JFNA Leadership

Our board members are consummate leaders committed to addressing pressing issues in the Jewish world today, and dedicated to cultivating and sustaining a strong global Jewish community—now and for generations to come.

View a full list of the Board of Trustees of The Jewish Federations of North America.

Julie Platt Chair, Board of Trustees

Julie Platt

Julie Platt is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and serves as Chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Prior to serving as Board Chair at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Ms. Platt served as their General Campaign Chair, Chair of their Ensuring the Jewish Future Strategic Initiative, and Chair of the Federation’s Sylvia Weisz Women’s Philanthropy.

She was honored with the Ruby Award for her commitment to leadership and community service, presented by Women’s Philanthropy. Ms. Platt’s lifelong connection with the Jewish community began at Camp Ramah in Ojai, and today she is a driving force behind shining a bright light on the transformative impact of a Jewish camp experience and raising funds for the field.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Platt serves on the Board of Trustees as well as Penn Hillel's National Board of Governors.

David T. Brown Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

David T. Brown

David T. Brown is the Vice Chair of JFNA’s Board of Trustees. He previously served as National Campaign Chair, Israel and Overseas Chair and as Chair of the Domestic Policy & Government Affairs Committee.

Mr. Brown is an active Board member of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF). He is the immediate past-Chair of its Board of Directors and is a member of its Executive Committee. He has held multiple positions at JUF, including Chair of the Overall Planning and Allocations Committee (OPAC), End of the Year Chair for the 2004 and 2008 campaigns, Chair of the Government Affairs Committee, and President of the Young Leadership Division. He is active in AIPAC and is a regular visitor to Israel. He has run in the Chicago Marathon 11 times on behalf of the American Liver Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and most recently on behalf of JUF.

Mr. Brown is an accomplished attorney and committed civic leader. He is Chairman of the Chicago-based law firm, Much Shelist, P.C., where he is actively involved in strategic planning and leadership development for the firm. He is an experienced business and transactional attorney who also serves as a valued business advisor to his clients.

Mr. Brown is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the University of Illinois.

David Heller National Campaign Chair

David Heller

J. David Heller is the National Campaign Chair.He is the immediate Past Chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

In January 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Heller to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. In addition, Heller serves on the boards of the Parkwood Corporation, United Way of Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland Foundation, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Heller is devoted to serving the Jewish community in northeast Ohio. He has served on the Board of Trustees for Jewish Community Housing and Gross Schechter Day School. He was Board President of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, President of the Board of the Ohio Jewish Communities, and Chair of the Government Relations Committee at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

Heller is the President, CEO and Cofounder of The NRP Group, which is one of the largest multifamily development companies in the US. Since its founding in 1994, The NRP Group has developed more than 42,000 apartment homes and currently manages over 23,000 residential units across the nation. Prior to founding The NRP Group, Heller worked as a consultant for The Townsend Group where he was responsible for more than $3.6 billion in real estate investments over a two-year period. Heller then spent five years at Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago as a manager in the real estate consulting division.

Heller lives in suburban Cleveland with his wife Rebecca. They have four children: Lindsey, Ben, Ellie and Sam.

Iris Kraemer Chair, National Women's Philanthropy

Iris Kraemer

Iris previously served as Southeast Consortium Co-Chair of Partner 2Gether, as well as both Campaign Chair and Board Chair of the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Northeast Florida. She is currently the Governance Committee Chair. Iris has been a member of the National Women's Philanthropy Board for the past four years and has served as Book and Author series Co-Chair and Class Chair. She also served as Education Chair on the Torah Academy Day School Board in Jacksonville.

Iris is a member of JFNA’s Financial Relations Committee and of the Antisemitism and Security Subcommittee of the Domestic Policy and Public Affairs Committee. Iris is a member of the Jewish Agency for Israel North America (JAFINA) advisory committee. Iris is a recipient of the Kipnis-Wilson Friedland Award and the Joe P. Safer Humanitarian Award. In her professional life, she is a speech and language pathologist and dyslexia tutor. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Suzanne B. Grant Treasurer

Suzanne B. Grant

Suzanne B. Grant is the Treasurer of JFNA’s Board. She has held a variety of positions within the Jewish Federation system. She is a past National Campaign Chair of The Jewish Federations of North America, past Investment Committee Chair and was the co-chair of the 2014 International Lion of Judah Conference.

