Lay Leadership

Executive Committee

Jason Levy, President
Jason Levy is a University of North Carolina and Boston University School of Law graduate, and received an LLM in International Law from UC-Berkeley School of Law. He recently retired as a Navy officer after 20 years and now works as a civilian environmental attorney for the Department of Defense.
Jason and his wife, Alison, have lived all over the world, but now get to call Gesher, Agudas Achim, and Northern Virginia home. Jason and Alison have a deep commitment to Jewish schools as their daughter, Shoshana (Gesher Class of 2020), and son, Isaiah, previously attended Gesher, San Diego Jewish Academy, Oakland Hebrew Day School, and Temple Emanu-El School in Hawaii.

Jonathan Stahl, VP of Strategic Planning
Jonathan Stahl is a native of Fairfax, VA, and a graduate of Gesher Jewish Day School and Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality from Syracuse University. Jonathan is the Vice President of Experience & Hospitality for the Washington Nationals. Prior to working for the Washington Nationals, Jonathan worked for Kimpton Hotels and Renaissance Hotels in various front office positions. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys traveling and spending time in his carpentry shop.
Jonathan has also served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and been involved with FIDF. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife Cara and their dog Bogey Lowenstein.

Julie Wallick, VP of Development
Julie Wallick moved to Reston 15 years ago to marry David Selden. Julie is a Principal of Wallick Communities, a real estate company based in Columbus, Ohio, and on its advisory board. Wallick Communities specializes in affordable housing and senior living. She is a licensed Ohio real estate broker and is active in professional associations including the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition.
Julie volunteers with and supports several non-profit organizations including the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Washington. When not entrenched in the world of real estate she spends time with her family, reads, cooks, travels and exercises. Julie is a graduate of University of Cincinnati and completed postgraduate work at Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University, Chicago.

Daniel Strouse, Treasurer
Daniel Strouse is an attorney at the law firm of Cordatis LLP, representing Federal contractors across an array of issues such as bid protests, regulatory compliance, and claims against the government. He primarily represents small and mid-sized companies. Daniel is an active member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association.
During law school, Daniel was a Board Member for the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s Jewish Law Students Association; and, as an undergraduate at The George Washington University, Daniel was active in Hillel.
Outside of the office, Daniel spends his time with his wife, Laura, daughter, Abigail, son, Eytan, and dogs, Zeke and Brody (no Gesher affiliation). Daniel and his family are members of Congregation Olam Tikvah.

Ilana Rothberg, Secretary
Ilana Rothberg is a native of the Philadelphia suburbs and has lived in the DC metro area since attending college at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned a B.A. in Business and Marketing. She served in a variety of roles at Capital One, including marketing and sales strategy, product and project management, and recruiting. Ilana is also currently on the Board of Directors for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, as well as at Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria. She resides in Arlington with her husband, Ira, their 8-year-old twins, Rahm and Havi (incoming 3rd graders) and their miniature poodle, Chase.

Philip Blumenthal, Immediate Past President
Philip Blumenthal joined the Gesher board in 2013. Philip grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended Jewish day schools for all but two of his elementary and high school years. He was active in Hillel at Boston University, where he majored in Classical & Religious Studies. Philip works in business strategy for a global technology company. He resides in Fairfax with his wife, Rachel, son, Seth (Gesher Class of 2020), and daughter, Maya (Gesher Class of 2023).

Members at Large

Danny Ackerman
Danny Ackerman is a native of Alexandria, VA and a member of the Gesher Class of 2003. He graduated from the University of Michigan where was active in both the Hillel and Chabad communities. He works as an investment professional focused on the technology and software industries. He resides in New York City with his wife Stefanie.

Eitan Bernstein
Eitan Bernstein grew up in Rockville, MD, before crossing the Potomac and settling down with his wife and three sons in Arlington, VA. He is a graduate of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Yale University (B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Harvard Law School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Eitan currently serves as regulatory counsel in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Prior to that, Eitan was an attorney at the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP in Washington, DC.

