Kenneth Heitner is a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. He earned a B.A. from Rutgers University and a J.D. and LLM in taxation from New York University School of Law. Kenneth serves on the Board of the Central Park Conservancy and as its General Counsel, on the Board of the Gladney Center, is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law.
He has been married to Anne Heitner for 40 years. They have two children: Douglas, a lawyer, and Elizabeth, an undergraduate at New York University.
Sandy Lindenbaum is of Counsel to Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP and a member of its Land Use Department. He earned a B.A. cum laude from Harvard College in 1956 and a J.D. cum laude in 1959 from Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship.
Sandy is currently an Honorary Trustee with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Chair of the Executive Committee for the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, and the Honorary Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the American Friends of the Israel Museum.
Sandy married his wife Linda in 1957. They have two grown daughters and six grandchildren.
Carol Ostrow and her family joined Central Synagogue in 2001, and she is proud to be one of the newest members of the executive committee of one of the oldest congregations in New York City. Carol is the Producing Director of the award-winning Flea Theater, an off-off-Broadway theater located in Tribeca. She has been an adjunct professor of theater at Vassar College, Chatham College, and McGill University. Carol holds a B.A. from Vassar College and a M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. Carol serves on the President’s Advisory Committee of Vassar and is a member of the Board of Advisers to the Yale Drama School. She is a board member of LAVA, an acrobatic dance collective in Brooklyn .
She is married to Michael Graff (Managing Director at Warburg Pincus LLC). They have four children; daughters Anabel, Emily, and Candace, and son Jesse.
Frederic M. Poses is Chief Executive Officer and Partner of Ascend Performance Materials, a private manufacturer of nylon related chemicals, resins, and fibers for commercial and industrial products, a position he has held since June 2009.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from New York University, and as a young man, Frederic spent two years in Peru with the Peace Corps.
Mr. Poses serves as the non-executive Chairman of the Tyco Electronics Board of Directors since its inception in June 2007; he is a Director of Raytheon Company, Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities; and a trustee of the Eagle Hill School, 92nd Street Y, and Central Synagogue.
Stephanie J. Stiefel currently serves Central Synagogue on both the Executive Committee and the Board.
Stephanie is the Head of Client Development for the Straus Group. She earned her BA from Queens College and is a Certified Public Accountant. Stephanie established a Charitable Remainder Trust in memory of her late husband at Lehigh University. She serves as the Head of the Investment Committee and as a Trustee on the Board at Queens College. She serves on the Board of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at New York University. She is a past board member of the Jewish Communal Fund and the Educational Alliance. She is also a member of the New York State Society of CPAs.
Seth Berger is a Principal of Berger Realty, Inc., a private real estate development and investment company with offices in Colorado and New York. Depending on market cycles, the Company engages in development, acquisition and repositioning of Office, Retail, Multifamily Residential, Land and Hospitality properties. Seth earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. from Columbia University. Seth resides in New York with his wife Cori and their three children Ryan, Justin and Alexis. Seth has been a life long member of Central Synagogue, having grown up in the congregation. Seth is an Officer of Central Synagogue and serves on the Executive Committee.
Peter Jakes and his wife, Karen, have been members of Central Synagogue for over 30 years, where they have both served on a number of committees. Both of his children, Susan and Aaron, went all the way through the Religious School, became bnei mitzvah at Central, were confirmed at Central, and were involved with the Youth Group.
Peter received his BA from Brown University and his JD from Yale Law School. He is now a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he has worked for 40 years.
Ellen Cogut has been a member of Central Synagogue since 1994. She received her BA from George Washington University in 1969 and her MA from Temple University in 1971. From 1971 to 1988 Ellen practiced as a speech pathologist, working primarily with pre-school language impaired children in a variety of settings. From 1988 to 1990 she supervised graduate students in speech pathology at Brooklyn College. Ellen has served on the Boards of the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, the Graham-Windham Agency, and The Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Since 2006, she has served as the co-chair of the Board of Community Roots Charter School, a K-5 school located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
She resides in Brooklyn Heights with her husband, Casey. They have two daughters, Pamela, age 31, and Rachel, age 20.
