Deborah Hoffman Gonzalez, Co-President
Deborah is actively involved with Conservative Judaism. She served as the President of Mosaic Law Congregation (MLC) in Sacramento and is a Past President of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region. She worked for more than seven years as a music specialist in variousSunday schools in the Bay Area, Chicago, and Sacramento, and continues as a bar/bat mitzvah tutor for MLC. She is a proud alumnus of Camp Arazim, having been both a camper and a staff member, and attributes her Jewish knowledge to camp and United Synagogue Youth. She and her husband Louis have sent their two children to Ramah in Ojai since 2010. Professionally, Deborah is a Speech Pathologist, working with both adults in a medical setting, as well as children from birth to three years old who have oral feeding disorders. She is the founder of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region’s Committee on Inclusion and Disabilities. In her spare time Deborah loves being outdoors, running or cycling along the American River Parkway.
Stephen Moff, Co-President
Stephen grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina and is proud of his roots in Southern Jewish hospitality (although immune from keeping a Southern drawl, he sounds pretty authentic when he wants to). His next step was not too far as he ventured to Duke University, where he met his wonderful wife, Irene, on their first day of freshman orientation – meeting at the Hillel Ice Cream Social! Ultimately, Stephen graduated with a BS and a double major in Biology and History. He and Irene continued at Duke for medical school (officially tying the knot during their three week break between first and second years), never having missed a single Duke basketball game in their 8 years at Duke (and, to this day, still remain rabid fans). He and Irene both continued in residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD) in Pediatrics and Medicine, respectively. Stephen did his Gastroenterology fellowship at UCSF, completing their pilgrimage to the West coast where they reunited with Irene’s sister and parents who also call the mid-Peninsula their home. Stephen and Irene both work as physicians for The Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Santa Clara and have done so since 2005. At home, they are the extremely proud parents of two teens, Yossi and Galit, who themselves are veteran Ramah Galim campers. They are also active members at their synagogue in Foster City (Peninsula Sinai Congregation) where he has previously served on the Board for several years (including a stint as a Vice-President) and where Irene recently served as Board President. In addition, Irene has served as Medical Director at Ramah Galim since the Camp’s inception. In Stephen’s “spare” time, he can be found on the basketball court or training and running in occasional half-marathons!
Laura Denenberg Wildmann, Vice President
Laura lives in Berkeley with her husband, Hugo, and two children, Marshall and Leah. The Wildmanns have been members of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland since moving to Berkeley from San Francisco 20 years ago. Laura’s children have attended preschool, Hebrew school, and celebrated their b’nai mitzvah at TBA. Laura served on the Temple Beth Abraham Board for many years, including a two-year term as synagogue president. Laura’s children have attended Berkeley public schools since kindergarten; they are currently at UCLA. During their elementary school years, Laura served on the PTA Board, including two-year terms as treasurer and as president. Laura’s children had their first camp experience at Ramah Ojai and have spent many happy summers at Ramah in the Rockies. Laura grew up in Los Altos, attending Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto, spending many summers as a camper and then as a counselor at Camp Arazim, and participating in USY throughout high school. Professionally, Laura is a pediatrician at UBCP Bancroft Pediatrics in San Leandro. In her free time, Laura enjoys biking, playing (or at least trying to play) ultimate frisbee, skiing and reading.