Anne Continetti
Anne Continetti is a faculty member for the Tikvah Fund’s Truman Scholars Program and their Online Academy for middle-school students, and is a teacher at St. Albans’s School of Public Service, a summer program for rising seniors in high school. She was a history teacher at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, and worked as a curriculum consultant designing common-core-aligned lesson plans to accompany the What So Proudly We Hail curriculum. Anne graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in History and received her Master’s in Education from The George Washington University. Prior to teaching, Anne worked as an advance staffer on a presidential campaign and was a political analyst at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Anne is also a member of the Gesher Mishpachat PTO Board. She lives in McLean, Virginia, with her husband, Matt, and their two children, Leo and Charlotte, who love being students at Gesher.

Josh Kraushaar
Josh Kraushaar is the political editor of National Journal, where he writes a twice-a-week column and hosts a weekly podcast interviewing behind-the-scenes operatives on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill. He is a co- author of the Almanac of American Politics, former editor-in-chief of the Hotline and currently supervises the overall political coverage at National Journal. He is a political analyst for Fox News Radio and has appeared as a guest commentator on FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, National Public Radio and C-SPAN.
Josh is also a frequent commentator on issues impacting the American Jewish community. He is a regular guest speaker at synagogues and Jewish community centers in the Washington area. Along with Ha’aretz Washington correspondent Amir Tibon, he served as a scholar-in-residence at Agudas Achim Congregation in 2019, leading discussions on political polarization, the impact of social media on political discourse, and the future of American Jewry.
Josh is a Gesher alumnus (class of 1994!) and lives in Annandale with his wife, Hannah, and two children, Shana and Avi who are both current Gesher students.

Keri Kwiatek
Keri Kwiatek grew up in San Diego, CA, and converted to Judaism in 2009. Prior to starting her family, Keri’s passion for children led her to a career in Early Childhood Education, and subsequently to pediatric dentistry and oral surgery. Keri homeschooled her two children for several years, and enjoyed creating her own curriculum to provide rich educational experiences and aid their developmental growth. A love for travel enriched these experiences. During the pandemic, Keri helped many families to embark on their own homeschooling journeys, and still does so, even though she has found a new home and community at Gesher. Keri is passionate about helping the community in areas that have touched her throughout her life, including as an advocate for child abuse awareness through her support of “The Tree House” in Montgomery County, as well as her support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Keri resides in Bethesda, MD with her husband Oren, son Eli, and daughter Kyla.

Seth Feldman
Seth Feldman grew up in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., where he attended the C.E.S. Jewish Day School. He met his beautiful and talented wife Leslie, while they both attended college at Johns Hopkins University, and got married while he was finishing his dental degree from the University of Maryland. He practiced as a general dentist in the Boston area for 4 years, and then went back to school to specialize in orthodontics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His two daughters have attended Gesher since kindergarten. Alicia graduated from 8th grade at Gesher in 2021. Ilana is in the Gesher class of 2024. Seth and his family moved to Fairfax in 2008, and Seth practices orthodontics in Falls Church, Virginia. The family attends Olam Tikvah, is active in the JCCNV, and is proud to be part of the Gesher community.

Heidi Freeman
Heidi Freeman has been a science teacher for almost 30 years at her high school alma mater, The Madeira School. Her past board experiences include being Recording Secretary on the Olam Tikvah Preschool Board and Membership Vice President on the Olam Tikvah Sisterhood Board. Heidi and her husband, Ben, have two daughters: Ahava (Gesher Class of 2016) and Devorah (Gesher Class of 2019).
Ahava’s first year at Gesher was the first year in the current building (2007-2008), which was very exciting! Heidi and her family have loved being part of the Gesher community for 15 years and she is looking forward to working with everyone.

Rabbi Daniel Novick
Rabbi Daniel Novick grew up in Herndon, VA and is currently the Executive Director of George Mason University Hillel. Prior to leading Mason Hillel, Daniel was the Assistant Director at GW Hillel. A graduate of the University of Virginia and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Daniel brings a wealth of experience on campus and in the wider Jewish community, with particular strengths in building pluralistic and innovative communities. As a native of Northern Virginia, Daniel understands the opportunities and potential for Mason Hillel to reach its diverse demographic of students and to continue to build the organization into an even more active, engaging institution both for Mason students and others living in the growing and vibrant Northern Virginia area. Daniel is married to Rabbi Sarah Krinsky who currently serves as the Associate Rabbi of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC.

