Doron Krakow is president and CEO of JCC Association of North America, the largest platform of Jewish engagement on the continent. Under his leadership, JCC Association is forging new partnerships throughout the Jewish community, deepening its relationship to individual and foundation philanthropy, and strengthening the fabric of Jewish life across the U.S. and Canada, through more than 160 JCCs and independent camps.

Since joining JCC Association in 2016, Doron has re-asserted the agency’s place as the convening organization of the JCC Movement. He’s launched signature programs that address the immediate and long-term needs of local JCCs, including JResponse, which trains JCC professionals to provide assistance and relief to sister JCCs in the aftermath of a crisis.

Doron brings more than 25 years of experience with national and international Jewish organizations to JCC Association, having previously served as executive vice president of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU), the U.S.-based organization devoted to strengthening the university through philanthropy, public relations and student recruitment. His tenure with AABGU included the realization of a $500 million gift, the largest charitable gift in the history of the State of Israel, and one of the largest charitable gifts ever made to a university.

As senior vice president, Israel and overseas at United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federations of North America), Doron managed the annual global distribution and utilization of more than $400 million in Jewish Federation funds. He spent a decade, from 1992 to 2002, as national director of the Zionist youth movement, Young Judaea, a decade in which enrollment in its Israel programs grew by 500 percent, creating the largest Israel experience operation in North America prior to the creation of Birthright Israel.

Doron was born in the Bronx and raised in Teaneck, N.J. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University. He lives in Tenafly, N.J., where he and his family are long-standing members of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades and of Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck. Doron is the vice chair of the JPRO Network board and a board member of Tzofim: Friends of Israel Scouts.

Eric Smith brings with him almost a decade’s worth of technology commercialization experience and a passion for entrepreneurship. Smith came to the UA Center for Innovation after serving as the commercialization network manager for Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), the UA’s office responsible for moving UA research and technological innovation into the marketplace. While at TLA, he focused on building and leveraging a network of domain experts and business leaders who consult on university technologies to help reveal their commercial relevance as they are prepared for the market. He also managed TLA’s National Science Foundation Innovation-Corps (I-Corps) Site grant program which teaches inventing teams about lean startup methodology and customer discovery. An entrepreneur in his own right, after Eric started, developed and sold his first company, he embarked on a career in various technology startups. Smith holds a BSBA in business management and entrepreneurship and an MBA from the University of Arizona. He is a local Tucsonan with a passion for economic development through startup creation and community involvement. He sits on the boards of the Tucson Jewish Community Center and the International Business Innovation Association among various community and organizational committees.

With a passion for supporting the Jewish community, Carly Coons, LSW, (she/her) is curating and creating the best in class mental health resources and workshops as the Director of Education and Programming at the Blue Dove Foundation. She is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) and Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid Instructor and spends her free time exploring the beauty of Colorado’s mountains.

Audrey Edwards has been at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston for more than two decades.

In 2017, Edwards was awarded the Chuck Bronz lifetime achievement award by JCC Association. This award is given to someone in the JCC field who exemplifies the qualities of leadership and dedication to the JCC Movement, and who has worked to help and support others in the movement.

As a Professional Consultant with over 25 years of experience, Audrey specializes in providing expert guidance and support to JCC’s of North America. Her skillset includes Professional Development, Strategic Planning, and Talent Management. She is passionate about helping organizations reach their full potential and thrive in today’s competitive environment. Her extensive knowledge and experience make her a valuable asset to any organization looking to achieve their goals and objectives.

She is passionate about the JCC movement and is proud to be a part of it!

Haylee has been working at the Tucson J for five years, as a camp leadership staff as well as our diversity, equity and inclusion specialist. Haylee is passionate about engaging in social justice work, using her privilege to forge a path for historically marginalized groups to have a space and energy to advocate for themselves. Haylee wants to see a dramatic change in her lifetime, and appreciates the opportunity to be part of the solution.

She previously served as GatherDC’s Northern Virginia (NoVA) Community Director, where she led grassroots young adult engagement and strategy development. Sarah is a relational engagement expert, specializing in facilitation and coaching. She is passionate about collaborating with organizations, individuals, and communities to re-envision more meaningful, accessible, relational approaches to Jewish life. Sarah lives in Washington, D.C., where she also works as a professional musician.

Joanne Harmon is the chief marketing officer (CMO) at JCC Association of North America. She joined the marketing team as creative director in 2014, bringing a broad range of talents that contributed significantly to the organization’s first rebranding effort in more than a decade. In her expanding role, Harmon has guided the organization to rebuild all communication platforms, elevate the marketing of all sponsored events and training sessions, and reestablish a public profile. As a creative director, Harmon contributed to these and other brands: Food Network, Cooking Channel, Showtime Networks, and Sundance. Her diverse portfolio of branding, design, and promotion for television, film, video, photography, print, digital, products, events, and more demonstrates the breadth and depth of her expertise.