She has held many positions within the Jewish Federation of Delaware. She served as co-chair of the Annual Campaign in 2005 and president from 2007-2009. Suzanne currently chairs the Investment Committee of the Jewish Fund for the Future, the endowment fund of the Delaware Jewish Federation, and serves as a trustee on the Board of the Federation.

Suzanne B. Grant has served as the Chair of the Board of the Delaware State Pension Fund since 2012 and has been a trustee since 2009. She also serves on the Investment Committee for the fund. Over the past 35 years, Suzanne has held numerous investment-related positions in the investment world including at firms such as Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies & Company.

Suzanne is credited as a producer of highly acclaimed Broadway productions: To Kill a Mockingbird; Moulin Rouge! The Musical!, Lifespan of a Fact, Network, The Waverly Gallery, Three Tall Women, The Iceman Cometh; London productions: The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Red; National tour of Jitney; and Off Broadway: The Visitor, Mornings at Seven; Future Broadway production: Carmen Jones.

Suzanne is a Trustee of Tulane University where she also serves on the Endowment Management, Finance, and Executive Committees.

Neil A. Wallack Secretary

Neil A. Wallack

Neil Wallack is the Secretary of the Jewish Federations of North America’s Board. He also chairs JFNA’s Impact and Growth Council and is a Vice-Chair of JFNA’s national Financial Resource Development Cabinet. He is a product of JFNA’s National Young Leadership Cabinet.

Mr. Wallack is a past Board Chair of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish federation in Boston, MA. And, he is member of the Board and the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), as well as a member of the organization’s Israel Executive Committee.

He and his wife Lisa are also proud to be involved in a large number of other Jewish organizations in Boston, nationally and in Israel. They are members of Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, the parents of three children who are each Jewish Day School graduates, and they enjoy spending time in their second home in Herzliya, Israel. Professionally, Neil has been a private equity investor since 1992, with his most recent project involving the export of Israeli technology and know-how into large scale commercial applications in the U.S. and global markets.

Jeffrey A. Schoenfeld Chair, Israel and Overseas

Jeffrey A. Schoenfeld

Jeffrey Schoenfeld serves as the Chair of JFNA’S Israel & Overseas Committee. He has previously served as President of the UJA-Federation of New York’s Board and as chair of its Annual Campaign. Mr. Schoenfeld also was Chair of UJA’s Caring Commission overseeing human service and community building programs in New York, Israel and the former Soviet Union. He has served on the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors since 2016.

Mr. Schoenfeld received his BA in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is a partner at Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH). He leads the firm’s Institutional Investment Management client activities on a global basis for a range of products and services. Mr. Schoenfeld is proud to be a visible role model who helps lead BBH’s Diversity & Inclusion efforts and is the founding sponsor for the firm’s LGBTQ Affinity Group, BBH Pride.

Andrew S. Hochberg Chair, Domestic Policy and Government Affairs

Andrew S. Hochberg

Andy Hochberg chairs JFNA’s Domestic Policy & Government Affairs Council. He is also a key leader in the Chicago Jewish community. He most recently served as Chairman of the Jewish United Fund / Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. Prior to this, he served as Chairman of the JUF’s Overall Planning and Allocations Committee, which decides where funds should be allocated. In 2008, he was the JUF General Campaign Chairman, where he successfully led a record-breaking annual campaign of $83.6 million. He has served in a number of other roles at JUF and has led fundraising for the Jewish Day School Guaranty Trust Fund. He also served, by presidential appointment, on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

In 1998 Mr. Hochberg formed Next Realty, a commercial real estate investment firm. The firm’s investments total more than 1 million square feet of space, with a combined value in excess of $250 million.

