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TO: Board of Directors, Temple Ohabei Shalom
FROM: Nominating Committee: Benjamin Berkowitz, Chair; Rachel Greene
DATE: May 1, 2024
The Nominating Committee is very pleased to present this slate to the TOS Board. Many of those nominated have served TOS with such dedication in the past and you all are committed to moving our congregation forward. Those whom will be joining for the board for the first time bring great experience and expertise to the Board, and together, this slate represents the diversity of our congregation.
Benjamin Berkowitz immediate past President chaired the Nominating Committee with Rachel Greene serving as member at large on the Committee. The Committee met several times over the past two months, and we consulted with numerous persons, including Mark Gale as President, the clergy, Natasha Goldman as incoming president, and senior employees of TOS.
| Member: | Term Ending | Role |
| Natasha Goldman | 2027 | President |
| Josh Paradise | 2025 | Treasurer |
| Denise Karlin | 2025 | Recording Secretary |
| Alisa Kahn Ridruejo | 2025 | |
| Nick Hunter | 2027 | |
| Ted Feldman | 2027 | |
| Rachel Miller Munzer | 2027 | |
| Michelle Simon | 2027 | |
| Leigha Cuniberti | 2026 | |
| Jeff Berry | 2025 | |
| Richard Stern | 2025 | |
| Elliott Puretz | 2025 | |
| Fawn Phelps | 2026 | |
| Stephanie Kohn | 2026 | |
| Jonathan Kerner | 2026 | |
Some additional notes: Under the By-Laws, the Board will be determining who should be serving as Vice Presidents for each of the areas defined in the By-Laws. We are confident that we have nominated among the Trustees persons more than capable of serving each of the VP positions. Based on conversations with Natasha, we did not fill the president elect position, but added an extra 1 year position. In the 2025 nomination process, the expectation is that Natasha will be involved in helping to select a successor in an official capacity as President Elect.
The slate will be presented at the Annual Congregational Meeting, which is scheduled for early June. We are fully confident that the slate will be welcomed with open arms by the congregants. Terms will begin on July 1 through June 30th for the years listed above.
On behalf of the Nominating Committee, we respectfully submit this slate for consideration by the TOS Board for further presentation to the Congregation during the annual meeting.
L’Shalom,
Benjamin Berkowitz
Chair, TOS Nominating Committee
TOS Nominating Committee:
Benjamin Berkowitz
Rachel Greene
Natasha Goldman and her family, including her husband Joachim Homann and sons Tobias and Adam, moved to Brookline in 2019 and joined Temple Ohabei Shalom in 2020. Adam is a student in the synagogue’s religious school. Natasha’s family had lived in Brunswick, ME for nine years, where they were active in the local Brunswick Havurah and members of Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland. On the professional front, Natasha is an art historian and president of WISSEN, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in securing grants for institutions of higher education. She has been affiliated with Bowdoin College as an art historian for more than 11 years, where her research and teaching focus has been on visual responses to the Holocaust, art and the environment, and public art. Her book, Memory Passages: Holocaust Memorials in the United States and Germany, was published by Temple University Press in 2020.
Nick Hunter and his wife, Helen, joined Temple Ohabei Shalom in 2015. Their son Nat (6th grade) and daughter Anna (3nd grade) both attended preschool at the Trust Center for Early Education and are now students at the Ansin Religious School. Nick especially values the sense of community he finds at TOS and is always amazed by the musical talent heard at every service. Nick was born and raised in the suburbs of Seattle, WA. He moved to Boston twenty years ago to attend graduate school at Harvard. He has lived within a mile of TOS ever since, the last ten in Coolidge Corner. By the time he finished his Ph.D. in neurobiology he knew that his real interest lay in teaching. He loves his job heading the science department at a small, majority Jewish, private school in Wellesley, MA where he teaches high school physics and 8th grade science.
Jonathan and his wife, Jennifer, have been part of the TOS community since 2015, when their first of three children enrolled in the toddler room at TCEE. Since that time, Jonathan and has family have relished being members of the TOS community, having participated in many Shabbat B’yachads, Shul-ins, and other TOS community events. Jonathan originally hails from NY. He graduated from Yale University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and MIT with an MS in Aeronautical Engineering, and has worked as an engineer in the aerospace and energy industries for about 20 years. Jonathan currently works for GE Aerospace on jet and helicopter engine design. He is honored to be considered for a role on the TOS Board and is hoping to contribute on physical plant and security issues, where he can leverage his technical acumen and expertise.
Having always been appreciative of the values of Judaism, Stephanie Perrotti Kohn officially converted in 2001. The Jewish tradition appeals to her as it holds individuals accountable for their actions, in the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky, “here on this earth”. Stephanie and her husband David have been members of Temple Ohabei since they went shul shopping in 2014 so their sons, Caleb & Elio, could start their own journey. The warm and welcoming culture, across all backgrounds and perspectives, that they experienced upon even the first visit to TOS is what made them decide to join this community. After attending ARS, Caleb became a bar mitzvah– one of the first “Zoomitzvahs”– in May 2020, and Elio just this past November. The nonjudgment and creative, pragmatic environment TOS is known for is one of the reasons why Stephanie goes outside her comfort zone each year to participate in the Purim Shpiel. The Kohn family is grateful to have a deep connection with the clergy and staff at TOS as well as many other member families.
Outside of TOS involvement, Stephanie leads Marketing for a healthcare company in the diabetes space. Her expertise is in building brands and, ultimately, customer loyalty. She has an appetite for solving problems across industries affected by disruption– from health care and travel, to media and financial services; and a track record of reinventing the status quo to bring a vision to market in a scrappy way with optimal results.
Fawn, her husband (Michael Mittelman), daughter, and son have been members of TOS since 2017. Fawn and Michael’s children attended ARS and both became b-mitzvah at TOS. She is deeply grateful for the community of support and connection her interfaith family has experienced at TOS. She celebrates the thoughtful work done by those before and those currently leading TOS to create a home under the dome for all who want to connect to Judaism and live the value of tikkun olam. Professionally, Fawn is an Instructor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) with a focus on leadership development and systems-level change grounded in dismantling systems of oppression. Previous to HSPH, Fawn had a 15-year legislative and regulatory advocacy career leading campaigns to improve the well-being of low-income and underrepresented populations.
