Karyn G. Gershon - CEO

Karyn Grossman Gershon is the CEO of Project Kesher (PK) in the US and architect of the PK international network of feminist Jewish leaders. Project Kesher’s programs build intergenerational Jewish life, advance gender equality, and promote public health and wellness. Karyn has helped raise over $40 million for Jewish women and girls in this region of the world. Most recently, she has been instrumental in helping to create a gendered response to the war in Ukraine. Karyn is a graduate of Cornell University and Northwestern University School of Law. Project Kesher’s archives and Karyn’s body of work have been included in Brandeis University’s Archives and Special Collections on Jewish Feminism. She has spoken extensively about women's rights and Jewish life in post-Soviet countries on public radio and at universities including Stanford, Northwestern, Columbia and Wash U.

Samantha tieger - DIRECTOR OF Development

Samantha Tieger is the Director of Development of Project Kesher in the US. She was raised in Cincinnati, OH, and graduated with a BA from Duke University, specializing in Romance Languages and Information Sciences. She speaks English, Spanish, and French, and has managed the Marketing and Social Media Departments of several consumer products holding companies. Samantha is a songwriter and her work has been featured on several tv shows.

Roz blanck

Roz has lived in the Detroit Metro area all of her life, venturing to Ann Arbor, Michigan for college and law school. Although she practiced law, her true passion is Jewish organizations, especially the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and its agencies. Roz is currently on Federation's Board of Governors and its Israel and Overseas Committee.  She also serves on the boards of JFNA's National Women's Philanthropy, ORT, Detroit's Jewish Women's Foundation, Detroit's Jewish Fund and Brilliant Detroit (creating kid success neighborhoods in the City of Detroit.) When not focused on her family including her 1-year-old granddaughter, she leads Bookstock, Michigan's largest used book and media sale and the David Horodoker Organization, a landsmanshaft begun in Detroit in 1909 by emigres from David Horodok, Belarus.  She has traveled to Belarus three times with the David Horodokers.

Barbara Glickstein

Barbara Glickstein is a public health nurse, health reporter and media strategist. In 2019 she founded Barbara Glickstein Strategies, a training and development company that provides innovative approaches to training in media, leadership  and advocacy skills. Glickstein produces & hosts HealthCetera, a podcast that provides evidence-based health news, analysis and commentary. She is the Nursing Consultant and Advisor for Carolyn Jones Productions. She worked on the documentaries The American Nurse, Defining Hope and the multimedia project Dying in America. 

Glickstein is one of 50 women selected for Take The Lead’s 50 Women Can Change the World in Journalism. She is currently serving as Project Kesher’s Board Chair.

SHEILA FRIEDLAND

Sheila Friedland has devoted her life to the betterment of the Jewish People through her professional career, volunteer activities  and philanthropy. Sheila has served on the board of Project Kesher, is a past chair of the board and has been honored by PK for her work. In 1997, Sheila was invited by Project Kesher to facilitate Jewish learning at a leadership training seminar in Chernigov, Ukraine. She soon joined the PK board and returned to the region 8 more times visiting Jewish communities throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia. Sheila was instrumental to the establishment of Project Kesher in Israel. Sheila is the past Executive Director of the Westchester Jewish Council and prior to that worked in the Education Department of the Jewish Museum of New York. She is passionate about Jewish continuity, and seeing to it that the needs of women and girls are highlighted and met. More recently, Sheila has partially enjoyed advising and mentoring younger Jewish professionals and volunteers and serving as a resource to them.

Sheila Lambert

Sheila enjoyed a twenty year career at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation with progressively responsible positions including Vice President of Human Resources and Senior Vice President & Publisher of Moody's Investors Service. Her extensive philanthropic experience focuses on Jewish education and continuity, education, and helping underserved and disadvantaged populations, particularly women and children. Sheila is the Founder and a Former Board Chair of Bottomless Closet and Chair Emerita and former President of the Marlene Meryerson JCC Manhattan. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the School of Communcation at Northwestern University. Formerly Sheila served as a Founder and Board Chair of Summerbridge, Board Chair of The Town School,Vice Chair of the Board of Hebrew Union College, and Vice President of the Board of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, in Manhattan. Sheila and her husband Bill live in New York City and have residences in Fire Island, and Aspen.

elisabeth lerner

Raised in New York City, Elisabeth holds both a JD and MBA specializing in Trusts & Estates and Non Profit Law. She as been active with several Jewish and non Jewish charitable organizations specifically in the area of arts and education, as well as the local Jewish community. Elisabeth travelled with Project Kesher to the Ukraine in Fall 2012. She joined the Board of Project Kesher in 2018.