David Edelson has been a senior vice president of Loews Corporation since May 2005. Prior to joining Loews, David was executive vice president & corporate treasurer at J.P. Morgan Chase. David earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1985 and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1981 with an A.B. in English. David is a director of AutoNation, Inc.
David and his wife Cindy have been members of Central Synagogue since 1999. They have three children - Charlotte, Annabel and Oliver.
David joined the Central board in 2004 and served on the executive committee from 2006 - 2009. David is a trustee of the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services and a PENCIL partner to Seton Falls Elementary in the Bronx. He also serves as a member of the management board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Janet Felleman has served as a Central Synagogue trustee from 1991 – 2000, and again since 2005. During her tenure as a trustee, she has served on the executive committee and rabbinic and cantorial search committees.
She is the founder and former CEO of LegalTech, a legal technology trade show and conference now owned by American Lawyer Media.
Janet is currently a commissioner of the New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and serves as the chair of the New York City State Parks Region. She has also served on the boards of the New York Stem Cell Foundation and Prep for Prep.
Jeremy Fielding has been a member of Central Synagogue since 1998. He is a Managing Director of Kekst and Company. He has extensive experience counseling executives, boards, and in-house communications professionals on ongoing communications opportunities and challenges, in addition to a large spectrum of transactional and other special situations. Jeremy has a PhD. from Yale University and an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He received his B.A. from the University of Leeds, England. Jeremy is also a member of the Executive Committee of the New York Chapter of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science.
He and his wife, Lisa, have two children.
John A. Golieb and his wife Marianne have been members of Central Synagogue for nearly 20 years. While a member, John has been a Trustee and has also served as secretary of the Executive Committee. John is a partner in the New York City law firm Muchnick, Golieb & Golieb PC. He is also active in the Quebec real estate market where he is the President of Les Développements Urbain Candiac Inc. and JAG Realty (Montreal) Company, both real estate development and investment companies.
John has been a member of the boards of a number of charities and educational institutions and currently is an active member of the board and also an officer of Auburn Theological Society.
Michael Gould, often referred to as one of the most accomplished and recognized leaders in American retailing, became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bloomingdale’s in November 1991. His tenure has seen the greatest period of transformation and growth in the store’s history, expanding from 16 units located mainly in the east, to a broad national brand presence with 41 stores in 18 major markets from coast to coast and the launch of bloomingdales.com. In 2010, Gould led the brand to its first global expansion into Dubai in addition to the first foray into the outlet business with four openings on the East Coast.
Mr. Gould received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1966 and continued there to earn a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business. It was a summer internship program during his MBA studies that afforded Gould his first retail experience. A brief summer stint at Abraham and Straus in New York was enough to inspire him to seek a retail career; and in 1968, Gould entered that store’s Executive Training Squad as an assistant buyer in decorative home furnishings. He soon became the company’s youngest merchandise vice president.
In 1978, Mr. Gould was named Senior Vice President of J.W. Robinson’s in Los Angeles, responsible for men’s, children’s, juniors, moderate sportswear and home furnishings. Within two years he was appointed Executive Vice President of merchandising and sales promotion. In 1981, he became J.W. Robinson’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Subsequently, he also became a member of the Board of Directors for Associated Dry Goods. In 1986, he was tapped as President and Chief Operating Officer of Giorgio Beverly Hills. When Avon Products purchased the company in 1987, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer, and remained there until joining Bloomingdale’s.
Mr. Gould divides his spare time among a number of important affiliations, serving on: the Board of Trustees of Lenox Hill Hospital and of The Allen Stevenson School; the Board of Overseers of Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and the Board of Trustees of Central Synagogue. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The American Jewish Committee.
Over the years, Mr. Gould has received numerous awards for distinguished service from many organizations, universities and industry associations, along with a variety of cultural and philanthropic groups. While he remains personally and professionally committed to these activities, his children always come first; and as such, is intensely proud of being recognized by the Father’s Day and Mother’s Day Council as the 1999 National Father of the Year.
