Board of Trustees
Board of Trustees
Officers of the Board
President: Marci Dolliger
Immediate Past President: Orr Shakked
Secretary: Becky Fenster
Treasurer: Amy Kux
At Large: Jeffry Bernstein, Jennifer Grossman, Deb Stadtner
Trustees
Michelle Barenbaum
Scott Barshack
Jeffry Bernstein
Mariah Calarco
Sofia Chancey
Jill Deitch
Marci Dollinger
Becky Fenster
Jennifer Grossman
Steve Grossman
David Horowitz
Barbara Iungano
Erin Kahn
Amy Kux
Orr Shakked
Tony Smorgon
Deb Stadtner
Rob Wolfson
Matt Wulfstat
Michelle Barenbaum
Michelle is excited to join the Governance committee this year. Brandeis Marin has played and continues to play a central role in her life. Michelle’s son, Sam, graduated from Brandeis Marin in 2019, and her son Henry, who is a rising 8th grader, has been thriving here since joining in 4th grade. Michelle is the immediate past president of the Brandeis Marin Parents Association, and her husband, Daniel, is an alum, where he started in Brandeis Hillel Day School’s inaugural year, in 1978. Michelle is dedicated to the well-being of children. She is a teacher at Winston Preparatory School in San Rafael, which offers innovative and unique focus curricula for students with learning differences. She is also a Marin Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), where, since 2015, she has formed bonds with youth in different places in the foster care system and advocates on their behalf to government welfare and education institutions and courts. Michelle is a proud Chicagoan and earned her BA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and her MPH from Emory University.
Scott Barshack
Scott has been on the Brandeis Marin Board for the past 3 years. He has served on the Marketing Committee and is currently a member of the Governance Committee. Scott has been serving the residents of Marin and Sonoma counties as a psychiatrist for the past 30 years with a special interest in teenagers and young adults. He spent his first 20 professional years as the Medical Director of Mental Health at Marin General Hospital. Currently, he is the Medical Director of the Paradigm San Francisco Adolescent Residential program in San Rafael and retains a private practice in Corte Madera. During his 14 years as a Brandeis parent, Scott served the school as room parent many times, created and organized the Family Talent Show, and was the Chair of the Chesed Committee. He is the proud father of 2 Brandeis alums.
Jeffry Bernstein
Jeff currently serves on the Executive, Budget and Finance, Investment and Audit Committees. Jeff is a tax attorney and partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP. He represents businesses, individuals and families in sophisticated income, estate, and property tax matters, both as an advisor and as an advocate. Prior to private law practice, Jeffry was an associate tax professor of law at U.C. Berkeley School of Law ( Boalt Hall) and University of Puget Sound Law School and an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University Law School Graduate Tax L.L.M Program teaching taxation. He is a volunteer with the Justice and Diversity Center in San Francisco. His two children attended Brandeis from K-8 in the 90’s and on to the 2000s. He and his wife Diane have lived in Sausalito for 33 years. Jeffry is a strong believer in a Jewish education coupled with secular studies.
Mariah Calarco
Mariah is excited about everything that is Brandeis Marin, including joining the Marketing committee this year. The school has had a profoundly positive impact on her family and son, Charlie (6th grade), who has been given a sense of community and belonging at Brandeis that is far from given for a kid as seriously disabled as he is. Mariah has actively volunteered at Brandeis since her son entered kindergarten, including two years on the Executive Board of the PA. Before having her son, Mariah worked in special ed and women's health. Both of these areas were places in which she found a passion for service, and a deep interest in problem solving to cater to individuals' needs across a variety of settings. Mariah is an avid hiker and loves all things nature. She grew up in Chicago, but has lived in the Bay Area since 2001 and has lived in Fairfax since 2011 where she lives with Charlie and their two dogs.
Sofia Chancey
Sofia will continue her fundraising work on behalf of the Brandeis Marin Advancement Committee this year, and also join the Marketing committee. She has been an active volunteer from the time her family moved to Marin from Melbourne Australia and joined the Brandeis family in early 2017. Sofia and her husband, Jeff, were looking for a seamless transition for their two daughters from their Jewish education at the King David School in Melbourne and, from the moment the family stepped onto the campus, they knew they were home at Brandeis. Currently, Sofia’s younger daughter is in 4th grade and her older daughter is a 2020 grad. Sofia has served as Secretary of the Parent Association in 2018 and 2019 and was on the Spring Simcha planning committee for 2020 and 2021.
