American Hebrew Academy - About Us

Founder

Chico Sabbah z”l
1929 – 2006

Board of Trustees

Leeor Sabbah, Chair New York, New York

With Bachelor and Master's degrees in Education and Communication, Leeor Sabbah's life has come full circle to the American Hebrew Academy, where her skills as an educator, communicator and marketing and development consultant merge with a passion for our heritage, a love of Israel, care and commitment to our students. As the daughter of the Academy's founders, Ms. Sabbah's chairing of the board continues the leadership and passion brought to the Academy by her parents.

Glenn Drew, Executive Director Greensboro, North Carolina

Glenn A. Drew presently serves as Executive Director and General Counsel at the American Hebrew Academy. Mr. Drew is a founding member of the Academy’s Board of Trustees and has been the principal most responsible for the development, construction and operation of the Academy since it’s opening in 2001. Mr. Drew is the nephew of Chico Sabbah, the Academy’s founder and served as Mr. Sabbah’s counsel and principal advisor on all Academy matters prior to his passing in 2006.

Mr. Drew has practiced law for twenty five years and advises corporate clients on international business matters and high net worth philanthropically minded individuals and families on asset management issues. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Miami and is the recipient of an American Jurisprudence Award for his work in the area of Property law.

Mr. Drew has resided in Greensboro for 20 years together with his wife Kelly and two children, Benjamin and Danielle.

Marsha Cohen Washington, DC

Joel Fleishman Durham, North Carolina

Joel Fleishman has been a professor of law and public policy studies at Duke University since 1971. Fleishman became chairman of the Capital Campaign for the Arts & Sciences and Engineering in 1982, which succeeded in raising more than $200 million in endowment. He was appointed vice president of the university in 1985, senior vice president of the university in 1988, and first senior vice president of the university in 1991.

In September of 1993, Fleishman became president of The Atlantic Philanthropic Service Co. Inc. in New York City, a position he held until January 2001.

Fleishman’s scholarly work reflects his long-standing interest in ethics, public policy and not-for-profit organizations which has recently culminated in his first book, The Foundation, The Great American Secret, How Private Wealth Is Changing The World.

Mr. Fleishman holds many distinct honors which include Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Urban Institute, Trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; member of the Board of Directors of Boston Scientific Corp., the Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and the James River Insurance Group; member of the Board of Trustees of All Kinds of Minds.

Leonard Kaplan Greensboro, North Carolina

Leonard Kaplan is founder and Chairman of the Toleo Foundation in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received a BS degree in Business Administration from High Point University. He served in the military from 1952-1954.

Mr. Kaplan’s memberships on boards, committees and organizations have included Camp Ramah Darom, Greensboro Cardiac Rehabilitation, Greensboro Jewish Federation, Jewish Foundation of Greensboro, National Hillel Board of Governors, North Carolina Hillel, and the United Way of Greater Greensboro. He has received an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 2005, to recognize his contribution to Greensboro, Mr. Kaplan received the Thomas V. Osborne Award for outstanding citizenship from the Chamber of Commerce.

Bonnie Lipton Chicago, Illinois

Jehuda Reinharz, Ph.D. Waltham, Massachusetts

Jehuda Reinharz, Ph.D., has been the President of Brandeis University since 1994. He holds bachelor degrees from Columbia University School of General Studies and a B.R.E from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He earned his master's degree in medieval Jewish history from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in modern Jewish history from Brandeis University. Dr. Reinharz was the first professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he created the interdisciplinary program that formed the basis for the University's Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. In 1982, he became the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He was subsequently named Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry; and founded the Jacob and Libby Goodman Institute for the Study of Zionism and Israel at Brandeis University. From 1991 to 1994, Dr. Reinharz served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Reinharz is also recognized as an author of numerous books.

Scott Shay New York, New York

Michael Steinhardt New York, New York

In 1995, after a legendary career, Michael H. Steinhardt retired to devote his time and fortune largely to the causes of the Jewish world. Mr. Steinhardt has masterminded his Jewish philanthropic activities through his foundation, Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. The mission of JLN is to revitalize American Jewish life with projects that both nurture the identity of individual Jews and transform the institutions of the Jewish community to reach the widest possible spectrum of American Jewry. Among its most well-known initiatives are birthright israel, the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE), Makor, Synagogue Transformation and Renewal (STAR), spark: Partnership for Service, and the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI). Mr. Steinhardt is also a principal supporter of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education; the Israel Museum; and Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, through which he created the Steinhardt Jewish Campus Services Corps. Mr. Steinhardt is a member of the new ownership group of Israel’s leading bank, Bank Hapoalim, and is one of the principal investors behind The New York Sun, New York’s newest daily newspaper. In 2001, Mr. Steinhardt published his memoirs, No Bull: My Life In and Out of the Markets (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). He and his wife, Judy, are the proud parents of David, Daniel and Sara, and the grandparents of Jacob, Joshua, Kira, Talia and Tora.

