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JCA Board of Directors

Ralph Bernstein is a member of Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Minnetonka and has been an active member of the Twin Cities Jewish community since 1996, when he and his family relocated from Baltimore, Maryland.  Ralph is an associate member of Hadassah and served for seven years on the board of trustees and executive committee of Bet Shalom Congregation.  Ralph is senior vice president and business leader of the healthcare payment solutions business of U.S. Bank.

 

Carol Bromer served as president of Adath Jeshurun Congregation and chair of its HESED Committee. Active in JCA since its early years, Carol has been especially committed to affordable housing. She chaired the joint Adath Jeshurun – Jewish Community Action Inreach. Carol brings longstanding knowledge about social justice and the Jewish community to the JCA Board.

 

Rick Chase works as a consulting scientist at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. He has more than 20 years of experience working with diverse community groups and government agencies to design and carry out studies and to establish ongoing systems of program improvement and evaluation. Rick has served on the board of Temple Israel, as chair of its Social Action Committee, and co-chair of JCA's community reinvestment initiative.

 

Jenny Gassman-Pines moved to the Twin Cities to attend the University of Minnesota Law School. After graduating in 2006, Jenny clerked for Chief Justice Russell Anderson at the Minnesota Supreme Court for the 2006-2007 court term. Jenny currently practices law at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. in the area of business litigation. Jenny serves on the Neighborhood House Food Shelf Committee and is a member of Mount Zion Temple.

 

Nancy Goldman is president of UNITE-HERE union representing garment workers and hotel and restaurant employees.

 

Rabbi Simeon Glaser is Associate Rabbi of Temple Israel (Reform). An accomplished guitarist and singer/songwriter, Rabbi Glaser attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, held a rabbinical position in Connecticut, and continues to work on music, social justice, teaching children and adults, and leading a very large Reform congregation.

 

Nancy Kleeman works as a consultant to help nonprofits achieve their social justice missions. From 2004-08, she served as executive director of The Fund for the Legal Aid Society in Minneapolis. Prior to that, she spent over 20 years working with Minnesota legal aid programs and their community partners as Access to Justice Director at the Minnesota State Bar Association. She serves on the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Board, as a trustee of the Minnesota State Bar Foundation and the Abraham and Sarah Eiser Family Foundation, and is a member of Adath Jeshurun Synagogue.

 

Bill Lerman was a teacher of students with emotional and behavioral disorders at Rondo Learning Center. He taught in St. Paul Schools for 29 years. Bill has served as the board chair of Leland-Johnson Common Vision Program, in JCA's GIFT, and with JCA's Racial Justice Leadership Team. He is a member and serves on the board of Temple of Aaron.

 

Margaret Levin is the State Director for the Sierra Club - North Star Chapter, and serves on JCA's Indie Jews Leadership Team.  She has worked as a community organizer with the Sierra Club, Minnesota Senior Federation, and the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, and as a volunteer leader with Amnesty International. Margaret grew up in St. Louis and holds a BA from the University of Missouri.

 

Seymour Mansfield is a founding partner in the law firm, Mansfield Tanick & Cohen. He worked in Chicago for many years in Legal Aid as well as with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and was the Executive Director on Central Minnesota and Minneapolis Legal Aid.  Active in volunteering, pro bono legal services and other ways of giving back to the community, he was recognized as 2009 Honoree of The Fund for the Legal Aid Society at its Law Day Testimonial Dinner for his life time achievements in supporting legal services and the pursuit of social and economic justice for the disadvantaged. Seymour is a member of Bet Shalom.

 

Judi Marshall is a member of Mount Zion Congregation, where she has served on its Board of Directors, and has helped lead Mount Zion’s partnership with Project Home, an overflow shelter hosted by the congregation. Recently, Judi facilitated a unique JCA – Mount Zion collaboration: a series of social justice house parties and summit, which was awarded JCA’s Wellstone Call to Justice Award. Judi is a dentist with a graduate degree in Health Care Research, Policy, and Administration.

 

Julie L. Plaut has been an active member of JCA since 1999; soon after moving to the Twin Cities, she attended a Tzedakah Institute for unaffiliated Jews and then joined the Racial Justice Working Group. Previously Associate Director of Minnesota Campus Compact, Julie now leads academic initiatives for the national office of Campus Compact. Her work focuses on engaging college students, faculty, and staff with communities to address important public issues and advance higher education’s civic purposes.  She is a member of the youthrive Board as well as Chair of the JCA Board.

 

Andrea Rubenstein is an attorney with Schaefer Law and specializes in employment and labor law. Andrea is a member of Shir Tikvah Congregation.

 

Rick Seidband, a member of Adath Jeshurun, is the former director of planning and operations for the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.  He is currently with Bernstein Global Wealth Management.

 

Michael Zis holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and is an instructor at Macalester College, where he teaches courses in American political institutions with an emphasis on the role of government and health care. His dissertation concerns historical influences on contemporary obstacles to reforming America's health care system. He and his family are members of Beth El Congregation.

 


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