Board of Trustees 2011-2012

Alan has previously been involved with Gateways as a member of the Board and the Finance Committee. Alan sat on the boards of Momenta and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, T2 Biosystems, Hydra Biosciences, Vaccinex, the Boston Autism Consortium, Medicine in Need, Adnexis Therapeutics, Controlled Delivery Systems, and several Children’s Hospital of Boston boards. Alan’s profession background is biotechnology and venture capital. He is employed at Polaris Venture Partners and is CEO of Cerulean pharma.

Robert was on the Gateways Finance Committee prior to becoming a board member and his family has been involved with Etgar L’Noar since its inception: his wife taught in the B’nei Mitzvah Program for its first two years and their daughter was a volunteer for three years. Robert has served on the board of Gann Academy and Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston. Robert is Vice President of Business Development at Trex Enterprises Corporation, a high-tech incubator based in San Diego, and is a Managing Director of Back Bay Management, a venture capital and private equity firm in Boston.

Jerome has been ad advisor to Gateways for over five years, prior to become a board member in 2009. He has sat on the boards of Temple Emunah in Lexington and Jewish Vocational Services and currently sits on the AIPAC National Council. He is Co-Director of MIT Venture Mentoring Service, a consultant and is a retired senior executive with DuPont.

Sharon has been involved with Gateways since 2006 and served on the Development Committee. She is active in The Ruderman Family Foundation, her family’s charitable enterprise. Sharon sits on the CJP Board of Directors, CJP’s Special Education Advisory Committee and the Day Education Commission as well as the Committee on Services for People with Disabilities. She previously sat on the Congregation Beth Israel of Malden Board. She is a trained dietician.

Louise has been a trustee for four years during which time she also served as the Nominating Committee Chair. Louise has served on the boards of CJP’s Women’s Division, Zamir Chorale and the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center. She is a clinical audiologist as well as an officer of the South Shore Hearing Center.

Hershel has served on the Gateways Board since its inception in 2006. He has also served on various school and synagogue boards over the past 20 years. He is married to Debbie, a pre-school teacher at Striar Hebrew Academy in Sharon and is the father of six, agrees 6 – 19, who have all attended local day schools. Hershel is a dentist with his own private practice in Whitinsville, MA.

Marni has been involved in Jewish organizations in the Greater Boston area since she graduated from Tufts University (1988) and the Northeastern University Law School (1992). Marni spent many years involved in the Anti-Defamation League, serving as a facilitator for ADL’s Confronting Anti-Semitism Program and a member of their Speakers’ Bureau. Marni has been on the Temple Sinai Board in Sharon for the past seven years, and has served as Chair of the Kol B’Seder Concert fundraiser, as Fundraising Chair, as third Vice President, and currently as the Membership Chair. Marni also had the great honor of serving on the Rabbi Search Committee that brought Rabbi Joseph Meszler to Temple Sinai. In addition, Marni has been involved in numerous CJP initiatives and committees. Most recently she served on the Engagement Subcommittee for CJP’s Strategic Planning Initiative, has participated for a number of years in Super Sunday fundraising efforts and served as a member of the Cynthia and Leon Schulman Acharai Leadership Training program in 2007-2008. Professionally, Marni is currently the Deputy General Counsel of Caritas Christi Health Care, a six hospital Catholic health care system in Massachusetts. Prior to her current position, Marni was the Director of Legal Services/General Counsel of Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton for 12 years. She lives in Sharon with her husband, Jonathan, also an attorney, and her four children, Joshua, Alexa, Noah and Ari.

Michelle has been active with Gateways for the past seven years, as the parent of a Gateways student, an Etgar L’Noar Board member, as well as a participant in the Etgar L’Noar/JSEC merger committee. Michelle is a member of the Temple Shalom Board in Newton. She is the owner and principal of the RBC Group, a heath care strategy consulting company.

Jenna grew up in Newton and received her undergraduate degree in Biology and the History of Science from Harvard College. She worked as a project manager in medical device manufacturing for three years before attending the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where she received her MBA. Moving to Chicago, she completed an administrative fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and then spent several years in hospital and physician practice administration. Returning to Boston via a two-month volunteering trip to Tanzania, Jenna spent some time with Measuring Success, a consulting firm specializing in Jewish nonprofits. Jenna currently managers her household, which consists of husband Gavin, sons Moshe and Raphael and baby Noam.

Arlene became involved with Etgar L’Noar at the time of its founding in 1998 and was on the Etgar Board of Directors until its merger with Gateways and serves on its Governance Committee. She is a retired family law attorney. Arlene currently serves on the boards of Yad Chesed and the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England, and is a member of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah of Newton.

In 1998, Erik attended a Keshet International conference in Chicago and was inspired to create an inclusive Jewish educational program in Boston for children with special needs. Erik is a co-founder of Etgar L’Noar and served as the first president of the Gateways Board of Trustees. He is currently working on a project called ThisAbility, Inc. to enable adults with disabilities to become self-employed (www.thisabilityinc.org).

