Board Biographies

Adam and his wife, Laura, have two sons, Benjamin, 8, and Joshua, 5. They are thrilled to be back in the San Francisco Bay Area after nearly 9 years on the East Coast in the Philadelphia suburbs. Active members at their synagogue in Penn Valley, Adam served on the synagogue's Buildings and Grounds Committee.

Raised in the East Bay at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, Adam graduated with a BS in Psychology from UC San Diego and Master of Health Adminstration and Master of Science in Gerontology from USC. Shortly after graduation, Adam and laura moved to Philadelphia for Laura to pursue her PhD in Experimental Psychology but they always wished to return to the Bay Area. Several opportunities for Adam finally made this possible and Adam is now the Director of Concierge Services at UCSF Medical Center.

Adam and Laura are committed to the Jewish Community. Both sons attend the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School and Laura is co-chair of PTBE's Education Committee. Adam looks forward to the opportunity to become more involved with the strategic direction of the PTBE community and meeting the challenges of an aging building.

Harriet has been a member of PTBE for the past 17 years, serving on the Religious School Board, participating in Beth El Women Shabbat services and volunteering for blood drives and SSH, Sunday Sandwich Hevre. What she finds most exciting and unique about our temple is its diverse, warm and open Jewish community and the many opportunities to participate in adult, children, adolescent, intellectual and volunteer activities.

She is the medical director of breast imaging at Mills-Peninsula Women's Center, a busy and growing state-of-the-art office dedicated to early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, and is involved in community outreach programs to assure all women in the community have access to screening. She has been an invited speaker and lecturer, both locally and nationally.

Harriet is marred to Peter Johannet, a plastic surgeon at the Palo Alto Veteran's Hospital and has two sons. Sam, 23, graduated from Brandeis University and is a graduate student at San Francisco Art Institute. Evan, 12, is in the 7th grade and is preparing and studying to become a Bar Mitzvah this fall.

Lisa Braun lives in Hillsborough with her husband, Detlef, and sons, Josh, 17, and David, 14, and their two dogs, Chase and Misty. She attended Pitzer College and received a BA in mathematics. She currently works part time at Pacific Retirement Plans, the family business founded by her father. She also is presently serving as Co-President of the Parent Association at Mid-Peninsula High School in Menlo Park.

Her family joined PTBE in the early 70s where Lisa became confirmed. Both her boys became a bar mitzvah at PTBE and David had the honor of being Rabbi Eisner’s first bar mitzvah here in July of 2007. She was lucky enough to have participated in Rabbi Eisner’s 2008 trip to Israel and has benefitted both from the friendships she made and from the impact of the experience which has stayed with her. She has been a member of the temple’s fundraising committee for the past few years and looks forward to the opportunity to become more involved with our temple community.

Cathy was born and raised in Chicago. After graduation from Washington University in St. Louis, she earned a M.Ed in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from Case Western Reserve Universithy. She married fellow Chicagoan, Tom Brown, and moved to San Francisco, beginning her professional life as a teacher at the Brotherhood Way JCC Preschool.

After 30 years with the PJCC, Cathy retired in June of 2008 as Assistant Director of the Early Childhood Education Center. During that time she supervised the ECE program in Belmont and Foster City, as well as several off-site PJCC pre-schools on the Peninsula.

In past years Cathy has served on the PTBE Board of Trustees and has served on the Executive Committee. She has also sat on the Education Committee and on the Boards of the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, and Lick Wilmerding High School.

Cathy and her husband have lived in San Mateo for 30 years and have been members of PTBE for more than 20 years. Their children, Matthew, Rachel, and Beth, all attended the religious school and became b'nai mitzvah at PTBE.

Bernice and her husband, Ellis, moved with their four children from Minnesota to California in 1961. After getting a special education degree at San Francisco State University she taugh school in Daly City.

The family has been members of PTBE for almost fifty years. Bernice was active in Sisterhood and served as president for one year. At present, Bernice helps with the Caring Committee and tutors with the Jewish Coalition program at parkside School. Torah class with Rabbi Eisner and his enthusiastic participants, has been a very meaningful weekly experience for her.

