Board of Directors

5772 Board of Directors
Executive Committee:

Board Members by Virtue of Their Positions:          

Board of Directors (at large):    
Lanie Bailey             
Fred Helms            
Caroline Legatt             
Marty Price             
Ben Rosenberg            
Rob Rosenthal             
Margo Sack             
Rose Schneier               
                       
Past Presidents:              

Board Biographies:

Joe Steinberg - Joe has been a member of Agudas Achim since arriving in Austin in 1983.  He and his wife Fai Lee were married at the  CAA on Bull Creek original Shul, and daughters Rachel and Shauna were both Bat Mitzvah at today’s beautiful site.  He as been an active member of the CAA board for 5 years and from 1998-2004 was the head of the board of governors for the Tianjin International School.   Joe spent 25 years of his career with Motorola including six years living and raising his family in China, returning to Austin in 2004. We have a beautiful community in Austin, and strive to make our sacred address a warm, welcoming place where people feel comfortable and come together for prayer, learning, camaraderie and happiness.

Dana Sharon Winer – I am blessed to be a lifelong member of the Congregation Agudas Achim family.  My involvement at CAA has included a self-study, our young adult group, communications, and several years of board service.  I am honored to serve our community as President-Elect and look forward to the opportunities as we usher in our second century.  I have been with Accenture, a management and technology consulting company, for 10 years and focus on quality and process improvement.  My husband Nathaniel and I enjoy spending time with our daughter Kayla (the “minyan mascot”) and our Miniature Schnauzer Lilah, and of course the favorite pastime of Austin, watching Longhorn football!

Brian Forman – moved to Austin with his family in 1990 and has been a member since then.  Brian is an Actuary and spent 18 years at Columbia Universal Life and is now a consultant with Actuarial Risk Management in Austin.  Brian’s wife Bettie was heavily involved in CAA activities for many years and remains involved with NCJW in addition to her work as a personal trainer.  Brian’s 3 children (Shaina-23, Sammy-21 and Micah-16) all had Bar/Bat Mitzvahs at CAA.  Brian spent 8 years on the board from 1998-2008 and has returned for one year to fill the Treasurer position, with the continuing goal of improving CAA’s financial process to be accurate and timely as well as instilling confidence in CAA’s financials.

Gary Susswein  - has been a member of the board of directors since 2009 and also serves Congregation Agudas Achim by reading Torah and leading services in Minyan Kol Zimrah and the main sanctuary service. Natives of the East Coast, Gary and his wife Melanie have been CAA members since 2001. Their children, Mitchell and Liora, are students at the Austin Jewish Academy and regular marshmallow-gatherers and courtyard ringleaders during Shabbat services. By day, Gary works as Director of Media Relations for The University of Texas. 

Dr. Neal Blauzvern -My wife (Patti), son (Hayden), and I have been members of CAA since 1994. For the last five years, I have had the distinct privilege of serving our CAA community, first as a Member-at-Large of the Board, and currently as the Vice-President for Religious Affairs. I am also a member of the Shabbat Services Committee. I served on the Search Committee that brought Dr. Raben, our Director of Congregational Learning, to CAA.  In addition, I also serve our community as the Chairman of the DJCC Common Area Maintenance Committee, which oversees the apportioning of the Dell campus expenses that are shared among its various organizations. Outside of CAA, I have an active medical practice in Pain Management, which gives me the great satisfaction of helping people with chronic pain conditions. I look forward to further service to our community in whatever capacity I can be of help.

Rosalie Oliveri - Our family joined CAA in 1977, after moving to Austin from the Dominican Republic so I could work on a Master’s degree at UT. Our three daughters attended CAARS, and our eldest daughter, Ruth Laura, served as co-director, with Susan Worob, of CAARS. I taught at CAARS pre-school and first grade for several years. I am a retired educator, having taught at the Texas School for the Blind for eleven years, and for AISD as a teacher, assistant principal, and then as principal of Allison Elementary School for nine years. I am currently co-chair, along with my husband Joe, of HAZAK. I am honored to serve on the CAA Board, and enjoy working closely with our spiritual leaders, Dr. Raben, the board, and the congregation.

Charles L. Levy – I am relatively new Member of the CAA community, I have been involved in pretty much every aspect of Synagogue life. I have a fairly diverse conservative Jewish background.  I am honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to share my Jewish background and experiences as Membership VP at CAA, and hope I can welcome you, and be welcoming to you, our members and the members of the Austin Jewish Community at large. A 1979 graduate of the University of Texas, I was employed as a CPA for an international accounting firm, and then after graduating the Baylor University School of Law in 1984, I held positions as a senior officer, and president, of a mid-size Texas insurance group, also teaching as an adjunct law professor at Baylor. I have been engaged in the private practice of law for about 25 years. I am  lucky that my three grown children, David, Rebecca, and Arielle, all graduates of the University of Texas, are living in, and professionally employed in, Austin.  Also among life's true joys, how fortunate I am to share my life with Karen Frost, my partner, who, pertinent to this bio, encouraged me to get involved at CAA.  

Robert Cullick - Robert appreciates the opportunity to serve his fellow congregants at Agudas Achim.  He taught 10th-graders in the Religious School for a decade, led a variety of initiatives and served on the Board of Directors, including as President of the Board in 2009-2011.  He looks forward to 2014, when the Centennial of the first Minyan will be celebrated.  He believes the history of the organization needs  to be better documented and exhibited and that Congregation Agudas Achim is bringing many new ideas and approaches to a somewhat exhausted Conservative Movement. Suzy Seriff, his wife, is a university educator and museum consultant; Robert is a public relations consultant and former newspaperman.  They have two adult sons, Matthew and Aaron.

