berlin, focusing on the emergence of modern and contemporary concepts of identity in postcolonial Arab societies. Neta is married to Toot and lives in Jerusalem.
Emily Einhorn
Development and Communications Associate, New YorkEmily Einhorn
Development and Communications Associate, New YorkOur Board
Sally Gottesman
ChairSally Gottesman
ChairIn 2014, after a seven month sabbatical in Israel during which she participated in several Encounter programs, Sally joined the Board of Encounter. She is an active lay-leader, writer, and consultant in the Jewish community. Sally is the Co-Founder and Past-Chair of Moving Traditions, and has previously been on the Boards of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, the Jewish Funders Network, the American Jewish World Service, and the Jewish Women’s Archive. Sally’s articles on philanthropy, Judaism, feminism, and class have been published in a variety of books and newspapers. For nearly two decades, she consulted to not-for-profit organizations — working first with KPMG Peat Marwick and then with her own firm. Sally served as the first NY/Tri-State Regional Director of the New Israel Fund, and was the first employee of the Israel Women’s Network in Jerusalem. She is also committed to research in Neurofibromatosis (NF-1), is a co-founder of N-TAP (the Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program at Johns Hopkins), and serves on the Board of the Children’s Tumor Foundation. Sally lives on the Upper West Side with her three children. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Yale School of Management.
David Karnovsky
Vice ChairDavid Karnovsky
Vice ChairIn the fall of 2011, while a fellow of the American Academy in Jerusalem, David participated in an Encounter trip to Bethlehem, which he considers a formative experience in his understanding of the conflict. David is a member of the Real Estate Department of Fried Frank Harris Jacobson & Shriver in New York, with a practice that focuses on land use, zoning, and real estate development. Prior to joining Fried Frank, David served in several capacities in New York City government, including as general counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning from 1999 to 2014. At City Planning, he was closely involved in many of the major land use and development initiatives of the Bloomberg Administration, including the Hudson Yards redevelopment plan and the High Line.
David is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Free Loan Society and served as its President from 2011–2014. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan.
Phyllis Teicher Goldman
SecretaryPhyllis Teicher Goldman
SecretaryPhyllis participated in her first Encounter Program in June 2014. She has dedicated both her professional career and volunteer work to helping nonprofit organizations thrive. In her current role as a principal of G&S Consulting, Phyllis helps organizations achieve sustainable growth through the implementation of best practices in development, communications, and governance. Previously, Phyllis was the vice president for external affairs at the American Jewish World Service, and prior to that was the senior development executive at the New Israel Fund. She is a former director of the Westchester Holocaust Commission and has also worked in political fundraising. Phyllis served on the board of directors of the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, the Jewish Community Center of Mid–Westchester, and many other national and community-based organizations. In addition, she was the President of the American Jewish Committee’s Westchester Chapter and has chaired a number of capital campaigns — both at her synagogue, Bet Am Shalom in White Plains, and at the Solomon Schechter School. She holds an MA from the Columbia University School of Social Work and a B.A. from New York University.
Joanne Moore
TreasurerJoanne Moore
TreasurerMartin I. Bresler
Martin I. Bresler
Martin is the immediate past Chair of Americans for Peace Now, and currently a member of the Boards of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin Center. For many years he was actively involved with The American Jewish Committee, serving as President of the New York Chapter, as a member of the National Board of Governors, as a National Vice President, and on many committees and boards. He also served for many years on the Board of the Park East Day School in New York City.
Martin earned a business degree from City College of New York (Baruch School) and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He was a corporate lawyer for almost 40 years, the last 16 as a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. He and his wife of 54 years have two daughters, five grandchildren, and two grand-dogs. He has traveled to Israel perhaps twenty times since his first visit there in 1957 — both on organizational business and to visit with his many family members living there.
John Ruskay
John Ruskay
Dr. John Ruskay is Executive Vice President emeritus of UJA-Federation of New York, Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute, and a Senior Mentor in the Mandel Foundation Senior Leadership Program. He is a partner at JRB Consulting Services LLC. Clients have included UJA-Federation, the Educational Alliance, Innovation Africa, the Yale Center for Social and Emotional Learning, Birthright Israel Foundation, Friends of the Children, Hillel International and the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.
Having been appointed as a Commissioner by President Obama, Dr. Ruskay served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom from May 2016 to May 2018. He previously served in senior professional leadership roles in the Jewish community including Executive Vice President and CEO of UJA-Federation (1999-2014), Vice Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1985-1993) and Education Director of the 92nd Street Y (1980-1995).
Dr. Ruskay earned his PhD in Political Science at Columbia University, specializing in Middle East Politics. He has received numerous honors including honorary doctorate degrees from Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership (2011), the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (2011), Hebrew Union College (2013), Yeshiva University (2014), and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (2016). He has written and lectures on issues relating to Jewish identity, the role of Jewish philanthropy, and the central role of community.
Dr. Ruskay lives in New York City with his wife, Robin Bernstein. They have five children and eleven grandchildren.