Scott Shapiro, Treasurer
Scott Shapiro lives in Sacramento with his wife, Monica Shapiro, a social worker and staffer at Sacramento State University, and a former Yoetzet at Ramah Ojai and Director of Camper Care at Ramah Galim. Depending upon whether they are at college, in Israel, or at Camp Ramah, he may also be living with his children Rebeka (21), Avi (19), and Esti (16). For this school year, his family is also hosting a French Exchange student, Rebecca Taieb. Professionally, Scott is the Managing Partner at a 100 lawyer regional law firm, Downey Brand, headquartered in Sacramento. In that role he has also served as Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee for the Association of California Water Agencies, Editor-in-Chief for the California Flood and Liability Report, Editor of the California Water Law Reporter, and Member of the Advisory Board of the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Agencies. In the greater community Scott has served on the Board of a number of non-profit organizations including President of Shalom School (Sacramento’s Jewish Day School), President of the Jewish Community Foundation of the West, Member of the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Public Policy Council, President of Hillel at Davis and Sacramento, President of Valley Vision, Executive Committee member of Hillels of Northern California, and Co Chair of Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region. In his spare time he enjoys tiki bars and home improvement.
Loren Shalinsky, Immediate Past President
Loren is a strategic marketing and planning professional. He has worked in the marketing field for high technology companies for more than 20 years. When stepping away from the office, Loren has performed many roles in the community, including chairing the Planning and Agency Services committee for the South Peninsula Council of the Jewish Community Federation, serving as Vice President of the Young Adults Division of the SFJCF, being a member of his synagogue board, tutoring 2nd graders as a Jewish Coalition for Literacy tutor, as well as 10 years of being a youth group advisor for kids ranging from ages 8 to 18 (Young Judaea and USY). Loren has been a board member of Camp Ramah in Northern California since the board was first formed back in 2010.
Craig D. Miller, Immediate Past President
Craig has been an active Jewish community volunteer both in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, where he now resides with his wife Jackie, and his 3 sons, Aaron, Joshua and Ilan. He has served in various leadership capacities with the Jewish Federation, is the lay leader for Shabbat services for young children at Congregation Beth Sholom, is actively involved in volunteer activities at his sons’ school, The Brandeis School of San Francisco, and is a member of the Board of Directors of The San Francisco Humanities. Craig was both a camper and counselor at Camp Ramah California, has co-chaired weekend retreats at Ramah and has attended Ramah family camp. Since 1993, Craig has been an attorney with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, where he specializes in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and securities offerings. He is currently the national Chair of the Financial Services and Banking practice and is actively involved in the firm’s pro bono program. He previously served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at UC Hastings College of the Law.
Rabbi Josh Berkenwald
Rabbi Josh Berkenwald joined Congregation Sinai in San Jose, California, in August 2007. He is proud to be the spiritual leader of that diverse congregation which embraces people of all ages and backgrounds who seek meaningful ways to be Jewish. In addition to serving Congregation Sinai, Rabbi Berkenwald also sits on the Board of Directors of Yavneh Day School. Rabbi Berkenwald received his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2007. He earned his B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in 1997, which included a year of study in Jerusalem. Rabbi Berkenwald was born in Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in Mercer Island, Washington, and has also lived in Vancouver, Canada. Rabbi Berkenwald lives in San Jose with his wife, Dana, and children, Noa and Solly. He enjoys playing acoustic and electric guitar, running, hiking, reading, watching movies, and cooking when he finds the time.
Danny Bernstein
Danny Bernstein is a lifelong Northern California resident. He spent 10 summers at Ramah in Ojai as a camper and counselor, including two summers as a counselor in the Tikvah program. Danny is husband to Leslie, and father to Lila, 9, and Isaac, 6. They are supporters of Peninsula Sinai Congregation (Foster City), Congregation Beth Israel (Carmel Valley), Chabad, Birthright Israel, PJCC, AIPAC, ADL, and other Jewish organizations. Professionally, Danny has worked at Google since 2012, where he is a Managing Director on the business side.
Mark Fickes
Mark Fickes is a partner with the law firm Cannata, O’Toole, Fickes and Olson where he specializes in jury trials with an emphasis on civil rights, whistleblower retaliation, and business disputes. Mark has been active in the Jewish community having served as a board member and president of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland and as a Trustee of Contra Costa Jewish Day school where his children were students. Mark is also a Ramah Galim parent.
