Rabbi Joanna Samuels is thrilled to be leading the JCC. Prior to joining the MMJCCM, she was the founding executive director of Educational Alliance’s Manny Cantor Center, where she redefined the Jewish Community Center and the Settlement House for a new era. Her work at the Manny Cantor Center was written about in The New York Times, The Daily News, and The Jewish Daily Forward.

Following rabbinic ordination in 2002, Joanna served as the Rabbi of Congregation Habonim in New York City, where her leadership helped to revitalize the synagogue’s community. She also worked as an advocate, strategist, and mentor for women’s advancement and gender equity in the Jewish community at Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community.

Joanna has written for local and national publications and taught at many institutions throughout New York City. Rabbi Samuels graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College and received Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She serves on the advisory board of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger and Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and two children, alumni of the Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School.

Melissa Donovan, Chief Operating Officer, Health + Wellness
Todd Elkins, Chief Health and Wellness Officer
Liz Freirich, Chief Development Officer
Deborah Kadetsky, Chief Engagement Officer
Courteney Kovacs, Vice President of Human Resources
Jacqueline Marks, Chief Children and Families Officer
Julia Nelson, Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operations Officer
Elyssa Tannenbaum, Executive Assistant and Board Liaison

Rabbi Yael Rapport, Director

Udi Urman, Director

Alicia Gordon, Deputy Chief Development Officer

Anna Zennakis, Senior Financial Controller

Courteney Kovacs, Vice President of Human Resources

Naomi Sage, Executive Director
Rabbi Mira Rivera, Rabbi-in-Residence

Udi Urman, Director

Isaac Zablocki, Senior Director, Film Programs and Israel Film Center

Amy Blumenthal, Director of Personal Services
Caitlin Boker, Director, Children’s Aquatics Programs (Infants + Young Children, Adaptive)
Jessica Gumora, Group Exercise + Fitness Desk Director
Caroline Kohles, Senior Program Director, Health + Wellness
Elana Pici, Director, Children’s Aquatics Programs (School Age, Adaptive, Private Swim)
Carolina Stapleton, Senior Director, Aquatics

Sheryl Parker, Director

Alex Clavijo, Membership Director
Zuri Robert, Assistant Director, Membership

Caitlin McInerney, Director

Rachel Alter, Director of School Age Programs
Alyssa Blackman, JCC Day Camp + Athletics Director
Yael Kahn Pinto, Director
Naomi Skop Richter, Senior Director, Teen + Young Adult Mental Health Initiative
Jessica Spiegel, Director, Camp Settoga
Shereef Taylor, Director of Youth Coaching

Rabbi Brian Fink, Director of Engage@Wechsler
Susan Lechter, Director

Shari Pick Taishoff, Director, Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School
Erica Held, Director of Admissions, Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School
Alex Reynolds, Associate Director
Adam Metzger, Pedagogista

Scott Romanoff, Chair
Lisa Messinger, Vice Chair
Sara Wechter, Vice Chair
Seth Berkowitz, Treasurer
Marina Lewin, Secretary
Jeff Feig, Chair Emeritus