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. Suburban Temple-Kol Ami is a more than 70-year-old congregation known for its’ innovative and welcoming approach to membership and learning.
She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1999. Rabbi Vann served Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas from 1999 to June of 2011. She is a Past President of the Cleveland Board of Rabbis; served on the Board of Trustees for both the Jewish Family Services Association and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. Through the Leadership Cleveland Center, she is proud to be one of Leadership Cleveland’s Class of 2019. She is part of the leadership team of the Religious Action Center (RAC) Ohio, an organizing community bringing Reform Jews from across Ohio together in the pursuit of justice in our state. She is currently serving on the Ethics Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
She is married to Charlie Vann, and together they are raising their son, Isaac. They have three rescue dogs, Annie, Mag and Cosmo.
Our Education Director:
Rabbi Shoshana Nyer, Director of Lifelong Learning, joined the Suburban Temple – Kol Ami community as Director of Lifelong Learning 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, Shana earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland, and then studied at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where in addition to achieving her ordination in 2003, she earned a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 2002, and her Masters of Arts in Religious Education in 2016. Rabbi Shana is also the Jewish Educator at Camp Wise is Chardon, OH, returning to her childhood summer home.
Rabbi Shana loves teaching students of all ages. She is the creator and director of Our Tent, an acclaimed innovative multigenerational, experiential, choice-based congregational learning program. As a passionate about advocate for the inclusion of all learners, she has published two articles on the subject, “How to Say ‘Yes And…’ to Inclusion” and “Creating Sacred Partnerships: Parents and Educators Working Together to Meet the Needs of All Learners”.
Rabbi Shana is a gifted storyteller who loves to teach Jewish values through this medium and gets 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, Rabbi Shana enjoys spending time with her friends and family, especially her daughter, Emily.
Our Executive Committee:
Lori Rosenberg, President
Rich Silver, Vice-President
Margery Mazoh, Secretary
Michelle Brown, Co-Treasurer
Tessa Gable, Co-Treasurer
Dorothea Polster, At-Large
Matt Lehman, Immediate Past President
Our Past Presidents:
Jack Alan Bialosky
Dr. Stanley Brown
Zolman Cavitch (z"l)
Dr. Richard L. Cohen
Martin J. Cohn (z"l)
Beth N. Curtiss
David H. Deitz (z"l)
Morton R. Dworken (z"l)
Barbara Feldman
Louis A. Fox (z"l)
Thomas E. Galvin
Robert S. Glick (z"l)
Irwin S. Haiman (z"l)
Donald S. Jacobson
Kenneth M. Lapine
David L. Margolius (z"l)
Richard D. Margolius
Stanley M. Proctor (z"l)
Robert T. "Buzz" Rosenfeld
Kim Rosner
Ronald M. Rubinstein (z"l)
Mina S. Siegel (z"l)
Sara Stashower
Our Board of Trustees:
Dr. Dave Aron
Sandy Buzney
Alan Hazzard
Susan Hirsch
Irving Katz
Muriel Lederman, Kol Nashim
Susan Long
Margery Mazoh
Susan Gordon Merdler
Tracey Messer
Shellie Nyer
Len Podis
Svetlana Pundik
Dan Richards
Ellyn Ross
Andi Wasserman
Ellen Weber
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 his family.
Our Cantorial Soloist:
Deb Rogers, our highly creative Cantorial Soloist, 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.
Our Staff:
John Farragher, Maintenance Supervisor
Charles Hickerson, Retired
Smadar Lahav, Administrative Assistant
Charlotte Versagi, Administrative Assistant
Rabbis of Blessed Memory
Rabbi Myron Silverman, D.D. (z"l) - (1949-1976)
Rabbi Michael A. Oppenheimer (z"l) - (1976-2002)
Rabbi Eric Bram (z"l) - (2002-2010)