Seven new board members installed at Annual Meeting

On Thursday, June 20th, we installed seven new board members at our Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors. The newest members of the Board of Directors are Gary C. Angiuli, Jennifer Arlen, Ilana French, Wayne Greenberg, Jerry Grushkin, Avi Gvili, and Denise Schneider.

​“We are honored to welcome these new board members and thank them for volunteering their time and talents to the JCC,” said CEO David Sorkin. “As we enter our 90th year, we are excited for all that lies ahead. We would not be able to continue to grow without the support of our incredible Board of Directors, so we are incredibly grateful for their service.”
At the meeting, there was a special tribute Allan Weissglass, a JCC board member for over 40 years who passed away earlier this year. A plaque dedicated in his memory will hang in the upstairs hallway of the Bernikow Building.
We also acknowledged our staff members who have over a decade of service with us. Those staff members are Andrea Culotta, Audra DiBenedetto, Marie Fago, Angela Fazio, Debra Fredrick, Enza Galestro, Brandon Lindo, Antonella Maniscalco, Shimon Nachmias, Deborah Nalitt, Iris Napolitano, Bonnie Rosner, Jessie Schwartz, Devorah Weiss, and Rebecca Zuker.

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Gary C. Angiuli
Gary C. Angiuli is the Managing Partner of Angiuli & Gentile LLP, a prominent Staten Island law firm. He has a diverse background in various areas of the law, including commercial transactions, commercial leasing, real estate transactions, business law, and franchise law. In addition, he serves as the CEO of both the Angiuli Group LLC, a family owned and operated real estate investment and development firm, and Flagship Brewery, a local craft brewery in which Mr. Angiuli is also a partner. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation and was a former member of the Board of Directors of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. He also has been a member of several not-for-profit organizations, including the Staten Island YMCA, Meals on Wheels of Staten Island, the College of Staten Island Foundation, the St. George Theatre, and Luzerne Music Center. He resides in Staten Island and Los Angeles, is married, and has three adult children.

Jennifer Arlen
Jennifer Arlen was born and raised in Brooklyn and now resides in the Silver Lake area of Staten Island with her husband, Robert, and their children. She graduated from SUNY Albany with a degree in Psychology and John Jay College School of Criminal Justice with a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology. She is currently employed as the Chief Network and Community Relations Officer for two local assisted living facilities on Staten Island. She has spent most of her career serving the mentally ill community in various capacities, with most of her experience being in securing funding and directing supported housing services in our community.
 
She also serves on the board of directors for B.U.I.L.D. Staten Island, a program that provides a pathway to education and skill building for unemployed youth.

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Ilana French
Ilana French is an Assistant Vice President at Morgan Stanley, specializing in onboarding new clients and managing special projects. With two decades in Corporate Finance, Ilana has extensive knowledge in wealth management, equity solutions, client relations and data migration. Prior to Morgan Stanley, she has worked in some of the industry’s top firms including Smith Barney and Citibank.
Ilana is married and has two children who attend programs at the JCC. Her older daughter, Maddison, is a graduate of JCC’s Early Childhood program and continues to attend JCC Camp. Her younger son, Noah, attends daycare at the Bernikow location.
In 2016, Ilana created “If Everybody Club” program that ran in the Bernikow location. The program provided children with an interactive approach to learning through innovative play and theatre games. Children developed a sense of teamwork, friendship, acceptance and compassion.
Ilana has extensive leadership and personal coaching skills. In her spare time, Ilana coaches individuals in performance, leadership and creating community projects.
Ilana was born in Israel and came to the United States at the age of 8. A graduate of the College of Staten Island (CUNY), Ilana holds a Baccalaureate Degree in International Business with a minor in Finance. She is a resident of Charleston in Staten Island.

Wayne Greenberg
Wayne Greenberg, with his wife Cathy, has three sons, Avery, Max and Jake. They live in the nearby Willowbrook community. Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant with a local specialized practice. He tries to instill the desire for volunteerism and community service upon his sons by being an active member in his community. In the past, Wayne has been an officer and member of his synagogue’s Board of Directors, his son’s little league baseball coach, a volunteer paramedic for a local volunteer ambulance service, a previous board member of the JCC of Staten Island and a member of a number of other local organizations. In particular, Wayne has continued to serve on our JCC’s Budget and Finance Committee for a number of years. Wayne is also a Fellow in The Global Jewish Connections/PresenTense program, which aims to further Jewish identity and involvement through various formal and informal forms of education. He is truly honored to be nominated for the Board of Directors of the JCC of Staten Island this year.

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Jerry Grushkin
Jerry Grushkin is a retired Architect who was in private practice for nearly 50 years. He has received many awards for his work and served as president of the Staten Island Chapter of the American Institute of Architects as well as a member of various other professional organizations.
Always a believer in community service, Jerry was awarded the B’nai B’rith Torch of Liberty Award for Contribution to the Community and Mankind. He is a past president of B’nai B’rith, past chairman of the construction committee of the Staten Island Zoological Society, and a past 2nd Vice-Chairperson for the Staten Island Museum of Arts and Sciences. Currently he is treasurer of the Staten Island Archaeological Society, an administrative Vice President of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, as well as other local organizations. In 2017 Jerry was honored by UJA-Federation of New York and was also presented the JCC Star of David Spirit of Judaism Award.
As a tribute to the memory of his wife Esther, a Staten Island based Educator and Hebrew scholar, Jerry and his family established an endowment for an ongoing Jewish lecture series at the JCC. Jerry now chairs the the Dr. Esther Grushkin Seminars for Adult Jewish Education (SAJE) Committee. Jerry is a proud father of his 3 sons Orren, Ailon, and Danny.

Avi Gvili
Avi Gvili has been an educator for 22 years in English and Computer Science. The award winning author of four books, he is the President of Boulevard Books, a writer-centered publisher. Dedicated to the arts and specifically to Literature, Avi sits on the board of Staten Island OUTLOUD. As chairman of the Staten Island Independence Party, the borough’s third largest political party, he is active in civic life working to bring people together on issues impacting Staten Island.

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Denise Schneider
Denise Schneider is Partner and Chief Operations Officer of Schneider Realty Services (SRS) which opened their office in 2014. She runs the day-to-day operations at one of Staten Island leading Commercial Real Estate full service Advisory Firms. From her extensive background in the local residential market coupled with her in-depth marketing knowl­edge and savviness, she has been instrumental devel­oping this practice since 2009.
After receiving her Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University, she lived in southeast Michigan for 10 years, where she was an active member of the JCC of Metro Detroit. After moving back to New York, she and her family became involved with the JCC of Staten Island, where she looks forward to making a positive impact on our JCC. Denise is a devoted mother and enjoys being involved in her local community.

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