Leadership

The following remarkable individuals assist in the development, guidance and operation of LIFE, whether in advisory, teaching, scholar-in-residence or other roles.

Adv. Anat Bernstein-Reich

Anat is a co-founder and Managing Partner (Israel) of A&G partners, a leading business catalyst and project management firm based in India, Sri Lanka, and Israel. She is a business development specialist for Emerging Markets who served as a consult to the World Bank and also co-founded Across World Education. In addition, Anat is the President of the Israel-India Friendship Association (IIFA), in that capacity works to help secure corporate sponsorships for LIFE, and the Vice President of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce. She holds an LLB from Tel Aviv University and a MBA in Finance from University of San Francisco. She is the Executive Producer of the world famous Bharati Show.

Josh Bloom

Josh is a veteran human rights activist who has been invited to monitor democratic elections in countries where that is required. With an MA in the rights dimensions of Public Health from Harvard, Josh works for Rabbis for Human Rights in New York. During 2009-10 when he lived in Israel, Josh was very involved with LIFE. He planned and led the first four-day LIFE study trip to Jordan. Josh continues to serve today, voluntarily, as the representative of LIFE in North America.


 

Art Braunstein

During his 30-year international career with USAID, Art oversaw and evaluated multi-million development dollar projects, mainly in Muslim countries. Art moved back to Israel when he retired; he had lived in Israel previously during his undergraduate years. He received his MA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Art currently acts as a consultant to Yad V'Shem, the Israeli national commemoration institute for the Holocaust. He has accompanied the LIFE group during the Jordan study trip where he acts as Scholar in Residence.

Professor Howard Feldman

Howard Feldman is the Executive Director of the MBA in Nonprofit Management at the Pamplin School of Business at the University of Portland.  His teaching interests lie in the areas of strategic management, entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, family business, and social entrepreneurship. He has taught and lectured at graduate business schools in Madrid, Seville, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. A recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Grant in February of 2007, Howard has served on several boards of directors for nonprofit organizations. He was the president of a Portland social service agency from 1998-2000 and 2001-2002. When visiting Israel, Howard has taught the LIFE participants.

Dr. Jen Glaser

Holding a doctorate in philosophy, Jen was till recently, a member of the teaching faculty at the Mandel Institute for Leadership in Israel. There she teaches philosophy of education, helping the mid-career Fellows reach clarity and depth of educational purpose in their varied pursuits. Jen was a co-founder of Philosophy for Children in Australia and recently served as the Chair of the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children. Jen is on the editorial boards of the journals Analytic Teaching and Thinking. She has published widely in the areas of critical thinking, philosophy for children, and conceptions of self and community. Dr Glaser is a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows program.

Dr. Max Klau

Max is the Director of Leadership at the Boston based City Year. A graduate of the Harvard School of Education, Max worked extensively there with Professor Ron Heifetz, a co-founder of the Adaptive Leadership approach which he uses in City Year. Max spent a year in Israel as a college graduate and is a firm believer in the transformative potential of such immersion experiences. In 2010, Max chaired the MASA study trip to Israel of some 20 leading North American and Israeli figures in immersion and leadership development programs.      

Jody Zall Kusek

Jody leads the World Bank’s Global HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Group in supporting countries to help them better understand the trends and drives of the epidemic and to better monitor and manage the national response to it. Previously, she helped 35 African Nations improve their ability to design government policies and programs to support poverty reduction.  Jody co-authored "Ten-Steps to a Results Based Monitoring and Evaluation System," which is used internationally to support government strategic planning and programming.  This program is also taught in 10 United States universities and is currently being used by the Chinese Government to develop their 10th five year plan. Ms. Kusek was previously Principal Management Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, advising on management reform and, with Vice President Al Gore in the William Clinton Administration, on improving management of the United States Government.

Dr. Mark Zober

Mark serves voluntarily as the LIFE Deputy Director for International Placements; his impact is also felt on program development and health, safety and security issues. Mark spent two years in India when he was a Peace Corps member. He went on to his Doctorate in International Development at Brandeis University's Heller School and worked in a variety of areas before becoming a Peace Corps Country Director. Mark later served as the Head of Research at the Israeli Ministry for Social Services. Mark serves on the Rotary Development Fund and was recently the President of the Jerusalem Rotary Club.