Marni Gutkin is a 1991 graduate of the University of Michigan where she received a bachelor’s degree in English. Marni moved to New York City after college and spent seven years working in various administrative rolls at The Dalton School including Assistant to the Head of the Lower School. Marni is currently the sole proprietor of Lined Design, a custom stationery company. Marni has been a member of Central Synagogue since 1996, the year Rabbi Rubinstein married her and her husband Bruce.
Marni and Bruce reside on the Upper East Side with their children Teddy, Henry, and Georgia.
Cornell University, BA, Cum Laude in English, 1989
New York University, MA, 1994
Juliana, a former classroom teacher, has previously taught at the Horace Mann School and the Riverdale Country Day School. She has been an active member of the Parent Association at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School since 2002, where she has served as class parent, grade level chairperson, and as a tour guide in the Admissions office. She lives in Manhattan with her husband Jon and their two children, Jake and Phoebe. She has been a member of Central Synagogue since 1999, and has served on the Board of Trustees since 2004 and the Executive Committee from 2007-2011.
Claudia Morse grew up in Westport, Connecticut. She graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in 1985 and received her BA in English and Creative Writing from Trinity College. After graduation, Claudia worked at Ziff Davis Publishing and then as an assistant publicist at PMK Public Relations. Claudia has volunteered in the pediatric playroom at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and in the neonatal intensive care unit at Beth Israel Medical Center. She has served as class parent and on several committees at the 92nd Street Y, The Chapin School and at Collegiate School. Claudia has been involved with Central Synagogue since 1983. She has served as a trustee since 2009.
She is married to Douglas Morse and is now devoting her time to raising their three children, Emily, Alex and Matthew.
Abigail Pogrebin is the author of Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish (Doubleday 2005) and One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I’ve Learned about Everyone’s Struggle to be Singular (Doubleday 2009). She is a freelance magazine writer, was a producer for Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes, and also worked for Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose at PBS. She moderates a regular interview series at the Manhattan JCC called “What Everyone’s Talking About.”
She and her husband, David Shapiro, have two children, Benjamin and Molly.
Phillip M. Satow has spent 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He spent 14 years at Pfizer, Inc. where his last position was vice president, Pfizer Europe. In 1985 he joined Forest Laboratories and was responsible for founding the marketing and sales organization. He served as executive vice president, president of Forest Pharmaceuticals, and a member of the board of directors. In addition to the Forest Laboratories Board which he served on from 1999 to 2005, Mr. Satow was formerly a member of the board of directors of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Crucell Inc., a Dutch publicly traded bio-tech company. After retirement from Forest Laboratories, Mr. Satow and his son founded JDS Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a privately held company that was purchased in 2007 by Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Satow and his family founded The Jed Foundation in 2000. The Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to reducing the young adult suicide rate and improving the mental health support provided to students by universities nationwide. Mr. Satow currently serves as President of the Board of The Jed Foundation. He has served on Central Synagogue’s board since 2004.
Mindy Schneider has been a member of Central Synagogue since 1998. Mindy joined the Board in 2007. In addition to the Board at Central, Mindy serves on the boards of several other philanthropic organizations. She has a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University and a Master of Public Administration from New York University. Following a year of training at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Mindy worked as an administrator at Mount Sinai Hospital, also in NYC, for many years.
Mindy lives in Manhattan with her husband, Michael Lesser, and their 2 children.
Northwestern University, BS, 1988
Fordham Law School, JD, cum laude, 1992
Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, Board of Trustees, Co-Chair Government Relations/Public Policy Committee
Dalton School, Parents Association Executive Board
Emily lives in Manhattan with her husband, Steven Steinman and their two daughters. They have been members of Central Synagogue since 1999.
Kent M. Swig is an owner of several real estate operating companies as well as commercial and residential real estate properties throughout the United States. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Chinese History from Brown University, and then attended Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.
In addition to his involvement with Central Synagogue, Kent also serves on the Board of Directors of The State of Israel Bonds and as the President of the American Friends of the Jaffa Institute.
Kent Swig currently resides in Manhattan with his two sons.
Marc Weingarten has been a member at Central Synagogue for over ten years, where he is currently Chairman of the Audit Committee. He is a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, and heads their Mergers & Acquisitions practice. He was raised in Philadelphia, where he attended Central High School and then The Wharton School at Penn, where he received a BS in Finance. He then attended Georgetown Law School, before moving to New York to practice law.
