Senior Development Professionals Retreat 2023

Stephanie is the Director of Institutional Advancement at Golda Och Academy (GOA) in West Orange, NJ, formerly Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union where she leads the school’s endowment, capital and annual fundraising and alumni relations programs. She has been a professional leader in the Jewish community for over 25 years.  In addition to GOA, she has held roles at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest and Jewish Family Service of MetroWest. Stephanie has degrees from the Columbia University School of Social Work, JTS and Brown University. She is passionate about the importance of nurturing future Jewish leaders and is the very proud parent of three Golda Och academy alumni.

Jake graduated from Milken in 2013. After Milken, he attended USC on a full tuition merit Mork Family Scholarship. He received a B.S. in Accounting from USC, and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California. After receiving his Bachelors, he attended the UCLA School of Law as a Deans Scholar and graduated with a J. D. Professionally, he runs his own investment management business, Davidson Kahn Capital Management. Outside of work, he is involved with AIPAC and USC. He cares deeply about the future of Israel, as well as Jewish culture and education.

Philip is a non-profit lay leader. Phil is chair of the board of directors of the Birthright Israel Foundation, chair of the board of directors of the Skirball Cultural Center, a Jewish cultural center in Los Angeles and a member of the Jewish Graduate Student Initiative advisory board, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council and the AIPAC Los Angeles Valley Executive Committee. He is a former member of the boards of de Toledo High School (board chair), Wilshire Boulevard Temple (finance committee chair) and The Buckley School (finance committee chair).

Phil retired from The Capital Group Companies, Inc. at the end of 2020 after a 34-year career. Capital Group is a leading asset management firm serving individual investors, financial intermediaries and institutions around the world through a broad range of investment services that include the American Funds, one of the largest U.S. mutual fund families. Phil was president (2006 to July 2020) and a member of the management committee and the board. Earlier in his career, he served as the principal financial officer. Prior to joining Capital Group, he was a tax manager with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. He received his BA in economics (summa cum laude) from the University of California Los Angeles.

Philip lives in Sherman Oaks with his wife. They have two sons, one living in Los Angeles and one in Israel.

Shira is currently the Director of Enrollment and Advancement at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, where she has held positions over the past 12 years in communications, marketing, admissions and development. Shira serves on Schechter’s senior leadership team and is responsible for overseeing the fundraising efforts for the Schechter’s annual campaign of $1.4M and other major gifts, as well as the admission and attrition prevention initiatives for the school’s 440 students. Shira is also a founder and administrator of the Facebook group, Jewish Families of Greater Boston, now with close to 7,000 members.

With 18 years of nonprofit experience, Alexandra is an accomplished fundraising professional who has led multi-channel campaigns, events and has exceptional relationships within the Jewish community. Alexandra formerly held the positions of Development Director at Sinai Akiba Academy in Los Angeles, and the Real Estate Division Director at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, where she developed successful strategies for effective fundraising and skillfully partnered with top professionals and volunteers. She graduated from University of California, San Diego. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her husband Yaniv and their three children.

Mandi Miller is the Director of Institutional Advancement for Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and Congregation. She has been at Beth Tfiloh for over eighteen years, and in her role oversees all development efforts within the Beth Tfiloh Community including the upcoming Centennial Campaign, Annual Campaign, Capital/Endowment Campaign, Annual Spotlight Scholarship Event, Planned Giving, Alumni Development and works closely with the School’s Board of Trustees. In her elevated role as Director of IA, she convenes the external relations departments to establish and further advance the strategic priorities of the institution. She earned her MBA with a concentration in Non-Profit Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to working at Beth Tfiloh, Mandi worked in both the Women’s and Campaign Departments of The Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. Mandi takes great pride in being a part of a Jewish Day School Senior Development Directors Networking Group from which she gains tremendous value. She and her husband Brett gratefully send their 2 children Spencer and Emma to Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School.

Nurit, an attorney, is actively involved in building and sustaining Jewish life in Los Angeles. Nurit currently serves on the Milken Community School Board of Trustees, Los Angeles Regional Board of the ADL and on the ADL National Commission. She is a member of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Foundation Board of Trustees. Nurit is a former Board member of the BJE (Builders of Jewish Education), Valley Shalom (VBS) Synagogue Board of Directors, VBS Day School Board of Trustees and served as Chair of the VBS Day School Endowment. Nurit is a graduate of Syracuse University and received her Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law, where she was a member of Law Review. She is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. Nurit and her husband, Richard, are committed to Israel and devoted to strengthening Jewish education in Los Angeles. Nurit and Richard have three daughters: Eliana, Yonit and Maya.

Richard is the current chair of the Milken Board of Trustees. He is the Executive Vice President of the Milken Family Foundation and Partner in the law firm Maron & Sandler. Richard’s volunteer background includes the Immediate Past Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, a member of the UCLA Law School Dean Advisory Board and a member of the Boards of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Milken Institute. Richard is deeply committed to a Jewish future based on the values of the Torah. In his spare time, Richard enjoys exercising and playing golf.

Danny is the Associate Head of School for External Relations at Milken Community School. Danny’s most recent role was the Advancement Director for Sinai Akiba Academy. Prior to his time at Sinai Akiba, he worked in the Athletics Department at California State University, Northridge as the Associate Athletics Director for Development. Danny started his career at Columbia University in various roles, most recently as the Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Marketing and guest lecturing in the Master’s Degree Sports Management Program. Danny graduated from University of California, Berkeley and received his Master’s Degree in Sports Business at New York University. In his free time, he likes to read, travel, play sports (mostly golf and softball) and spend time with his family - his wife Elysa, daughters Ava and Maya, and his goldendoodle, Rory.

Rebecca is the Director of Major Gifts at Milken Community School. Her work is focused on identification, cultivation and solicitation of major gifts as well as stewarding key donor relationships and helping to design strategies to surpass Milken’s annual fund and capital campaign goals. Prior to joining the team at Milken, Rebecca was a committed lay leader within the Jewish day school community and is entering her 10th year serving on the Board of Trustees at Valley Beth Shalom Day School. Rebecca has been involved in many aspects of the board having served as the V.P. for Advancement, Development Committee Chair, and as a member of the Strategic Planning, Marketing and Recruitment Committees. Rebecca holds a Masters degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.A. from the University of Rochester and is a graduate of Akiba Hebrew Academy (now known as Barrack Hebrew Academy) outside of Philadelphia, PA. Rebecca loves spending time with her husband and three kids and developing her cheese board-making skills, but in reality, spends most of her free time shuttling her kids around to playdates and baseball & soccer fields in and around Los Angeles.