Our Board

Phyllis Herzig

President

Phyllis Herzig is a geriatric social worker, and U-M School of Social Work Director of Older Adult Programs.  She has been a member of the Jewish Family Services Advisory Board since 1993 and currently sits as president. Phyllis is a member of the Jewish Community Center of Washtenaw,  Beth Israel Congregation, Hadassah, ORT, and a past Federation Board member.   She is a certified substance abuse counselor, and a certified employee assistance counselor. Phyllis is married, a mother of four and a grandmother of four.

Bob Miller

Vice President, Development and President Elect

Bob Miller joined the JFS board in 2010 after 35 years administering social service agencies and teaching future social workers. He was the former 2-1-1 director for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, as well as a consultant on allocations for United Way of Washtenaw County. Bob was the President/CEO of Help Source and Huron Services for Youth. Since 1997, he has been teaching grant writing/philanthropy and social welfare policy as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. He has also taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs at the Eastern Michigan University of Social Work. Bob has served on numerous nonprofit boards during his twenty years in Ann Arbor. Prior to working in Michigan, he was President/CEO) of nonprofit organizations in Boston and Syracuse and he taught at the Syracuse University School of Social Work. He has been married to Bonnie for 44 years and they have two children and four grandchildren.

Leslie Kamil

Vice President, Personnel and Accreditation

“I was interested to become a Board member because I totally embrace the principles and mission of the organization.” said Leslie Kamil in 2005 when she joined the board . She brings a wealth of experience as a health professional, an attorney, and volunteer for the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association, American OT Association and former President of Community Housing Alternatives. As a board member, Leslie has connected JFS with other health care organizations within our community – forging new partnerships and exploring new funding opportunities. Her legal and professional experience has already shaped new JFS policies, assured privacy within data systems, and informed accreditation discussions. Leslie serves as a Compliance Officer for the University of Michigan Health System and has been involved in health care for over 35 years. She is married and has 2 dogs.

Beth Hirschfelder Wilensky

Vice President, Governance and Strategic Planning

Beth Hirschfelder Wilensky joined the board of Jewish Family Services in 2008.  She serves on the strategic planning committee and also works with the agency to draw in young families and individuals to the community of JFS supporters.  Beth was drawn to JFS’s dual focus on assisting families in crisis with their immediate needs and on helping stabilize families over the long term.  She is particularly inspired by the new immigrants JFS aids in resettling in Washtenaw County, those who have often left behind everything they know to build a new life in a safe and free country.  An attorney by training, Beth now teaches legal analysis and writing at the University of Michigan Law School.  Beth lives in Ann Arbor with her husband Jeff and their two young children. Part of her motivation for joining the board was to show her children that even when life gets busy, serving your community is an obligation, not an option.

Donna Winkelman

Secretary

Donna Winkelman welcomed the opportunity to join the JFS board in 2011, to be part of such a committed and knowledgeable group of individuals. She recently retired from a 20-year career in human resources management, where she worked for a variety of manufacturing and high-tech companies, although currently she has a temporary “retirement-bonus” position in the same field. From 1996-1998, Winkelman and her husband took a late career sabbatical and served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine. Winkelman is a Washtenaw Literacy ESL tutor, and serves on the advisory board of the new Jewish Studies program at Eastern Michigan University. She looks forward to continuing her support of the agency’s important goals for the Washtenaw community.

Steve Gerber

Treasurer

Steve has brought his infectious energy and humor to JFS as co-chair, with his wife Joyce, of the Friends of the Family campaign since 2002 , and as Honorary Co-Chair for JFS’ 10 Anniversary Big Event. He has generously lent his time and talents to many causes and organizations in the Jewish community, having served on the boards of Hebrew Day School, EMU and U of M Hillel Foundations, the JCC, and the Jewish Federation, where he and Joyce co-chaired Super Sunday for five years. His interests and affinity for community service find him ushering for university and area theatres and festivals, and volunteering as a patient visitor at Hospice of Michigan. He has worked as an electrical engineer for Ford Motor Company for twenty-six years. Steve has been married to Joyce for over 40 years. They have two children and a grandson. He notes that JFS appealed to him as an organization that directly helped people in the community and wants to be a part of a new period of growth for this agency. We welcome his contribution toward that effort.

