CONTINUING BOARD MEMBERS
Debra Chopp: Co-Vice President/President-Elect
Marla Linderman Richelew: Co-Vice President
Annie Wolock: Secretary
Julie Grand
Marty Shichtman
Robert Stern
Joshua Sukenic: Annual Community Campaign Chair
BOARD MEMBERS UP FOR RE-ELECTION
Decky Alexander: President
Marla Chinsky: Treasurer
Jeremy Bloom: Planning & Allocations Chair
Susan Fisher: Foundation Chair
Murray Rebner
NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Max Grad
Larry Adler: Annual Community Campaign Co-Chair
Board Member Bios
New Board Members
Max Grad grew up in Miami, FL as a member of Temple Beth Am, and moved north to Chicago in 2013 where he received a BA in Economics and Romance Languages & Literatures from the University of Chicago. After college, Max worked across HR & Corporate Finance functions for a few food & beverage companies including Kraft Heinz & Beam Suntory. He currently works in strategy for Constellation Brands, a beer, wine & spirits company.
Throughout college, Max was an active member of his campus Hillel at UChicago. He continued his involvement in the Chicago Jewish community post undergrad through the Young Leadership Division (YLD) of the Jewish United Fund as a member of their YLD Board of Directors. While on the YLD Board, he served on committees that engaged with initiatives like Community Outreach and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. He remains associated with UChicago Hillel as a member of their Board of Directors and was recently asked to be the organization’s Board Chair beginning in the academic year 2023-24. Outside of Jewish life, Max is passionate about movies & film industry and has been an Associate Board member of the Chicago International Film Festival for several years. Max recently moved to Ann Arbor in August of 2022 with his partner, Mara, who attends the University of Michigan Law School. He and Mara love cooking for friends & family, baking desserts, hosting cocktail parties, and exploring their new surroundings in Ann Arbor!
Larry Adler joined Huron Gastro in 1989, after completing his Gastroenterology training at the Cleveland Clinic. He served as President from 2007-2020 and retired at the end of 2022. He met his wife Sue at age 15, through BBYO, and dated through high school and college before marrying in 1981. They raised 2 children, Stephanie and Evan, and welcomed their daughter-in-law Marina to the family in October of 2021. They have been blessed with the arrival of their granddaughter, Myla, on New Year’s Eve 2022.
The Adlers have been committed to the Ann Arbor community, notably supporting local Jewish organizations. Collectively they have volunteered, served on the Boards and various fundraising committees of JFS, JCC, Hadassah, ORT, Beth Israel and the Federation. Sue and Larry enjoy travel, movies at the Michigan Theater, the camaraderie of their friends, and their extended family. Larry is an avid, yet struggling, golfer.
As a child of Holocaust survivor and one who has generationally benefited from JDC, the international humanitarian partner for the Jewish Federations of North America, Larry has become a default ambassador for Jewish organizations locally and abroad.
Continuing Board Members
Jessica ‘Decky’ Alexander grew up on the North Shore of Chicago (Highland Park) and has lived in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti since 1993, arriving here to attend graduate school. Decky received a BA in Theatre from Lawrence University and an MFA in Educational Theatre from Eastern Michigan University. She is a professor of Applied Drama/Theatre and the Director of Engage@EMU, EMU’s office dedicated to academic, community and business engagement. Decky currently is a founding faculty associate and board member for EMU’S Center for Jewish Studies, which led to involvement with the greater Washtenaw Jewish Community and the Federation. Here, she has coordinated several of its Salon events, focused on local issues around unconscious bias, profiling, and the Flint Water Crisis. Currently, Decky chairs the Jewish Community Relations Committee, coordinating its Conversation with 7 series. A member of Temple Beth Emeth, Decky lives in Ann Arbor and is married to Bruce Kutinsky.
Jeremy Bloom grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended undergraduate school and law school at the University of Michigan. After living in New York, Florida, and New Jersey, he then returned to Ann Arbor in 2014 with his husband, Chris, and his children, Jackson and Chloe (both now 10). Jeremy is an Executive Director at UBS where he leads the team responsible for responding to regulatory requests relating to employee conduct. He has been a member of the Allocations Committee for two years. Jeremy and his family are members of Temple Beth Emeth. His husband, Chris, is on the Board of Jewish Family Services of Ann Arbor.
Marla Chinsky grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She received her BS in Accounting from the College of Charleston and her Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Virginia. She worked in both Audit and Advisory for Deloitte in Washington D.C. before moving to Ann Arbor four years ago and transferring to an internal Financial Planning and Analysis role. Marla grew up with her parents serving in Federation volunteer roles and was active in the Federation community in DC. She served on the Finance Committee here in Ann Arbor for two years before taking on the role as Treasurer and chair of the committee last year. Marla and her husband, Josh, have three small children, Evelyn, Caleb, and Jackson.
Debra Chopp grew up in Southfield, Michigan. She received her BA from the University of Michigan and her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After moving up and down the east coast for a few years, she settled in Ann Arbor with her family in 2005. She is a clinical law professor at the University of Michigan Law School where she directs the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic and serves as the Associate Dean for Experiential Education. She is the proud mother of three boys, Jonah, Ilan, and Gabrial, all of whom graduated from the Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor. Debra and her husband, Gil, love the Jewish community in Ann Arbor and are deeply committed to helping it thrive.
