Staff

Senior Staff

Jeremy Ben-Ami, President. Jeremy Ben-Ami is the founder and President of J Street, bringing to the role both deep experience in American politics and government and a passionate commitment to the state of Israel.  Ben-Ami’s family connection to Israel goes back 130 years to the first aliyah when his great-grandparents were among the first settlers in Petah Tikva.  His grandparents were one of the founding families of Tel Aviv, and his father was an activist and leader in the Irgun, working for Israel’s independence and on the rescue of European Jews before and during World War II.

His political resume includes serving in the mid-1990s as the Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor in the White House to President Bill Clinton and working on seven Presidential and numerous state and local campaigns.  He was Howard Dean’s National Policy Director in 2004 and helped manage a Mayoral campaign in New York City in 2001.  For nearly three years in the late 90s, Jeremy lived in Israel, where he started a consulting firm working with Israeli non-profit organizations and politicians. He was chosen by America’s weekly Jewish newspaper, the Forward, for three years as part of the Forward 50, their compilation of the most influential Jewish Americans.  He was one of 50 “People of the Decade” selected by Ha’aretz, the influential Israeli daily newspaper, and the Jerusalem Post included him in its list of the 50 Most Influential Jews in the world.  Ben-Ami received a law degree from New York University and is a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Relations at Princeton University. Contact Jeremy

Daniel Kohl, Vice President of Political Affairs. Dan begins his third full year at J Street after working for nearly two decades in business and non-profit management. A leader in the organized Jewish and political communities, Dan is the outgoing President of the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, served on Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee, and ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly in September 2008. Prior to joining J Street, Dan spent fourteen years working for the Milwaukee Bucks NBA basketball team, most recently as Assistant General Manager, and served as the SEED Foundation’s Wisconsin director of New Schools Development. Dan is a graduate of Brown University and holds a law degree and Masters in History from the University of Wisconsin. Contact Daniel

Steven Krubiner, Chief of Staff. Steven has spent the past decade working on Middle East conflict resolution including nearly five years in Israel. Prior to serving as Chief of Staff, Steven was J Street’s Director of Israel and International Programs and oversaw efforts to highlight the significant support that exists in Israel for a two-state solution. Steven first joined J Street shortly after its inception in 2008 as the Assistant Director of Political Affairs and then moved into the position of Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs. He designed and implemented targeted advocacy efforts that helped earn J Street the title of The Nation’s “Most Valuable National Advocacy Group” in 2009. Previously, Steven served as a policy associate at the Institute for Inclusive Security where he worked with Israeli and Palestinian women leaders on designing inclusive peace and security processes. Prior to that, Steven worked for Search for Common Ground where he was one of the coordinators of the Madrid+15 conference, convening officials and civil society leaders from the Middle East, Europe, the US, and the UN to strategize on launching a regional, comprehensive approach to resolving Arab-Israeli conflicts. A trained mediator, Steven holds a bachelors degree from Tufts University in International Relations and a masters degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Middle Eastern Studies. Contact Steven

Rachel A. Lerner, Vice President of J Street Education Fund. Rachel joins J Street after working for the Jewish community for close to ten years. Most recently, she was Director of Strategic Community Planning Initiatives at the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto. Prior to that, Rachel was Director of the Israel Advocacy Initiative at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs in New York. Rachel graduated with a BA in Literature from SUNY Binghamton and a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, where she focused her studies on the role of religion in public life. Rachel has been deeply passionate about Israel and social and political justice since she can remember. She spent her freshman undergraduate year in Israel at Bar Ilan University, a summer at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, and countless trips traveling the country. Rachel is a native New Yorker. She lives in Washington, DC. Contact Rachel

Carinne Luck, Vice President of Field and Campaigns. Carinne has worked in the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement for over six years. She was one of the founding staff members of J Street, and the first Organizing Director at Brit Tzedek v’Shalom. She has worked as an organizer, consultant, trainer, mentor, and peace educator with a variety of peace and social justice groups, including Amnesty International, CitySeed, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and is a founding board member of 500Genders, a feminist writing and arts organization. Carinne received her MA in Humanities and Social Thought from NYU’s Draper Institute and a certificate in curriculum writing from Columbia’s Teachers College. She was born in Israel, raised in London, and now lives in Brooklyn and Washington, DC. Contact Carinne