Kathy Benayoun - Kathy made her home in Austin back in 1985; and although she tried to leave a couple of times, she kept getting pulled back 'home'.  She earned a degree at UT in Psychology & Cultural Anthropology, and begin waiting tables immediately after.  She has also coordinated grants for NYU Medical Center; was the original singer in 8 1/2 Souvenirs; had a family massage practice specializing in prenatal/postpartum care; and is proud to be considered an 'owner' of Vespaio & Enoteca restaurants here in Austin (although it's her husband that does all the work!).  Kathy is married to Claude Benayoun, and they have a son, Zach, who is a Freshman at LASA.

Danny Fleschman

Lanie Bailey - Lanie has been a member of CAA for over 10 years.  She has served on many community boards, including the Parent Advisory Board of the Early Childhood Program at the JCAA and the board of the Austin Museum of Art Guild.  Lanie has been involved in CAARS for several years, including running major fundraisers. Lanie and her husband, Ed, have two children, both of whom attend CAARS.  She is an editor by profession, working on both traditional print products, online content, and marketing collateral.

Fred A. Helms -- My wife, Judy, and I have been members of Agudas Achim since 1966 (with a brief interruption while we lived on the East Coast and Germany from 1969 to 1978).  Our children were educated in the congregation's religious school.  We have celebrated simchas and marked life's sorrows with the congregation's support for decades.  I was the chairman of the school board in the early 80's and a board member in the early 90's.  I returned to the board last year to repay the support the congregation has given me and my family over the years.  I am a retired college professor, retired Army infantry officer, retired lawyer and current grandfather.

Caroline Legatt – I am a mother of three young children and can frequently be found in our youth services on Saturday morning.  I have been a member at CAA for five years, since moving here from White Plains, New York. This is my first year on the board and I am honored to be able to help.  Before becoming an at-home mother, I was a pension actuary in New York. Nowadays when I am not at CAA, or home with my children and husband, Michael, I am working as a professional organizer. I look forward to watching our CAA community grow into its second century!

Marty Price -- My name is Marty Price and my family and I moved to Austin nearly three years ago. We left our home in Detroit, the week immediately following our second son's Bar Mitzvah. We were looking for a place to continue to meet Jewish families and to be part of worship and learning in a growing Jewish Community. From the moment we arrived, we have felt Agudas Achim is our home. We have been treated wonderfully in every part of our association. I would like to serve the synagogue and the larger community and give back to those who were so wonderful and helpful to us. Thanks for this opportunity to serve.

Ben Rosenberg – My wife, Debbie Rosenberg and I have been members of CAA for approximately eight years.  We have three daughters Nicole (23) – graduated from UT and is working here in Austin, Lauren (20) is a junior at Texas State in San Marcos and Sydney (11) is a 6^th grader at Murchison.  We live in the Jester Estates subdivision.  Sydney’s Bat Mitzvah is scheduled for February 2013.  I was a board member of Congregation Kol Halev when it was a start up back in 1998.  I work as a public finance banker for Coastal Securities and helps governmental entities borrow money. I am excited about the opportunity of stepping up and serving the congregation. I will be serving as a board member at large and want to focus on refinancing or paying off the mortgage and building facilities.  I also think finding new people to serve the congregation and/or the board is a key area for our success. I grew up in Wharton, Texas, earned a BBA in Accounting from UT and has lived in Austin for approximately 22 years. 

Rob Rosenthal – has been a member for 10 years. My reasons for wanting to be on the CAA Board are numerous.  After being a member for so long I have been looking for new ways to get involved and board service seemed like the next logical step. My wife Leslie and I have four children ranging in age from 6 to 17 and I am very interested in helping to make sure CAA continues to provide dynamic meaningful experiences for families with children of all ages. We have lived in several different states and have been members of synagogues in all of them, learning what works and what doesn’t. I hope to use this experience to help our congregation to continue the positive growth we have seen over the past couple of years.

Margo SackMargo Sack has been part of Congregation Agudas Achim since 1985 when she moved to Austin.  Over the past 27 she has taught the Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class with Roberta Long and coordinated the Shabbat and High Holiday babysitting with Miriam Panzer at CAA; served as editor of the Austin Jewish Outlook and the co-director of the JCC Early Childhood Program with Rhonda Hauser.  She is currently the Director of Jewish Student Life at Texas Hillel.  She has two wonderful sons – Ben lives in Tel Aviv with his fiancée Rachel, and Michael who lives here in Austin.

Rose Schneier -- I grew up and was educated (college, medical school, residency, and fellowship) in Pennsylvania. Beginning in 1982, my family and I have moved several times (California, Arizona, Alabama ) before moving to Austin in 2003. I am a pediatric endocrinologist specializing in adolescents and young adults. I currently work at Austin Thyroid and Endocrinology near North Austin Medical Center. My husband Lawrence Weinman and I live outside Manor; our daughter Joanna lives and works as a web designer in Oakland, California. During my years in California, I served two years as education chair at Temple Beth Emek (Livermore). At Etz Chayim on Huntsville, Alabama, I served as vice president, president, editor of the monthly newsletter (The Shofar), and religious school teacher. Although Congregation Agudas Achim is two orders of magnitude larger than both my previous congregations, there are enough similarities that many of the skills and values I developed at my previous shuls could serve me well in future service as a Board Member at Large. I am interested in CAA’s role in the larger community, and I believe that social service needs to be a cornerstone of who we are as a community. However, I am also keenly aware of the central importance of involving the younger members of the Agudas community-from post-Bar/Bat Mitzvah to the pre-parenthood 30-somethings. I have been pleased by the recent efforts of the Board to develop religious, educational, service, and social programs for these members in particular.  I would welcome the opportunity to serve our kaliedoscopic and haimish congregation, and I am honored to have been nominated to serve on the Board.