Officers & Directors, 2010-2011
Board Members
President Marjory Grant Ross (Marji) has been a member of Beth Chai Congregation for the past nine years. She lives in McLean with her husband, Chuck Amante, and her two younger daughters, Trina (17) and Becky (12); her oldest daughter Sarah (19) is a student at the College of William and Mary. Marji has been president and publisher of Regnery Publishing, the nation’s leading publisher of conservative political and current affairs books, since April 2003. She joined Regnery in May 1999 as vice president and general manager. Prior to joining Regnery, she worked as senior group publisher for the large investment and health newsletter publisher, Phillips International. In her early career, Marji was a business editor and writer. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in English in 1981, and earned her Masters in Journalism from The American University. In addition to serving on Beth Chai’s board, Marji is also on the board of the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute and the National Conservative Campaign Fund.
Vice President Rob Rosenberg along with his wife Laurie Breen, and their two children, Harry (4) and Emma (6 and three-quarters—don’t dare just say 6)—have been members of Beth Chai since 2006. A native New Yorker, Robert moved to the Silver Spring area to continue his postcollege pursuit of Laurie, who is a native Marylander. Laurie, an artist, is a vegetarian. Robert, addicted to take-out Chinese food (especially spare ribs, the true N.Y. Jewish cuisine), will never be able to equal his wife’s dietary restrictions. This summer, Emma and Harry both discovered the joys of jumping off the diving board at the deep end of the pool, a philosophy they encourage and have found rewarding such as in their decision to join Beth Chai.
Treasurer Joe Gitchell, along with his wife, Elizabeth Mumford and their daughters, Hilda (8) and Carmen (6), have been members of Beth Chai since 2004 and this is his second year on the board. Joe is a native of Ames, Iowa, and works in Bethesda as a health consultant on public health matters such as tobacco use, weight control, and drug abuse. Elizabeth also works in Bethesda in the health field, having earned her PhD at Johns Hopkins.
Secretary Sara Duke is now in her second year on the board of Beth Chai, having joined the congregation in 2006. A native of New York state, she has lived in the Washington area since 1991, working at the Library of Congress. She is one of the curators of Popular and Applied Graphic Art in the Prints & Photographs Division, where she is in charge of cartoon drawings and historical prints. Sara lives in Takoma Park with her husband, Matthew Schneer, who oversees the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act on the state level for the U.S. Department of Education, and their two children Sylvia (10) and Sasha (Alexander) (8). Sara spends her limited free time reading comic books, studying languages and volunteering on behalf of children with chromosome disorders and mental retardation.
Communications Chair Elise Browne Hughes is new to the board this year. She began her “career” as a volunteer editor and writer in high school, and has taken on responsibility for a variety of organizations’ newsletters in the years since (though she did take a break from that kind of volunteer assignment during the 10-plus years she was actually paid as a magazine editor). She has put together the Beth Chai News since 2008 and now handles the weekly email announcements as well. She and her husband, Craig, a technology and management consultant, first became aware of Beth Chai through Rabbi Art, who officiated at their wedding in 1994. After several years as members of Adas Israel (which was conveniently located a block from their home at the time) and several years of listening to their children complain about the religious school there, they searched for a congregation and school that felt more “right,” and joined Beth Chai in 2007. Kids Noah (almost 13 and about to become a Bar Mitzvah) and Ethan (almost 10) actually enjoy Sunday school most mornings now!
Liturgy Chair Deborah Balaschak
Music Chair Howie Feinstein in his fourth year as a board member currently works as a musician, performing and recording rhythm and blues. Howie spent many years as a lawyer in the South, litigating and prosecuting civil rights cases, including cross-burnings and other matters involving racial violence. He has taught law and government at several universities, has published Developing Issues in the Legal Status of Women, and is now finishing up a book on his Southern experiences. Howie, a native of the San Francisco Bay area, and his wife Karen, a social worker and director of a D.C. family services program, joined Beth Chai five years ago.
Programs Co-Chair Ken Jacobson is returning to the board after a three-year absence. Before taking his current job with the House Science & Technology Committee, Ken spent his entire working life as a journalist. Most often employed as a business and economics reporter, he also devoted a number of years to researching and writing a book on Jewish identity. Despite a lifelong interest in Judaism, Ken shied away from Jewish congregations before finding Beth Chai. He considers his membership a gift from his wife, former BC President Mary Ellen Petrisko.
Webmaster Daniel Korn is entering his sixth year as a member at Beth Chai, and his third as a board member. In his day job, Daniel implements corporate learning strategies, specializing in technology-based solutions. He and his wife Rachel Silber, a doula and lactation consultant at Holy Cross Hospital, have been married for more than 18 years, and live in Potomac with their children Zachary (13, a recent Beth Chai Bar Mitzvah) and Rebecca (10). Daniel is a native of Philadelphia, and also lived in South Florida. He and Rachel met while undergrads at George Washington University, and have stayed in the area since graduation. Daniel plays poker (well) and tennis (poorly), reads a lot of science fiction/fantasy books, and spends way too much of his disposable income on fine dining and single malt scotch.
Membership Co-Chair Michele McNally along with her husband Russell Sturm, and their three children, Justin (15), Tevah (13), and Eli (almost 10)—have been members of Beth Chai since 1998, and have attended Beth Chai’s High Holiday services since their early dating years some 20 years ago. This is Michele’s first year on the board. Previously, she was a teacher in Beth Chai’s K/1 class for five years. A native of Minnesota, she’s lived in the Washington area for nearly 25 years, where she’s a full-time parent, having stepped away from the seething world of for-profit managed care organizations when her oldest child was a year old. She enjoys volunteering at her children’s schools; managing her sons’ soccer teams; reading; and most of all, spending time with her lively family.
Volunteer Chair Keith Parsky along with his wife Chelle, and their three children, Jake (12), Alex (10), and Torresli (6), are new members of Beth Chai, having just joined last year. They temple shopped, and when they attended Beth Chai’s High Holiday services one year ago they found a home. You can tell a lot about a family from the company they keep. So, if you’ve ever been to the Hundred Acre Woods, you would know about the Parsky family. Keith works at the Interior Department, helping to provide Native Americans with an accounting of trust revenue dating back over 100 years. Chelle works with the Bannockburn Community Club, a force in their neighborhood.
Social Action Chair Julie Vigdor is in her fifth year as a member of Beth Chai, and her third year as a member of the board. She just finished a two-year term as communications chair and is returning for a new term as social action co-chair. Julie was raised in Miami and now lives in the District with her husband, Billy, a lawyer, and their two sixthgrade children, Kyla and Michael. Julie left a career as a computer systems developer in 1995 to explore other interests and raise a family. She has held a variety of volunteer positions ranging from tutoring at lowperforming elementary schools, to recording books for the blind, to cataloging part of the physical anthropology collection at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, to teaching illiterate adults to read. She is looking forward to getting more Beth Chai members interested and involved in social action and working towards creating a cleaner, healthier, and more compassionate planet.