Rabbi Myriam Klotz (she/they) is a Senior Core Faculty member of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and Program Director for IJS’s upcoming Kol Dodi Jewish Spiritual Director Training.   

Dr. Elise Lopez is a board member of the Tucson JCC. As a board member and bringing her professional expertise to the table, she has worked with the J on several key DEI initiatives. One is the J’s membership in the Safety, Respect, and Equity (SRE) Network, which works with member organizations to ensure safe, respectful, and equitable Jewish workplaces and communal spaces. Another is the J’s work through the Keilim program from Sacred Spaces, which provides hands-on training and consultation to help Jewish organizations create policies, procedures, and environments to prevent and respond to abuse. Outside of the J, Elise is the Executive Director of the Consortium on Gender-Based Violence at The University of Arizona, and a member of the congregation Kol Ami. 

Joy Brand-Richardson is a vice president and the director of training and professional development for JCC Association of North America. A longtime employee of JCC Association, Brand-Richardson has developed and directed leadership cohorts and programming for thousands of JCC employees over the past 25 years. Before joining JCC Association, she worked at three JCCs. Brand-Richardson holds a master’s degree in education with additional training in coaching and customer service. She is a proud recipient of the JCC Association Graduate Scholarship, member of the SRE Network inaugural advisory board, and serves as an advisor for JPRO’s WellAdvised program. While not a Red Sox fan herself, she does have a dog named Fenway and another named Journey; as a family they love to hike and swim.[/caption]

Monica Rosenbaum has worked for a JCC for the last 29 years holding roles in camp, afterschool childcare, teen engagement, reception, adult programming, early childhood, sports and rec and more. She has worked at the Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester, in Westchester County, NY, The Valley of the Sun JCC in Scottsdale, AZ (now the Martin Pear JCC), JCC Rockland in Rockland County, NY and currently the Tucson JCC, in Tucson, AZ. Serving as the Sr Director of Operations, Monica oversees the member and user experience for over 5000 individuals daily. In addition, Monica is part of the leadership team overseeing the creation and implementation of all new hire on-boarding, continued training and development. Monica has a professional team made up- of three full time staff offering support in membership, special programs + events as well as data administration and IT. She directly facilitates the agency wide scholarship process, JAmbassadors volunteer program, and an array of other projects including a key role in the Tucson JCC’s strategic plan for the next 5 years around community partnerships.

Monica came to the JCC Movement as a young child of only 8, the summer after her father passed away. As a child of a mother left to raise four children (ages 10months- 10 years) after the sudden passing of her father, Monica’s mother needed financial support and assistance to keep her children social and happy during summer break. Their local JCC stepped up along with JCFS and provided scholarship for the three older children to attend summer camp. It has been Monica’s passion and driving force since to repay what was awarded to her and her family and to make sure no child is without an amazing summer and childcare experience like the one, she was afforded.

Monica attended a certificate program in School Age Child Care from a partnership program with Cornell University and completed a Certificate in Jewish Leadership with Spertus Institute for Jewish Leadership and Northwestern University. Monica is a former JCC Association Merrin Teen Fellow, current Changemarker in JCulture 2.0, past participant and presenter at ACA Tri-State Camp Conference & JCC Association regional conferences.

Sara Sless works for the JCC Association Center for Israel Engagement as Director of Seminars.  Her elevator pitch (and the focus of her work which is very passionate about,) is “how to bring Israel to the JCCs and JCCs to Israel.”   A large part of her time is directed towards developing and implementing Israel seminars for JCC professionals and board members and Boarding Pass journeys for JCC members.

Sless is involved in other areas of work with the JCC Association including in the area of inclusion and diversity, an initiative supporting mental health for youth and young adults, working with older adult professionals, Jewish life and learning professionals and arts and culture professionals.

Sless is the former CEO of Sunrise Israel a recreational program and summer day camp for children with cancer and their siblings, serving children from all different backgrounds. It is part of Sunrise Association which is based in Long Island. Today she is an active member of the executive board.

Sara was born in England and has lived in Israel for over 38 years. She is a trained spiritual carer with a certification in Clinical Pastoral Education. She lives in Tsur Hadassah and is married to Julian, and they have three wonderful sons.

As Chief of Staff, Jackie Zais (she/her) is a relational strategist and trainer. Over her 8-plus years, she helped build Gather into a relational organization from the ground up and helped steward Gather’s growth from a local to a national organization. She is a master facilitator and relational engagement expert that designed and launched Gather’s Trainings portfolio to support organizations and communities across North America in making radical shift in their community work toward a relational approach. She will be stepping into the role of interim CEO of Gather, Inc. in April.