BNAI ZION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm is Chief Executive of Bnai Zion, Co-Founder of SoulShop Studios and Host of Good Faith Effort, a weekly podcast on the Bible and Society. Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm is proud to lead one of America's oldest organizations dedicated to strengthening and accelerating Israel and the Jewish People.
Prior to his tenure at Bnai Zion, he served as Special Advisor to the President of Yeshiva University. He is also formerly the William Fischman Resident Scholar at the Jewish Center in Manhattan. A graduate of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Lamm earned his MA, as a US-UK Fulbright Scholar, in Jewish Studies and Eastern Christianity from University College London, an MA from Princeton University in Religion, and rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He earned his PhD in ancient Judaism and Christianity from Princeton University.
Rabbi Lamm's writings on faith and the public square have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The Jerusalem Post, FOXNews, The New York Post and The Jewish Standard. He has spoken and taught across the world - from New York to Los Angeles; from London to Jerusalem; from Toronto to Hong Kong - about the role of Jewish values in addressing real-world problems. Ari is passionate about exploring traditional values and human ingenuity as powerful forces for good in the world.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
George W. Schaeffer's story is a unique and inspiring example of living the American Dream, filled with adventure, philanthropy and entrepreneurial spirit.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Schaeffer was born in Hungary and immigrated to America with his family in 1956. As a young boy, he developed a strong work ethic and passion for business. After receiving his degree from City College of New York in 1969, he ran his family's garment manufacturing business in New York City.
In search of new opportunities and challenges, Schaeffer moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and started a business that would ultimately become a dominant global consumer brand, OPI Products. He built OPI from the ground up and introduced the world to the nail lacquers now preferred by professionals and loved by customers. With an eye for detail and a unique name for every color, Schaeffer shaped and infused OPI's brand with his passion for excellence and innovation, while creating a work environment that treated everyone like family, regularly providing new computers and school scholarships to children of OPI employees.
As the company thrived, Schaeffer maintained a top priority of giving back to his community. He formed the Schaeffer Family Foundation, which has donated millions to charities worldwide, including the American Heart Association, the Cedars Sinai and the National Kidney Foundation. In 2012, the City of Hope Cancer Center presented Schaeffer with the hospital and research center's most prestigious honor, the Spirit of Life Award, in recognition of his compassion, dedication and generosity to important charitable causes. Schaeffer also is actively involved as Chairman of the Board of the Bnai Zion Foundation, which supports critical health and education projects in Israel. He has been a member since 1965. His dedication to Israel is visible throughout the country in numerous projects from Haifa to Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim.
After building OPI to be one of the top brands in the world, Schaeffer sold the company and recently assumed the role as President and CEO of People's Trust Insurance, a Florida based homeowner's insurance company he cofounded in 2008.
Since graduating Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1985, Jan has worked with startup founders and investors, optimizing business plans, building teams, transforming business models and raising capital to ideally and quickly position them for rapid growth. He calls it, "Strategic Development on Steroids."
Focused largely on startups and early-stage companies in services, materials, environmental technology, agriculture and healthcare, Jan is often retained with the mandate to operate in stealth mode and under-the-radar, unlocking value while protecting the founders' and investors' interests and Intellectual Property. Even with the challenges that such work entails, Jan has been instrumental in helping over a dozen fledging companies. Jan's expertise is diverse. He has crafted unconventional market entry strategies and helped many startups gain traction, raise significant capital, and close on highly successful market-entry and exit strategies.
Jan credits his unique brand of market savvy problem-solving and his ability to find the right doors, and then, get them to open, to years of "rubbing elbows" with some of the brightest strategic minds, including Angel, Venture Capital and strategic investors and M&A executives in a variety of industries. He has worked closely with executive and board level directors of companies as diverse as: AWS, Alphabet, Apple, Cargill, Comcast, Google, GE, IBM, Intel, Pfizer, Medtronic, Stryker and Verizon and with key stakeholders at a variety of State and Federal government agencies.
When not helping turn around startups, Jan has also applied himself with over 20 years of impressive track record in the Real Estate and Title Insurance industries, advising and managing real estate and title closings for thousands of residential and commercial transactions, including some of the most prominent transactions in New York City and elsewhere in the US. Jan brings a wealth of passion and experience to everything he touches as a tireless volunteer and friend to so many. Be it connecting someone unemployed with a job opportunity, or advising or mentoring someone on life's other challenges, Jan is always there.
In this position as COO of Bnai Zion, Justin oversees the operations, finances, media strategy and day to day management of the organization. Prior to this position, Justin served as Senior Project Manager at Genesis Philanthropy Group, one of the Jewish world's leading foundations, helping craft the foundations' approach to Israel-Diaspora engagement. Before that, Justin served for three years as Senior Advisor to the Israeli Ambassador at the United Nations; he led operations and strategy for Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who held one of Israel's most challenging and important diplomatic posts. Justin received his Bachelor's Degree in International Relations from Binghamton University and his Master's Degree in Public Administration, focusing on non-profit leadership and management from Binghamton University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Treasurer
In the world of Social Impact, Steve Savitsky needs little introduction. Steve's passionate advocacy on behalf of those less fortunate everywhere had been a trademark of his lifetime of achievements and largely focused on his work for many prominent Non-Profit Organizations. He has held some of the most distinguished executive positions and provided incredible leadership as President and Chairman of the Board of the Orthodox Union and today provides the same vision, commitment to service and generosity of spirit as President of Bnai Zion Foundation.
Notwithstanding his illustrious career in the nonprofit sector, Steve also successfully heads ATC Health Care Services, as the President and Chairman of the Board of this nationwide provider of temporary medical staffing services. He also founded and served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Tender Loving Care - Staff Builders, one of the nation's largest providers of home health care services. Steve with his wife Genie, are proud parents of four children and 18 grandchildren who much to the Steve's delight, live within walking distance of their grandparents.