Nan MacNamara, Vice President of Finance and Administration. Nan comes to J Street having spent more than 20 years in non-profit financial management. As a CPA, Nan spent six years in public accounting with a large regional firm in Maryland, specializing in governments and not-for-profit organizations, followed by 15 years as the Director of Finance with Interfaith Housing Alliance, Inc, a non-profit organization based in Frederick, Maryland. A native of Pittsburgh, Nan is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and has degrees in both Accounting and English. She has served for six years as the treasurer of Advocates for Homeless Families, Inc., in Frederick and has also served on the Corporate Development Committee for the Presidential Leadership Scholarship Fund at Hood College. She is a past member of the Non Profit Committee of the Maryland Association of CPAs. She currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Contact Nan

Jessica Rosenblum, Director of Media and Communications. Jessica comes to J Street from Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, where, as a vice-president, she worked to raise the profile of a number highly successful advocacy campaigns including the Great Schlep and the campaign by retired senior military leaders to end US-sanctioned torture. There she also worked to establish and grow J Street’s presence from its inception in 2008. Prior to joining Rabinowitz/Dorf, Rosenblum was the Director of Media and Communications for Brit Tzedek v’Shalom–then the largest American Jewish grassroots peace movement. An accomplished media trainer, she pioneered the organization’s highly effective media training strategy–now a model for other emerging grassroots movements–to integrate the communications and media goals of both the national organization and its local chapters. Rosenblum also has served as a communications consultant for a various non-profit organizations and political campaigns, including then-State Senator Barack Obama’s first run for the United States Congress. Contact Jessica

Dylan J. Williams, Director of Government Affairs. Dylan joins J Street after serving as Counsel for Foreign Relations, Trade and Immigration to US Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Dylan brings more than a decade of experience advising US government officials and private clients on international affairs and law. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dylan is a member of the New York Bar and holds a law degree and Bachelors in Government from Cornell University. Contact Dylan

Communications and New Media

Lloyd Cotler, Director of New Media. Lloyd joins J Street after spending years in the immigration reform movement at Reform Immigration for America, where he was a New Media Associate and Interim Online Director. He directs J Street’s extensive online and social media operations, including the organization’s websites, online campaigns, email communications and social media activism. Lloyd graduated from the University of Maryland in 2006 with a BA in American Government and a focus on American Political History. He worked for a variety of progressive causes and campaigns before joining J Street. Contact Jeff

Jeff Kulp, Web Assistant. Jeff comes to J Street after being the Technology Coordinator at Brit Tzedek v’Shalom for the last two years. Before that, he worked on both the campaign and in the Governor’s Office of Jim Doyle. Jeff attended American University and now lives in Chicago. Contact Jeff

Benjamin Silverstein, New Media Assistant. Benjamin joins J Street with six years of progressive student activism experience in New Mexico and Maryland. As an Amnesty International field coordinator he was the lead student organizer on the campaign to abolish New Mexico’s death penalty. He volunteered as an educator and homebuilder in Uganda for a year before attending Johns Hopkins University, where he studied political science and sociology. His political science thesis investigated the influence of the first intifada on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. After graduating, he worked as a development writer for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Benjamin now resides in Washington, DC. Contact Benjamin

Government Affairs

Tamar Ariel, Executive Assistant and Government Affairs Assistant. Tamar comes to J Street after working at Friends of the Earth- Middle East in Tel Aviv as a New Israel Fund/Shatil Social Justice Fellow last year. While in Israel, she helped create a group called “Activist Potluck” with brings together young, English-speaking, Jewish progressives. Tamar graduated from Brandeis University in May 2010 with a BA in Economics and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and a minor in Hebrew Language and Literature. At Brandeis, she was a founding member of the J Street U chapter on campus and served as the Director of Student Rights and Advocacy on the Student Union Executive Board. Tamar was born in Jerusalem and raised in Chapel Hill, NC. Contact Tamar

Joy E. Langley, Assistant Director of Government Affairs. Joy joins J Street after gaining political campaign experience spanning more than ten years and 49 states. In her previous role as Director of Government Relations with the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP), she built a coalition supportive of the GEAR UP Grant comprised of U.S. Government Agencies, Members of Congress, and Political Appointees and increased funding for the GEAR UP grant by more than $20 million through her efforts. A native of Yakima, Washington, Joy holds a Masters in Political Management from the George Washington University and resides in Washington, DC. Contact Joy