Andy earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University. e education at the University of Chicago.

Danielle Gross Co-Chair, National Young Leadership

Danielle Gross

Danielle is Co-Chair, with Brett Tanzman, of National Young Leadership Cabinet.

Danielle previously served on the boards of AIPAC, Grand Canyon State Caucus, Minkoff Center for Jewish Genetics. She was the inaugural co-chair of the Ben-Gurion Society. She now serves as Phoenix Political Chair of AIPAC, President of the Breslow Foundation, Secretary of the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, Center for Jewish Philanthropy Campaign Chair, and as the Israel and Overseas Vice-Chair for Cabinet. Danielle was awarded the Lee Amada Young Leadership award from the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix in 2020.

Danielle has lived in Phoenix, Arizona since graduating college from the University of Arizona in 2005. She received her Master’s Degree in Counseling from Arizona State University in 2011 and is licensed as a Professional Counselor in Arizona. Danielle and her husband, Benjamin, have three children and two dogs.

Brett Tanzman Co-Chair, National Young Leadership

Brett Tanzman

Brett Tanzman is Co-Chair, with Danielle Gross, of National Young Leadership Cabinet.

Brett is in his sixth year of Cabinet, where he recently served as Vice Co-Chair for Philanthropy. After completing the Wexner Heritage Program in 2017, Brett led an effort to establish an Innovation Fund through the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest. He was then given the Greater MetroWest’s Young Leadership Cohn Award in 2019.

Brett serves on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, where he currently Chairs the Security Advisory Council; Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ; and member of the Executive Committee of the Rutgers Business School Center for Real Estate’s Advisory Board.

Brett received his BA from Rutgers College and JD from Rutgers Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law & Public Policy and as President of the Student Bar Association. He also received a Masters of Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. During Brett’s sophomore year at Rutgers, he co-founded an Israel Advocacy Organization after experiencing anti-Israel and antisemitic incidents on campus. In the summer after his junior year at Rutgers, Brett interned for then-Senator Joseph Biden on the Majority Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Brett is a Principal at Garden Homes, a nationwide leader in retail, commercial and private residential development based in Short Hills, New Jersey. Brett is also a member of the Wilf Law Firm, LLP.

Brett lives in Millburn, NJ with his wife, Elana, and their three daughters.

Lori Klinghoffer Chair, United Israel Appeal

Lori Klingohffer

Lori Klinghoffer is the Chair of the Board of Directors of United Israel Appeal. She has previously served as President and Chair of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board. Lori has also served as JFNA’s Nominating Chair.

Lori has been a member of the Board of Governors since 2009. Currently, she serves as the Deputy Chair of The Jewish Agency's Unity of the Jewish People Committee, chair of the Partnerships Committee and is a member of the Activism Committee.

She is Executive Vice President and Creative Director for WPI Communications in Springfield, NJ and is a member of the Directors of Valor Engineering Corporation. She is a past president of the Jewish Federations of Greater MetroWest, NJ.

Eric D. Fingerhut President and Chief Executive Officer

Eric D. Fingerhut

Eric D. Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Prior to his appointment at JFNA, Mr. Fingerhut served as the President and CEO of Hillel International from 2013-19. At Hillel, he led the organization’s Drive to Excellence, which resulted in doubling the number of students engaged by Hillel each year to over 130,000 and the total funds raised each year to nearly $200M. His emphasis on recruiting, training and retaining top talent for the system, and on building a data and performance driven organization, have become models for the non-profit sector.

Mr. Fingerhut has also had a varied and distinguished career in public service and higher education. He served as Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents from early 2007 to 2011, leading Ohio’s system of public universities and colleges; as Ohio state senator from 1997 to 2006; and represented Ohio’s 19th congressional district in the U.S. Congress from 1993 to 1994. In 2004, he was the Democratic Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate.

Mr. Fingerhut received a juris doctorate from Stanford University Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He and his wife Amy have two sons, Sam and Charlie, and beagles Pedro and Lulu.

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