Board of Trustees

Officers

	PRESIDENT Gary Friend and his wife Tara Sonenshine have been members of Temple Sinai since 2000. Their sons, Jordan and Yale, attended the Religious School through Confirmation. Gary served on the board of Sinai House for five years prior to joining the temple board. Outside the temple, Gary is Chief Operating Officer of Bridges Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Previously, he spent seven years working with various non-profits on their operations, growth strategies, and organizational design. For three decades prior to that, Gary held officer-level positions in for-profit organizations ranging from small, entrepreneurial to global Fortune 500. In his spare time, Gary fixes anything mechanical, techs guitars and amps for rock musicians, and rides the windy roads of Maryland and Virginia on his motorcycle.
	EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Deborah Lewis grew up attending Temple Sinai where she became a bat mitzvah and a confirmand. She has been chair of the Religious School Committee and the Ritual Committee and served on the search committee that selected Cantor Robins. Deborah is a social worker on the palliative care team at Washington Hospital Center. Before changing careers, she was an attorney. She and her husband, Leon, a labor lawyer, have a daughter and a son who became b’not mitzvah at the temple.
	VICE PRESIDENT Jill Chenok and her husband Dan have been members of Temple Sinai for 15 years. They have three daughters, two of whom have celebrated their bat mitzvahs at Temple Sinai. Her oldest daughter has also been confirmed. Jill is completing her second year on temple board. Previously, she served on the board of TSWRJ and was a religious school room parent. She has served in several volunteer leadership roles Montgomery County public schools, and is currently a cluster coordinator for the Whitman Cluster of schools, helping coordinate PTA advocacy. Jill’s professional background includes government contracting for clients in defense and international operations, program management for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and non-profit management.
	VICE PRESIDENT John Hellerman and his wife Stephanie have been active members of Temple Sinai since 2002. Their children, Ali (11), Jack (7), and Mark (6) all attended Temple Sinai Nursery School (where Stephanie recently served as the Co-Chair of the Parents’ Association). All three kids currently attend the Religious School. John previously served as a Board Member from 2007-2009 and over the years has served on the Communications Committee, Chaired Rabbi Reiner’s successful 25th Anniversary Event, “This is Your Life” in 2006, and participated on the Search Committee that selected Rabbi Rosenwasser.  Most recently John coordinated the successful launch of the Temple’s Leadership Development Program and its inaugural 2015-2016 class.  John is the founder of Hellerman Communications, an award-winning corporate communications agency positioning professionals to build and protect lucrative relationships. Working with the world’s most elite professionals and their firms, John specializes in strategic marketing and content development, crisis and litigation communications, and social influencer and stakeholder relations.
	VICE PRESIDENT Marcie Solomon has been a member of Temple Sinai since 1997 when her daughter Aviva enrolled in the Religious School. Aviva went on to become a Bat Mitzvah and confirmand. Marcie’s greater engagement with the Temple began with serving as a member and then chair of the Religious School Committee. She was particularly pleased to be involved with the development of the first RS program for those students with learning differences. .She was a member of the Temple Board 2003-2006 during which time she chaired a senior staff evaluation committee and was a member of the Ritual Committee. She was a member of the 2006 (Dibrot) Adult B’nei Mitzvah class. From 2009-2011 she served as co-President of TSWRJ. In 2012 she co-chaired the Building Modernization Committee and at that time she also introduced the Sinai Stories column in the Temple newsletter and she continues to enjoy serving as its coordinator. She is currently chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and was pleased to lead the development of the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan. Marcie is a Clinical Social Worker in private practice and has held various leadership positions within the profession.
	TREASURER Nancy Golding has been a member since 1992 and a board member since 2012. She is currently on Sinai House board, Nursery School Committee, and Membership Committee. She and her husband, Bob Hartheimer have 3 boys, all of whom went to TSNS, and were bar mitzvahed and confirmed at Temple Sinai. She enjoys all sports, loves the theater and ballet.
	ASSISTANT TREASURER Naomi Gendler Camper and her husband, Clarke Camper, have been Sinai members for around a decade. Their three children, mostly willingly, attended religious school, and have finally learned to pre-order their hamentaschen. The daughter of a Rabbi, Naomi grew up in Massachusetts, but has lived in DC since 1997. Together with her cousin Andrew Engel, Naomi is co-chair of Temple Sinai’s Capital Campaign. Outside of Sinai, Naomi is Chief Policy Officer at the American Bankers Association.
	SECRETARY Seth Speyer (Bio Forthcoming)
	ASSISTANT SECRETARY Laura Steel and her husband David have been members of Temple Sinai since 2000. They have two sons, Alex and Paul, both of whom attended the Nursery School, Religious School and celebrated their b’nei mitzvot at Temple Sinai. Laura is herself a graduate of the Adult B’nei Mitzvah program and she celebrated her bat mitzvah in 2008. Laura is currently studying Hebrew at Temple Sinai (perpetually in Kitah Dalet, or the fourth grade) and she joined the Board in July 2016. Outside of temple, Laura is a partner in the law firm of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP, where she litigates professional liability and employment cases.