Kevin Rachlin, Government Affairs Associate. Kevin Rachlin joins J Street after serving as the Legislative Assistant for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago’s Washington Office, where he worked on a number of Federation priorities, including US-Israeli relations, Iran, combating global anti-Semitism, and healthcare reform. Prior to this, Kevin was the Federal Policy Intern for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s Public Policy Office. Kevin received his Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and International Studies from The Ohio State University and also spent a quarter living in Jerusalem, attending ulpan at Hebrew University. A native of Dayton, OH, Kevin currently lives in Washington, DC. Contact Kevin

Rachel Streitfeld, Government Affairs Associate / South Florida Regional Political Director. Rachel comes to J Street with three years of experience on Capitol Hill as an aide to a leader in the Democratic party. She has worked on several political campaigns across the country and, most recently, she worked in the Florida Headquarters of Obama for America. Rachel earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2007 from The George Washington University, where she studied Arabic and double majored in Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science. She also spent a semester living in Egypt and studying at the American University in Cairo. Social justice and human rights were the pillars of her upbringing in a Reconstructionist Jewish community. Born and raised in South Florida, Rachel currently lives in Washington, DC. Contact Rachel

Rebecca Wasserman, Deputy Director of Government Affairs. Rebecca joins J Street with over seven years of campaign experience, most recently directing the legislative strategy at American Rights at Work (ARAW). At ARAW, Rebecca coordinated a multi-year campaign for major national labor law reform that involved hundreds of labor and ally organizations. Previously, she was the President of the United States Student Association (USSA), running national campaigns for educational access and organizing hundreds of students to lobby each year. In that position, she had the opportunity to give testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee, served on the board of National Jobs with Justice, and nearly doubled USSA’s foundation budget. Originally from Swampscott, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Washington, DC. Contact Rebecca

J Street Education Fund

Sarah Beller, Director of Education and Programs. Sarah joins J Street after earning her Masters degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University. Previously, she taught in public schools and directed the Music and Literary Festivals at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, after graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Social Anthropology. Trained in experiential education, facilitation, evaluation, and trauma response, Sarah has conducted research for Encounter and designed a training program for the Jewish Dialogue Group. A recipient of the US Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship, Sarah studied Arabic in Cairo, Egypt and has traveled throughout Israel and the West Bank. Ever since growing up in New Haven, CT, Sarah has been deeply involved in Jewish communities across the religious spectrum. She lives in Washington, DC. Contact Sarah

Sam Berkman, Programming Associate. Sam joins J Street with eight months of experience with both the Assistant Majority Leader of the Senate and the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Prior to this, Sam served one year as a Team Leader in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, where he worked directly with FEMA and led a disaster response team in Tennessee to assist with flood relief. While in college, he served as a legislative affairs intern for the Economic Development Administration. Sam holds a Bachelors degree in Writing and Sociology from Northland College and is currently pursuing his Master of Public Administration degree from The George Washington University. A Chicagoland native, Sam currently resides in Washington, DC. Contact Sam

Helen Knight, Programming Assistant. Helen joins J Street after graduating from the University of South Carolina Honors College, where she majored in International Studies with a concentration in Middle East policy and conflict resolution and minored in English. In 2010, she interned in the US House of Representatives through J Street U’s inaugural Congressional Internship Program. Prior to her work with J Street, she spent a semester studying Arabic at the American University in Cairo and teaching English to Egyptian university students, and was the intern specializing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Human Rights Program at the Carter Center. At South Carolina, Helen served on the executive boards of seven major campus organizations focusing on community service and activism, and volunteered with the Obama primary and national campaigns. Helen’s senior honors thesis constituted the first study of the politics of the South Carolina community with respect to Israel and the Palestinian territories. A native of Decatur, Georgia, she currently lives in Washington, DC. Contact Helen

Daniel May, Director, J Street U. Daniel began his organizing career in the South Bronx, building tenant unions and block clubs in Mott Haven, one of the poorest congressional districts in America. Daniel continued organizing in California with One LA – IAF, the Los Angeles affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation, the country’s oldest and largest community organizing network. In Southern California, Daniel spearheaded the IAF’s outreach in the Jewish community, recruiting numerous synagogues into the organization. Daniel went on to direct the political organizing and community outreach for the Service Employee International Union’s (SEIU) Campaign to Improve Assisted Living, a national effort to organize workers in assisted living facilities. He has written on organizing for the Nation, Conservative Judaism, and Reform, the magazine of the Jewish Reform movement. Daniel graduated from Pomona College and holds a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. Contact Daniel

