Who We Are: Meet Our Steering Committee
Ari Applbaum, Steering Committee: Public Relations
Ari, a closet entrepreneur, is currently helping other entrepreneurs explain to the world why they're the greatest thing since sliced bread (and they are!). He does this from the Israel offices of Ruder Finn, one of the world's leading global public relations agencies. His no-fail plan is to make money by turning his ideas into business plans, with everything else simply falling into place. Ari likes to travel the (Jewish) world in an attempt to make it a better place. In this capacity, he's been to Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Ramah Seminar Israel, Sweden and Denmark (with WUJS), Baltimore and DC (with JAFI), Belgium (as a student delegate at the WJC Plenary Session) and The Hague (to protest the hearings at the ICJ). Ari holds a BA in Journalism and Middle East Studies from Hebrew University and is studying towards an MA in Diplomacy and Security at Tel Aviv University.
Ariel Beery, Co-Founder
Ariel Beery is the editor and publisher of PresenTense Magazine, a co-editor of BlogsofZion.org, a consultant on organizational development and new media utilization, a graduate student at NYU's dual degree program in nonprofit management and Judaic studies, and a frequent contributor to various publications across the Jewish world on contemporary affairs and Zionist thought. Articles by Ariel can be found on www.arielbeery.com, and embarrassing pictures can be found on Facebook.com
Cori A. Chascione, Special Events Coordinator
Cori, originally from New York, just finished her BS at the University of Delaware and has since made aliyah. Since living in Israel, she has lived on a kibbutz and now lives in her favorite city-- Jerusalem-- and works in Tel Aviv. She is also active in several Zionist outreach initiatives in Israel and in the States. She hopes to be drafted by the IDF later this year, and plans to pursue an MA in Security Studies and to continue learning Jewish texts immediately after her military service. She is greatly passionate about political Zionism, aliyah, and Jewish history. Even after living in Israel for the better part of a year, she still dislikes cats, olives, and falafel.
Mark Chess, Steering Committee Member
Mark Chess is a Principal with The Infinity Private Equity Fund. Previous to his current role with Infinity, Mark was the Director of International Relations at Partners500. Earlier in his career, while at Angelou Economic Advisors, he was involved with the regional economic impact of semiconductor fabrication plants. Mark has also held positions at MATI High-Tech and the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Currently, he sits on the Board of ITS and NextNine. Within the Non-profit sector, Mark founded and manages 2 organizations: LEG-UP, a microfinance fund lending capital to microenterprises employing the poor; and Yesh Shabbat, a fund that provides food to families living in poverty. Today he sits on the Boards of The Museum of Psalms and The Jerusalem Soul Center and Chairs the Israel Venture Network’s Microfinance Board of its IERI program.
Rivka Friedman, North America Coordinator
After graduating from Barnard and the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rivka Friedman spent a year on the Dorot Fellowship working at a legal aid and advocacy organization on behalf of Agunot, women who can't get divorced. She spent the subsequent year working at the Jerusalem Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, and plans to be in Washington, DC next year working in public health. She cooks up some mean gourmet in her free time and haggles for discounts on tofu.
Inbal Freund, Steering Committee Member
Inbal Freund is director of "Mavoi Staum"- an organization that assists Agunot and Mesuravot Get. She has been founder and director of the Chaverim learning community for new immigrants at Hebrew University for four years, worked for Shatil – The New Israel Fund's Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change and worked at the Child and Adolescent Day Care Psychiatric Department at Hadassah Hospital. Through her work at The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute as a visiting fellow of the Legacy Heritage Fellowship program she has studied the issue of Young Jewish Leadership. Inbal loves studying Jewish texts in Chavruta as well as singing on any occasion, and sometimes these things happen simultaneously. Inbal is also co-Chairing the next KolDor International conference.
Dyonna Ginsburg, Steering Committee Member
Upon completing her BA in political science at Columbia University, Dyonna made Aliyah in 2002 and obtained an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. From 2003-2006, Dyonna served as Director of Yavneh Olami, an international student organization. She currently works in the Education Department of the Jewish Agency in the field of fundraising. In her spare time, Dyonna sits on the board of Bema'aglei Tzedek, a social justice organization dedicated to promoting social justice in Israel, and is active in several Israeli nonprofits and grassroots initiatives.
Aharon Horwitz, Co-Founder
Aharon lives in Jerusalem where he's the founder and ceo of an about-to-launch internet startup, the co-editor of BlogsofZion.org, the coordinator of a grassroots network of college activist, and an overall laborer on projects for the Jewish Community. As a young man, he could usually be found on the picket lines of some protest or another. Now he's at Tal Bagels staring at his computer screen. In college, he studied political science and Arabic. And most improbably, Aharon is a fan of the falafel on Emek Refaim.
Esther D. Kustanowitz, New Media Consultant
Esther D. Kustanowitz writes, edits and consults in varied areas of expertise including dating and relationships, Jewish life, marketing, pop culture and online social media. She served as media relations director for 2007's Jewlicious Festival and is also the PR and Media Consultant for ROI Summit 2007. Esther blogs at My Urban Kvetch and Jdaters Anonymous, regularly contributes to Jewlicious, and Beliefnet's Idol Chatter blog. In 2007, Esther began writing "Good for the Jews ," a JTA blog about North American Jewry. "First Person Singular," Esther's singles column, appears biweekly in the New York Jewish Week. She is currently also the senior editor for PresenTense Magazine, a new magazine for Jews in their 20s and 30s.
Yehudit Jessica Singer
Yehudit Jessica Singer currently spends most of her time writing her thesis to complete her MA in Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After receiving her BA in History and Jewish Studies from Queens College in New York, Yehudit worked as the Assistant to the Chief of Staff at the Israeli Consulate in New York. After two years of working in "Little Israel," Yehudit made aliyah in July 2004. Since that time, she has been active in numerous grassroots initiatives in Israel including the Professional Women's Theater, Mimaamakim, the Jerusalem Soul Center and IsraelMusic, a listserve that publicizes Jewish music events in Israel. In her spare time, Yehudit is an amateur photographer, plays the flute and darbuka and travels to exotic Jewish communities in far-off places around the world.
Masha Wolman, Steering Committee Member
A businesswoman from birth, Masha Wolman started her entrepreneurial career selling paper hats on the beach at the age of 5. Before she even reached high school, Masha was deeply involved in her local Jewish community. Some years later, she found herself to be too restless for university life and decided to start a business importing Israeli products to North American. Despite her success in this undertaking, her Zionist itch was still longing to be scratched. An olah chadasha, Masha is currently working at a small, Jerusalem based Venture Capital fund and aspires to learn Torah in the mystical city of Tzfat.