Sofia is the Head of Strategy at Intune Collective, a strategy and management consultancy, and serves on the board of the Northern California chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Prior to these roles, Sofia was a Managing Director with Accenture for 21 years in the US and Australia. Sofia co-founded, and held various roles including that of President, Get Your Frock On! a non-profit formed to raise awareness of and funds for Ovarian Cancer Research from 2010 until 2016, donating 100% of funds raised to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation of Australia.
Jill Deitch
Jill joined the Brandeis community in 2020 when their son Drew was a 6th grader. When they realized the school was a game changer for their son, they decided to move their twins Caitlin and Michaela to the school in 2021. Jill has served as the chair of the Brandeis Fund and a room parent.
With a long background in event marketing, Jill is a marketing consultant who has had extensive engagements with a diverse list of clients including the San Francisco Symphony, SFJAZZ Center, Bay to Breakers, Wells Fargo and SYPartners. Her current passions (aside from Brandeis and her family) are the family dog, “Mama Rasha” and Pickleball.
Marci Dollinger
Marci is thrilled to be part of the board of Brandeis Marin again this year, after serving on the faculty as a teacher for 12 years. Her roles on the board include chair of the Advancement committee, Vice President of the Executive committee, member of the Governance committee and co-chair of Staff/Faculty happiness project on behalf of the board. Last year, Marci chaired the Community Engagement workstream for the Strategic Planning process. Professionally, Marci has been a Jewish day school educator for her entire teaching career. Marci currently serves on the boards of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, A4BGU and Camp Newman and past board service includes leadership at the Osher Marin JCC, Congregation Rodef Sholom, the Jewish Community Relations Council and co President of the Osher Marin JCC preschool. Marci is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program and AABGU’s Zin Fellows Leadership Program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brandeis University, and a Master’s in Education and teaching credential from UCLA. Marci and her husband, Marc Dollinger, Ph.D., (past president of the Brandeis Hillel Day School Board) live in San Rafael, California, and have two daughters – Rivi (Rebecca) and Shayna, both alums of our beloved Brandeis.
Becky Fenster
Becky has served many roles on the Brandeis Marin Board. She is currently serving in her 3rd year as the Governance chair, chaired the Strategic Plan and helped co-chair the 40th anniversary Simcha. This year Becky will also sit on the Head Support Committee and the Executive Committee. Becky's roots on the Marin campus span for decades, as Becky is both an alum student ('93) and faculty member of the Brandeis campus in Marin. She spent over a decade as a classroom educator, teaching in both the Lower School and Middle School. During her teaching tenure, Becky also participated in the Head of School Search Committee, Compensation Committee and Israel Education Committee. Transitioning out of the classroom, she oversaw the school-wide Curriculum Mapping project, and was the school's Accreditation Coordinator for its 2017 CAIS/WASC accreditation. Becky has also served as Brandeis Marin's first Alumni Relations Coordinator and helped found Mishpacha, the family alumni association. Over the last decade, Becky has also volunteered for and co-chaired various committees at the OMJCC, Congregation Rodef Sholom, JFCS and Shalom Bayit; she has also participated in the Shalom Hartman Institute for Emerging Leaders and the Federation Fellows program. As a Marin County native, Becky remains committed to being an active member of the local Jewish community.
Jennifer Grossman
Jennifer is in her third year as chair of the Strategic Marketing Committee and co-chair of the Storyforce Task Force. She also sits on the Executive Committee and Advancement Committee. Previously, she sat on the Spring Simcha committee. Before joining the board, Jennifer served on the Executive Committee of the Brandeis Parents Association for 4 years, three of them as President, and headed up many volunteer committees during her tenure as a Brandeis parent. She also served on the board of Children for Change, an organization that empowers youth to become global changemakers and make a positive impact in the world. Jennifer ran a Learning and Development consultancy for almost 20 years and currently co-owns Izundo Solutions, a software development firm, with her husband, Steve. They are the proud parents of a Brandeis graduate and served as the host family to Brandeis’ first official international student graduate.