Mimi Micner, New England Campus Organizer. Mimi joins J Street after working as a union organizer with the American Federation of Teachers. Concurrently, she was a Fellow with the Jewish Organizing Initiative (JOI) Fellowship, which helps young Jewish organizers gain the organizing skills and experience to build powerful Jewish and community organizations in order to create a just world. Mimi attended Middlebury College, during which she was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace building: she worked in the summer of 2008 with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) to advocate against house demolitions in East Jerusalem; interned with J Street in Washington, DC in the summer of 2009; and started a chapter of J Street U at Middlebury College the following year. While studying abroad in India her junior year of college, she conducted research about and became involved in civil society peace building between India and Pakistan. Mimi is from Vancouver, BC and now lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. Contact Mimi

Yael Patir, Director of Israel Programs. Yael joined J Street in 2012 following six years at the Shimon Peres Center for Peace where she served as Director of the Civil Leadership Department. In that capacity, she oversaw cross-border peace-building programs that engaged a wide range of civil society figures, including Palestinian and Israeli young political leaders. Yael helped establish the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, a network of some 100 Palestinian and Israeli peace and dialogue organizations, and has served as the Israeli Director since the Forum’s inception in January 2006. Yael graduated from Tel Aviv University’s School of Social Sciences where she also worked as a teaching assistant and a research assistant in the Political Science Faculty. Yael is a certified mediator and a group facilitator specializing in dialogue between groups in conflict. In the spring of 2011, Yael joined the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in King’s College London as an Atkin Research Fellow. Yael was born, raised, and is currently based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Contact Yael

Becca Russell-Einhorn, Administrative Assistant/Office Manager. Becca grew up in the DC area and attended Pomona College in Claremont, California where she was a Media Studies major. In college Becca was involved in many different groups, including the Pomona Challah for Hunger chapter, and founded the Claremont Immigrants Rights group; she was heavily involved with local immigration activists. Becca spent several months living in Peru in a village without electricity or running water (where she mastered the art of cow milking), six months living in Brazil during a semester off, and for the last year has lived in Israel. She spent five months in the Intensive Arabic Semester, studying mostly Palestinian Arabic, Israeli politics, and some Hebrew, and then moved to Nazareth to work for the Ahali Center for Community Development, an Arab NGO. Contact Becca

Naomi Shiffman, West Coast Campus Organizer. Naomi joins J Street after serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the HandsOn Network for a year, while concurrently interning for J Street in San Francisco. Naomi graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor’s of Science in Social Psychology and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. While at UCSD, Naomi was heavily involved in the Jewish and pro-Israel community: she interned at Hadassah, the women’s zionist organization, during the summer of 2007; served as the Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Intern at UCSD Hillel during the 2008-2009 school year; and co-founded an interfaith dialogue group in the same year. Born in Tel Aviv, Naomi was raised in Palo Alto, California, and currently resides there.  Contact Naomi

Ira Stup, J Street U, East Coast Organizer. Ira joins J Street after spending a year in Israel through the Dorot Fellowship. While working with communities of Holocaust survivors and child refugees from Darfur, Ira spent much time doing independent research in the West Bank in both Jewish settlements and Palestinian communities. Ira attended Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, studying American Studies and Jewish History. While in college, Ira worked as an HIV and sexual health counselor and headed LGBT advocacy groups dedicated to social change both within and outside the Jewish community. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ira currently lives in New York City. Contact Ira

Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Rabbinic Director. Larry joins J Street after being the Rabbinic Scholar-in-Residence and director of the Fellowship program for GreenFaith, the interfaith environmental coalition in New Jersey. He is one of the leading Jewish eco-theologians and religious environmental activists. Larry has also been the Jewish Chaplain of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson and an Associate of Bard’s Institute of Advanced Theology and the Rabbinic Fellow of the Coalition On the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). He has also taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary and was a Steinhardt Fellow at CLAL. Larry was a congregational rabbi for 20 years serving congregations in Toronto and New Jersey. He is a regular contributor to Huffington Post, and has published numerous articles and has lectured widely on eco-theology, bio-ethics, and Judaism and modern science. He received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and his M.A. and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Larry was recently given an honorary Doctor of Divinity by JTS for his more than 25 years of rabbinic service. Contact Lawrence

