The Hillel Board of Directors serves as ambassadors throughout the Greater Phoenix Jewish community, sharing Hillel's accomplishments and securing the resources for Hillel to continue our work. To get more information about our board, please contact Debbie Yunker Kail, Executive Director.
Board of Directors 2022-23
Board of Directors 2022-23
Ed Ober, President grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1975 with degrees in English Literature and Writing and Hebraic Studies, and in 1979 with his law degree. He retired in 2019 after practicing law for forty years. Ed is married to Gail Ober and they have two daughters, Sara and Rachel. They are founding members of Congregation Or Tzion. While practicing law, Ed was on the Boards of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Arizona Center for Disability Law, serving four years as the President of that Board. He was also a member of the Beth El Congregation Board of Directors for several years. Presently, Ed is the Vice Chair of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service Governance Board, as well as President of the ASU Hillel Board of Directors.
Kimberly Kur, Vice President & Development Chair, serves as Arizona Community Foundation's Chief Development officer and is responsible for the foundation’s statewide asset development and donor engagement activities. In March 2013 through February 2014, Kimberly served as the CDO for the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix. Prior to moving to Arizona in December 1999, Kimberly practiced as an estate planning attorney at a Philadelphia law firm. Before that, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Kimberly is a cum laude graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, Kimberly earned her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation from the American College of Financial Services. Kimberly’s current professional memberships include the Amelia Group, consisting of CDOs from large community foundations across the country, Advancement Network, Inc., Planned Giving Round Table of Arizona, Central Arizona Estate Planning Council, Valley Estate Planners and the Financial Planners Association of Greater Phoenix. Kimberly serves as a mentor for the Arizona Endowment Building Institute and the Women’s Leadership Institute and serves on multiple nonprofit development, endowment building and planning giving committees. Kimberly is an active lay leader in the Jewish community, serving in numerous leadership roles during her 22 years in Arizona. Kimberly is married to Norm Kur, and they have two young adult children. In her free time, Kimberly enjoys family game night, hiking, yoga, reading, and travel.
Elyse Katz, CPA, Treasurer is an Arizona native, born and raised! Elyse has spent her summers at the JCC Shemesh as a camper, CIT, counselor, and now sending the kids back as well! It’s been 25 years of Jewish camp in the valley, including Camp Perlstein (now Stein). As a member of AEPhi at UA, Elyse frequented the Hillel center weekly as it was right next door to the Jewish sorority house. Elyse received her bachelor’s in accounting from the Eller College of Management. Elyse co-chaired Young Jewish Phoenix, now known as Nextgen, where she met her husband Adam Katz! Her late Mother, Wendi Keene worked for the Jewish Free Loan, and Elyse was also involved in helping develop the financial literacy program at JFL. Elyse’s career began as an IRS auditor for the department of Treasury right out of college. After a few years, Elyse went back to school and obtained her Master’s Degree from Grand Canyon University while continuing to work. Shortly after, became a licensed CPA. After 10 years of government work, Elyse pursued public accounting and now works for Eide Bailly- a top 20 accounting firm, representing her clients in front of the IRS doing tax controversy.
Carrie Aaron has lived in Phoenix since she was 6 years old and has been an active member of the Jewish community since then. While obtaining her B.A. in Sociology from Arizona State University, she participated in Hillel occasionally. Carrie is ABD in Sociology from New York University and met her husband Morrie while living in New York. After moving back to the Phoenix area, Carrie taught criminology at ASU and other local community colleges before having 3 beautiful children. While working full-time in the home, Carrie supported the growth of MCA Financial and served as an active volunteer leader for Phoenix Country Day School as well as other community organizations. Upon becoming an empty nester, she opened a high-end intimate apparel boutique focused on women’s empowerment. Carrie sold her store to spend more time rejoining the MCA Financial team and community boards including Women in Philanthropy at ASU and Arizona List. She is very passionate about Jewish students receiving a warm, safe, and meaningful college experience and is eager to make a difference by joining the Hillel at ASU board. Carrie also sits on Hillel’s Advisory Council.
Eva Binder earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Goucher College and an MBA in Finance from Temple University. Eva began her post-college career as a Senior Research Associate at a statistical consulting firm. Eva progressed into a financial role until she realized she missed the family hardware store, where she returned and became a partner. She led efforts that significantly expanded the hardware store, including an online shop (in the 1990s), and a weekly radio show broadcasted from the store. Currently, Eva consults for small to mid-size businesses as a Human Resources Consultant and a recruiter for firms across the country. Eva was raised to believe strongly in giving back to the community. Some volunteer opportunities (past and present) include being a youth group leader, Board Member, Rabbi Search Committee Co-Chair, and Sisterhood Treasurer at Kesher Israel Congregation; being a Shalom Baby Board and Chester County Event Chair for the Jewish Federation of Chester and Delaware County; being the Hospitality Co-Chair and Board Member at Congregation Or Tzion. Eva is married to her husband, Sam Binder, and has three sons, Andrew, Josh, & Eli. Two of her sons are currently undergraduate students at other PAC-12 universities where she is proud that they are involved with their local Hillels.