Jill Goldring
Jill was born and raised in Sherman Oaks. She spent many of her youth hours at Temple Adat Ari El in North Hollywood where she became Bat Mitzvah and confirmed. She moved to the Bay Area in 1988 to work for Hewlett-Packard and to be near her fiance, Marc Haugen, who was stationed at Treasure Island with the US Navy. They have three children, Anna, 17, Benjamin, 15, and Elsa, 10. The family has been at PTBE since 1999 and has enjoyed being active members of the community. Jill served on the Religious School Committee for three years and co-chaired the temple fundraiser for two years. She is currently co-chairing the newly formed Green Team.

Jill received her BS from USC and MS from Stanford, both in Industrial Engineering. She worked in engineering project and program management at HP for 10 years and then as an independent consultant for another five years. She currently is focusing on volunteer positions including serving on the Hillsborough Schools Foundation Board, and various committee chairs at Lick-Wilmerding High School and Crystal Springs Uplands School.

Fran has been a member of PTBE since her two children, Jenny and Andy, were very young. Both children became b'nai mitzvah at PTBE and Jenny was in this year's confirmation class. Jenny is very active in the Jewish community and at the temple. She is a madracha on Tuesdays and an officer in SMRTY. Fran is active in Beth El Women and has been their Treasurer for the last five years. She has also been on the Budget Committee for PTBE and took the lead this year. She is committed to a well rounded Jewish life and hopes that her children follow the same path.

Fran has a Bachelor of Science with a major in Accounting and has been a CPA since graduating from college. After running her own consulting practice for over 15 years, Fran found a fresh opportunity in the finance department at the Presidio Trust, a federal agency, where she has served the public since the agency's inception in 1998. She really enjoys the public/private partnership that the project offers and the interesting work that is created due to the involvement of the federal government. Since she loves to hike, the Presidio and all of the Bay Area has afforded her the availability of many wonderful trails.

David was born in the Bronx and raised in Los Angeles. After attending college at Cal State Northridge where he earned a degree in history, he moved to the Bay Area to attend Hastings College of the Law. Prior to entering law school, he worked as a counselor in Los Angeles County Juvenile Hall. He has been practicing law since 1975 and in solo practice focusinig on business and personal injury litigation in San Mateo since 1989.

David and Dolores Gould were married in 1998 and have been temple members with their children, Sarah, 23, and Alana, 21, since that time. Dolores is the chairperson for Home and Hope and a former member of the Board of Trustees. David is currently Co-President of the Brotherhood and chairperson of the Kedusha Committee. He previously served on the Board and Executive Committee. He has also served as the URJ Representative, co-chair of the Cantor Search Committee in 2006-07, on the Rabbi Transition Team, By-Laws Revision Committee and in 2011 a co-chair of the fundraiser. On Saturday mornings he can be found in the temple library with Bernice Ellison and others in Rabbi Eisner's Torah Study.

A native of San Francisco, Stephanie feels blessed to have lived in San Francisco and on the Peninsula her entire life. She and her husband, Rudy, have two sons. Jason, 37, and Zachary, 34, attended religious school at PTBE. Having served previously on the Board, this is her second opportunity to contribute and give back to PTBE. As part of her first term on the Board, she accepted the challenge of heading the Library Committee. She chaiared that committee for about 15 years, during which time the entire collection of books and video materials was computerized and several wonderful Library Galas were held to raise money to refurbish and support the library.

Stephanie has participated on the Development Committee of PTBE over the course of the last four years and has enjoyed her work as "party girl" helping to plan and execute some of the temple's most successful events to thaaank the congregation for their generous support of our project.

Jeff and his wife, Hillary Weingast, joined PTBE in 2009. Jeff was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area, graduating from UC Santa Cruz (BA in Economics and Poliltics) and Santa Clara University's School of Law (JD). He joined Apple Inc. in 2008, where he now serves as a Director in Apple's Legal Department. Hillary, a transplant from the Boston area, is also an attorney, working as a Senior Director at Symantec Corporation's legal department.

Jeff and Hillary initially experienced PTBE through the eyes and ears of their daughter, Sierra, 5, when she was a Ganon student and Elana Jagoda's biggest fan. They are both excited to meet new friends and help strengthen PTBE so it can be a thriving community for Sierra and future generations of members.