Sarah Turbow, DC Metro and South Region Campus Organizer. Sarah joined J Street after graduating from Yale University with a BA in Political Science. At J Street, she has previously served as the Executive Assistant to Jeremy Ben-Ami and as the office manager of the Washington, DC office. In college, Sarah was the President of the Yale College Democrats, helped found the J Street U chapter on campus and worked to increase dialogue about Israel among Jewish students. In 2007 she traveled to the region for the first time with the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace internship program, and returned there in 2009 to conduct research for her senior thesis on integrated education in Northern Ireland and Israel. She previously served on the Board of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom as the organization’s first student representative. Originally from Brooklyn, Sarah now lives in Washington, DC. Contact Sarah

J Street Local

Gordon Gladstone, Northern California/Northwest Regional Director. Gordon comes to J Street after seven years of community building at Berkeley Hillel where he held a number of positions including Executive Director. Gordon is an Israeli Tour Educator and spent more than five years working in Israel and living at Kibbutz Gezer. Gordon holds a BA and MA in History. He was born in Manhattan, grew up in Wisconsin and spent three years living in Kansas City, where he learned everything there is to know about BBQ. Gordon is an avid cyclist and cook who co-writes a Jewish food blog. Contact Gordon

Melanie Harris, Northeast Regional Director. Melanie joins J Street following an extensive stint as an activist in the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, including as a founder of J Street’s Boston Young Professionals group and J Street U Harvard. Prior to joining J Street, Melanie worked for two years as the executive director of author Jonathan Kozol’s educational nonprofit, the Cambridge Institute for Public Education. Melanie has traveled extensively throughout Israel and the West Bank, and spent part of her undergraduate years studying Eastern European Jewry in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Melanie studied psychology and educational studies at Washington University in St. Louis and now lives in the Boston area. Contact Melanie

Jon Grabelle Herrmann, Director for Field Operations. Based out of Philadelphia, Jon joins the J Street team following nearly a decade as executive director of the economic development organization Campus Philly. His accomplishments in marketing, communications and nonprofit leadership have been recognized by Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2005 “40 under 40″ award, and by Leadership Philadelphia’s 2006 and 2008 “101 Connectors” list. Jon serves on the board of the Union Benevolent Association, Philadelphia’s oldest charity serving low-income individuals; as a member of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Third Century Initiative; and as a member of the Clear Channel Communications Community Advisory Board. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, he lives with his wife and daughter and performs in his synagogue klezmer band. Contact Jon

Rebecca Kirzner, Mid-Atlantic Assistant Regional Director. Rebecca joins J Street after spending a year in Israel working with Ir Amim and several other non-profit organizations advocating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Prior to joining the J Street staff, Rebecca spent four years as a teacher and education activist in the Philadelphia public school system. She is a Teach for America alumna, and holds a MS in Urban Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Rebecca is a native of the Mid-Atlantic area, having lived in almost every state in the region. She is very excited to be building the movement in this area. Contact Rebecca

Jacob Matilsky, Northeast Field Organizer. Jacob joins J Street after working on a mayoral campaign in Denver as a volunteer coordinator.   In 2008 he organized students for Obama and then worked as a field organizer for Senator Feingold’s 2010 re-election campaign.   During college, he collaborated with the College Democrats and human rights groups to build a coalition of support for peaceful resolutions to conflicts in the Middle East.   In between political activities,  Jacob freelanced as a photographer in South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia and worked for 4 seasons as a Wildland Firefighter.    He has a BA in international affairs from Columbia University and a teaching certificate in English.    Jacob grew up in New Jersey, spent his teen years on a Jewish ranch in Montana, and currently resides in Cambridge MA. Contact Jacob

Kate Press, New York City Regional Director. Kate joined the Field Team after working with J Street U as the East Coast Organizer. In this role, she helped students organize on campus. She has over three years of experience in organizing and volunteer management. Kate received her MA in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. From 2008-2009, Kate participated in the Dorot Fellowship in Israel and has traveled both Israel and the West Bank extensively. Kate grew up in Toronto and now lives in New York City. Contact Kate