Abe D. Tawil, MBA, MA, MD, JD New York, New York

Joseph Weilgus New York, New York

Joseph Weilgus is the President of Geller Holdings and Managing Director of Geller & Company. He is the Chairman and Founder of Project Sunshine, a multi-national children’s non-profit organization founded in 1998. Mr. Weilgus earned a B.S. from Yeshiva University and has participated in executive education programs at the Disney Institute and at Harvard Business School. He was an undefeated NCAA tennis player and Editor-in-Chief of the business newspaper at Yeshiva. He is a member of the New York Philharmonic’s, Philharmonic-Symphony society and is a board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the JTA Global News Service.

Abraham Zion New York, New York

Academic Advisory Board

Joel Fleishman, Co-Chair Duke University - Durham, North Carolina

Joel Fleishman has been a professor of law and public policy studies at Duke University since 1971. Fleishman became chairman of the Capital Campaign for the Arts & Sciences and Engineering in 1982, which succeeded in raising more than $200 million in endowment. He was appointed vice president of the university in 1985, senior vice president of the university in 1988, and first senior vice president of the university in 1991.

In September of 1993, Fleishman became president of The Atlantic Philanthropic Service Co. Inc. in New York City, a position he held until January 2001.

Fleishman’s scholarly work reflects his long-standing interest in ethics, public policy and not-for-profit organizations which has recently culminated in his first book, The Foundation, The Great American Secret, How Private Wealth Is Changing The World.

Mr. Fleishman holds many distinct honors which include Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Urban Institute, Trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; member of the Board of Directors of Boston Scientific Corp., the Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and the James River Insurance Group.

Lee Shulman, Co-Chair Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching - Stanford, California

Lee S. Shulman is President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and professor emeritus at Stanford University An educational psychologist who has made notable contributions to the study of teacher education, assessment of teaching, and education in the fields of medicine, science and mathematics. Professor Shulman is past president of the American Educational Research Association and the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his educational research. From 1963 to 1982, Professor Shulman was a faculty member at Michigan State University, where he founded and co-directed the Institute for Research on Teaching (IRT).

Sharon Feiman-Nemser Brandeis University - Waltham, Massachusetts

Sharon Feiman-Nemser is the Mandel Professor of Jewish Education at Brandeis University, and Director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. Before coming to Brandeis in 2001, she served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Michigan State University, where she directed innovative teacher education programs and did research on teaching and learning to teach. She also taught at the Hebrew University. Her most recent book, Transforming Teacher Education: Notes from the Field, co-authored with former Michigan State colleagues, was published in January 2007 by Harvard Education Press.

Howard Gardner, Ph.D. Harvard University - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. In 2004 he was named an Honorary Professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai. Among his many honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. In 1990, he was the first American to receive the University of Louisville's Grawemeyer Award in Education and in 2000 he received a Fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2005, he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. He has received honorary degrees from twenty-one colleges and universities, including institutions in Ireland, Italy and Israel. He is married to Ellen Winner, a developmental psychologist who teaches at Boston College and they have four children. Dr. Gardner is recognized around the world as the author of numerous books on multiple intelligences.

Rabbi Daniel Gordis, Ph.D. Mandel Foundation - Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Daniel Gordis is Vice President of the Mandel Foundation Israel and directs the activities of the Foundation in North America. He was previously a Vice President at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and Dean of its Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Rabbi Gordis is also a noted author and resides with his family in Israel.

Christoph Guttentag Duke University - Durham, North Carolina

Christoph Guttentag is the Dean for Undergraduate Admissions at Duke University. He previously served as Associate Dean/Director of recruitment planning for the Admissions office at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned a master’s degree in musicology from Penn. Mr. Guttentag also earned undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Music History

Anthony S. Kandel, Ph.D. Haverford School - Haverford, Pennsylvania

Dr. Anthony Kandel is the Head of Upper School of The Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in Government from Pomona College, his California Teaching Credential with a Social Science major from Loyola Marymount University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California. Dr. Kandel and his wife, Annie, have three children.

Ira M. Miller Ramaz School - New York, New York

Ira Miller currently serves as Dean at the Ramaz Upper School. Mr. Miller has directed all areas of school management, including strategic and technology planning, faculty supervision, as well as curriculum development and scheduling design. He has designed faculty development and other in-service programs. In addition, Mr. Miller has supervised the college advisement and general guidance programs of the Upper School. Through his professional associations, he has served on and chaired evaluation teams to assess schools for institutional accreditation.

Samuel S. Wineburg, Ph.D. Stanford University - Stanford, California

Sam Wineburg is Chair, Curriculum and Teacher Education and Professor of History (by courtesy) at Stanford University, where he directs the Ph.D. program in History Education. His research explores the development of historical thinking among adolescents and the nature of historical consciousness. Wineburg’s book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future and Past, was awarded the 2002 Frederic W. Ness Prize for the “most important contribution to the understanding and improvement of liberal education” by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He was a member of the National Research Council/National Academy of Science committee that wrote How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. He received his Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education from Stanford University.