Mary Friedman
Mary has been part of the Beth Jacob Congregation of Oakland, CA since moving back to the Bay Area in 2010. She was born in Moscow, Russia and grew up in the South Bay. Mary works in healthcare strategy, having received her B.A. in Economics and Political Science from UC Berkeley and her Master’s in Healthcare Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. Mary lives in Oakland with her husband and three boys on a mini urban farm with bees, fruit trees, veggie beds, a greenhouse, and chickens coming soon! Her oldest son, Ori, is a student at Contra Costa Jewish Day School, and he has attended Ramah Galim for the past two summers. Every year he counts down the days until the next Kayitz back at Galim. Other siblings are looking forward to joining him soon as chanichim (campers) themselves.
Avi Gereboff
Dr. Avi Gereboff is a liver transplant anesthesiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with a focus on education, quality, and safety in his field. He is a member of Temple Beth Am and Ikar and currently serves on the Beverly Hills Little League Board. Avi’s journey with Camp Ramah began as a camper in Ojai. He returned for many summers as camper, staff member, and eventually as a visiting spouse when his wife, Rachel, worked there. The Camp Ramah movement also played a central role in shaping his extended family since the early 1960s. They have ongoing strong connections to Palmer, Ojai, and Nayak. Avis children, Yonah (18), Rami (15), and Elan (12), have all been campers at Ramah Galim. Having been shaped by Camp Ramah, Avi was deeply moved when one of his most memorable former campers, Danny Bernstein, asked him to get involved with Camp Ramah Northern California. I am excited to learn and contribute to help further the mission of the camp and ensure Ramah Galim continues to be a place of growth, connection, and memories for campers and staff alike, and he wants to assure the future of this intuition that has played such a pivotal role in his life.
Alan Hakimi
Alan was born and raised in the suburbs of the north shore of Chicago. He is a first generation American born to immigrant Jewish parents – his mother from Cario, Egypt and his father from Mashad, Iran. He was raised in a traditional Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish household and became a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, IL where his family were active members. He attained his B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC Davis and continued his professional education in Leadership Development, Systems Philosophy and Complexity Theory from various institutions. He has held various leadership positions at Microsoft Corporation, McKinsey and Company, and Slalom Consulting. Alan currently runs his own management consulting business working with organizations on digital business, technology strategy, and leadership management. He recently completed an eight-year board to term at his synagogue – Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon, CA, where he held various roles culminating with serving as President of The Board of Directors. Alan maintains his relationships with Jewish communities in Chicago area and the global Mashadi Jewish Community. Alan and his wife, Rachel Stone, have 2 teens, Lilian and Zander. Zander attended Ramah Galim for the first-time Kayitz 2022 and is excited to return. Alan enjoys biking, running, hiking, philosophy, cooking, and composing music.
Warren Mazer
Warren is a multi-year veteran of Camp Arazim and New Frontier USY. He first attended Arazim in 1979 and continued through the 1980s. In USY, Warren was New Frontier Regional President in 1989, International Communications Vice President in 1990, and a member of the Nativ Gap Year Program in Israel in 1990-1991. He recognizes many of those experiences as essential in forming the person that he is today, with his connection to Judaism, Israel, and the Jewish community. Professionally, Warren began his career at United Jewish Appeal. Subsequently, after receiving his MBA from Columbia, Warren joined Bain and Company where he consulted to the executive leadership of numerous Fortune 500 companies on a range of projects. He has spent the last decade as an executive or entrepreneur in several different roles, ranging from CEO of an artificial flower company to CFO of a supersonic aircraft startup. Warren lives in Oakland with his wife (also an Arazim alumnae) and three daughters. They are active participants and members of Congregation Beth Jacob in Oakland and Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley.
