Volunteer Leaderships

Jeremy and his wife Suzanne, son Miles and daughter Sophia have been members of Congregation Beth El since 2009. Both Miles and Sophia have been active members of BENS, Kadima and Camp Kee Tov since they arrived in Berkeley. By day, Jeremy is Chief Operating Officer of the Global Health Group at the University of California San Francisco, where he works to help guide overall strategy, fundraising, and strategic planning of the Group. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director of Global Viral, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the exploration of the microbial world, where he oversaw the organization’s day-to-day administration and operations. He has almost 15 years of experience managing international health projects, including 3 years living in Cameroon and 1.5 years in Botswana, where he was the Deputy Country Director for ITECH Botswana, dedicated to building clinical capacity for the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. Jeremy holds an MA from George Washington University and a BA from McGill University.

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Lorianna Seidlitz-Smith has been a member of Congregation Beth El with her husband, Nicholas Smith and two sons Elijah and Joshua, since 2011. Lorianna was also a member as a child with her great grandmother, Sally Seidlitz. Lorianna started out being active in the BENS community while their son Elijah was attending. He now attends Camp Kee Tov and is enrolled in Kadima. Along with serving on the gala committee for four years, Lorianna has also been on the membership committee and active in many other programs. She has been working hard to revamp the Women of Beth El program. Lorianna has a background in business operations and recently went back to college to pursue her Business degree. Lorianna is a bay area native with strong ties to the greater community.

Marc and his family have been members of Congregation Beth El since their first Shabbaton, in 2012. Since then, they've been hooked and his kids are deeply committed members and ruach-bringers of the Kee Tov community. His older daughter is also training for her Bat Mitzvah at Kadima. Marc grew up in a conservative synagogue and went to a Jewish day school out east and loves the religious inclusiveness and diversity at Beth El. He currently also serves on another nonprofit board dedicated to research and education for Veterans health. He has a PhD in Linguistics from UC Berkeley and by day works in analytics and data science.

Allen has been a member of Congregation Beth El since 2006 along with his wife, Pamela, and two daughters, Avery and Elise. Allen’s daughters have gone through the nursery school, Kadima and Camp Kee Tov. Allen was the chair of the Beth El House Committee for many years, charged with helping to maintain the incredible building and grounds that the congregation has created. By day, Allen is a Principal and Structural Engineer at Forell/Elsesser Engineers in San Francisco with over 24 years of experience in construction-related industries. Allen’s project list includes everything from large institutional projects to multi-family housing, with a focus on higher education. Allen has worked with many non-profits such as the JCC’s in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Berkeley, the Jewish Home of San Francisco, Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, and Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Allen currently volunteers for several policy and construction-related committees with the Berkeley Unified School District.

My first introduction to Beth El happened soon after I moved to Berkeley from Havana, Cuba in April of 2001. My wife Becky was Bat-Mitzvahed at Beth El and also worked at Camp Kee Tov as a counselor for many summers, so Beth El preschool was a natural choice for our daughter when she turned two. Soon we started making friends with other families, and I immediately felt welcomed and accepted by the community without even being Jewish. I was touched by that welcoming feeling. Many of the people we met at BENS are still our closest friends, and I think of them as family. (Which is why they get to tease me for singing really loud in services even though I don't know a lick of Hebrew.)

I'm a cabinet maker by profession, so over the years I have helped out in that capacity here and there, from making zig-zag menorahs for the preschool kids to decorate (oops--not kosher!), to assembling a cardboard cruise ship facade for the Gala one year, to building the acacia Torah study table that resides in the Beit Midrash. I'm very humbled by this opportunity to serve as a board member and look forward to being able to continue contributing to the success of our Temple.

Allie Liepman likes to say she was born and raised at Beth El.  Allie's baby naming ceremony was at Beth El in 1989, she became Bat Mitzvah in 2002, worked at Camp Kee Tov for over 14 years and now is deeply honored to sit on the Board of the congregation.  Allie is active on the Tribe leadership committee, loves to attend the Gala, Shabbaton and her newest favorite event is Shabbat-in-the-Round on the 4th Friday of every month! 

When Allie took a short four years away from the Bay Area, she studied Family and Human Services at the University of Oregon. She returned to the Bay Area quickly after graduating and just recently started working at Airbnb in San Francisco. When she's not working, she loves to spend time with her friends and family, traveling whenever she can to an ocean with tide pooling!

Jennifer has been a member of Beth El since 2008. A native of Los Angeles, Jennifer has lived in Northern California for most of her life where she worked as a middle school English teacher for the past 17 years. Last year, Jennifer started a job as a middle school Jewish studies teacher at The Brandeis School of San Francisco. She has also worked as a Room Representative for Kadima. Jennifer’s family is well connected with Beth El with strong ties to the community. Her two daughters- ages 9 and 12 have both been at Beth El since nursery school and both attend Camp Kee Tov.

Katherine and her husband Steven have been members of Beth El since 2010 and feel deeply enriched by their participation in the Beth El Community. Katherine is a member of the Ritual Committee and serves as a volunteer on various committees and for a variety of Beth El programs. As a member of the Adult B’nei Mitzvah program, Katherine was honored to become a bat mitzvah in 2018. She is honored now to serve on the Beth El board and continue contributing to the vibrancy of our community. Outside Beth El, having retired from her psychotherapy practice, Katherine does clinical consultations and enjoys many creative interests. She is currently enjoying singing with the Nigunim Chorus and writing in a Life Stories group.

Bonnie Cooperstein

Bonnie has been a member for almost 30 years. She has served on the Ritual, Gala, and Shabbaton committees, and is presently Co-Chair of the Gift Shop, she has also helped in the office when needed. It was Bonnie's pleasure to have set up the Chardonnay Shabbats for 7 years. Bonnie's first and only Bat Mitzvah was at Congregation Beth El in 2018. Bonnie is now honored to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Directors and will continue to help any way she can.