Dr. Shari lusskin

Dr. Lusskin is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and an Attending in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center. In November 2019, she spoke at the Moscow Auditorium Conference Center at a seminar organized by Project Kesher. Dr. Lusskin presented a lecture entitled "Improving the Treatment of Perinatal Depression: Pharmacotherapy in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women." This lecture was the first ever given in Russia on the subject of psychopharmacology in pregnancy and lactation. Approximately 150 doctors, medical students, and other health care professionals from four countries participated in person or via a live YouTube broadcast. Dr. Lusskin has also given lectures on the use of psychotropic medication in pregnancy and lactation to professional and lay audiences in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, India, and South America.  She serves on the Advisory Board of the Postpartum Resource Center of New York, Inc. and was a member of the Advisory Board of Postpartum Support International from 2007-2019.  Dr. Lusskin was selected as a New York Magazine Best Doctor and as a Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctor in 2018 and 2019. In addition to her academic work, she maintains a private practice in New York City.  Website: www.sharilusskinmd.com.

BETH MANN

Beth Mann is an organizational consultant specializing in Jewish communal institutions in the areas of organizational strategy and financial resource development. She served as the interim CEO for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and currently is Senior Philanthropic Advisor to the JCC Association of North America. Beth spent 17 years in various senior level positions at the Jewish Federations of North America. Beth was a practicing attorney prior to her entry into the Jewish communal field. She has been a Board Member and/or Officer of several Jewish communal organizations. 

KATE EPSTEIN MANKOFF

Kate Epstein is an award-winning TV reporter/anchor turned producer, who lives to tell a good story. After working for several affiliates across the country, she traded in her anchor hairspray and "TV red blazers" for the chance to work in corporate production in New York City. Here, Kate has interviewed everyone from Beyoncé to Barbara Walters, field-produced for the Discovery Channel and Fine Living Network and even worked various gigs with the Department of Homeland Security. These days Kate serves as Executive Producer for a full-service field and post production design studio in Soho. She has also produced the videos for Project Kesher's Benefits in 2014-2019, and was thrilled to join the Board in 2014. Her favorite role, though, is being mom to her fabulous and fairly comical twins, Avi and Eliana. Kate and her husband, Steve, live with  on Manhattan's Upper West Side; when not chasing them, they both enjoy a good read and, on a really great day, a good nap.   

Arleen priest

Arleen Priest is office manager and bookkeeper for the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency.  She was on the Board of Trustees of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York for 20 years where she was honored for 20 years of service as co-chair of the Hungry and Homeless Committee and food coordinator for volunteers providing food for a local homeless shelter and a soup kitchen.

She and her husband Aaron lived in Scarsdale, New York for 30 years where she was a ceramicist. They moved to Manhattan in 2009.  She also resides part time in Westerly, R.I.  She has two sons and four grandchildren. Arleen was elected to the Board of Project Kesher in 2007, and was the 2015 honoree for the Annual Benefit. Traveling to the Region has been the highlight of her association with Project Kesher—in 2010 to Belarus, 2012 to Ukraine, and in 2016 to Moscow and Odessa where she brought a Torah donated from her synagogue in White Plains to celebrate her and Aaron's 55th wedding anniversary.

deborah roberts

Deborah is involved with various charitable organizations but her favorite remains Project Kesher.  Deborah traveled with Project Kesher on its Voyage on the Volga trip in 2004 with her daughter.  She returned in 2007 with her mom for the Summit on the Black Sea. A Board member since 2007, Deb has co-chaired Project Kesher's Annual Benefit since 2011.  She is married to her best friend, David Roberts, and the mother of three children, Lauren, Andrew and Michael.

Judith Smith

Judith R Smith is a PhD psychotherapist, author, and professor emerita of social work at Fordham University. She has been involved in feminist issues, starting in 1971, when she co-produced the first film made by an all women crew on women’s liberation, The Woman’s Film.  Her professional life has centered around understanding and supporting women’s experiences in parenting.  She recently wrote a book for mothers of adult children with serious mental illness and substance use disorder, a population of women that has been left in the shadows until now. Difficult: Challenging adult children through conflict and change (2022) has become a lifeline for many.  In her early 30’s, Judy’s Jewish life expanded from being a secular Jew to becoming an active member of a synagogue, after visiting the towns in Poland/Russia where her grandparents lived before immigrating here. Twenty years later, she travelled with Project Kesher on the Voyage on the Volga. She is very excited to be on the Project Kesher Board. 

