FY24-25 PTBE Board of Trustees
(* designates new member)
OFFICERS
Scott Hartley, President
Scott was born and raised on the Peninsula and lives in San Mateo with his wife Sharon and two daughters, Ariella and Elana, who both became Bat Mitzvah at Peninsula Temple Beth El. Scott co-chaired the Senior Rabbi Search Committee, the Bonim B’Yachad Design and Construction Committee, and the Development Committee. Scott is a past President of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center and served on the Boards of the Jewish Community Federation and the North Peninsula Jewish Campus. He is a Wexner Fellow, past president of the Rotary Club of Burlingame, and was a long-standing member serving on the Bio-Ethics Committee of Mills-Peninsula Hospital.
Scott is an attorney specializing in estate planning, trust administration, and transactional work. After graduating from Carlmont High School, Scott received his bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley, and his juris doctorate from Hastings College of the Law.
Gary Greenswdeig, Vice President
Gary moved to Montara in 2012 with his wife Barbara Greensweig. They were pleased to find PTBE and have been members of the congregation since that time. They lived previously in Santa Rosa for 33 years, where they raised their family and were members of Congregation Beth Ami. Their three children were in religious school, had B’nai Mitzvahs, and participated in USY youth group, and both Barbara and Gary served on synagogue’s Board of Directors. Their children are now grown and married; they have eight grandchildren.
Gary is a Family Physician who cared for multigenerational families in Sonoma County, having the privilege of delivering hundreds of babies and caring for adults and children. Occasionally, he acted as a mohel for members of the community as well as for his own grandchildren! Gary served as the President of a large Medical Group and Chief Medical Officer for the St. Joseph Health System in Sonoma County. Upon leaving Santa Rosa, Gary joined Dignity Health, and its parent company CommonSpirit Health, serving as National Clinical Leader for clinical practices across 21 states. He leads clinical quality, safety, and the development of clinical standards, and also served as the as the national practice leader for COVID-19 during the pandemic. Gary now has a small clinical practice with the Sequoia Medical Group.
Through his career, Gary served on several not-for-profit health care boards, in director, trustee, and board chair roles. He actively participated in PTBE’s Covid-19 Task Force, guiding development of health and safety protocols for our community, and is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the PTBE Board.
Andy Garlikov, Treasurer
Andy grew up in Arizona and became bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Israel in Phoenix. He and his wife Julie joined PTBE in 2012, where she served as a Trustee from 2017 to 2020. Their two children participated in the education program, bringing their parents along for a couple years in Gesher, and culminating in their b'nai mitzvahs.
Andy started his career in the 1990’s at The White House, where he planned high-profile events for the President and Vice President of the United States. Following two presidential campaigns and a stint in consulting, Andy founded an event marketing firm and produced events around the world, managed conventions for national associations, planned conferences, and led international delegations for think tanks. Since 2015, he has worked in customer advocacy and marketing in the technology industry. Andy earned a BA in International Relations from American University, an MA in Communication from the University of Arizona, and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He's done earning degrees, but is too curious to ever stop learning. He sees serving on the Board of Trustees as an opportunity to continue learning while serving a community that has given so much to him and his family.
Laurie Hepler, Secretary
Laurie joined PTBE with her daughter Marina in 2012, through connections made at Wornick Jewish Day School. From 2016 through 2022, she led PTBE’s Sunday Sandwich Hevre (SSH), making it more environmentally friendly, continuing offsite throughout PTBE’s 2019 remodel, and developing a successful “At Home” approach during the pandemic. She served on the Search Committee for our Assistant Rabbis, the Interim Senior Rabbi Transition Task Force in 2021, and the Leadership Coordinating Council (LCC) since its inception, serving as the LCC Chair from fall 2022-June 2024.
Laurie grew up in Maryland and moved to California to attend UCLA School of Law in 1989. She handles appeals in state and federal courts, and advises clients throughout the U.S. on west-coast appellate litigation. Laurie is the immediate Past President of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and serves as the Contributing Editor for the leading treatise in her field, California Civil Appeals and Writs.
Roxanne Cohen, Immediate Past President
Roxanne is a native New Yorker, now in the Bay Area for close to 25 years, living in San Carlos with her husband Dave. Her son Jacob, age 22, is a recent graduate of New York University, and Helena, age 19, attends Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. They joined the PTBE community when Jacob entered Ganon in 2002 and have been active in the Jewish community throughout the Bay Area including PJCC, Wornick Jewish Day School, NFTY, URJ Camp Newman, and Diller Teen Fellows. The Cohen family traveled to Israel with PTBE on a North Peninsula community trip in 2018.