Herbert Aronow MD

Dr. Aronow, an interventional cardiologist at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, has also served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. For the last six years, he has represented Ann Arbor’s Jewish community nationally on the Jewish Federations of North America National Young Leadership Cabinet. Aronow says he was impressed by the vast array of programs and services offered to the community through JFS, and was drawn to the organization at a time of great financial need. Aronow earned his BA, MD and MPH at the University of Michigan.

Mark Berg

Dr. Mark Berg has been an active member of the JFS Board since 2001, served as Vice President from 2002 -2008, and is currently a member of the JFS Executive Committee. He is especially interested in assisting JFS to grow as a community resource well equipped to meet the increasing needs of the Washtenaw County Jewish community. Towards that end he has been actively involved in issues such as space needs, data management, and organizational structure.
Mark feels that JFS can play a unique and critical role within the Jewish community. His parents benefited from the foresight of committed members of the Detroit Jewish community who worked to make available the many services they received during their declining years. He hopes that his work with JFS will help to make equivalent resources available within our own Ann Arbor Jewish family. Mark has also served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and various committees at Temple Beth Emeth. He is the president of Berg & Associates, Inc. which provides information systems development and planning services throughout the Midwest.

Marjorie Checkoway

Marjorie Checkoway has served on the JFS Board since 2001 and was Board Co-chair/President from 2002 – 2007. She also served on the Board of the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County for six years. She is eager to support JFS’s mission, programs, and services as it attempts to meet the growing needs of Washtenaw County residents. She has been pleased to be part of the planning team during a critical period in the agency’s development and looks forward to continuing to contribute to the agency’s worthy goals and to making others aware of the degree to which JFS is the go-to social services agency for county residents.
She and her husband have lived in several communities on the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest. Dr. Checkoway’s career in education began as a high school teacher, then continued as school administrator and educational researcher. After completing her Ph.D. at The University of Michigan, she has been a professor of education. Her professional interests focus on effective teaching and learning strategies, equity in education, community-school connections, and educational leadership. She is the director of a master’s program in educational leadership. Dr. Checkoway has served as an officer and task force member in State of Michigan education organizations and policy groups. She is married to Barry Checkoway, Professor of Social Work and Urban Planning at UM, and the mother of Amy, a policy analyst in Cambridge, MA, and of Laura, a writer and documentarian in NYC, and grandmother of two young grandsons.

Susan Fisher

Susan Fisher first joined the JFS Board in 2006, yet resigned in 2008 to serve as President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. She was pleased to be asked to rejoin the Board in 2010. During her two years off the Board, she continued to serve on several JFS committees. Susan has also served as the co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor’s Annual Campaign and chair of the Jewish Federation’s Allocation Committee. She is also a member of the Jewish Community Foundation Board and has also served on various committees for the JCC. Susan is a long-term member of Temple Beth Emeth and has served as Financial Vice President and chaired various committees. Susan was the 2011-2012 chair of the UMS Advisory Committee and is currently involved with a fundraising event for Ann Arbor Hospice.  Susan retired as Director of Project Management for ATT and earned her BS, MA and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan. Susan is married to John Waidley. Her son David Kersch lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Patty and their three sons. Susan is pleased to be able to volunteer her time, interest and passion for the services and resources provided by JFS.

Anna Frushour

Anna Frushour is an Ann Arbor attorney who has lived in Ann Arbor for more than half her life. She attended the University of Michigan for her undergraduate studies and received her law degree from Wayne State Law School. Anna’s family immigrated to the United States from Poland in the early 80s. Watching her parents struggle and then ultimately succeed has always inspired her and impassioned her to immigrant issues. When Anna learned about JFS and the amazing services they provide to the community, she knew she had to get involved somehow. She was thrilled and honored to be asked to become a part of the JFS board and is looking forward to this upcoming year.

Anna is currently a member of the Michigan State Bar, the Washtenaw Bar Association, and the Young Leaders Society for the United Way of Washtenaw County. She also serves on the Board of the Women’s Law Association as the Washtenaw County Regional Representative, on the Events Committee for Avalon Housing, and on the Public Service Committee for the Washtenaw County Bar Association.