Brian Kirshner

Brian and his wife, Judy Thalheimer, became members of PTBE when their son Jeremy enrolled at the Ganon Infant Toddler Center in 1995. Brian was born and grew up on the north side of Chicago as a loyal Cubs fan. He graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Chemical Engineering and obtained an MS in Engineering Management and Operations Research from Stanford University . Brian has held senior level engineering and management positions at several Bay Area companies. He currently holds a senior engineering position at Codexis, Inc.

Their son, Jeremy, 14, is currently in the teen program in Religious School , is a madrich on Sunday mornings and enjoys participating in SMRTY events. Their daughter, Jessica, is a sixth grader at PTBE and we look forward to her becoming a Bat Mitzvah next summer. Judy served on both the Beth El Women and Religious School Boards.

Brian enjoys playing a number of sports. Recently he caught the endurance race bug. He completed several sprint distance triathlons and is training for an Olympic distance event in the fall. He looks forward to serving the temple community at PTBE.

Sharon was born and raised in Chicago. She attended Brown University and earned her MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She worked in LA in the commercial real estate industry, first as a lender and then as a real estate developer. She and her husband, Elliot, were married at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in 1992.

They've been members of PTBE since 2003. Their son, Sam, 16, and daughter, Hannah, 13, became b'nai mitzvah at PTBE. Sharon, Elliot, and Hannah traveled to Israel with Rabbi Eisner and his family and other congregants last summer and had a wonderful experience. It strengthened their commitment to Israel and furthered their already-growing enthusiasm for PTBE. Sam was confirmed this year and will be going on the NFTY Israel trip this summer.

Sharon is currently serving on the Strategic Planning Committee and the Building Committee for the temple. Outside of PTBE, besides being an avid runner, she has served on the Board of the Hillsborough Schools Foundation and the West Hillsborough School Parent Group Board. Currently, she chairs event committees at Crystal Springs Uplands School where both Sam and Hannah are enrolled.

Andrew was born and educated in Canada , including medical school and residency training in Internal Medicine. He moved to the Bay Area in 1978 and became an ER physician at Sequoia Hospital and then did dermatology training. He opened his own medical practice in Mountain View in 1984. He and his wife, Barbara, have two children. William, 23, lives in Manhattan and Chloe, 20, attends University of Oregon.

Peggy and her late husband, Ted, joined PTBE about 50 years ago. There four children went to religious school and were confirmed here. Her daughter, Melanie, is a member and Peggy’s grandson, Nathaniel, became a Bar Mitzvah last June.

Peggy has been involved with social action and community welfare programs for the past twenty-five years. Ted, who was a physician, developed medical programs for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Together they made numerous trips to different parts of the world, including Ethiopia ,

Cuba

, and many countries of the Former Soviet Union. She helped set up and run various programs. Peggy’s main focus was documenting the work photographically and showing the lives of the Jewish people in the many communities in which they live. Her photographic exhibits on Ethiopia and

Russia

traveled around the Us and were shown in Jewish museums, JCCs and synagogues, including PTBE.

Locally, Peggy has been active with Samaritan House for over 20 years. She initiated and has run the Bread Basket program since its inception. She has served on the Board of Samaritan House for many years and on the Board of the Judah Magnes Museum.

Bruce Pasternack
Bruce grew up in Brooklyn, NY and has always been committed to Jewish organizations. He served on the Board of Peninsula Temple Sholom and was President of the Board of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center when it constructed and moved into the Foster City campus. Bruce and his wife, Lynne, were married at PTBE and are grandparents of both a little girl and boy. Bruce is looking forward to becoming more involved in our Temple and in helping Rabbi Eisner and the rest of the Temple's leadership team in fulfilling their vision.

Lorna Jan Siepser
Lorna was born in San Francisco and has been a member of Temple Beth El For 50 years. She was active in both Jr. and Sr. NFTY Youth Groups from 7th grade through college. She was on the Board of both PTBE's junior and senior NFTY youth groups, and taught 7th and 8th grades for 9 years. Lorna graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science and Santa Clara University Law School. She had a career in electronic banking law for twenty years.