Susan Fisher came to Ann Arbor as a student in 1959 and has lived in AA ever since. She holds BS, MA, Ph.D Candidate and MBA degrees from UM. She served in various academic and non-academic positions at UM and as a visiting lecturer at EMU. After completing her MBA she took a position with Michigan Bell. She retired from ATT as Director of Project Management. She has served various organizations (both secular and sacred) as both a board/committee member and chair. She is a past-president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and JFS. She currently serves on the Boards of JFS (Treasurer) and JCC. She is the current chair of the Jewish Foundation of Greater Ann Arbor. Susan also volunteers at the Ann Arbor Thrift Shop and chairs the OLLI-UM Development committee. Susan has been a member of TBE since its inception. Susan and her late husband traveled and cycled extensively around the world. Her son David, his wife Patty, and their three sons live in Ann Arbor.
Julie Grand was born and raised in Greenfield, Massachusetts. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she received an MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education and a PhD in Health, Services, Organization and Policy from the University of Michigan. Julie has spent the majority of her career in higher education, working as a health educator, lecturer in health policy, and academic advisor. For the past eight years, she has also served on the Ann Arbor City Council, focusing on policies that make Ann Arbor a more inclusive, welcoming, and exciting community. Julie is a member of Temple Beth Emeth and lives with her husband, David, and two teenage children, Maddie and Sam. There is a strong chance that she is currently en route to a child’s sporting event.
Marla Linderman Richelew grew up in Southfield and Bloomfield Hills. Her husband Josh is a Sports Administrator for U of M and their kids, Naomi and Josh, attend Skyline High School. Marla is the founder of the Ann Arbor law firm, Linderman Law PLLC, where she specializes in employment and business law, and is a Past President of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, at the State and Washtenaw County levels, a Past President of the Washtenaw Association for Justice and Past President of Washtenaw County’s New Lawyers Section. She is on the Executive Board of the Michigan Association for Justice, is a Co-Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s Federal Pro Bono Project, serves on the PTSO Board for Skyline High School and also volunteers with Jewish Family Services of Ann Arbor. In 2006, the State Bar of Michigan awarded Marla the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award, as did the Washtenaw County Bar Association. Marla has been named a Leader in the Law, Top 20 Women in the Law and Up and Coming Lawyer by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, has been designated a Michigan Super Lawyer since 2009 and as a Top 25 Women Consumer Michigan Super Lawyer since 2013. She was Bat Mitzvahed at Temple Israel and is a member of Temple Beth Emeth.
Murray Rebner is a diagnostic radiologist who works at Beaumont Health in Royal Oak. He has lived in Ann Arbor since 1981 when he trained at U of M. Murray married his lovely wife Sue in 1985, and they have two adult children, Rachel and Max, who graduated from the Hebrew Day School.
Marty Shichtman, from Brooklyn, NY, is founding Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and Professor of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University. He has been a fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and at Brandeis University’s Schusterman Institute for Israel Studies. He received of a Mellon Partnership grant with Smith College for Jewish Studies programming, has directed a Covenant Foundation grant for Jewish education, several National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars for School Teachers, an NEH Focus Grant, and a number of summer seminars for school teachers at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills Michigan.
Robert Stern grew up in Oak Park, Michigan and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan. As an entrepreneur he founded KTR Dental, which imports and distributes dental instruments from Israel, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. In addition, Robert is also a founder and CEO of Fusion Digital Solutions, a metal 3D printing facility specializing in dental prosthetics and devices. Robert moved to Ann Arbor in 2015 from NYC. He has deep ties to the Ann Arbor Jewish community; his grandfather was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Michigan Kosher Dining Club in 1965 with B’nai Brith. This began the daily kosher dinners and Shabbat meals offered to students at the U of M Hillel. Robert has been on various Ann Arbor Jewish Federation committees; campaign, allocations, and finance. For the past ten years, Robert has been a volunteer and corporate sponsor of American Friends of Dental Volunteers for Israel and he has facilitated the donation of tens of thousands of dental instruments to the DVI clinic in Jerusalem. In his free time, Robert enjoys traveling and has briefly lived in Helsinki, Hong Kong, and Israel.
Joshua Sukenic grew up in the Detroit suburbs and moved to Ann Arbor in 2015 with his wife, Marci, and three children, Brendan (11), Lily (8) and Jackson (6), excited to live in and contribute to our vibrant community. Josh received a BA in Economics from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA in Marketing, Finance and Entrepreneurship from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Josh is a local business executive who specializes in transforming and scaling organizations for growth through marketing, sales and operational excellence. Joshua’s focus and passion on the Board is driving engagement, involvement and the next generation of leadership in our Ann Arbor Jewish community. Josh and his family are members of Temple Beth Emeth and Beth Israel. Josh’s wife, Marci, has been directing the Chai Mitzvah engagement program for the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor.
Annie Wolock was born in Detroit and moved to Southfield in 1965. In 1975 she moved again to this area to attend Eastern Michigan University. She found a home in Ann Arbor not too long after graduating with her BBA in Marketing. Annie founded her current company (ask her about her first), Keystone Media, in 1994. Keystone is a boutique website design and digital marketing firm located in Downtown Ann Arbor. Annie, a digital marketing strategist, has been on the Federation’s strategic communications committee for six years and chaired the committee for three. Annie teaches digital strategy at Washtenaw Community College.