Roxanne brings a passion for Jewish life and cherished serving as President of PTBE, following roles as co-Chair of the Senior Rabbi Search Committee and as Vice President of the Board of Trustees. She also serves as a professional leader in the Jewish community as Chief Development Officer at the Peninsula JCC, and previously in a variety of roles at the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan, MSW from Columbia University, and MA in Jewish Studies from Jewish Theological Seminary. She is also an alumnus of the Mandel Executive Leadership Program and received a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University.
Board of Trustees
Martha Adler, At Large*
Martha and her husband, Michael, live in Half Moon Bay and have been PTBE members since 1999. Their daughters, Sarah and Hannah, grew up at PTBE, attending Ganon, religious school, and proudly celebrating their bat mitzvahs - all as a part of the vibrant and supportive PTBE community. While their daughters both now live on the East Coast, PTBE continues to feel like home for them. Martha previously served as Treasurer, then Co-President of Beth El Women, and subsequently as a member of the PTBE Education Committee. More recently, Martha served on the Board of Trustees of Jewish LearningWorks from 2017 - 2023, including as a member of the board’s Executive Committee from 2019 – 2023, and as Treasurer from 2020- 2023.
Martha is an independent financial consultant with over 30 years of corporate finance experience, primarily in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and high-technology industries, specializing in SEC reporting and Sarbanes Oxley compliance. She received her BA from the University of Oregon and her MBA from Golden Gate University. When she isn’t sitting in front of the computer, she enjoys traveling with Michael (often to the East Coast to visit their daughters), hiking, biking, and she hopes, after a few more lessons, to be able to add pickleball to the list.
Marla Becker, At-Large
Marla grew up in San Diego and resides in Belmont with her husband, Daniel. Her connection to Judaism has always played a central role in her life. She was a sleepaway camp counselor at Camp Beth Israel, spent her junior year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was a participant and then a staff member at Brandeis Collegiate Institute, and taught Sunday School at Temple Beth Israel in San Diego after college while also working part-time as the Outreach Coordinator at San Diego State’s Hillel.
Marla and her husband, Daniel, and their children, Lucas (24) and Ellis (20), joined PTBE in 2009. Marla is a co-founder of Rodfei Tzedek and continues to serve on the leadership team, and began BE Mitzvah tutoring at PTBE in 2017. Marla and her family participated in the Gesher Family Education program, and her kids subsequently participated in a variety of PTBE’s educational programs, including Rishonim, BE Mitzvah, Confirmation, and the Tikkun Fellowship.
Marla has worked in the field of Public Health for over 30 years. She is the founder of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, and works as an Independent Consultant, primarily focusing on program development and evaluation, strategic planning, community engagement, and curriculum development. Marla also serves on the board of Health Connected, a local sexual health education nonprofit, and volunteers with Second Harvest. She earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA, and a Bachelor’s Degree in English and General Literature from Binghamton University in New York.
Steve Diamond, At-Large
Steve grew up at Temple Sinai in Oakland, where his beloved great uncle William Stern was the senior rabbi. Steve and his wife Susan have been members of PTBE for 20 years. For the past 15 years, Steve has led PTBE’s parashat hashavuah Torah study group, for which he received the Or HaTorah award in 2017. He was PTBE Vice President from 2022-24, previously held the portfolio of community security, and served on the COVID Task Force.
Steve began his career in biomedical research at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute EEG Systems Laboratory at UCSF, which led him to the high-tech industry and Silicon Valley. His wife Susan was the Director of Senior Programs at the JCCSF for 18 years. Most recently, Steve was Senior Director of Industry Standards at VMware and Global Standards Officer at EMC. Prior to that he held senior positions in mergers & acquisitions, business development, marketing, and strategic planning at Cisco, Sun, and Honeywell. He was President of the IEEE Computer Society, served on the IEEE Board of Directors, was Vice Chair of the IEEE Standards Association Board of Governors, and Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Micro Magazine. He was inducted into the IEEE Technical Activities Hall of Honor, and received the IEEE’s Richard E. Merwin Medal for Distinguished Service and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.