Gillian Rosenberg, Deputy Director of Field and Campaigns. Gillian joins J Street after working for over six years on several prominent political campaigns across the country. Recently, she worked on President’s Obama campaign in various roles, most notably serving as the Iowa Director of Political Operations helping to lead a victorious effort in the state’s caucuses. Gillian spent 1999-2000 in Israel participating in Young Judaea’s Year Course. Gillian attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City and studied Political Science and History. Gillian is a native of the Chicagoland area and currently lives in Chicago. Contact Gillian

Aaron Rosenthal, Midwest Field Organizer. Aaron comes to J Street fresh from graduating with a degree in Political Science from Loyola University Chicago. During his college career, Aaron stayed very engaged in the political world. He has been involved in various internships and jobs, including an internship in Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s Washington, DC office as well as a job canvassing for universal healthcare. Aaron’s latest internship was with the J Street Midwest office, which led to his current job. He spent two semesters away from Chicago during college, one in DC and one in Cape Town, South Africa. Born in St. Paul Minnesota, he moved to Chicago for school and remains very fond of the Midwest. Contact Aaron

Political

Amos Buhai, Southern California Regional Political Director. Amos joins J Street with a strong and varied background in the political, public and private sectors. Amos has served as a field organizer for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign in Wisconsin, worked as a Field/GOTV Director and Legislative Director for New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin, and he managed Steve Warnstadt’s successful 2006 campaign for the Iowa State Senate. Amos honed his fundraising and communication skills during Obama’s primary campaign for president, serving as a high-donor fundraiser and the New York State Director for DraftObama, a grassroots organization promoting an Obama presidential candidacy. Amos was the Director of Business Development for the LA-based start up Saysme.tv, which created an online platform for self-serve TV ad placements. He most recently worked as a consultant for the Personal Democracy Forum, an organization that studies how technology is changing politics, government, and civic engagement. He holds a BA in History from The George Washington University, and is a fifth-generation Los Angeles native and a staunch supporter of the LA Clippers. Contact Amos

Rachel Eisner, Northern California Regional Director. Rachel joins J Street with 15 years of experience in community outreach, leadership development and fundraising in the Bay Area and New York Jewish communities. She previously served as the Director of Development for the 14th Street Y in New York City, a vibrant JCC. She also served in senior development roles at flagship PBS station Thirteen/WNET, and at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. In the late 1990s she devoted several years to expanding the San Francisco chapter of the New Israel Fund. Rachel holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration on the modern Middle East from U.C. Berkeley, which included a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a certified mediator. A Manhattan native, Rachel lives in El Cerrito, California with her husband and daughter. Contact Rachel

Shira Barchilon Frank, Director of Development and Leadership Outreach. Shira brings nearly a decade of work in women’s philanthropy and Jewish non-profit fundraising with her to J Street. In 2000, Shira began her involvement with women’s philanthropy in San Francisco at the Women’s Foundation of California. Shira then worked for the Women and Financial Independence Center in Northampton, MA, developing new initiatives in young women’s entrepreneurship and leadership, and directing the launch of SmiThrift, a philanthropic retail business. While living in Israel, Shira partnered with the municipality of B’nei Brak, seeking international foundation support for the Women’s Health and Information Center serving urban ultra-orthodox communities throughout Israel. Immediately prior to joining J Street, Shira worked as the Associate Director of Institutional Advancement for the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital, successfully transitioning the school from event-based fundraising to a donor-centered campaign model. Shira is an active member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Outreach and Engagement Committee as well as the Stuart S. Kurlander Program for Gay and Lesbian Outreach and Engagement. Shira holds a Bachelors degree in Government from Smith College. She hails from the Redwood Coast of Arcata, CA and has enjoyed living in Washington, DC since 2006. Contact Shira

Jesse Greenberg, Midwest Regional Political Director. Jesse joins J Street having run a freelance public affairs and communications consultancy where he manages and advises candidates running for state and local office. A Chicago-area native, Jesse began his career working with local Jewish communities on communications and community relations strategies with the Israel Advocacy Initiative at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Jesse also worked at the Chicago Jewish Community Relations Council and Jasculca/Terman Public Affairs while he completed a Masters of Arts in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. He formerly played college baseball before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jesse and his wife, a native of Petach Tikvah, Israel, live in Chicago. Contact Jesse