Lorna was married to Steven Klebe at Temple Beth El in 1983. They have two children, Larisa, 19 and Seth, 16. Lorna developed the Volunteer Music Program for Baywood Elementary School. She has served on the Religious School Board, the Rabbi Search Committee that resulted in hiring Rabbi Lezak, and a three year term on the Board of Trustees. Lorna has been the co-chair of our last two fundraisers, Cirque de Beth El and Dancing with the Starz. She has also been actively involved with Aragon High School, the Peninsula Girls Chorus, and the San Mateo/Foster City Education Foundation Board.

Faye and her husband, Ron, have been members of PTBE for 13 years. They have a son, Elliott, who is a junior at Stanford University and who became Bar Mitzvah and confirmed at PTBE. Their daughter, Rachel, now a junior in Menlo School, was confirmed last May and joiner her confirmation class on a trip to Israel last summer. Faye previously served as a member of our Religious School Committee.

Faye grew up in Southern California and attended Stanford University (BA Economics) and Harvard Business School (MBA). After several years in management within the banking industry. Faye worked as a strategic marketing consultant to a variety of companies in Northern California. She left the professional business world ten years ago to spend more time with her family and pursue her interests in the not-for-profit arena. Eight years ago Faye created the Common Ground Speaker Series, an organization dedicated to providing high quality professional development and parent education to Peninsula school communities. The organization now serves the faculty and parents of 24 independent schools from Hillsborough to Los Gatos, including three Jewish day schools on the Peninsula.

Abra grew up actively involved in her congregation and was a camper and then counselor at OSRUI in Oconomowoc, WI. Abra moved on to an undergrad degree at Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a Masters at USC in Occupational Therapy. During her education, she always gave back to Jewish communities, teaching in local synagogues. During and after graduate school, Abra worked as an occupational therapist primarily focusing on pediatrics, working for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Children and Family Services, Miller Children's Hospital of Long Beach and UCSF Medical Center. In 2006 Abra started and has been running Our Body Basics, a consulting practice which provides occupational therapy services for children as well as workspace ergonomic evaluations.

Since moving to the Bay Area, Abra has stayed involved in the Jewish community working on projects with the Women's Philanthropy arm of the Federation, AIPAC, Lehrhaus, the PJCC, and (closest to home) the Check Into It Campaign at PTBE. She looks forwards to continue contributing to the PTBE family for many years to come.

Phil Strause has 40 years of management consulting experience focused on strategy and business planning, corporate governance, financial management and operations. He was with Deloitte Consulting and its predecessor firms for 39 years, retiring in 2006. He held several senior management positions with the firm including Managing Director of the San Francisco Consulting Practice, global leader of the firm’s Financial Management service line and Practice Director of Deloitte Consulting’s Asia Pacific Africa Financial Institutions Practice based in Hong Kong where he lived from mid 1997-mid 2003. He also led the start up of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations Advisory Center in Hyderabad , India .

Phil and his wife, Cindy, have been members of PTBE since moving to San Mateo in 1978. Their 3 children, their spouses and 8 grandchildren live in San Mateo and Foster City.

Phil is active with Federation, serving as Chairman of the Educating and Engaging Commission, a member of the Finance and Administration Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. He is also a member of Federation’s North Peninsula Regional Council. He is on the Boards of the Traveling Jewish Theatre and Saint Francis Medical Center.

Evan was born in Brooklyn, and raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he became a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Beth El, a Conservative synagogue. He fondly remembers large Passover seders as a youth and loves Jewish holidays and customs. He resides in San Carlos with his wife, Karen, and their 8 year old daughter, Natalie, and an assortment of pets.

Evan and Karen joined PTBE three years ago when evaluating religious education programs and seeking a Jewish community on the Peninsula. For the past two years, Evan has helped plan the annual Purim Carnival. He looks forward t participating in other leadership roles in the temple.

Evan graduated from CSU, Northride, with a B.A. in Biology and a Minor in Chemistry. He applies his attention to detail as the Director, Quality Assurance, at Portola Pharmaceuticals. He spends his spare time learning jazz piano and teaching Natalie about sports.