Brian Ostar
Brian Ostar is the President of EB5 Capital, a real estate investment firm based in Washington, DC, that raises foreign capital for projects via an immigration program. Prior to his career in real estate, Brian worked as a middle-school math teacher in New York City, and then for a consulting firm in Hangzhou, China.
Brian and his wife, Adele, reside in Falls Church with their two sons, Mason and Asher. Brian and his family are members of Temple Rodef Shalom. Brian coaches his sons’ soccer and baseball teams in Falls Church and Arlington.
Brian grew up in Rockville Centre, NY, which is located on Long Island. He attended Cornell University, where he earned his BA in Applied Economics and Management. He also completed his MA in Real Estate Finance from Georgetown University and his MA in Childhood Education from Brooklyn College.

Allan Sloan
Allan Sloan lives in New Jersey and is the grandfather of Cora Kessler, who is a rising 1st grader. Allan, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a graduate of Jewish elementary school and high school. He attended the Seminary College of the Jewish Theological Seminary part-time during his first two years at Brooklyn College, which is part of the City University of New York. After graduating from BC, he got a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. (He has no degree from JTS.)
Allan was a business writer for numerous publications for almost 50 years and has won many business writing and lifetime achievement awards. Since retiring from Fortune magazine in 2014, he has been a business columnist for The Washington Post. He and his wife, Nancy, are members of Congregation B’nai Israel of Millburn, N.J.

Bianchi Suárez
Bianchi Suárez is originally from Costa Rica and has been living in the United States since 2004. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker who has worked as a therapist providing psychosocial assessments and counseling to children, adolescents, and their families. Currently, she works as an adoption social worker conducting home studies and providing post-adoption services to families entering the adoption process.
Moreover, Bianchi is president of the Costa Rican Association Board in Washington, D.C. In this role, she is in charge of helping organize activities that help bring Costa Ricans and friends of Costa Rica together to learn and experience Costa Rica’s cultural traditions and values. The Costa Rican Association manages a small annual budget and works closely with the Costa Rican Embassy in the U.S. on different projects throughout the year.
Bianchi and her husband, Jamie Tabb, are the proud parents of two wonderful Gesher students. They have been committed members of the Gesher community since 2014 and members of the Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church since their son entered preschool in 2012.

Jeffrey Tureck
Jeffrey Tureck is a retired United States Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). He is a graduate of Brooklyn College, where he met his wife Sharyn, and Rutgers Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. Jeff and Sharyn moved from the New York City area to Northern Virginia in 1969 so Jeff could begin work as a trial attorney for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. He was an ALJ for the Department of Labor from 1979 until he retired the first time at the end of 2010. While working for the Department of Labor he was asked to take on the agonizing task of adjudicating cases for the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund, which he did for two years. After he retired from DOL he received an offer he couldn’t refuse to return to work as an ALJ for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, retiring for the second time near the end of 2012. Since then, Jeff has worked part-time for the Office of Personnel Management and now for the Department of Labor, where he is a mediator.
Jeff and Sharyn have lived in the same house in West Springfield since 1977, about the same time they joined Agudas Achim Congregation. They have three children, all of whom were raised at Agudas and where our daughter Debbie was the Preschool Director. Debbie’s 14 year old son Seth was a student at Gesher, and her son Jacob started Gesher in 2021. When he wasn’t at work, Jeff spent many years coaching boys and girls youth sports and judging high school debate and forensics tournaments. He also volunteered at the Zoo from the time he first retired until Covid ended most volunteer work there.

Amy Lummer, PTO President
Amy Lummer is a Community Engagement professional at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia and is very active in our local community. She has a Master’s Degree in Education from George Mason University and has a passion for giving our youngest learners strong roots. Amy and her husband Dory met at Johns Hopkins University as undergraduates and live in Springfield with their children Moira and Owen.