Janette Hillis-Jaffe, Senior Advisor. Janette was previously J Street’s New England Regional Political Director from 2010 to 2012.  She joined J Street with over two decades of advocacy, development and marketing experience. While living in Jerusalem from 1999 to 2004, Janette served as a development consultant to Israeli non-profits while her husband pursued independent Orthodox rabbinic ordination. Previously, as director of the Massachusetts Child Hunger Initiative, Janette led a successful statewide advocacy campaign to increase state food aid to low income families. Janette began her career in public health and has a Masters of Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She spent five years as a social marketing consultant, with projects in Boston, Brazil, and Northern Pakistan. Janette currently lives in Sharon, Massachusetts with her husband, David, and their two sons. Contact Janette

Daniel Kalik, Director of Political Affairs. Daniel joins J Street after earning his law degree from The George Washington University. While in law school, Daniel worked as a summer associate focusing on corporate law at Goodwin Procter LLP and spent a summer studying human rights law at Oxford University. Daniel previously worked for two years at EF Education in their educational tour department and one year at the headquarters of Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. Daniel also holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Tufts University and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Contact Daniel

Barbara Lahav, Pacific Northwest Regional Political Director. Barbara joins J Street with over two decades of political activism in pursuit of Middle East peace. Barbara is a founding member of the interfaith group Find Common Ground. A graduate of Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, Barbara lived in Israel for more than 16 years, working in design for the Israel Museum as well as administration for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Before moving back to the Seattle, Barbara was the managing editor of the local Jerusalem newspaper Kol Ha’Ir. In the Seattle area, Barbara worked for the Jewish Federation and for ten years as the program director for the largest Conservative congregation in the area. For the past eight years, Barbara worked as an administrator and consultant for a variety of non-profit organizations. Barbara now lives on Mercer Island with her husband Eli, a native of Tel Aviv. Contact Barbara

Daniel Rosove, Associate Regional Political Director for the Mid-Atlantic/Leadership Outreach Associate. After graduating from the University of Oregon in 2007 with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science, Daniel spent eight months living and traveling in Israel. He attended five months of ulpan Hebrew immersion at Ulpan Akiva in Netanya, followed by volunteering for two months as an ambulance medic with Magen David Adom Ambulance Service in Nazareth. After arriving in Washington in 2008, Daniel worked for five months as an intern for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where he worked on Middle East issues. Daniel joined J Street in the fall of 2009. A native of Los Angeles, Daniel now lives in Washington, DC. Contact Daniel

Ben Shnider, Development Assistant. Ben graduated from Emory University with a BA in Political Science in August, 2011. He served as the student president of Emory Hillel during the 2009-2010 school year, and worked with student leaders to develop a dialogue between Hillel and Emory’s Muslim Student Association. Ben joins J Street after managing Saqib Ali’s 2011 campaign for Maryland State Senate, and working as an Atlanta field organizer for President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. He spent a semester of high school living outside of Jerusalem with NFTY’s Eisendrath International Exchange program, and studied for a semester at University College of London. A native of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Ben now lives in Kensington, Maryland. Contact Ben

Amy M. Stein, New England Regional Political Director. Rooted in civil rights and social justice work, Amy joins J Street after nearly a decade with the Anti-Defamation League in lay and professional capacities in Seattle, San Francisco and Boulder, CO.  Her most recent position as director of ADL’s Boulder office afforded her opportunity to lead dialogue work between Jews and Palestinian-Americans.  Amy has served on Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Foundation, and synagogue boards and has worked on a variety of local political boards, including as chair of Boulder’s Human Relations Commission.  A Politics graduate of Brandeis, Amy happily returns to the Boston area. Contact Amy

Adee Telem, New York Regional Political Director. Adee joins J Street with a decade of experience in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution space. She previously served as the West Coast Director for the OneVoice Movement, helping to double the organization’s funding over eighteen months and driving area network, foundation and corporate partnerships. She has worked in development, policy and research positions at Israel Policy Forum, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the US Institute of Peace. Adee is the Co-Founder and Director of The Social Investment Consultancy, an international corporate engagement, philanthropy and fundraising services firm. She has been named one of 65 American-Jewish Leaders by the Center for Leadership Initiatives and was recently selected as one of 25 Emerging Leaders in Conflict Resolution by the U.S. Department of State and the Washington-Ireland Program. Adee was born in Israel and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Contact Adee