Ross Kirschner, At-Large
Ross lives in San Carlos with his wife, Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, two daughters who are both in Rishonim, and two cats. Ross is the general counsel of a clean energy/climate tech battery materials startup. Ross previously led the regulatory, policy, and litigation functions at a financial services startup, worked on both the legal and policy teams at Meta (then Facebook), at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C., and for the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). Ross is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
Ross served on PTBE’s Board of Trustees in 2023-24, filling a one-year vacancy. He is a member of the PTBE Education Committee and previously served on the Security Council for Congregation Beth Jacob while his kids attended Nursery School there. Ross serves on the San Carlos Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, is an active member of the San Carlos School District’s LCAP Parent Advisory Committee, is a San Carlos AYSO youth soccer referee, and youth basketball coach for San Carlos Parks and Rec.
Jessica Rosenberg, Engagement Committee Co-Chair
Jessica grew up in the East Bay and became bat mitzvah at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette. She was active in Hillel and UJA during college and was a staff member at Camp JCA Shalom in Malibu. Jessica and her husband Jamie joined PTBE in 2010, and their two daughters have grown up in the Ed Program from Gesher and Rishonim to becoming bat mitzvah and Madrichim. Jessica has served on the Search Committee for our newest Rabbis, and she is part of the Rodfei Tzedek (social justice) leadership team. As the co-chair of the Engagement Committee, she has helped launch the PTBE Circles (small groups) initiative.
Jessica is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner caring for kids and families on the Peninsula. She earned her BS in Nursing from the University of Washington in Seattle and her Masters in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco. She serves on the board of Health Connected (a health education non-profit) and holds a guest clinical faculty role at the UCSF School of Nursing. She has been a community health educator for the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, a volunteer healthcare provider at Samaritan House & Ravenswood Health Center, and a sexual health educator to middle school students. In her spare time, Jessica can be found enjoying the outdoors with her family.
Randi Shafton, At-Large*
Randi is the Chief Executive Officer of Peninsula Bridge. She has played a major role in transforming that organization into a highly impactful and professional enterprise over the last decade. Randi was the Director of Development and Marketing at Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, founded Girls 360, and was a successful non-profit, political, and foundation consultant.
She has served on the Board of UpStart and the Federation Committee relating to allocations for Israel.
Randi graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Randi’s husband Drew Lieberman is a former Board member at PTBE. Their three children celebrated their B’nai Mitzvahs and confirmations at Beth El. Randi went to Camp Swig and BCI in Southern California. She lived in Israel during her senior year of high school and her junior year of college.
Josh Smith, Development Chair
Josh and his wife Lael Culiner live in San Mateo and have been members of PTBE since 2009. Their two children (Arianna, 21 and Drew, 19) celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah at PTBE. Born and raised in West Hartford, CT, Josh moved to California to attend college, earning a B.A. in History from U.C. Berkeley in 1987. Josh has worked in commercial real estate investment & development since 1987, including as President of the Western Region at Kimco Realty, Senior VP & Chief Investment Officer at Western Properties, Senior VP at Pacific Retail Trust, and Vice President at Spieker Properties. In 2004 Josh started his own real estate development firm focusing on mixed-use projects in and around San Francisco.
Josh has been involved in community service for more than 33 years. He is currently a member of the Capital Planning Committee of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, and previously served on the Federation’s Board of Directors for 10 years and as Chair of the Capital Planning Committee from 2012-2017. He also volunteers to teach classes on investing and financial literacy to students who are in junior high school, high school, and college. He previously served on the Board of Trustees at Crystal Springs Uplands School where he co-chaired the Facilities Master Planning Committee.
David Wagonfeld, At-Large*
David is the Managing Partner at Castle Peak Partners, a Co-Founder and General Partner at J-Ventures Fund, and a Partner at Tandem Capital. He was a Partner at Standard Pacific Capital.
David is the Treasurer and Executive Committee Member on the Board for Americans for Ben Gurion University working on developing and supporting entrepreneurial program supporting undergraduates. He is on the Board of UpStart (a startup incubator for Jewish entrepreneurs) and is a member of the UpStart Finance Committee. He serves on the Investment Committee for the PJCC. He has been involved with AIPAC. He serves on the Board of Intrepid Philanthropy.
David graduated from Stanfurd and received his MBA from Harvard.
David and his wife Alison have three children who each celebrated their B’nai Mitzvahs at Beth El.