Shelley Cohn retired in October 1995 as the Executive Director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, having served in that capacity since 1984. She was involved in seeing the appropriation of the Arts Commission grow from 14 cents per capita to 80 cents per capita and in developing special funding initiatives including the Arizona Arts Trust Fund and Arizona ArtShare, the Arizona arts endowment fund. She oversaw the creation of programs that supported artists and arts organizations to connect with their communities in effective and meaningful ways. After retirement, she served one year as the interim CEO of the Scottsdale Cultural Council overseeing the work of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Scottsdale Public Art. Ms. Cohn has served as chair and board member of the Arizona Community Foundation, council member of the LGBTQ Center for Philanthropy at the Arizona Community Foundation, chair and board member of Childsplay, and chair and board member of the Desert Botanical Garden where she just rejoined the board. She holds a master's degree in Humanities from Arizona State University and an undergraduate degree in English from Washington University.
Allan Friedman is a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, and is currently retired. Prior to his retirement in 2010, he was employed for 5 years as a Senior Computer Audit Specialist for the Office of the Auditor General of the State of Arizona. Before entering public service, Allan owned and managed a contracting business for 12 years. The business installed and serviced office and warehouse material handling and storage equipment. Allan held contractor’s licenses in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Prior to his work in contracting, Allan managed a variety of domestic and international banking, audit and compliance functions for Citicorp/CitiBank (Arizona and New York), Deloitte Touche (New York Corporate Headquarters), and Bank Leumi Trust Company (New York). He also spent many years as an assistant dean and an assistant professor at Adelphi University’s School of Business in New York teaching business management and information technology on the graduate and undergraduate levels. Allan has served on the Board of Directors of Congregation Or Tzion where his portfolio was facility management. In addition, he was President of his Condo Association Board in Durango, Colorado for several years. Allan holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University and an MBA from Adelphi University. He completed all but his dissertation for his PhD at NYU. He is married to his wife Barbara for 50 years and has five grown children and seventeen grandchildren.
Bruce Greenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York where he attended Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel. Bruce studied Accounting, Economics, and Finance with a minor in Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin, and later attended Nova Southeastern University to receive his MBA. Bruce has been an active member of the Jewish Community his entire life. He has served on the Board of Directors of many Jewish Organizations. Jewish Education has been a long-time passion for Bruce. He has both taught and written curriculum for the Reform Movement for over twenty years. He currently teaches at the Institute for Jewish Knowledge and Learning (IJKL) for lifelong learners in Broward County and has served as a Donor and Advisor to the Center of Jewish Studies at the University of Florida. When not serving the Jewish Community, Bruce has built and sold a number of Health Care Companies. He has recently retired from active business but currently sits on the Board of Directors of a number of health care organizations and consults on succession and strategic planning for closely held firms. Of all of his achievements and activities, Bruce is most proud of his six children ages 17-29, and hopes that they carry on his passion and commitment to Judaism.
Gary Grove, MD, DLFAPA, is a Board Certified General and Geriatric Psychiatrist, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Grove is also certified as a Fellow by the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. By implementing the biopsychosocial model, he uses both medical and psychotherapeutic techniques to treat the whole person. In addition to his private practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, Dr. Grove is on the academic staff at the Mayo Clinic and a former Board member for the Institute for Mental Health Research. He has again been named "Best Psychiatrist in Scottsdale/Paradise Valley " by Arizona Foothills magazine and named a "Top Doc" by Phoenix Magazine.
Gary also has extensive experience, both volunteer and professional, in the Jewish community, including:
Gary also has extensive experience, both volunteer and professional, in the Jewish community, including:
- Volunteer: Past President, Hillel; Past Board Member, Executive Committee Member, and Campaign Vice Chair, JFGP; Past Board Member, JCC.
- Professional: Ass't Director Planning and Budgeting, Jewish Fed of Greater Dallas; Director of Leadership Development, Jewish Federation of Greater LA; Associate Executive Director and Campaign Director, JFGP.
- Education: Double Masters in Social Work at USC and Jewish Communal Service at HUC; FEREP Scholar
Blaine Light loves building -- startups, teams, and people.
In the Jewish Community, he served as a VP of his BBYO chapter and then his VP of SAM fraternity chapter at U of A. He then founded a giving circle and Moishe House Phoenix. He now serves on the board of the JNFuture AZ chapter.
In business, he was most recently COO at Zendoor. Before that, Blaine led Endpoint’s expansion to new markets, launching & managing their Arizona, Northern California, & Texas business units, generating $2.5M in revenue annually. He was employee 141 at Uber, launching Phoenix, Las Vegas, and 8 other cities. As Uber prepared for IPO, he built a cost-savings centralized team of 70, reducing spend by over $6M per year. In his last role as Co-Founder and COO of Qwick, in 2 years, he helped fundraise ~$6M, built the team from 2 to 52 employees, got 82k professionals on the platform across 8 cities, and had 0 regrettable attrition. He is a servant leader who builds great teams, creates stable processes, and empowers others to succeed
In the Jewish Community, he served as a VP of his BBYO chapter and then his VP of SAM fraternity chapter at U of A. He then founded a giving circle and Moishe House Phoenix. He now serves on the board of the JNFuture AZ chapter.
