Sharon Freundel

Sharon Freundel, managing director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, attended Jewish Day Schools followed by studying at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University and earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland. She completed graduate courses at Teacher’s College of Columbia University and earned a Master of Arts in Jewish Education at the Baltimore Hebrew University.

Following several years of working in the nursing field, Ms. Freundel became engaged in the teaching of Torah. She taught and was the department chair for TaNaKH (Bible) and Torah SheBa’al Peh (Rabbinics) and was the Mashgicha Ruchanit (Spiritual Guidance Counselor) of the Upper School at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy. Most recently, she was the Director of Jewish Life at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School of the Nation’s Capital.

She teaches adult Jewish education classes throughout the Greater Washington, DC, area on topics such as TaNaKH, Jewish philosophy and contemporary halakhic issues in multiple venues and has lectured in Canada, Australia, Israel, and throughout the United States.

Rabbi Shmuel Feld

Rabbi Shmuel Feld proudly serves as the founding director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge. He was a principal and classroom educator in several Jewish Day Schools before joining JEIC in 2012.

Rabbi Feld’s vision of education was shaped by his personal Torah study and day school learning. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Chicago and a Master of Science in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additionally, he completed graduate-level coursework at the Lynch School of Education of Boston College.  Rabbi Feld holds one of three ordinations granted by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz.

His favorite job is husband and father of three sons in Silver Spring.

Rachel Mohl Abrahams

Rachel Mohl Abrahams serves as the senior advisor for education grants and programs. She brings to her work as a grantmaker and change agent more than two decades of experience in Jewish educational project design, program management and evaluation.

Previously Rachel served as a senior program officer at The AVI CHAI Foundation where she specialized in Jewish education grantmaking and day school initiatives. With a particular affinity for and expertise in personalized learning, Rachel has been a champion for integrating these methodologies into Jewish education spaces.

Rachel holds an M.A. in Bible from Bernard Revel Graduate School and a J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law, and she began her career as an attorney specializing in family law. She lives with her family in New York.

Mayberg Foundation

The Mayberg Foundation initiated and incubates JEIC, which draws support from multiple philanthropic partnerships for its pursuit of lasting school change.

The Mayberg Foundation is a hybrid foundation including grantmaking portfolios and operating programs—both of which aspire to proliferate Jewish wisdom and values in the contemporary world. The Foundation takes a high impact, entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy investing in professional talent and organizations demonstrating bold ideas that educate, inspire and strengthen the Jewish people. Trustees Manette and Louis Mayberg serve on a variety of boards and are deeply involved in many issues and initiatives impacting how future generations will sustain Jewish values, literacy, practice and belief.

Todd J. Sukol, Mayberg Foundation Executive Director

Todd J. Sukol has worked in and around the nonprofit and philanthropic sector most of his career. He serves as Executive Director of the Mayberg Foundation where he oversees the foundation’s grantmaking and incubation of several national projects, including the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge.

Previously, Todd was president and lead consultant for Do More Mission, a firm that increases nonprofit impact through philanthropic advisory services to high net worth individuals and foundations as well as providing outsourced management services to small and mid-sized charitable organizations. He was the first executive director and for many years the primary fundraiser for the Koby Mandell Foundation, where he continues to serve on the board of directors.

In addition to his professional roles, he acts as a confident and trusted advisor to countless professional and lay leaders working on behalf of charitable causes. Todd began his career in the nonprofit sector as Program Director of Maryland Hillel in College Park and is an active member of the Greater Washington Jewish and philanthropic communities.

Sukol received an MA in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and a BA in Journalism from the Pennsylvania State University. He also studied media at the University of Manchester in England and completed a two-year Yeshiva program at Machon Shlomo: Alexander and Eva Heiden Torah Institute in Jerusalem, Israel.

The most cherished roles he fills are that of devoted husband to his wife (and college sweetheart) Amy and loving father to their five children.

Amanda Mizrahi, Mayberg Foundation Managing Director

Amanda Mizrahi brings a varied skill set to the Mayberg Foundation, including an expertise in program oversight, nonprofit organizational development, database management, and statistical analysis. Her more than ten years of nonprofit experience allowed her the opportunity to hone her skills with many aspects of nonprofit management, an asset she seeks to share with the programs she manages on behalf of the Mayberg Foundation. Amanda has an enthusiasm for the nonprofit sector and earned a Master of Business Administration.