Lay Leadership

Effective July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025

The management and administration of the affairs of the Congregation is vested in the Board of Directors. The Board is charged with engaging in policy, long-term planning, and the general oversight of the mission and financial stability of the Synagogue.

PRESIDENT
Eric Kingsley

Eric and his wife Thalia have been active in VBS since 2001. Their three children all graduated from the VBS Day School. Eric served on the Day School Board from 2007-2013, acting as its President from 2009-2011. Since that time Eric has served on the synagogue board. In other aspects of Jewish communal service, Eric has been very active with ADL and served as Board Chair of the Pacific Southwest Region from 2014-2016 as well as serving on its National Commission. By day, Eric is an employment lawyer working on behalf of workers who have been mistreated or not paid properly.

CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Roslyn Grinberg

Roslyn Grinberg is a graduate of VBS Day School and has been a member of VBS since childhood. She earned her BA in Political Science at UC San Diego and completed a Master's Degree in Public Policy at USC. Her career focused on the health policy sector with agencies, including Edelman Public Relations and Cohn & Wolfe (in New York City) and Fischer Health and Amgen (in Los Angeles). She also worked for the Georgia State Government, in Atlanta, on the implementation of a statewide bi-partisan health care reform initiative. Previously, Roslyn served on the VBS Day School Board of Trustees as President, Administrative Vice President and co-chaired the Head of School Search Committee. Roslyn also served on the synagogue board as Vice President of Education and co-chaired the most recent Senior Rabbi Search. In 2020, Roslyn received the Rita Reznikoff Leadership Award for her dedication to the Day School. She and her husband, David, have three children; Ily, Shayna and Maya who are all graduates of VBS Day School. Roslyn is an avid skier, hiker, biker, and baker of mandelbread.

VICE PRESIDENT OF ADMINISTRATION
Moshe Meppen

Moshe has been a VBS member since 2000, and has served on the VBS Board of Directors since 2014. His 3 children graduated from VBS Day School, and together with his wife Debra has been active in the growth of the VBS Day School since 2003, serving on the strategic planning and marketing committees. Moshe serves as the High Holiday Cantor for the VBS Traditional Playground Service and has been the Co-Chair of the VBS Budget Committee for the past 2 years. Professionally, Moshe has been Chief Executive Officer of the biometric technology firm MetaDolce Technologies, Inc. since 2008. He holds a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing and Finance from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMS 
Jack Donitz

Jack and his wife, Gaby, have been members of VBS for close to 30 years. Their two children, Alexis and Benji, attended the ECC and Day School and matriculated to Milken Community School. Jack previously served as Membership Vice President and is committed to improving the experience of all VBS members, connecting them to our community.

Jack has a proven record as an executive in business with experience in both startups and established businesses. As a serial entrepreneur with roots in Management Consulting, Jack has been a founder and manager of several companies in a wide variety of industries. He began his consulting career at one of the Big Eight firms and went on to form his own management consulting practice specializing in international business and, more recently, healthcare. He has more than 25 years of senior management and operations experience. When the pandemic made Jack’s frequent client travel impossible, he formed an eCommerce startup selling licensed seasonal goods which keeps him challenged and very busy.

Jack studied computer science at UC Berkeley and received his B.A. in Linguistics and Computer Science from UCLA. He graduated from the Anderson School at UCLA with an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy.

VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Nancy Beiser

Nancy Beiser was raised by parents who instilled the importance of Jewish education and philanthropy. From their extensive volunteerism in the community, Nancy's parents became excellent role models for Nancy to follow and thus, recently served as past co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles Sylvia Weisz Women's Philanthropy, a current member of the Federation Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Los Angeles, a member of JFNA's National Women's Philanthropy Board and a Lion of Judah Endowment Chair. She also serves on the Camp Ramah of California Executive Board and the AIPAC Valley Executive Committee, is a member of the pro-Israel political network, and is a proud and active member of the Valley Beth Shalom community!

Nancy is a UCLA graduate and has her own business, By Nancy, personalizing gifts and party favors. She is married to Scott, and they have two children, Kyle, who is married to Natalie, and Tara, who is married to Patrick.

VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION
Hannah Wachs

A native of Indianapolis and graduate of NYU, Hannah has been a congregant at VBS since moving to the Valley in 2015, after six years in Irvine, where she was an active member of Congregation B’nai Israel. While in Orange County, Hannah taught TK for two years at the Merage Jewish Community Center. Before earning a master's degree in education at UCI, she worked in international television sales and marketing and was a member of Beth Meier in Studio City. Hannah and her husband Jeffrey have three daughters, two of whom are former ECC students and current ECLC students, the third having become bat mitzvah in 2021. During her time on the Board, Hannah has been actively involved in the strategic planning process, serving as coordinator of the USCJ committee. She is also part of the leadership team of the Valley Chevra Kadisha, an organization dedicated to serving progressive congregations and families and educating the community about Jewish death rituals. Hannah is passionate about helping all VBS members, at all levels of observance, to find their place at shul, and she looks forward to seeing you on Shabbat!

VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE
Gil Borok

Gil and his wife, Aileen, have been active members of Valley Beth Shalom since 2003. Their children, Jack and Estee, are both graduates of the VBS ECC and VBS Day School and celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah at VBS. Gil served on the VBS Day School Board of Trustees for 10 years, including seven as Vice President of Finance. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Rita Reznikoff Leadership Award for his dedication to the Day School. When his term on the Day School Board of Trustees ended, Gil joined the Synagogue Board. He has co-chaired the Synagogue Budget Committee for the last four years and previously served as Administrative Vice-President of the VBS Board. He also served on the VBS Endowment Board for many years. Professionally, Gil is President & Chief Executive Officer of Colliers | U.S., a commercial real estate services firm. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Anderson School at UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP
Stephanie Walsh

Stephanie and her husband Allan, hailing from Minnesota and Montreal, became VBS members in 2004 when their two children started attending the ECC. Their children, Ethan and Ani, are graduates of the ECC and VBS Day School and both celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah at VBS. Stephanie served as Trustee on the VBS Day School Board for three years and joined the board of VBS in 2017. She joined the Executive Committee as Membership VP in 2020. Stephanie and her family are active volunteers for several organizations addressing the issue of homelessness in Los Angeles.

Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Minnesota and has held professional positions in public relations and marketing, most recently on the corporate communications team with Sprint until 2016. During her 17-year tenure there she held a variety of senior management roles including PR strategy, national media relations, social media and crisis communications.

VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC PLANNING
Rich Robin

Rich and his family have been involved at VBS since 1972. Rich served on the board of VBS Day School for 10 years, including service as President of the Day School Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2013. Rich is a recipient of the Rita Reznikoff Leadership Award for his dedication to the Day School. Rich and his wife, Nurit's, three daughters – Eliana, Yonit and Maya – all are graduates of the Day School and celebrated their B’Not Mitzvah at VBS.

Rich has served on the Camp Ramah Board of Directors and on the Board of Directors for Israel Policy Forum. After serving in the IDF, Rich joined his father and sister at NAS Insurance Services in 1994. Rich served as CEO of NAS beginning in 2009 and became President of the Tokio Marine HCC Cyber and Professional Lines Group after NAS Insurance was acquired in April 2019. Rich held this position until January of 2022. Rich holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and an Masters in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University.

DAY SCHOOL PRESIDENT
Amanda Waterman

Amanda is a devoted advocate of Valley Beth Shalom Day School who believes there is no better community in which to raise a family. She has served on the Day School Board of Trustees for the past 6 years – holding the roles of Administrative Vice President, Head of School Search Committee Co-Chair, Covid Task Force Chair, and member of the Marketing and Recruitment Committee and Committee on Trustees. Other Day School roles included Parent Org. Community Events Chair, Youdai Family Camp Chair, and Lion's Den Co-Chair. In 2022, Amanda was honored to receive the Rita Reznikoff Leadership Award for her dedication to the Day School. Prior to her work at VBSDS, she was Outreach Chair on VBS ECC’s inaugural Leadership Team.  Her other communal volunteer experience includes serving on the Adat Ari El Board of Directors as president of the Governing Board of their ECC.  Amanda's background is in early childhood education and child development. For over a decade she taught and facilitated in both the Parenting Center and Early Childhood Center at Stephen S. Wise Temple and was an assistant director at their elementary-aged camps.  She has also consulted and led workshops in developmental practice and the Reggio Emilia approach. Amanda's husband, Matthew '94 is a proud life-long member of Valley Beth Shalom and is a VBS Day School Alum. He currently serves on the VBS Board of Directors and is the Endowment Chair. Their two sons Jonah ‘21 and Emmett ’24 have been blessed to grow up at Valley Beth Shalom and attend the Day School.

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Ilene Berman

Ilene Berman is an active volunteer leader in the LA Jewish community and retired businesswoman.

She is the immediate Past President of Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) in Encino, CA and previously served as VBS’ Parent Organization President, Day School President, and Sisterhood President. Outside of VBS, she is on the Jewish Federation Los Angeles Sylvia Weiss Women’s Philanthropy Board and has been the Jewish National Fund‘s (JNF) Los Angeles Young Families Chair and Community Campaign Chair, Solomon Schechter Day School Board Director, Encino Community Council Educational Representative and Milken Community High School Head of School Advisory Committee Member.

She has been recognized for her leadership contributions with the Rita Reznikoff Leadership Award for dedication to VBS Day School, the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance Women’s Leadership Award, and as a participant in Women League for Conservative Judaism Leadership Institute.

Professionally, Ilene began her career in the garment industry as a resident buyer and sales representative and controller for Benevest Escrow Company before co-founding Bandwagon Brokerage, a wholesale produce distribution company, with her husband, Dennis. She has developed expertise in leadership transitions, board development, marketing, recruitment, finance, long-range planning and HR matters.

Ilene grew up attending Congregation Beth Kodesh (CBK) in Canoga Park (now HaMakom) with her parents, Myra z'l and Wally z'l Shapiro. She graduated with honors from Canoga Park High School and Los Angeles Hebrew High School. Ilene earned a BA in Sociology and Ethnic Studies from UCLA and is a recent graduate of Northwestern/Kellogg Executive Education, Leading Edge Board Institute.

Ilene and Dennis are proud parents of Rabbi Loren Berman, Micah and Samantha Ezrilov Berman and loving grandparents to Gemma Bea.