In business, he was most recently COO at Zendoor. Before that, Blaine led Endpoint’s expansion to new markets, launching & managing their Arizona, Northern California, & Texas business units, generating $2.5M in revenue annually. He was employee 141 at Uber, launching Phoenix, Las Vegas, and 8 other cities. As Uber prepared for IPO, he built a cost-savings centralized team of 70, reducing spend by over $6M per year. In his last role as Co-Founder and COO of Qwick, in 2 years, he helped fundraise ~$6M, built the team from 2 to 52 employees, got 82k professionals on the platform across 8 cities, and had 0 regrettable attrition. He is a servant leader who builds great teams, creates stable processes, and empowers others to succeed
Jennifer Schwarz moved to the valley in 1995 from Houston with her now husband Steven (Atlanta), having met at the University of Texas at Austin where she also received her J.D. Upon their arrival, they felt a void of programming for Jeiwsh young adults and founded the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. Jennifer also served on the Jewish Federation Governance Task Force, on the AIPAC board, as a founder of The Jewish Genetic Diseases Project, and on the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center Playground Building Project. Believing that the engagement of Jewish teens is critical to fostering involved Jewish adults, Jennifer started the Jewish Youth Group Basketball League (“The League”) and J Teen Connect AZ, the “info-hub of all things Jewish teen” in the valley. In the general community, Jennifer led an effort to increase public safety measures and police patrols in Paradise Valley, and she also previously worked for the Jewish Community Foundation.. Professionally, after seeing the healing of her own children, Jennifer now supports people to overcome chronic physical, emotional, and mental health challenges through her work as an Allergy Release Technique and Emotion Code Body Code practitioner. She also supports research in the area of meditation and energy healing, including the InnerScience Research Fund, and, serves on the Consciousness and Healing Initiative Documentary Council. She is currently helping produce The Energy That Heals, a documentary about existing scientific studies on the impact of energy healing on chronic illness. Jennifer and Steven feel incredibly blessed with their 3 adult children, Max (23), Kori (21), and Emma (18), who inspire them every day.
Dr. Cory Shapiro is currently the Associate Director of Residential Life at Arizona State University, where he provides leadership to the residential experience across all ASU campuses. He has been supporting ASU students in several capacities at the Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic, Tempe, and West Campuses since 2006. Shapiro received his Doctor of Education degree in Higher and Post-Secondary Education at Arizona State University, his Master of Arts degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs at The Ohio State University, and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at The University of Arizona. In his university housing capacity, he served as a past president of the Association of Intermountain Housing Officers and a multiple-term regional advisor for the Intermountain Associate of College and University Residence Halls.
Having grown up in the Greater Phoenix Jewish community, Shapiro has been active in the young adult Jewish community since returning to the area in 2006. He founded ShabbatLuck, the Cool Shul Campaign (now Congregation Connection), and Schmooze. He was also a part of the inaugural cohort of the Start Me Up! Fellowship and a graduate of the Anti-Defamation League's Glass Leadership Institute. He served on the inaugural board of directors of both the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Phoenix and Schmooze and also served previously on the boards of the Jewish Genetics Diseases Center, Young Jewish Phoenix (now called NowGen), and AVIV of Arizona.
Dan Friedman has been a lay leader in both Pittsburgh’s and St. Louis’ Jewish communities including participating in the Jewish Council for Public Affairs' Frank Family Fellowship and the Jewish Federations of North America's National Young Leadership Cabinet. His current roles include serving as JCRC's Nominating and Governance Chair (although my JCRC term ends this summer), Director-at-Large for the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and co-chair of the JFNA Cabinet Alumni Task Force.
Professionally, Dan is the Vice President of North American Sales for Entegral, a software company and wholly owned subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings, where he has worked for nearly 28 years. Dan and his wife Kristin have been married for 28 years and have 3 SUN DEVIL children, Becca (Class of 22 Mary Lou Fulton), Sarah (Class of 23 Barrett, staying to get her Master’s) and Adam (Barrett Class of 27 and a member of the ASU Lacrosse Team), plus the world's greatest dog, Riese.
They have lived in St. Louis since 2016 but make frequent trips to Tempe and Scottsdale to visit family.
Professionally, Dan is the Vice President of North American Sales for Entegral, a software company and wholly owned subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings, where he has worked for nearly 28 years. Dan and his wife Kristin have been married for 28 years and have 3 SUN DEVIL children, Becca (Class of 22 Mary Lou Fulton), Sarah (Class of 23 Barrett, staying to get her Master’s) and Adam (Barrett Class of 27 and a member of the ASU Lacrosse Team), plus the world's greatest dog, Riese.
They have lived in St. Louis since 2016 but make frequent trips to Tempe and Scottsdale to visit family.