EUNICE WARD

Eunice joined Project Kesher in 1993 when she committed to be part of the US delegation to PK’s first International Conference of Jewish Women in Kyiv. In 1994, after attending the conference, she joined the PK board and then served as the first Chair of the Project Kesher board after founder, Sallie E. Gratch. Eunice has traveled with PK to the region and Israel on numerous occasions. Eunice has a BS and M.Ed from The Ohio State University and a JD from IIT-Chicago-Kent College of Law. She founded her own law firm, Nottage and Ward where she became a prominent Chicago lawyer in the fields of divorce, family, matrimonial and child custody law. She is retired and living in Asheville, NC.

janet winter

Janet Winter is a graduate of Brown University and New York Law School. She practiced medical malpractice defense law as a partner at Bower and Gardner followed by Bartlett, McDonough, Bastone and Monaghan, and she now works as an Administrative Law Judge for the City of New York. Janet served on the School Board at Friends Seminary. Inspired by the work of her father who championed the rights of Soviet Jews in the 1960’s, Janet is excited to be on the Board of Project Kesher. Janet lives with her husband John in New York City, and they have two boys, Alex and Matthew.

Sallie e. gratch

Sallie E. Gratch is Project Kesher's founder and served as its first Board Chair. It was Sallie's trips to Russia and Ukraine to promote peace that led to her decision to create Project Kesher to support the rebirth of Jewish life through the active engagement of women. Sallie also founded Women Founders Collective. She received her undergraduate degree at Bard College and her Master's in social work at Simmons University. Read more.

eunice ward

Named one of “Chicago's Thirty Tough Lawyers” by Chicago Magazine in 2002, Eunice Ward is an experienced divorce litigator who has practiced family law for her entire legal career and has hands on experience with the divorce courts, judges, and mediators. She is known for positive, straight-forward attention to her cases and has sound, successful trial experience. Eunice has been influential in the custody area of the divorce bar; she assisted in writing the law on joint custody and worked for its incorporation into the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Eunice received her J.D. from IIT – Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1979 and is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.  Eunice Ward joined the Project Kesher Board in 1998 and served as Board chair from July 1998 through June 2001.

sheila friedland

Sheila Friedland is a Director of the Elaine Gorbach Levine Charitable Foundation, dedicated to helping families, with particular focus on emotionally disturbed youth and Jewish women and girls in the United States, Israel and the former Soviet Union. She is the former Executive Director of the Westchester Jewish Council and was a staff member of the Jewish Museum of New York.  Sheila has also served on the Board of trustees of Temple Israel Center.  Sheila became active with Project Kesher after a trip to Chernigov, Ukraine, in 1997, where she received leadership training. She has been involved in the organization ever since and joined the Board in 1998 and served as Board chair from July 2001 through June 2004.

rita kashner

Rita Kashner is an activist, philanthropist, novelist and short story writer. She has a B.A. from Smith College and a Masters in English Literature from Brandeis University. She teaches contemporary Jewish literature and leads poetry-writing workshops for women in domestic violence shelters in Westchester. Her publications include the novels Bed Rest, To The Tenth Generation, and The Graceful Exit, stories and articles in magazines and journals, and numerous book reviews for The Washington Post and Newsday. A long-time board member and past board chair of Project Kesher, Rita has also served on the Project Kesher-Israel Board.

sharon ufberg

Dr. Sharon Ufberg is the co-founder of Elevate Gen Y, a company she created with her daughter, Alexis Sclamberg in 2013 to create live events and online programming to empower women in their 20s and 30s to inspire and empower them to live meaningful lives and give back to their communities and the world. She is the health and wellness editor for Napa Valley Life Magazine and contributes to publications including The Huffington Post, Women eNews, Womens Media Center, Gender Across Borders, and IntegrativePractitioner.com. Dr. Ufberg has been featured across the media, including Fox TV News, Martha Stewart and WBAI radio, and We Heal New York magazine. Dr. Ufberg has served as a delegate to the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women.  Dr. Ufberg serves on the Council on Chiropractic Education, is an Adjunct Professor at Beth Israel Medical Center’s Continuum Center for Health and Healing in New York City, and lead consultant for Good Advice Works, the company she created in 2011. Sharon joined the PK Board in 2001 and served as Board chair from July 2004 through June 2007.

nancy solomon

Nancy Solomon is a past President of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a reform synagogue in New York City. Prior to that she served as Chairman of a multi-issue children's advocacy organization, Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, where she is still active. Honored by Project Kesher in 2011, Nancy has traveled to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus numerous times with Project Kesher, joined the Board in 2005, and is a past Board Chair. She introduced Project Kesher to Temple Beth El in Helena, Arkansas, the spiritual home of the Solomon Family that donated two Torah Scrolls when it closed its doors after 150 years. Nancy resides in New York City and Fire Island.