| Speakers - JFN West Convening 2025 |
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Imran Ahmed is the founding CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. He is a recognized authority on the social and psychological dynamics of social media, as well as what goes wrong in those spaces, such as trolling, identity-based hate, misinformation, conspiracy theories, modern extremism and fake news. He regularly features in the media as an expert in online malignant behaviour and how bad actors use digital spaces to harm others and benefit themselves. Imran is a trustee of the UK charity, Victim Support. He advises politicians in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere on policy and legislation. Imran was raised in Manchester, England. He holds an MA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Imran lives in Washington, DC.
Max August is currently an MBA Student at Stanford Business School and previously spent the last five years as an Investor and Israel Lead for General Atlantic, a leading global growth firm with ~$100B AUM. He began his career at General Atlantic’s New York HQ and relocated to open the firm’s Israel office where he helped deploy $1B+ into 11 Israeli companies. Max studied Economics at Harvard College and published his senior thesis about the Impact of Experience on Israeli Entrepreneurial Success, a project co-advised by Larry Summers and Paul Gompers. He also served for two years as the Research Assistant to Dan Senor and Saul Singer, Co-Authors of Start-Up Nation, on their new bestseller, the "Genius of Israel". Max is deeply involved in philanthropic activities touching Israel and American Jewry. While in college, Max founded the Israel Summit, which has become one of the largest student-led, pro-Israel campus movements and has raised $3M+ and spread to dozens of campuses. Since October 7th, he has led missions to Israel for next-gen philanthropists, joined the board of the IDF Widows & Orphans Organization, started a Shabbat 25K Initiative that got 10,000 people across 42 states in to attend Shabbat dinners to learn about Israel, and more.
Director, JFN West and Philanthropic Engagement
Following a brief career as an attorney in the Boston area, Debra entered the field of nonprofit management and development. She built her 25-year career as an executive director and consultant, working to increase the capacity of nonprofits. She also specializes in rebuilding organizations with management and infrastructure challenges following leadership transitions. Debra relocated to Silicon Valley in 1999 to lead Hillel at Stanford, and she then served as executive director for City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley and as a consultant for several local and national nonprofits. She has worked extensively with organizations that deliver programs in youth development, the arts, environmental education, academic support, and Jewish engagement. Debra lives with her family in Santa Cruz, Calif. Debra graduated from Tufts University with a degree in international relations, received a Juris Doctor from the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, and completed a Master of Management degree at the Heller School at Brandeis University. She is a member of the Massachusetts and Illinois Bar Associations.
Josh Miller joined the Jim Joseph Foundation in 2008 and currently serves as its Chief Program Officer. In this role, Josh is responsible for the planning and development of the Foundation’s grantmaking strategies to ensure achievement of its mission. Josh also oversees the Foundation’s grantmaking team and manages a portfolio of special projects and major grants that have strategic implications for the Foundation.
Prior to transitioning into the field of philanthropy in 2008, Josh spent fifteen years as an experiential educator, community builder, and social entrepreneur in a range of settings. Josh holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Brown University. He was the 2014 recipient of the JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for extraordinary leadership in Jewish philanthropy. As a volunteer, Josh is a former Board Chair of the Berkeley Public Schools Fund and remains actively involved. When he isn’t working, Josh enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons cooking, hiking, trail running, and exploring the great outdoors.
Rob Reich is the McGregor-Girand Professor of Social Ethics of Science and Technology at Stanford University. His main appointment is in Political Science where he works at the intersection of political theory, social science, and computer science. He was on public service leave in 2024-25 as Senior Advisor to the United States AI Safety Institute. His most recent books are System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (with Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein 2021) and Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better (Princeton University Press, 2018). He has testified before Congress and written widely for the public, including for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Time Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. He was a sixth grade teacher at Rusk Elementary School in Houston, Texas before attending graduate school. He is a board member of the magazine Boston Review and at the Spencer Foundation. He helped to create the global movement #GivingTuesday and serves as chair of its board.
Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu Executive Vice President, Jewish Funders Network
Rebecca is also the founder and CEO of RabbiCareers.com, making it easier for rabbis and communities of all types to find one another. Rabbi Sirbu has consulted for synagogues, organizations, and individuals on leadership development, building creative capacity, actualizing ideas, and how to work across religious and cultural borders. In addition, she is a co-founder of the Gender Equity in Hiring Project which brings the best practices in gender-balanced hiring to lay and professional leaders.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College, Rebecca holds a master’s degree and ordination from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a certificate in Spiritual Entrepreneurship from Columbia Business School.
Andrés is a longtime Jewish communal leader with a history of leading successful organizational transformations. He served as the CEO of Federation CJA in Montreal and, prior to that, Andrés worked for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Community (JDC) in Paris. As Regional Director for Northeast Europe, he was responsible for a number of pan-European projects.
While at JDC, Andrés also served as the Director of Leatid Europe, a leadership training institute for Jewish lay and professional leaders, and directed the International Center for Community Development, a partnership of JDC and Oxford University to produce applied research and knowledge management for community development practitioners.
Before his Jewish communal work, Andres worked for IBM and was responsible for training, development, hiring, and recruitment for IBM's Latin America Southern Region during a period of major restructuring. Originally from Argentina, Andres has a multidisciplinary academic background including business, education, and rabbinical studies in different institutions around the world. He is fluent in Hebrew, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Yiddish, and is proficient in Russian and German.
Rachel Sumekh is an Iranian Jewish activist and entrepreneur. She is the founder of RNS impact which supports philanthropists and nonprofits in increasing their impact. Through this, she serves as the Project Executive for the Jewish Funders Network’s Poverty Affinity Group. Rachel was the Founder and CEO of Swipe Out Hunger from 2013-2022. Under her leadership, Swipe Out Hunger became the leading national nonprofit in addressing college student hunger. Today, its network of 900 university partners has helped serve over 5 million nourishing meals to students through campus food pantries. Rachel served on the board of her synagogue, IKAR for six years, is a proud graduate of UCLA and Schusterman Senior Fellow. Her work has been recognized by The Obama White House, Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, and the Forward 50. She serves on the board of Reboot and the Foundation for Los Angeles Community Colleges.
Dr. Steven Windmueller is Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Studies at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. He previously served with the American Jewish Committee, directed the Albany, NY Jewish Federation, and later led the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation. At HUC, Dr. Windmueller directed the School of Jewish Nonprofit Management for a decade and served as Dean of the LA campus from 2006 to 2010. In 2009 he was named to an endowed chair and in 2014 received an honorary doctorate from the College. The author of four books and numerous articles, he holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. His scholarship focuses on Jewish communal trends, antisemitism, and Jewish political behavior, with work appearing widely in both Jewish and secular publications. He recently edited The Impact of Donald Trump’s Presidency on American Jews and Israel (2021) and is preparing a volume on 21st-century American Judaism. He is also a Fellow of the Jerusalem Institute of Public Affairs and serves on the Board of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA. Registration is now closed. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at registration@jfunders.org.
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Debra Feldstein
Josh Miller 
Rob Reich 
Andrés Spokoiny
Rachel Sumekh
Dr. Steven Windmueller
