From Our CEO: Welcoming New Leadership

This weekend, we will celebrate the 4th of July and our nation’s independence. For many of us, this is one of the first times we will be gathering with family and friends since the pandemic began. While we are certainly not yet completely out of the pandemic, this holiday gives us a chance to take a breath and have some much-needed fun.
 
At the JCC, we are also celebrating the successful launch of camp this week, as well as the addition of two new Board Members, Angie Master and Ed Sappin.

Angie Master is a real estate broker at Casandra Properties. Born in South Korea, she was raised in Spokane, Washington before moving to New York. Previously, Angie served on the Board of Trustees at Staten Island Academy, where she chaired the Trustees Committee. She cares about expanding educational opportunities for all children and has volunteered as a tutor at a KIPP Charter school in Newark and at Seamen’s Society on Staten Island. Angie and her husband Dan have two children, Emma and Trip, who attended preschool at the Avis JCC and went on to attend Stanford.

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Edward Sappin is a native Staten Islander with strong ties to the Jewish community and has been affiliated with the Jewish Community Center since he was a child, going to Family Park and attending summer camp. Ed has a proven track record as a leader and investor, with strong results in fundraising, organizational development and business development. Ed is the founder and CEO of Sappin Global Strategies, an investment and advisory group, and is also a Partner at Nimali, a renewable energy investment group. Ed serves on the Board of the New York Chapter of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Alumni Group and is a member of the Christer Herter Society. Ed is the father of three children and the son of Sue Sappin, our Board President.

We are so proud to have Angie and Ed on our Board. I hope you will join me in giving them a warm welcome!

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Angie and Ed were formally installed at our Annual Meeting a few weeks ago. We were thrilled to be able to have our first in-person Board Meeting in over a year—my first since taking over as CEO last July. Seeing our Board Members was a reminder of how much they have given of themselves over the past year and a half. From serving on emergency committees to answering emails and phone calls at all hours, our Board stepped up in so many ways. We would not have been able to get through the pandemic without their dedication and support. I want to thank each and every one of them for the work they have done and continue to do for our JCC.

Thanks to the guidance of our Board and the hard work of our staff, we have been able to accomplish so much over the past year. I hope you will take a few moments to watch this video of our year in review.

I wish you and your family a safe and happy 4th of July!

​-Orit Lender, CEO