Michelle Morad
Michelle lives in San Carlos, CA with her husband and two young children (future Ramah Galim campers!). Raised in Orange County, she moved to the Bay Area after graduating from the NYU School of Law and works as a senior attorney at Amazon. She initially joined the Ramah NorCal Board as a San Francisco Jewish Federation Fed Fellow. In her college days, she was Hillel president at UCLA, and has continued to remain active in the Jewish community as her family grows. She is passionate about finding ways to engage young families like her own with Jewish tradition and culture in ways that are meaningful for them, including through deeply moving experiences like Jewish sleepaway camp.
Gabe Nechamkin
Gabe is the Founding Member and Portfolio Manager at Ellis Lake Capital, LLC. Previously, he was a Founding Member and Senior Principal at Satellite Asset Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund that managed in excess of $7 billion, from 1999 – 2009. Prior to launching Satellite, Mr. Nechamkin was a Managing Director of the arbitrage, high yield and distressed securities group at Soros Fund Management LLC from 1988 through 1999. Mr. Nechamkin also co-managed the risk arbitrage group at Plaza Securities Company and, before that, was a Vice President at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. Nechamkin holds a B.A. in both Economics and Statistics from the University of Rochester. Gabe also has a distinguished history of non-profit volunteer leadership. Gabe was also the founding President of the Ramah Sports Academy and regular participant in the Ramah Israel Bike Ride. He served as VP and continues as a lifetime board member at the Solomon Schechter School of White Plains, NY (aka The Leffell School) and is a former Board Member of JTS. He served on the Board and Executive Committee of the JCC of Harrison and was the founding President and remains an Executive Committee member of University of Rochester Hillel.
Janis Sherman Popp
A passion for Jewish education has directed Janis’ volunteer work in the local and national Jewish community for over 40 years. She was a Women’s League for Conservative Judaism National Vice President, National Consultant speaker and editor of the organization’s Outlook Magazine. She has contributed significantly, over many years, to the planning, allocations and priority setting of funds for education and culture within our Bay Area. At JCF she was a member of the Board of Directors and Board of Governors. Janis has served as president of the BJE (JLW); a member of the board of Gideon Hausner Day School; and the board of the “J. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at Hillel@Stanford where she chairs the Development Committee. She has been a valuable consultant for many programs including the Friendship Circle, Jewish Study Network, the early childhood education programs, and Remember Us, a holocaust education program she helped to develop. Janis is a trained Cordon Bleu chef. She enjoys entertaining, traveling, photography, and making jewelry. Janis and Richard are blessed with two sons, two wonderful daughters-in-law, and five precious grandchildren.
Miriam Sheinbein
Miriam grew up in Phoenix, AZ and spent her summers at Camp Ramah in Ojai where she met her husband, Yaron, in 2001. Miriam received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University and her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Miriam moved her budding family to the Bay Area 15 years ago for her residency in family medicine at UCSF. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children, who are all campers at Ramah Galim. The Sheinbein Milgroms are synagogue members at The Kitchen. Miriam is a Medical Director at the Health Plan of San Mateo, a community-based health plan for Medicaid beneficiaries. She is also an assistant clinical professor at UCSF in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and sees patients at Silver Avenue Family Health Center. In addition, Miriam serves on the National Medical Committee for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Miriam serves on the Ramah Galim Medical Committee and has spent time in-residence at camp during each of the past two summers.
Sander (Sandy) Stadtler
After serving as Director of Camp Arazim, Sandy is excited to return to his Northern California camping roots by supporting Ramah Galim in progressing to its next stage. Sandy spent several years as an Informal Jewish educator professional. After going to graduate business school, Sandy became a CPA, managing his own firm for 27 years before merging it into a large, national firm in 2007, and retiring in 2014. He has served on numerous boards and executive boards including Congregations Beth Shalom and Kol Shofar, Brandeis Hillel Day School, Brandeis Marin, The Jewish News, as well as serving as International President of The Affiliated Conference of Practicing Accountants, The Arthur Szyk Society, Sinai Memorial Chapel.. He lives with his wife Esther in Marin County and has three adult children and two granddaughters.