 

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Board of Trustees

	Michael Baratz (and his wife, Raanan Weintraub Baratz, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2002. Michael has been involved with the Temple since 1995 when he was a Sunday school teacher during college and law school. Their children, Elia (10) and Ami (7), attended Temple Sinai Nursery School. Both kids attend Religious School. Michael is a partner at the law firm, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he specializes in commercial litigation, international arbitration, and judgment enforcement.
	Lori Berman (Bio Forthcoming)
	Isabel Dunst previously served as Chair of the Social Action Committee, a member, Vice President, and then President of the Temple Sinai Board of Trustees in 1994. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, member of the Investment Committee of the Union of Reform Judaism, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. She recently retired from practicing law full time to concentrate on family, friends, and golf.
	Andrew Engel (Past President 2015-2017) has been a member of Temple Sinai since 1989, serving as a Board member since 2006. He has also served on following committees: Ritual, Long Range Planning and Strategic Planning, Development, a Religious School Search Committee and several Rabbi Search Committees. He and his wife, Karen Barr, have two children who have attended Religious School and been active in Sinaites. Andrew is an Ob/Gyn and Mohel who cooks, bakes and pickles in his spare time, sleeping rarely.
	Larry Freedman and his wife, Lucy Eldridge, have been part of the Temple Sinai community since 2002. Their sons, Levi and Benjamin, attended Temple Sinai’s Nursery and Religious Schools, and were Bar Mitzvahs in 2013 and 2017. They participated in the synagogue family trip to Israel with Rabbi Roos in 2013, and Larry has served on the Sinai House Board for a number of years. Larry is an attorney in private practice who defends in government investigations and fraud cases, after many years serving in the United States Department of Justice, where he and Lucy met. Their family enjoys spending time any place there are rocks to climb and peaks to explore.
	Cathy Goldwyn and her husband, David Goldwyn, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2004. Their son attended Temple Sinai Nursery School, became a bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai, and continues to attend the Religious School. Cathy became an adult bat mitzvah in 2017, and has been active with the Social Action Committee, the Gun Violence Prevention Group, and a new working group on Embracing Our Multiracial Community. She also co-chairs the Parent Forum for Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Norwood School in Bethesda. Cathy’s doctoral research examined U.S. education policy, racial inequality, and social movements, and her background includes community organizing and affordable housing development.
	Katie Herman and her husband Andrew have been members of Temple Sinai since 2011. Their sons, Asher and Leor, attended the Nursery School and Katie served as the co-chair of the Winter Concert Fundraiser for two years. Asher currently attends the Religious School, and Leor will begin this fall. Katie most recently served on the Review Committee for Cantor Robins. Katie is a partner of TenSquare, a charter school consulting firm where she runs the school improvement practice. Katie served as a founding staff member and board trustee of Thurgood Marshall Academy.
	Steve Messner (Past President 2013-15) and his family have been members of Temple Sinai since 1989. He has served as Executive Vice President, Chair of the Finance Committee, Chair of the Rabbinic Search Committee, Comptroller, and a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. Steve, an executive in professional services firms, and his wife, Liz, a professor at Georgetown University, have two sons, each of whom became bar mitzvah and a confirmand at the temple.
	Matthew Pachman and his wife Marcy Berman have been connected with Temple Sinai since 2005. Their children both attended the Nursery School and Religious School. Their, son had his bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai in 2016 and their daughter’s bat mitzvah is scheduled for 2018. Matt is a former chair of Temple Sinai’s Ritual Committee. Matt is the Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at FTI Consulting and is currently Chair of the Ethics & Compliance Association while Marcy is an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.
	Catherine Ribnick (Bio Forthcoming)
	Elizabeth Rose has been a member of Temple Sinai for 25 years. Rose is a communications strategist for Left-leaning advocacy organizations and think tanks. Most recently Liz was the Communications Director for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an economic think tank. Prior to joining EPI, Liz directed communications for several nonprofit organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Rose also served as the director of public affairs for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Before her tenure at the FCC, Rose was a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Labor. Rose was also the media relations director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and served as a press secretary for Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.).
	Todd Rosentover (Bio Forthcoming)
	Anita Stoll (Bio Forthcoming)
	Michael Sussmann and his wife, Apple, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2008 and Michael is a past chair of the Temple’s Israel Affairs Committee. Their three children attended the Temple’s Nursery School and currently attend Religious School, and their oldest had her Bat Mitzvah in Israel in the summer of 2018. Michael is a partner at Perkins Coie, practicing privacy, cybersecurity, and national security law, and Apple is a pediatrician in private practice.
	Jean Veta and her wife, Mary Ann Dutton, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2005, and Mary Ann became an adult bat mitzvah at the Temple.  All three of their children — Caleb, Emma, and Micah — attended Temple Sinai Nursery School, and all three attend or attended the Religious School where Jean served as a room parent for several years.  Caleb celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai in January 2015 and attends Noar.  Jean is a partner at the law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, and Mary Ann is a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center.
	Regina Ziegler (Bio Forthcoming)