Our TEAM 

We invite you to get to know BBYO's professional staff from our Washington, DC headquarters, as well our 40+ field offices across North America.

Team members in our DC office manage marketing and communications, finance, development and alumni relations, teen programming, and registration for international year-round and summer programs. Our diverse team, many of whom are BBYO alumni, works together to perpetuate BBYO's legacy as the world's leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement. To find a specific contact in one of our 40+ regions, please visit the BBYO Near You page and click on the region you’re searching for.

If you’re looking for our main address and phone number, look no further!

BBYO
529 14th St NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20045
P: 202.857.6633 / F: 202.857.6568

[email protected]

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Matthew Grossman
Chief Executive Officer
202.857.6580
Read Matt's bio

 

Karen Alpert
Vice President, IT Strategy and Measurement
202.857.6567
Read Karen's bio

Stacey Apter

Stacey Apter
Senior Director of the Executive Office
202.857.6580


Wendi Colby
Chief People Officer
202.857.6544
Read Wendi's bio

Jayme David
Senior Vice President, Philanthropic Engagement
Read Jayme's bio

Aryeh Furst
Chief Financial Officer
202.857.6692
Read Aryeh's bio


Stacy Friduss

Stacy Friduss
Vice President, Philanthropic Operations

Robyn Judelsohn
Chief Movement Experiences Officer
202.857.6588
Read Robyn's bio

Ian Kandel
Vice President, Global Movement Strategy
202.507.7304


Gary Levin
Senior Vice President of Community Impact
202.857.6543
Read Gary's bio

Liron Lipinsky
Vice President, Enrichment Strategy
202.857.6633
Read Liron's bio

Debbie Shemony
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications
202.857.6691
Read Debbie's bio


MEET OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

BBYO’s International Board of Directors is the organization's governing body, comprised of key Jewish philanthropists, Jewish community leaders, BBYO alumni, Jewish Federation leadership, BBYO’s International Teen Presidents (the Grand Aleph Godol and International N’siah) and local and regional BBYO lay leaders.

Board members are committed to Jewish youth and to building future Jewish leadership, influential in their communities and willing to help guide and assist the organization as it charts its course for the future. The Board of Directors' responsibilities include determining policy, supporting fundraising efforts, approving partnerships with other agencies, and establishing new organization committees and task forces.

Officers

Craig L. Weiss, Board Chair, Memphis, TN 
Craig is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and graduate of CBHS Class of 1985.  He earned a BA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 and MBA from the University of Memphis in 2000.Craig is a co-founder and partner of Tower Ventures.  Tower Ventures is one of the largest privately-held tower companies in the United States.  Tower Ventures develops and leases towers for the cellular industry.  Tower Ventures currently owns over 400 tower assets in 35 states.  Craig manages the leasing department responsible for lease agreements with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Dish and others. In 2005, Craig purchased two Memphis-based security guard businesses and merged their accounts and created Central Defense Security.  Craig and his partners grew CDS to become the largest security provider in the MidSouth with its headquarters in Memphis and branch offices in Nashville and Little Rock. They successfully sold Central Defense Security in 2020.Craig is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Paragon Bank, a Regional Community Bank headquartered in Memphis with approximately $550 million in assets. Paragon currently has 4 branch locations in Memphis along with its Small Business Capital Group and a Commercial Branch in Atlanta, as well as branches in Oxford, MS and Wilmington, NC. Honors: Craig was selected by the Memphis Business Journal as one of their “Top 40 under 40” of local Community leaders in 2005. Craig was named by the Memphis Business Quarterly as one of the Region’s Power Players in Security in 2014-2020. Craig was elected into the Christian Brothers High School Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2018, Craig received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis and was inducted into the FCBE Hall of Fame. Craig recently completed the Class VIII of Leadership Tennessee. Non-Profit: Craig is the current Chair of the Board of Directors for the Memphis Child Advocacy Center. Craig serves on the Executive Committee & Board of Directors for the United Way of the Mid-South as Chairman of the Investment Committee and is Chair Elect.  Craig serves on the Board of Directors of The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and the Board of Visitors at the University of Memphis.  He serves on the Hutchison Board of Trustees and the Christian Brothers High School Board of Directors. Craig is a past President/Chairman of the Memphis Jewish Community Center Board of Directors and a past Vice Chair of Jewish Community Partners. Craig is the incoming Board Chair for BBYO’s International Board of Directors. Craig and his wife Cathy have three children, Isaac (21), Ari (19) and Ava (17).

Ruth Suzman, Past Chair, Scarsdale, NY
Ruth is a dedicated volunteer, philanthropist, and non-profit advisor. Having earned degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University, today Ruth works with organizations and programs that help connect young people to Jewish identity and leadership, and those that help people access educational opportunities and engage productively in the workplace. In her local work, Ruth is Chair Emerita of the Board of the Westchester Community College Foundation (Westchester County, NY), and a member of the advisory council to the Westchester Community Foundation. She serves as a member of the Visiting Committee to the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nationally, Ruth is a board member of the Vanderbilt University Hillel (Nashville, TN), and a board member of Swipe Out Hunger, a national organization committed to addressing food insecurity for students on college campuses in the US. In Texas, she serves on the Advisory Council of the College of Liberal Arts at UT Austin, and the board of directors of the MB and Edna Zale Foundation (Dallas). She is an active member of Westchester Reform Temple. Ruth lives in Scarsdale, NY with her husband, three children and two beloved but poorly trained dogs.