Steve Grossman
Steve currently serves on the Budget and Finance committee and is also chair of the Audit committee. He recently retired and is presently doing some restaurant consulting. After graduating from Baruch College in New York City, Steve worked for an international CPA firm in their New York office, specializing in restaurants, hotels and casinos for 15 years. After becoming a partner in the firm, he transferred to their San Francisco office and worked there for the next ten years. In 1994, Steve left public accounting to become the CFO for one of the largest Burger King franchises in the country, a position he held for the next 21 years before retiring. During his time in the Bay Area, he served as President and several times as Treasurer for Congregation Kol Shofar. Currently he is an active member on their Finance Committee. Steve lives in Mill Valley with Jackie, his wife of 49 years. He has two sons and two grandsons who also live in the Bay Area. Steve’s youngest son attended Brandeis from 3-8 grade in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Steve is a sport nut and has season tickets to several Bay Area sport teams.
David Horowitz
David is a member of the Budget & Finance Committee. Professionally, he is the founder of Agilon Capital, LLC, a systematic, quantitative hedge fund that specializes in corporate bonds, and is headquartered in San Francisco. Prior to founding Agilon, David worked at BlackRock, Inc as the Deputy CIO of Systematic Fixed Income. He has served on the board of Urban Blazers, an organization that was dedicated to providing transformative outdoor experiences to under-resourced kids in Philadelphia. David graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Computer Science Engineering and a BA in Finance. David lives in Mill Valley, with his wife and three children, two of whom currently attend Brandeis Marin, and one who is a recent graduate.
Barbara Iungano
Barbara and family moved to Marin County from San Francisco in 2016 and found community at Brandeis Marin. Her daughter, Eloise, will be a sixth grader in the coming school year. Barbara has been active in the P.A. and has recently served on the Advancement Committee and Diversity Task Force at Brandeis.
Currently, Barbara is CFO of a family foundation and sits on the board of Buen Dia Family School, a pre-school in San Francisco. Professionally, she is a chiropractor and has dabbled in organic farming. She and her family live a semi-bucolic lifestyle with their pets along with chickens and goats, in San Rafael.
Erin Kahn
Erin is a member of the Marketing committee and has also served on the Governance committee. She is currently the Manager of Studio Operations at Epic Games, and most recently was the Senior Program Manager for The Studio Talent Group at Lucasfilm. She sits on the advisory board of The Tug McGraw Foundation. She also currently serves on the CJM annual gala committee and has been a past member of Jewish Community Federation Power of One Gala Committee. Erin is an alumna of Brandeis Hillel Day School - Marin and lives with her husband and 3 children in San Francisco.
Amy Kux
Amy is currently the treasurer on the Executive Committee at Brandeis Marin and also chairs the Budget & Finance Committee. She is excited to have her two daughters (3rd and 8th grade) experience a strong Jewish education and community in her native Marin county. Professionally, Amy is a financial leader/ CFO, specializing in operations, finance, and operational & accounting. Her focus has been within the technology section including, cyber security, Healthtech, EdTech, and others.
Orr Shakked
Orr is President of the Brandeis Board of Trustees and has been a trustee since the school opened its doors as an independent school. He chaired the Budget and Finance Committee and currently serves on the Executive Committee, the Budget and Finance Committee, the Governance Committee, and the Head of School Support and Evaluation Committee. Orr spent the last fifteen years at e-commerce tech companies in marketing, building new product lines, and in business development. He is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for The RealReal. Previously, Orr was Vice President of Marketing at Shutterfly, led global online marketing for TripAdvisor, and held various roles at Expedia. Orr grew up in Israel, served as a captain in the Israeli military, and received his B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his master’s degree from UC Berkeley. Orr and his wife, Sharon, are the proud parents of two Brandeis graduates.
