OUR PEOPLE
Suburban Temple – Kol Ami is blessed with a dedicated professional staff and active board of trustees.
Our Rabbi:
Rabbi Allison B. Vann has been the spiritual leader of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami since 2011. She was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1999, and served Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas from 1999 to June of 2011. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Jewish Family Services Association, and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. Rabbi Vann served as the President of the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis from 2017-2019.
She is married to Charlie Vann, and is the mother of one son, Isaac, and two rescue dogs, Annie and Magneto.
Our Education Director:
Rabbi Shoshana Nyer, Director of Lifelong Learning, joined the ST-KA community in July 2012, after serving Temple B’nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, VA for nine years as first Assistant, then Associate Rabbi and Educator. Before arriving in Northern Virginia, she studied at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where in addition to achieving her ordination, she earned a masters of arts in Hebrew Literature.
Shana returns home to the Cleveland Jewish community where she grew-up and participated actively as a youth. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland. Shana loves teaching students of all ages, and is most excited when her lessons combine her knowledge of and passion for Judaism and her interest in all things pop culture.
When she is not at work, Shana enjoys spending time with her husband, Stephen Langel, and their daughter, Emily. They all feel blessed to be a part of the ST – KA community.
Our Executive Committee:
Matt Lehman, President
Lori Rosenberg, Vice-President
Bruce Sherman, Secretary
Howard Feldenkris, Treasurer
Dennis Lehman, At-Large
Kim Rosner, Immediate Past President
Our Past Presidents:
Jack Alan Bialosky
Dr. Stanley Brown
Dr. Richard L. Cohen
Beth N. Curtiss
Barbara Feldman
Thomas E. Galvin
Donald S. Jacobson
Kenneth M. Lapine
Richard D. Margolius
Sara Stashower
Our Board of Trustees:
Dr. Dave Aron
Matt Greenfield
Alan Hazzard
Susan Hirsch
Nancy Huntsman
Irving Katz
Ginny Lehman
Susan Long
Shellie Nyer, President of Kol Nashim
Dorothea Polster
Svetlana Pundik
Ellyn Ross
Linda Schneider
Sandy Shapiro
Carter Strang
Andi Wasserman
Our Executive Director:
Brett Shankman joined Suburban Temple – Kol Ami as Executive Director in April 2014. He has worked in the organized Jewish community for most of his professional career, including the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Menorah Park Foundation.
Brett is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He lives in Shaker Heights with wife, Marcy and children, Rebecca and Joshua.
Our Director of Engagement and Marketing:
J.B. Davis , Director of Engagement and Marketing, most recently was the Senior Consultant for Strategy and Marketing at MAGNET, a Cleveland-based non-profit that helps Northeast Ohio manufacturers grow. Before moving to Cleveland, J.B. managed market research, strategic planning, and marketing programs for a wide variety of brands in retail, healthcare, and financial services. A former four season head coach of his daughter's soccer team, J.B. is currently working with the Cleveland Leadership Center on its social entrepreneurship capacity building initiative. He's a graduate of Wesleyan, Columbia, and Northwestern.
J.B. and his wife Rachel live in Shaker and have three children, Josiah, Eli, and Abby.
Our Music Director:
Deb Rogers, our highly creative Music Director, joined ST-KA in 2019. She brings her musical skills, vast repertoire, and deep knowledge of Jewish musical traditions to Friday night services, holidays, and other Temple events and programs.
Her artistic talents have long been “at play” in music as a classically trained pianist and keyboardist, a talented singer and a guitar player. Before ST-KA, Deb served for eight years at Congregation Kol Chadash as cantorial soloist, bar and bat mitzvah tutor and Jewish Educator. Among her many accomplishments at Kol Chadash, she formed a congregational band and directed a high holy day volunteer choir.
As the owner of a boutique cake making company, Deb lets her creativity shine beyond her duties as Music Director.
Our Staff:
John Farragher, Maintenance Supervisor
Charles Hickerson
Dale Hopkins, Administrative Assistant
Keesha Sellars, Administrative Assistant