Board of Directors 2024 - 2025

Jeremy Kasdin, President
Ari Abramson, Vice President
Ilana Shoyket, Secretary
Garrett Langfeld, Treasurer
​Danielle Botvin
Carol Weitz
Jamie Cohen
Ed Luby
Jeff Sosnick
Phil Strause
Carol Weitz

Jeremy

N. Jeremy Kasdin is the Eugene Higgins professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, emeritus, at Princeton University.  He retired from Princeton in 2019, after which he was the Assistant Dean for Engineering Programs at the University of San Francisco, retiring from there in 2022.  Dean Kasdin received his BSE from Princeton University in 1985 and his Ph.D. in 1991 from Stanford University’s department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  From 1991 to 1998, Dean Kasdin was a project manager and the chief systems engineer for NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft, a satellite test of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (GP-B was launched in April, 2004).  Dean Kasdin joined the Princeton faculty in 1999 where his research focused on astronomical instrumentation for high-contrast imaging, space systems design, astrodynamics, and control.  At Princeton, he created the collaborative team investigating high-contrast imaging techniques for detecting and characterizing exoplanets.  Dean Kasdin has led several Technology Demonstration for Exoplanet Missions studies and was PI for the CHARIS integral field spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope.  From 2014 to 2016 he was Vice Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton where he led their self-study and strategic planning effort.  While at Princeton he served on the board of the Center for Jewish Life/Hillel for 6 years, including two as President of the board.  He has been on the SF Hillel board since 2021 and now serves as its President.

Ari

Ilana

Ilana was born and raised in San Francisco. As a child of refugees who escaped horrific
anisemitism in the former Soviet Union, Ilana did not get exposed to many Jewish customs
growing up. Ilana sought out opportunities to join Jewish clubs in high school and became an active participant in SF Hillel when she studied at the University of San Francisco (USF). Ilana
joined SF Hillel's Board of Directors in 2019 as a student representative for USF. From 2019
through 2020, Ilana shaped the future of SF Hillel by representing her fellow students and
helped set the long-term direction for how the board supports students. While earning her
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Ilana served as the President of the Jewish Student Union (now SF Hillel at USF) and taught Kindergarteners at Sunday School in Temple Emanu-El. After graduating, Ilana stayed on the Board and has been serving as a Secretary since 2020.
Ilana earned her juris doctorate from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in
2023. At McGeorge, Ilana restarted the Jewish Law Student Association (JLSA) and served as the
President throughout her years as a law student. As President, Ilana planned and executed the first JLSA cross-campus event between McGeorge and UC Davis to host a Networking Fair
Dinner. Ilana brings her years of being a student leader and cultivating inclusive spaces for Jewish and non Jewish students to learn and interact with Judaism to SF Hillel.
Ilana began her legal career as a Research Attorney at the San Francisco Superior Court. She is looking forward to putting her Trial and Appellate Advocacy training to good use as she pursues
meaningful work in civil litigation. Ilana sees serving on the Board of Directors at SF Hillel as an
opportunity to continue learning and strengthening her Jewish identity while serving a community that has given so much to her.

Garrett

Garrett grew up in Alameda, CA and had his Bar Mitzvah at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland.   Garrett first joined the SF Hillel Board as a Federation Fellow in 2022 and became a full voting member of the Board in 2023.  He currently serves on the Finance Committee and also chaired a special committee to revamp SF Hillel’s vision statement.

Garrett studied finance and computer science at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he was active in Hillel and Chabad and experienced firsthand how important Jewish life on college campuses is to creating the next generation of Jewish leaders.  Upon graduation, Garrett moved to Chicago to work for Uber Freight, first as an Account Manager and then as a Business Analyst.  While in Chicago, he was involved in several Jewish organizations, including Base Hillel, the Jewish United Fund as a member of the Back from Birthright Committee and a participant in the Mensches in Motion program, Anshe Emet synagogue, and Windy City Minyan.  

Garrett moved back to San Francisco in 2021, and a few months later, joined Isometric Technologies, a software company providing transportation performance intelligence for the trucking industry, as a Senior Business Analyst.  Aside from SF Hillel, Garrett was part of the inaugural class of the Young Professional Social Impact Corps of SF JFCS, where he continues to volunteer and mentors a young adult with developmental disabilities who participates in the Shupin Social Club.  Garrett is also active in JLeaders and is a member of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland.  Outside of Jewish life, Garrett serves on the board of Tulane’s Bay Area alumni chapter and enjoys running, golfing, and baking in his spare time.