Charles Garvin

Charles Garvin has been on the JFS advisory committee, now Board of Directors, since it first began in 1993. He was also a member of the planning group that determined the need for a JFS and conceptualized how the agency would first be structured. He is a Professor Emeritus of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan where he taught about social work practice, especially practice with groups. He continues to write about and do research on social work services. His current interests are on using groups to promote intergroup conflict resolution with adolescents and on group services in programs run by and for persons who suffer from mental illness. He is an advisory committee member for the Drachler Program that educates social work students for Jewish communal service. Charles is married to Janet Garvin, a retired social worker and are the parents of Amy and Tony, who are social workers, and David, who is the director of the Alternatives to Domestic Aggression Program at Catholic Social Services.

Nannette Gill

Nan Gill works for New Urban Learning, a charter school management company based in Detroit. Gill has also worked as an Arbor Public Schools principal at multiple elementary schools and spent several years as an independent consultant providing organizational development services to corporate, educational, and non-profit clients. She believes that serving on the JFS board is a great opportunity to work with an extremely dedicated group of professionals and volunteers, who have established a strong track record of providing vital services to many different groups of people in the community. Gill has also served terms on the board for Temple Beth Emeth, HelpSource and the Global Society for Organizational Learning.

Helen Kaplan

Helen moved from Miami, Florida to Ann Arbor in 1992 to attend the University of Michigan.  After graduation in 1996 and taking a year off, she returned to the University of Michigan School of Social Work, earning her MSW there.  She has been working for the Monroe County Intermediate School District as a school social worker since 1999.  Helen and her husband Noah served as co-chairs for the Claire and Isadore Bernstein Leadership Award event in February 2009. Helen and Noah live in Ann Arbor with their two young children.

Sonya Lewis

Sonya Lewis was born and raised in Ann Arbor, and has been involved with the local Jewish community throughout her life. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, studying Psychology and Judaic Studies. Sonya spent her junior year of college studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she met her husband, David. She attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and then completed my residency training in Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in California. In 2005, she returned to Ann Arbor with her husband and two daughters, seeking a vibrant community that provided exceptional opportunities for children and families.

Sonya is an active volunteer at Dicken Elementary School for the past six years, currently serves on the PTO Executive Board. She is also a musician who studied violin for many years. Sonya enjoys playing violin and she is a member of Kol Halev choir at Temple Beth Emeth.

Naomi J. Woloshin,J.D.

Naomi J. Woloshin is a partner in the Ann Arbor, Michigan law firm of Sally Rutzky & Naomi J. Woloshin, where she specializes in family law and mediation.

She graduated from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio in 1979, and from the University of Wisconsin Law School, cum laude, in 1985.

In 1991 she completed community mediation training at the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago, Illinois, and divorce mediation training with Zena Zumeta of the Ann Arbor Mediation center. She also has completed an advanced divorce mediation course through the Family Institute of Chicago.

Ms. Woloshin previously worked at the University of Michigan Law School Child Advocacy Law Clinic and taught a conflict resolution class at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

Ms. Woloshin serves on the State Bar of Michigan’s Character and Fitness Committee (District G). Ms. Woloshin is a volunteer mediator and presenter with the local Dispute Resolution Center in the areas of divorce, child welfare, parent/child and adult guardianship, and is an approved family mediator for the Washtenaw County Trial Court. She is a founding member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Michigan, a past President of the Washtenaw County Chapter of Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and a past chair of the Washtenaw County Friend of the Court Advisory Committee.

Israel Woronoff

Emeritus

Israel Woronoff has served as an advisor and board member of JFS since 1996 sharing his background as a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Woronoff also serves as senior psychologist at the Orchard Hills Psychiatric Center, Novi and psychologist and case supervisor St. Joseph Hospital Behavioral Services in Ann Arbor. He has also served as a board member of the Jewish Federation from 1987-1993, Vice President for Education at Beth Israel Congregation 1985-1987, and member of the Advisory Board of Anti-Defamation League of Michigan since 1958.