Tony Smorgon
Tony served as a member of the Brandeis Marin Board of Trustees from 2018-2020 before going on hiatus in August of 2020. He has served on the Advancement Committee, Head Support Committee and during the hiatus year, the Strategic Planning Committee. In August 2021, Tony relocated back to San Francisco from Hawaii and Sydney with his wife, Jennifer, and their five children, three of whom currently attend Brandeis Marin. Tony is a Director on the Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Foundation. In Australia, he was the Chairman of the Mount Scopus College Foundation. Scopus is the leading Jewish day school in Melbourne, with 1550 students K-12 founded in 1948. He also performed a key role in the formation and growth of Keren Hayesod-UIA’s global forum to strengthen leadership and commitment from the next generation of major donors to Israel. In 2008, Tony became a Wexner Heritage Alumni in San Francisco. He was formerly a Director on the JCC Board of San Francisco. He also served on the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation grant making and allocations committee. From 2018-2020 Tony served as a delegate to the Wexner Alumni Council of North America. Currently, Tony is a Director of the Escor Group, a privately owned Australian company.
Deborah Stadtner
Deborah has a passion for serving the Jewish community and feels that a jewish day school education is one of the best gifts we can give to our children. Currently, she serves on the Governance committee, the Advancement committee and she is the Secretary on the Executive committee. For the past few years, she has been the Advancement Chair, and has served on the Simcha fundraiser committee and co-chair of the 40th Anniversary committee. In addition to Brandeis Marin, she serves on the boards of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center and the Advisory Board of URJ Camp Newman. She is a member of the Community Impact Committee for the Jewish Community Federation. Deborah has been mentored by JCF Rubin Text Talks leadership program, JCF Women’s Philanthropy, JCF Judith Chapman Women’s leadership program and several Shalom Hartman Institute Board leadership programs. Deborah is a past president for the Osher Marin JCC where she began as a volunteer at the preschool and was a parent association co-chair for two years before serving on the Board for 11 years. She is a former board member for Congregation Kol Shofar. As a past 19-year parent at Brandeis Hillel Day School/Brandeis Marin, she served as Parent Association president 2006-2007, was an annual fund chair for three years, served on the Advancement committee, Marketing committee and Head of School selection committee, as well as serving on all of the various parent association committees throughout her many years as a parent in the school. She has a B.S. from San Diego State University in Business Administration and worked in market research for 20 years. Deborah is married to Larry and has four adult children, Joshua, Rebecca, Jonathan and Jacob, who are Brandeis Marin graduates. Deborah is inspired by her family to help insure a thriving Jewish community for the next generation.
Rob Wolfson
Rob will join the Budget & Finance committee this year and bring his professional experience as an Executive Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital. Rob is the Head of the H.I.G. Capital Advantage Buyout Fund (the “Advantage Fund”) and the Head of U.S. Healthcare. Prior to leading the Advantage Fund, Rob spent over 10 years as a Managing Director, leading leverage buyouts across multiple H.I.G. Capital strategies. Rob has worked with companies in a variety of industries, with a focus on healthcare, business services, and technology. In addition to the responsibilities mentioned above, Rob has been a company executive, investment banker and strategic consultant. Rob earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University (where he currently serves on his college board). Rob was introduced to Brandeis Marin when his son attended the school. Rob continues to be a passionate supporter of the school and the community it serves. When not working or serving communities he cares about, Rob is with friends, with family, in Tahoe, golfing or skiing.
Matt Wulfstat
Matt will join the Governance committee this year, bringing his experience as the CEO and President of Stratford School for nearly a decade. He led the school’s growth from 200+ to 800+ employees and from 6 to 18 campuses. He currently serves on a number of educational boards including ISG, a subsidiary of International School Services and KSS, a growing group of immersion language schools. Matt has also served on the Executive Committee of the Brandeis School of San Francisco’s Board of Trustees and chaired the Tamalpais High School Site Council.
Matt is a former Wexner Heritage Fellow and Young Presidents Organization (YPO) member and has been a speaker at various conferences on educational innovation and investment. Matt received an MBA and Masters in Education at Stanford and a BA in Economics with Honors from Stanford University. He and his wife, Amanda, have four children and their son, Jacob, is a recent graduate of Brandeis Marin. In his free time, Matt likes to ski, mountain bike and plunge with his family into Three Wells, the strikingly chilly swimming hole near their home in Mill Valley.