Lois Kohn-Claar, Vice Chair, Scarsdale, NY
After years of working in the field of education and educational technology, Lois now devotes herself to Jewish communal service. Lois chairs the Immersive Jewish Experiences allocation committee for UJA-Federation of NY, where she also sits on the Board of Directors and the Women’s Executive Committee.  She is past-chair of UJA-Federation Westchester Women’s Philanthropy and a founding member of the Neshamot Women’s Impact Philanthropy group. She serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Jewish Education Project and is a Trustee for The Leffell School. Lois is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage program. Her first introduction to leadership occurred in the early 80’s in Louisville, KY when she became her BBG chapter’s President and also attended many KIO conventions. Lois holds a BA and MS Ed from the University of Pennsylvania where she currently sits on the Board of Overseers for the Graduate School of Education. Lois and her husband, Gary Claar, have three children. She is also a certified yoga instructor.

Ruth Perlman, Vice Chair, Chicago, IL
Ruth is a graduate of Northwestern University, and is an accomplished actress and singer who worked professionally Off Broadway and regionally across the United States. As an Artist-in- Residence with the Whirlwind Performance Company, she brought the arts into Chicago Public Schools. To supplement her performance career, she also worked as the Publications Coordinator in the Marketing Department of Arthur Andersen’s World Headquarters in Chicago and subsequently as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. Ruth now feels most blessed to sing for and connect with the elderly at nursing homes and senior centers, as well as performing in various concerts and charity events. Her past philanthropic endeavors include serving as a Director on the North Suburban Medical Research Junior Board of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago; a Trustee for Am Shalom Synagogue in Glencoe, Illinois; and the PTO Vice President of Education and Cultural Arts Programming for Glencoe School District 35. Currently, she is an Executive Vice President of the Perlman Family Foundation Founded by Anita and Louis Perlman; a Director on the Board of Beber Camp in Mukwonago, Wisconsin; and is actively involved with the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. Ruth is the proud mother of Emily, Jack, and Alec.

Jonathan Anschell, Treasurer, Los Angeles, CA
Jonathan Anschell, Los Angeles, CA, is a former BBYO I-board member and Regional Aleph Godol from Northwest Canada Region and was on BBYO’s BOD immediately following independence. He has a son and daughter who are approaching BBYO age. Jonathan plays a leadership role in the Los Angeles Jewish community, where he has served the Jewish Federation as Chair of the Legal Services Division, area Chair of the National Young Leadership Cabinet and as a member of Board of Directors and its Planning and Allocations Committee. Jonathan also serves on the Los Angeles area boards for the American Jewish Committee and the American Friends of the Hebrew University. Professionally, Jonathan was the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CBS Television and the Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for CBS Corporation, overseeing the legal affairs for CBS's televised entertainment and news operations in addition to its corporate governance, securities, intellectual property and labor and employment practice areas. He is currently the Chief Legal Officer at Mattel.

Leora Zabusky, Secretary, Philadelphia, PA
Leora serves on several non-profit boards, including Board Chair of Penn Hillel, Secretary of Perelman Jewish Day School, and Board member of the Women’s Philanthropy division of Jewish Federation.  Leora is a Wexner Fellow in Jewish learning and leadership and also serves on the Wexner National Alumni Council. Leora manages her own consulting practice, which specializes in strategic planning and marketing.  Before beginning her independent consulting business, Leora worked at Genentech in San Francisco.  During her tenure at Genentech, Leora commercialized several oncology medicines and helped run the Company’s digital marketing business.  Prior to Genentech, Leora was a strategic management consultant at Monitor in New York. She has an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BA in Economics and International Relations from Univ of Pennsylvania. Leora resides in the Philadelphia suburbs.  She grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and emigrated to Harrisburg, PA as a teenager.  Leora enjoys tennis, yoga, dance, the outdoors, and most of all, spending time with her daughters, Arielle and Haley, and husband, Jonathan.

Matthew Grossman, Arlington, VA
Matt has served as BBYO's Chief Executive Officer since 2004 and is currently responsible for working with the organization's teen, professional, volunteer and philanthropic leaders to set BBYO's vision and direction. For almost 100 years, BBYO has provided exceptional identity enrichment and leadership development experiences for hundreds of thousands of teens and now ranks as one of the Jewish community’s premier platforms for reaching and inspiring Jewish teens. Matt takes great pride in BBYO's ability to bring Jewish teens together so they can form powerful, authentic relationships with each other and with inspiring adult role models.  He plays a key role in hiring the professional team who bring to life the compelling Jewish environments where teens feel pride in who they are, in control of their own destiny and a part of something greater than themselves. With the guidance and mentoring of BBYO's Board of Directors, Matt has helped grow BBYO's budget seven-fold, expand AZA and BBG membership to over 33,000 teens across the globe, all while ensuring that appropriate systems and financial controls are in place to support BBYO's fast growing infrastructure.  Prior to BBYO, Matt worked for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, playing a key role in the organization’s decade-long renaissance. Matt lives outside of Washington DC with his wife and children. 

Directors

Jay Bernhardt, Boston, MA
David Brown, Chicago, IL
Lisa Cohn, Denver, CO
Michelle Gerber, West Vancouver, BC
Diane Greenwald, Scarsdale, NY
Andy Gutman, Detroit, MI
Rachel Hoffer, Paradise Valley, AZ
TJ Katz, (99th Grand Aleph Godol) Livingston, NJ
Lee Kohrman, Cleveland, OH
Todd Maurer, Indianapolis, IN
Courtney Mizel, Los Angeles, CA
Gabriel Mops, Barcelona, Spain
Jonathan Morris, London, England
Estee Portnoy, Bethesda, MD
David Rittberg, Washington, DC
Courtney Saxe, (79th Anita M Perlman International N’siah) Las Vegas, NV
Stacy Schusterman, Tulsa, OK

If you are interested in joining the International Board of Directors, please contact Stacey Apter.