Meyer Koplow
Meyer Koplow
Meyer Koplow is an executive partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, one of the world’s leading business law firms. He is also the executive editor and notes and comment editor of the New York University Law Review. He is the president of the Meyer G. and Ellen Goodstein Koplow Foundation, and a member of the Board of Directors of the UJA Federation in New York. Formerly, Koplow was the president of Young Israel of New Rochelle. At Brandeis University, Koplow was co-chair of his Reunion Committee, a fellow in 2000, and receiver of the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Medal for Distinguished Legal Service in 1998. He was elected to the Brandeis Board in 2006 and Chair of the Board in September 2017. Koplow received his B.A. magna cum laude at Brandeis University and his J.D. from New York University Law School in 1976. He joined Encounter’s Board of Directors in 2018.
Jon A. Levisohn
Jon A. Levisohn
Jon is the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Associate Professor in Jewish Educational Thought at Brandeis University, where he directs the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and chairs the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. A philosopher of education, he is the editor or author of the books Turn It and Turn It Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts, The Interpretive Virtues: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Teaching and Learning of Historical Narratives, Advancing the Learning Agenda in Jewish Education, and Beyond Jewish Identity.
Jon holds degrees from Harvard College and Stanford University and has also studied at Yeshivat Sha’alvim, the Hebrew University, and the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and has served as co-chair of the Wexner Fellowship Community Coordinating Committee. Jon also served for several years as a trustee of JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School, as well as serving in leadership roles for Gann Academy, OneTable, NRJE and CASJE. He lives with his wife and three teenage children in Newton, Massachusetts, where they are active members of Congregation Shaarei Tefilah and Minyan Yedid Nefesh.
Jonathan Lopatin
Jonathan Lopatin
Jonathan is a former Partner at Goldman Sachs & Co. and is the founder of not-so-simple productions. He produced Eyes Wide Open (2008), a documentary about the experiences of American Jewish visitors to Israel, as well as of Fringes: New Adventures in Jewish Living, which premiered at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival in 2012. Jonathan is past-president of the Board of Directors of Mechon Hadar, and former President of the Nesiya Institute. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Theological Seminary,and was formerly Secretary of the Board of Directors of the New Israel Fund — where he continues to be active with the Fund’s work promoting Jewish pluralism in Israel.
Jonathan holds a Masters Degree in International Economics from the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, as well as an M.A. in Talmud, which he earned from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2009. He is married and has two children and three grandchildren.
Debra Pell
Debra Pell
Debra Pell is a graduate of Georgetown University and Boston College Law School. A Bay Area native, Debra made aliyah in 1996 and is President of ArbaOne, an early stage investment company in Israel. Before making her home in Israel, Debra was a labor litigator in a large San Francisco law firm and VP of Pell Development Company. Active for many years in the San Francisco Jewish community, she served on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council. Nationally, she was a founding board member of the Israel Policy Forum and Women’s Chair of the Young Leadership Cabinet of the JFNA. Currently, Debra is the Development Co-Chair of the New Israel Fund and the Board Chair of Kolot, a center of Jewish learning for Israeli influentials. She co-founded Crossroads a campaign to build new political infrastructure for the center-left in Israel and sits on the Executive Committee of the Liberal Democratic Action Network. Her philanthropy in Israel is focused on strengthening democracy and ending the occupation. Debra lives in Moshav Beit Zayit with her daughters Beronica and Gavrielle.
Yitz Landes
Yitz Landes
Tilly Shemer
Tilly Shemer
Sari Rapkin
Sari Rapkin
Retired Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Sari Anne Rapkin’s career in public accounting and non-profit involvement in Greater Boston spanned over 35 years. Prior to retiring seven years ago, Sari served as an Assurance Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their Private Company Services practice. Her clients included privately held and private equity-backed companies in the retail, distribution, manufacturing, and services industries, as well as several prominent not-for-profit institutions in Greater Boston. Sari had the opportunity of working with companies of all stages and sizes, from entrepreneurial start-ups to multi-billion-dollar global public companies.
Sari is actively involved in Our Generation Speaks, serving on the Board of Directors, the Growth Committee, coordinating the Mentor Program and as a mentor to the Fellows. Sari also serves on the boards of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, Jewish Arts Collaborative and Jewish Family Services of MetroWest. Sari serves on the Heller School for Social Policy and Management Board of Advisors at Brandeis.
Sari was a past Chairperson of the Board of Directors at Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP). As one of three co-chairs of the Strategic Planning Committee, she played an instrumental role in the creation of CJP’s Strategic Plan. She also served as the chair of the Organizational Development Committee. As Treasurer, she served as the chair of the Budget & Finance Committee for four years. Sari recently completed her three-year term as co-chair of the Boston-Haifa Connection.
Sari is originally from Rochester, New York, and is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Evan Traylor
Evan Traylor
Evan Traylor (he/him) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and a Jewish community builder, educator, activist, and writer. He is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Tisch Fellow, and currently serves on the boards for Encounter and JOIN For Justice. Prior to rabbinical school, Evan worked at the Union for Reform Judaism for several years creating new initiatives in college and young adult engagement. Originally from Oklahoma City, he graduated from the University of Kansas studying political science, Jewish studies, and leadership studies. Evan is an alum of Kansas Hillel, URJ Kutz Camp, URJ Greene Family Camp, and served as North American President of NFTY. He lives in New York City with his wife and their tiny dog, Ruby Nakia.