June 29, 2020
We are pleased to welcome seven new members to the AJC Westchester/Fairfield Board of Directors.
Marc Berman
Marc Berman is the Immediate Past President of Temple Israel Center of White Plains (“TIC”). Marc has served on TIC’s Executive Committee for a dozen years including three as President, four as Vice President and five as Comptroller.
Marc has almost 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently an investment banking Managing Director with Macquarie Capital. Marc is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Westchester Parks Foundation and a member of the Finance Committee of The Leffell School, which his three children attend.
Marc has been very active in the Jewish community going back to his college days at the University of Michigan where he served as a member of the Governing Board of Hillel and started a student group, Union of Students for Israel, to bring needed Israeli culture and balanced pro-Israel discourse to campus.
Judie Lifton Bobman
Judie Lifton Bobman is the managing member of a private investment partnership. She has been an active member of the parent’s association at Rye Country Day School. She began her professional career practicing real estate law at Kaye, Scholer, and thereafter, served as associate counsel for the 42nd St. Development Project and counsel for business affairs at USA Networks. Judie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her law degree from New York University School of Law. She lives in Westchester, NY with her husband and two daughters.
Anna Decker
Anna Decker was born and raised in Miami Beach ( a rare species!) and then went to Vassar College where she studied English and Political Science. After graduation, Anna moved to New York City and had a number of jobs in the communications field ending with a wonderful 12 year career at Citicorp where she headed their Internal Corporate Communications Department. Once Anna retired she became very active in the Scarsdale community serving on the Library Board, Let’s Get Ready, many PTA positions including High School and PT Council President.
Anna raised 3 kids in Scarsdale, two of whom are still in New York and one in California. She is married to Alan Lowenfels and also has 2 grandchildren and 3 step grandchildren.
Anna remains busy with a number of volunteer organizations including the Scarsdale Transfer Education Program, Scarsdale Adult School, and is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Westchester/Rockland. She has a therapy dog named Eli and they go to the psychiatric hospital in White Plains. Anna is a self poclaimed bridge addict, playing two or three times a week. She enjoys gardening, reading, walking, hiking and playing golf and tennis.
Pinchas Gross
Pinchas recently moved to Stamford, CT, after returning from a 15 year stay in Europe, where he served, consecutively, as the CFO of the multinational Pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA, in Switzerland, United Kingdom and Spain. He is married to Jaffa, an inspiring artist, and they have two adult children.
As the son of two Holocaust survivor parents from Hungary, and as someone who grew up in Communist Eastern Europe, and then in Israel, Pinchas is fully immersed in the Jewish experience, and feels very passionate about the issues that AJC is vigorously advocating for, on behalf of the Jewish people.
Pinchas is a CPA and holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Accounting from Tel-Aviv University, and an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
Sari Jaffe
Sari Jaffe is a retired attorney. She started her career at Kelly Drye and Warren - an international law firm. In 1987 Sari began to practice family law in New Canaan, Conn. With Silberberg, Marvin and Swaim. In 1990, the firm split up and she started her own practice. Her husband, Alan, who practiced real estate and tax, joined her in 1993 and Jaffe and Jaffe, located in New Canaan, Conn. was founded. They closed the practice in 2015.
Sari and her family moved to Stamford in 1973. She has been involved in the Stamford Jewish community for many years. Upon moving to Stamford, Sari and Alan joined Temple Beth El and the Stamford JCC and she has served on various committees as well as the Temple Board of Trustees. She has experience in fundraising and programming for United Jewish Federation.
Hyman Shwiel
Hyman Shwiel retired as a partner at Ernst & Young in 2007. He held several positions there including Area Managing Partner and National Director. He is currently the Chairman of Textainer Group Holdings, a NYSE company which owns and leases shipping containers world wide. Prior to joining Ernst & Young in New York in 1978, he was a Partner in a major South African accounting firm. He also lived with his family in Sydney, Australia while pursuing an entrepreneurial venture.
He is a graduate of the University of Cape Town with a degree in accounting and an MBA from UCT Graduate School of Business.
Hy lives in Scarsdale New York with his wife Shirley. They have two married daughters and four grandchildren.
Jerry Silber
Jerry Silber retired from Citibank in 2013 after forty-four years where he worked in back-office operations, branch management, project management, and commercial customer service. This included leading Citibank’s March of Dimes campaign for healthy babies which raised over $30 million in a twelve-year period and received Presidential Daily Points of Light award.
Jerry was part of the team that planned the first Earth Day in New York City. As an outgrowth of that event, he was one of the founders and Chair of The Environmental Action Coalition, which piloted New York City’s first recycling program, which led to its institutionalization. In 2011, Jerry founded and currently leads People Friendly Stamford, whose mission is to connect the neighborhoods of Stamford in a way that is safe and fun for people who want to bike or walk. He currently serves on the board of the Israel Cancer Research Fund, whose mission is to fund scientists in Israel to find a cure for cancer.
Jerry received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in 1967 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1969. He currently lives in Stamford and has been married to Bracha for 43 years and they have two beautiful daughters and three incredible grandsons.