Jamie

Danielle

Ed

Edward M. Luby is Emeritus Professor and Director of Museum Studies and former Director and Chief Curator of the Global Museum at San Francisco State University, where he was also Faculty Advisor for SF Hillel, and where he continues to serve on SF State’s Jewish Campus Climate Initiative Advisory Group.  

Prior to San Francisco State, Professor Luby was Associate Director of the Berkeley Natural History Museums at the University of California at Berkeley, Director of the Repatriation unit at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Research at UC Berkeley, where he was also appointed as a Research Archaeologist.  Today, Professor Luby serves as Partner at the Archaeological Research Facility at the University of California at Berkeley.   

Dr. Luby received a B.A. in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Anthropological Sciences from Stony Brook University in New York, where he specialized in Middle Eastern Archaeology.   He has conducted archaeological field work in places such as Iraq, Syria, Mexico, and California, has worked on museum-and heritage-based projects around the world, and has developed partnerships with organizations such as the National Museum of Kenya and Tel Aviv University.  Dr Luby is the author of many academic articles about archaeology and museums as well as a newly published book about museum directorship.  

A member for more than ten years of Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, where he is active in Torah Studies and Interfaith activities, Edward was also a member of Temple Sinai in Oakland for many years, where his children had their B’nai Mitzvah, and of Temple Beth El in Berkeley, where his children attended preschool and summer camp.  Born in New York, Edward lived first in Babylon, New York, and amazingly, while conducting archaeological field work in Iraq at Sumerian and Babylonian sites, found himself one day at the actual Babylon. 

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Phil

Phil Strause has served on the SF Hillel Board since 2016 and is currently on the Executive Committee.  He is the Immediate Past President of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center and has served on its Board for 7 years.  He has served on the Board of the Jewish Community Federation, is a past chair of its Executive Grantmaking Committee, served on the Israel Committee and currently serves on the Finance Committee.  He is a past board member and President of Peninsula Temple Beth El.  

Phil has over 40 years of management consulting experience, primarily with Deloitte Consulting, focused on strategy and business planning, corporate governance, financial management and operations.  He has in-depth expertise in the financial services industry working with commercial banks, investment banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and other specialized financial institutions.  His roles with Deloitte included Managing Director of the San Francisco Management Consulting Practice; Practice Leader of Deloitte’s Global Financial Management Service Line; Practice Director of Deloitte Consulting’s Asia Pacific Africa Financial Institutions Practice based in Hong Kong and leading the planning and implementation of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations Advisory Center in Hyderabad, India. 
Phil is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BSEE, 1965) and the Harvard Business School (MBA, 1967).  He has 7 grandchildren who have or are attending college where Hillel was part of their campus life.  

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Carol

Carol’s career in insurance and brokerage related fields spans over 50 years in the San Francisco community. Carol founded Weitz Medical Management in 2002, providing business support to physicians who specialize in the workers’ compensation field. 

She has served on the Board of San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, National Women’s Philanthropy. She serves on the Board of Merola Opera Program attends Congregation Beth Sholom, is active in AIPAC and has traveled to El Salvador, Ghana and India with American Jewish World Service.  Carol currently is Co-Chair of J. The Jewish News of Northern California and serves on the Board of SF Hillel as Capitol Campaign Chair.

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Committees

Executive

Jeremy Kasdin, President
Ari Abramson, Vice President
​Ilana Shoyket, Secretary
Garrett Langfeld, Treasurer

Development

Jamie Cohen, Committee Chair
Danielle Botvin

Finance

Garrett Langfeld, Committee Chair
Martha Adler
​Jeff Sosnick

Personnel

Ed Luby
Alystar Sacks

Governance

Ari Abramson, Committee Chair
Ed Luby

Capital Campaign

Carol Weitz, Committee Chair
Mark & Gilah Abelson
​Michael Adler
Paul Cohen z"l
Richard Fiodotin
Miriam Gauss
Danny Grossman
Jeremy Kasdin
Ron & Barbara Kaufman
Rick Lenat
Moses Libitsky
Deborah Lopez
Diane Marcus
Phil Strause
Bob Tandler