Aaron has worked as an attorney for the federal government since 2019 and specializes in national security law. Prior to his tenure in the federal government, Aaron worked as a law clerk in New Jersey Superior Court, and as a government contractor focusing on refugee resettlement in the United States. He has a bachelors degree in Political Science from Rutgers University, a Masters degree in Government, Counterterrorism, and Homeland Security from the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, Israel, and a Juris Doctorate with a specialization in National Security from George Mason University School of Law. In addition to his professional career, Aaron serves on the JNFuture National Board as the Vice President of Israel Advocacy and Education. Aaron has always been passionate about helping people throughout the world, and has used opportunities in his career and education to help build bridges and help those in need. He lives by the motto, “if not me than who? If not now, then when?”

Alex, a Los Angeles native who now lives in Washington, DC, is an attorney at Covington & Burling. He conducts internal corporate investments and civil rights assessment, and advises clients responding to high-profile investigations before the Department of Justice and Congress that entail significant legal and reputational risks. Alex also maintains an active pro bono practice where he works to defend voting rights and combat election subversion and partisan gerrymandering efforts.
Alex is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and Brandeis University. During law school, Alex clerked for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, and the House Judiciary Committee. Prior to law school, Alex worked in Development at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish Federation of Boston. Alex also has served on national finance committees for two presidential campaigns. In 2019, Alex traveled with Entwine to Buenos Aires, Argentina, as part of Inside Jewish Argentina for LGBTQ+ Young Professionals.

David Lubek grew up in Toronto, Canada. David studied business in undergrad and after worked in Investment Banking, focused on Mergers & Acquisitions. Subsequently, David pursued his MBA at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Post-graduation, David joined the Direct Private Equity team of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), where today he is a Managing Director on the team. From a volunteer perspective, David is passionate about JFNA and the vital work done by JDC on a global basis. David just completed his time in JFNA’s National Young Leadership Cabinet, during which time he was selected as a JDC Board Observer. Finally, locally, David has been involved with the Toronto UJA campaign for many years.

Erin is the Senior Director of Global Corporate Partnerships at HIAS. Prior to HIAS, she founded RISE by Sundara, an innovation fund for women with a goal to democratize health entrepreneurship. Erin is the founder of Sundara, a global nonprofit organization that recycled 2 million bars of hotel soap across India, Uganda, and Myanmar, working with partners like Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, and reaching 200,000 children with soap and hygiene education each month.

Erin is a Forbes 30 Under 30 (2018) and winner of the Summit Series Impact Fellowship. She participated in JDC Entwine Inside Jewish India trips as they visited Sundara’s workshops in Mumbai and attended the Eugene Ribakoff Fellowship in Global Leadership and Philanthropy in Israel in 2016. More recently, Erin attended the Israel RE: JOINT Gene Ribakoff trip in November 2019.

She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and loves listening to Afrobeats and Amapiano music, Japanese flower decorating and is a sucker for every self help book ever written.

Jennifer’s career has focused on strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship. Since 2014, Jennifer has served as the first Executive Director of the Council for a Secure America (CSA) a non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to promoting the Abraham Accords, United States energy security, its impact on United States foreign policy, and the strategic relationship between the United States and Israel. Previously, Jennifer served as the Director of External Relations and Social-Secretary to Ambassador Michael Oren at the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. In this role, she was responsible for developing a strategic portfolio for the Ambassador that focused on targeted outreach through cultural and social engagement.

Jennifer has also consulted and worked for a variety of start-ups, family offices, and nonprofit organizations. She is also involved in a number of Jewish and pro-Israel philanthropic endeavors, including actively participating as a selected member of the Jewish Diplomatic-Corps of World Jewish Congress. She was chosen for the 2018 ROI Schusterman program and is active in the Emerging Leaders of the Jewish Book Council. Jennifer served as Chair of the Young Leaders Division of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations from 2019-2021. Jennifer received her B.A. in Politics from Washington and Lee University and her M.A. in Government from Johns Hopkins University. She is proficient in French and Hebrew, and is a proud native New Yorker.

Jeremy Levin isn’t just “active” in Chicago’s Jewish community — he builds it wherever he goes.

His involvement over the past few years includes programmatic and lay leader roles at both the local and global level. He was nominated to JUF Chicago’s 36 under 36 list in 2018 for his leadership with Moishe House (resident), Maot Chitim (co-founder of the young professional board), Taglit (staff and Taglit Fellow), OneTable (Shabbat coach), and ELI Talks (social media manager).

You might say that Jeremy has been involved with JDC since 2015, when he attended an EU activism seminar at the EU Parliament hosted by KAHAL (formerly DOJAS) which was acquired by JDC Entwine in 2022. After the conference, he worked in a pro bono capacity for the organization to create a proper database to organize all of its global contacts. In 2019, he returned to KAHAL as a young professional board member, supporting operational projects such as staff upskilling, techstack audits, and a major CRM transition.