He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Kent (CT) Land Trust and on the Board of The Opportunity Network, a New York City not-for-profit which provides support to high-achieving, underserved high school and college students.
Marc is married to Rita, and their two children, Douglas and Dana, were bnei mitzvah at Central.
Jeffrey S. Wilks is a Principal and Executive Vice President of Spiegel Associates, a private real estate development and management company headquartered in Jericho, N.Y. From 1992 to 1995 Mr. Wilks was an Associate Director of Sandler O’Neill & Partners, an investment bank specializing in the banking industry. Prior thereto, from 1981, Mr. Wilks was a Vice President of Corporate Finance at NatWest USA and Vice President of NatWest USA Capital Corp. and NatWest USA Equity Corp., each an affiliate of NatWest USA. Mr. Wilks serves on the board of directors of State Bancorp and State Bank of Long Island, The Wine and Food Society of New York, the New Cassel Business Association and is a member of the board and treasurer of The Museum at Eldridge Street. He is a past director of the Banking and Finance Committee of the UJA-Federation of NY. Mr. Wilks earned his BSBA in Accounting and Finance from Boston University. Mr. Wilks has been a member of Central Synagogue for over 10 years.
Jonathan Youngwood has been involved with Central Synagogue since 1973, when he started religious school. He currently is a partner in the Litigation Department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Jonathan received his B.A. with honors from Brown University in 1990. He received his J.D. with honors in 1994 from the University of Chicago. He also holds a Masters Degree (1992) from the University of Chicago in Public Policy.
Martin Klein has been a member of Central Synagogue for 37 years. Over that time, he has served as Treasurer (1986-1990), Vice President (1990-1995) and President (1995-1999). He is a member of the Bar of the States of New York, Florida, California and the District of Columbia, specializing in finance, international law, real estate development, corporate reorganization and bankruptcy. He has written articles on financial, real estate, bankruptcy and commercial law for the New York State Bar Journal, New York Law Journal, Philadelphia Law Journal, Florida Bar Journal, Los Angeles Law Journal and Commercial Law Journal. Martin has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University and has lectured at Columbia University School of Law and at many continuing education institutions.
He is married to Diane Levbarg, Executive Vice President of Missoni, the Italian fashion house.
Howard F. Sharfstein and his family have been active members of Central Synagogue for over 25 years. In addition to serving as a Trustee and Officer at Central Synagogue, Howard has served the Healthcare Chaplaincy and the Mental Health Association of New York City in similar capacities. Howard is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.
He is currently an attorney at the law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, specializing in individual client matters including trusts, estates, and matrimonial.
Michael J Weinberger and his family have been members of Central Synagogue for more than 40 years. He served as President of our congregation from 1989 to 1993. He has also served as President of the Emanu-El Midtown YM-YWHA.
He attended the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School and is a partner of the law firm of SNR Denton US LLP where he specializes in the area of wills, trusts and estates.
Alfred D. Youngwood has been a member of Central Synagogue for 35 years, including serving as the president from 2003-2006. His children, Jonathan and Stephen, both attended Central’s religious school. Both sons were married by Rabbi Rubinstein, and his son Jonathan and his family are members of Central. Alfred and his family have taken several trips to Israel with both Rabbi Zimmerman and Rabbi Rubinstein.
Alfred graduated from Horace Mann School, Yale College, and Harvard Law School. He was a tax partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP from 1970 until his retirement in 2008.
Lester Breidenbach is now retired after a career in the travel industry. He and his wife Carolyn have been members of Central Synagogue for more than 50 years, during which time he has served as an officer of the board and Brotherhood president. Lester was a vice president of New York Federation and a member of its Outreach Committee. Presently he volunteers at Mount Sinai as part of the Ambassador Program.
Alan M. Ades
Trustee
Dr. J. Lester Gabrilove
Honorary Trustee
Jay Mandelbaum
Trustee
Valerie Peltier
Trustee
Laura J. Rothschild
Trustee
Wendy Siegel
Trustee
