J Street U Elects Seventh National Student Board

August 25, 2016

J Street U, the student arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, today announced the election of its seventh national student board.

The National Board, which directs the student arm of J Street, was elected by the organization’s leaders at the annual Summer Leadership Institute this week. It is comprised of the president and six other elected vice presidents, each of whom represents a geographic region. The board members make decisions as a group and work collaboratively to guide strategy for the organization.

Brooke Davies, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was elected President of the J Street U National Student Board. In her work with J Street U, Brooke founded the current Duke University chapter, served as National Communications Chair, National Education Co-Chair and the UNC Chapter Chair. Brooke grew up in Charlotte’s Jewish community, is actively involved in her Hillel at UNC Chapel Hill and is a proud alum of the Ramah Darom summer camp.

Rikki Baker Keusch, a senior at the University of Chicago, was elected Vice President for the Midwest Region. She previously served as J Street U Israel Engagement Co-Chair and as Co-Chair of the J Street UChicago chapter. Born in Israel, she returned in 2016 to spend the four months in Jerusalem, where she studied at Hebrew University and interned for the J Street U Israel program.

Sonia Brin, a senior at UC Berkeley, was elected Vice President for the Northwest Region. She grew up attending Jewish day school in Irvine, California, and has been active in J Street U since her first year at Berkeley. She has previously served as co-chair of J Street U Berkeley, and as Northwest Regional Co-Chair. She is active in Berkeley Hillel and has held various leadership positions in Hillel throughout college.

Liat Deener-Chodirker, a senior at the University of Maryland, was elected Vice President for the Southeast Region. She grew up an active member of the Jewish community in Boston, where she graduated from Gann Academy and staffed teen trips to Israel through the Diller Teen Fellowship. She has been active in J Street U since her freshman year, and has previously served as a Southeast Regional Co-Chair and J Street UMD co-chair. She currently sits on the board of directors of Maryland Hillel and the Hillel International Student Cabinet.

Didi Kalmanofsky, a senior at the State University of New York at Buffalo, was elected Vice President for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Previously, he served as Northeast Regional Co-Chair and Co-Chair of J Street U Buffalo. He spends his summers at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and is a graduate of the BINA: Social Action and Study gap-year program in Tel Aviv.

Ezra Oliff-Lieberman, a junior at Bates College, was elected Vice President for the Northeast Region. He has been active with J Street U since his freshman year, and previously served as co-chair for J Street U Bates and Northeast Regional Co-Chair. This past summer he interned for J Street U in Israel. He has also worked at Project Harmony Israel, a joint Israeli-Palestinian summer camp at the Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem.

Jonathan Wasserman, a senior at Arizona State University, was elected Vice President for the Southwest Region. He spent the past year founding and building a J Street U chapter at ASU and spent the past summer interning for J Street U in Israel. He served on the student board of Hillel at ASU and founded a traditional-egalitarian minyan there, and is a student leader at Chabad at ASU. He has spent time studying Torah at Mechon Hadar and the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, has worked at Camp Ramah in the Rockies and is an alumnus of BBYO, having served in several chapter and regional positions.