Joyce was involved with Gateways previously as a member of the Governance Committee in 2008-2009. She has served on the boards of Zamir Chorale of Boston, Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, and Temple Emanuel of Newton. She recently retired after six years as the founding admissions director for the MetroWest Jewish Day School.

Rachel has been a member for three years. In addition to her board and committee work at Gateways, Rachel is a tutor in the Gateways Jewish Education B’nei Mitzvah Program. She is a former board member of the Bureau of Jewish Education. Rachel is a certified special education teacher.

Christy DeRoche is active in Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Jewish Big Brother Big Sister. Christy is an elementary special education teacher focusing on students with development delays and behavioral challenges.

Mady holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.Ed. in special education from Boston University. In June, 2006, she retired from a career of more than 30 years in public education, both as a speech and language therapist and elementary school guidance counselor. For most of her career, she worked in the Brookline public schools, proving support to students in grades K-8. As a guidance counselor at the Driscoll School, she worked closely with neighboring Jewish Day Schools to facilitate special education services for their students. For more than a decade, Mady was the Brookline liaison to the Boston University School of Education Consortium, serving as chair for two years. In Brookline, she mentored new staff, was a Elementary Staff Development Leader, and a Horace Mann Teacher. Mady also chaired the Brookline Teacher Grants Committee for several years and has extensive experience in educational grant review. Mady is a life member of Hadassah and has been active in the Boston Chapter for more than three decades, most recently serving as president from 2006-2009. She is a member of the Hadassah National Board, the Temple Emanuel Board of Trustees and the Temple Emanuel Sisterhood Board. Mady currently co-chairs the Boston Jewish Community Women’s Fund. In May, 2009, Mady joined the Gateways Board and currently serves on its Special Education Advisory and Development Committees. She is also an active member of Mayyim Hayyim and the Children’s Tumor Foundation. Mady was the founding chair of the OMFS Foundation Alliance was honored by the Foundation with its Torch Award. She and her husband Bruce, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and dental school dean, have two adult children: Elizabeth, Editor of an architectural lighting magazine, and Daniel, an elementary school Instructional Technology Specialist.

Stephanie Gertz has sat on the boards of the Greater Boston Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Federations of North America Young Leadership, Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Board of Governors, The Handel and Haydn Society, The Huntington Theater, The American Jewish Historical Society, Mount Auburn Hospital, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, American Jewish Congress, AIPAC Young Leaders, and Pro Arte Orchestra. She is the Director of Research and Policy at ConnectEDU, a college and career planning company.

Catharyn has served as a member of the Gateways Executive, Governance, Finance, and Strategic Planning Committees. She is in her second year as the co-chair of Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Day School Education Commission (DSEC). She was the president of the Jewish Community Day School Board and she has also served on the boards of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and Boston’s Bureau of Jewish Education. She is a member of Temple Emunah in Lexington, MA. Her professional background is in health care administration and clinical research. She is currently the Director of Strategic Implementation at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA.

Danya has been a part of Gateways for the past three years. She volunteers in the Gateways Toddler and Preschooler Program, and serves on the Education and Community Outreach committees. She is a pediatric physical therapist, specializing in early intervention.

Miriam is chair of the Gateways Marketing committee and was an active board member at Etgar L’Noar. Miriam has served on Newton’s Congregation Shaarei Tefillah’s Building Committee as campaign co-chair, and sat on the board of Planned Parenthood and the Jewish Federation in Providence as well as various other boards. She is Managing Director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Dena is a member of the Rashi School’s Board of Trustees and is a co-chair of the Campaign for Rashi. She is the immediate past chair of Rashi’s Development Committee. She is a vice president of Congregation Mishkan Tefila where she serves on the Board of Directors and the Endowment Committee. Dena is involved with Combined Jewish Philanthropies where she is a member of the current Acharai Class, serves on the Day School Education Commission, the Jaffa Committee and helps with Young Lion of Judah efforts. Dena served on the Historic Newton board of Directors and is a member of the Capital Campaign Steering Committee. A graduate of Wellesley College, Dena serves on the Wellesley College Development and Outreach Council and is a member of Wellesley’s Boston Leadership Gifts Committee. She lives in Newton with her husband Michael and their four children Emma, Lily, Daniel and Hailey.

Naomi has a private practice in Wellesley, MA where she specializes in labor relations and school law. She is a graduate of Simmons College, has a masters degree from the Catholic University School of Social Work, and a law degree from New York University Law School. She has participated in many seminars and workshops on the Education Reform Act and has published articles in publications of the National School Board Association and the Journal on Law and Education. Naomi is a founding member of the Massachusetts Association of School committees and the National School Board Association and served a five-year term (1997-2001) as president of the organization. She served on the National School Board Association Council of School Attorneys’ Board of Directors (2003-2007). Naomi was the consumer representative and consumer mentor of the Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Peer Review Panels and she has served as past president of the MA Neurofibromatosis Foundation of New England, Inc. She has served as vice president and Religious School chair of Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley. She is serving as the social services co-chair of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Boston Haifa connection and she has served a board member of MetroWest Jewish Day School as well as serving on the human resources committee for JF&CS.