Jeremy has a Bachelor of Business Management from Indiana University as well as an MBA from Loyola University, graduating from the latter in the prestigious Baumart Scholars Scholarship program which focuses on social impact education at the alignment of passion and purpose. In between, he received a Certificate of Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University through Boardified’s Board Member Institute.

Jeremy is a proud new father. He works at G2 as a Senior Enterprise Customer Success Manager, building relationships and strategies to help reach client goals on the world’s largest software review platform. He spends his time running along Chicago’s lakefront trail, biking around the city, and constantly perfecting his challah and hummus recipes.

Justin Shechtel is honored to serve as the COO and CSO of Lehrhaus, a Jewish tavern and house of learning in the Boston area. In this role he has the opportunity to help Lehrhaus develop a vibrant and exceptional Jewish space that offers engaging classes along with stellar Kosher food. He is working to try to help scale the successful Lehrhaus model to new communities.

Justin formerly worked as the Managing Director of Impact Growth at Jewish Federations of North America. Prior to this role, he was JFNA’s Director of Special Projects with a focus on Jewish security as well as managing the Human Service Matching Fund that helped 110 Federations raise 62 million dollars to address human service needs during Covid.

Justin grew up in Princeton, New Jersey with an older brother and sister. He is a big fan of, basketball, hiking, board games, and overly long history books. After attending Vanderbilt for undergrad, he worked as a healthcare implementation consultant at Epic outside Madison Wisconsin. He then received an MBA at the Yale School of Management. Following his MBA, he worked as a non-profit consultant for Bridgespan in Boston.

Justin’s work at JFNA provided him ample opportunity to understand the tremendous impact that JDC has on Jews in need around the world. He is thankful for the opportunity to serve as a GLI fellow.

Lexie Komisar is an intrapreneur, operator and investor. She currently serves as Director, Global Head of Partner Products & Growth at Meta (formerly Facebook), where where she leads development, growth, and monetization across Business Messaging, Telco, Commerce, FinTech, Core Ads, Measurement & Signals on Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram & Messenger globally.

She previously served as the head of IBM’ startup ecosystem and led the company’s global startup business, bringing emerging technologies to startups and early stage companies in over 120 cities across the world. Focused on accelerating IBM’s digital transformation, Lexie was also a member of the founding team at IBM’s first Digital Innovation Lab, where she incubated new digital businesses integrating AI and also led strategic partnerships for the global developer ecosystem.

Prior to joining IBM, Lexie served as an associate director at the Clinton Foundation, where she created the Foundation’s first program dedicated to leveraging technology and innovation for social impact, and prior to that, worked for Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Lexie graduated with honors from Northwestern University and served as a Fulbright Fellow in Mexico City with the U.S. State Department. She serves as a CFR Term Member.

Lexie has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 in Tech, Crain’s Business 40 Under 40, Crain’s Notable Women in Tech, LinkedIn’s Next Wave as a Top Professional Under 35, and 92Y WomenInPower Fellow.

Lexie is passionate about driving diversity and inclusion across industries. She co-leads Women at Meta NYC and co-founded the Women at IBM ERG group. She also serves on the Board of Belmont Charter School as well as Open Style Lab, a non-profit in partnership with Parsons School of Design and MIT, which focuses on creating accessible solutions in design & technology for people with disabilities. She is also an active angel investor.

A Chicago Native who now calls Kansas City her home, Maddie travelled on an Entwine trip to Argentina last December and has been inspired to get involved with JDC ever since. She holds a BS in Systems and Controls Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and currently works as a Controls and Automations Engineer a Burns & McDonnell, 10,000 person Employee-Owned construction design build firm. Maddie has programmed machines and created electrical designs in numerous manufacturing facilities producing products such as potato chips, peanut butter, laundry detergent and baking soda.

Maddie is dedicated to community service in her roles as a board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, as well as serving as a Young Adult Division (YAD) Community Connector. Her most recent event, “Chess in the Park” was a success! Actively engaged in outreach, she is part of the Jewish Family Services (JFS) Emerging Leaders Program, working with other rising leaders from diverse backgrounds in volunteering opportunities and community engagement initiatives. She also donates her time as a JetExpress driver (with JFS), providing transportation assistance to those in need.

Maddie has a passion for musical theater, frequenting coffee shops, going on long walks and umpiring little league games at the JCC. You can usually catch her at Shabbat Dinner on Friday nights!

Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, Rabbi Michael Lewis received a bachelor’s degree in Political Economy and Political Science from Tulane University in 2013, where he graduated with honors and served as the student body president. Upon graduation, Rabbi Lewis moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent three years working on Capitol Hill and on political campaigns. Grateful for his time working in politics, Rabbi Lewis decided to go to rabbinical school where he could focus on his passion for building community.

Rabbi Lewis was ordained from the Los Angeles campus of the Hebrew Union College in May 2022 and received a M.A. in Hebrew Letters. In Rabbinical School, Michael served as the student rabbi of Congregation B’nai Torah in Northern California and as an intern at Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles. He was awarded the Weitzman HUC Fellowship grant with the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and traveled to Georgia and Azerbaijan with the JDC while visiting JDC communities in Crimea. During his studies, he received the RJ Scheuer Prize for Excellence in Israel studies, the prize for Outstanding Service to a Student Pulpit, and the Lorraine Helman Rubin Prize for Scholarly Writing. The CCAR Journal published Rabbi Lewis’ article, ‘Redemption and the State of Israel: How Liturgy on Redemption is Handling Zionism.’ His capstone project at HUC, ‘Profiles in Leadership: Comparisons of Biblical Characters and Figures from American History,’ merged his interests in comparative politics, history and Judaism. In addition to his time at HUC, Rabbi Lewis has studied at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, where he explored Judaism with friends and peers from different denominations.

Michelle grew up in New York City and is the President of Miter Construction, a general constructing company she founded in 2014. Miter focuses on interior renovation of commercial spaces. In her free time, Michelle is passionate about volunteering for many Jewish organizations. Michelle is also a member of JFNA’s National Young Leadership Cabinet and was a JAFI board observer. She is the chair of REX, real estate executives for UJA and is on the National and New York Board of Jewish National Fund. She serves as the Co-Chair of the impact investment committee and housing development fund task force. Michelle has been a member of CREW, Commercial Real Estate Women since 2007. In her free time, Michelle enjoys playing golf and tennis. She is an avid Knicks fan, and loves attending Broadway shows.

Ryan Kaplan is a Development Officer at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation, where he works with corporate partners to facilitate and manage meaningful workplace giving programs benefitting Georgia’s largest pediatric healthcare ecosystem. Before joining Children’s, Ryan served as a Global Jewish Service Corps Fellow and lived in Krakow, Poland for 3 years, where he directed Ride For The Living, a 60-mile charity bike ride supporting JCC Krakow and its community of students, young families, Holocaust survivors, and Ukrainian refugees.

Driven by his love of experiential learning, Ryan is fiercely devoted to the equitable and sustainable growth of the organizations he represents. In his spare time, Ryan runs, gardens, and loses sleep over Atlanta’s sports franchises.

Sarah Shekhter is a shareholder at the law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek (SCMV), where she has worked as trial attorney in the Litigation Department since 2019. Her practice focuses on white collar criminal defense as well as complex business litigation. Prior to joining SCMV, she served the community as a public defender for seven years and represented the indigent charged with crimes. She is a San Diego native and first generation American born to parents who fled the Soviet Union as refugees with the help of JDC. Sarah received her BA from Northwestern University, where she participated in an alternative spring break trip to Kyiv, Ukraine organized by Hillel and JDC. The trip left such an impact that she returned to Kyiv after graduation as a Jewish Service Corps volunteer (now Entwine). She then attended law school at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly known as UC Hastings). Sarah enjoys volunteering her time outside of work in both the Jewish community and the legal community. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Jewish Federation of San Diego County as well as the Board of Directors for Kindness Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to alleviating poverty in San Diego’s Jewish community. Outside the Jewish community, Sarah volunteers with foster youth as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) through Voices for Children.

Shira grew up in Silicon Valley. As the daughter of two immigrants, she spent much of her childhood licking stamps and preparing open houses for her family’s small business. This upbringing taught her responsibility, hard work, and teamwork at a young age. Taking the initiative to accomplish tasks and carrying them out through perseverance provided her with a strong work ethic, which she still uses today in all aspects of her life, including her career and community outreach. Shira received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and her Doctorate from Cornell University. Now, Shira works as a cancer researcher at the Salk Institute, where her primary research goals involve understanding genetic and epigenetic mechanisms contributing to the origin, maintenance, and therapeutic resistance of cancers. Outside of work, Shira spends her time performing improv comedy, organizing Moishe House programs, and participating in science outreach activities. Shira is excited to be a candidate for the GLI program because of her strong passion for JDC’s mission and her experience as an active Entwine member. Shira went on the JDC Inside Israel trip in 2018 and Inside India trip in 2020. She was an Entwine community representative for the New York City area from 2018-2019. Shira also made a special appearance at an Entwine Community Rep Retreat in 2021 to lead an improv workshop.