Trustees - 2007-2008
Trustee #1 – Roger Mendelson
Roger Mendelson has been a member of Congregation Beth Israel for fifty years. He was a member of the confirmation class of 1967. He previously served on the Temple board in 1991-1992 and was chairman of the social action committee. Dr. Mendelson is a retired physician who was in the private practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology for 24 years in Austin. He delivered many of our current Temple membership. Currently he works part time, doing general medicine and gynecology at the Austin State Hospital. He has a son, Ben, a CBI Bar Mitzvah and member of the current confirmation class. His wife, Shirley, is also an active Temple member. Dr. Mendelson’s mother, Margery, has also been an active participant at the Temple since 1957. Dr. Mendelson has many interests. He holds a leadership position in Boy Scout Troop 3, is past president of the Austin Model A Ford Club, and enjoys hiking, fishing, hunting, and ranching.
Trustee #2 – Keri Pearlson
Dr. Keri Pearlson has been a member of CBI since moving to Austin in 1992. She served as a member of the Board from 2002-2004, as the Temple’s Financial Secretary and before that as assistant Financial Secretary. In the spring of 2006, Keri designed and co-led the Temple’s very successful Leadership Development Program, designed to identify and develop future Temple leadership. Keri works as a consultant and has published a well-respected textbook, a trade book and numerous articles in the fields of management information systems and leadership development. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the Harvard Business School and both a Masters and a Bachelors Degree from Stanford University. In her spare time, she is the leader of junior Girl Scout Troop 1813. She is married to Dr. Yale Pearlson, and they have one daughter, Hana, who is a student of the Temple’s Sunday School and Hebrew School.
Trustee #3 – Diane Jacobs
Diane grew up in Kansas City and moved to Austin in 1988, where she met Jeff Walther. Their son Eli grew up at CDC and is about to start kindergarten. Diane is a member of Sisterhood, and Eli is thrilled that Diane will be in charge of Sisterhood's Sunday hot dog sales for next year (refusing to recognize that there are no free hot dogs). Diane organized and initiated CBI's annual Tot Seder, and is a member of the Ritual Committee. She's a former volunteer mediator for the Dispute Resolution Center, and is an Assistant Texas Attorney General, prosecuting civil Medicaid fraud cases.
Trustee #4 – Brian Turner
Brian’s roots at CBI are deep. His great-grandfather Joe Koen was president of the congregation for 44 years, his grandfather Bill Koen was president, and his mother Carolyn Turner was the first female president of CBI. Brian was a Bar Mitzvah at CBI and was confirmed at CBI. Brian went to Texas A&M and after working at First City Bank in Austin, went back to law school. Brian is currently a musician and plays regularly in Austin and has a solo law practice emphasizing commercial litigation and mediation. Brian also holds a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and will be offering TKD classes to congregants. Brian and his beautiful and talented wife Haddy have 6 children.
Trustee #5 – Drew Miller
Drew was born and raised in New York City, received a B.S. in biological science from Cornell University, and a J.D. from George Washington University. He has worked as an environmental lawyer, first at a D.C. law firm, then, upon moving to Texas in 1993, as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas, and, since 1998, in private practice at a medium-sized law firm in Austin. A recent graduate of Leadership Austin, Drew currently serves as Chair of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. He also served for several years as a member of the City of Austin’s Water and Wastewater Commission. Drew first became involved with CBI through Torah study. He is married to Sandy Bootz, and he and Sandy have two sons – Sam Miller, who is finishing the First Grade and attends Sunday School at CBI, and Nate Miller, who is a few months old. Drew likes to go fishing and grow vegetables in his garden.
Trustee #6 – Becca Siegel
Becca was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but got to Austin as quickly as she could. She graduated from The University of Texas in 1995 and Harvard Business School in 2000. She and her husband Scott have been in Austin ever since. Their kids, Brad (2 ½) and Carly (9 months) will both be at the CDC this fall while Becca continues to grow her career at Dell. Becca and her family have been members of Congregation Beth Israel since 2004. She participates in the Friendly Visitors Program, is a graduate of the first CBI Leadership Development Program, and has been actively involved with CBI’s annual fundraiser for the last two years.
Trustee #7 – Bryan Caplovitz
Prior to joining the CBI board last year, Bryan's served as a trustee on the JCAA board for two years. He earned his B.A. from the University of Texas before moving to New York to earn his Ed.M. in Higher and Adult Education Administration. He is the President and CEO of SpeakerMatch, the world's leading provider of emerging professional speakers. He has two sons, one who graduated and one currently attending the Child Development Center (CDC) at Congregation Beth Israel. His wife Allison, who owns an educational research consulting firm, just completed a 2-year term as chair of the CDC board. A native Texan (born in Houston, Texas), Bryan has been back in Austin since 1999.
Trustee #8 – Ralph Miller
Trustee #9 – Ellen Blair
A lifelong Texan, Ellen has lived in Austin since 1977 and became a member of CBI in 2003. She has a BA from Austin College in Social Science and an MPH from the UT Health Science Center in Houston. Hailing from a musical family, Ellen plays piano, is a former member of the Austin Civic Chorus, and spent two brief but delightful years taking fiddle lessons from Alvin Crow. Her work life has been spent in the public sector, primarily in women's health and clinic management. As a freelance consultant she traveled to Asia, Africa and the Middle East for a number of years before bowing out to care for her mother. At CBI, she has taught religious school fourth grade for two years and been active in the Social Action Committee and as an IHN volunteer. Ellen's international work especially that with Palestinians galvanized her belief that peace comes more from grass roots person-to-person contact than from government negotiations. That is why she is currently studying Arabic as well as Hebrew, and doing a lot of reading about history and cultures. She hopes to one day live and work in the Middle East, helping to make peace one relationship at a time.
Trustee #10 –Tonyia Cone
Tonyia Cone moved to Austin via Boston in 2002 in order to escape bitter winters and pursue a master’s degree in print journalism at the University of Texas. She joined Congregation Beth Israel in 2005, where she started a book club that ran for about a year, wrote articles on behalf of CBI for the Jewish Outlook, served on the Publicity Committee and when time permits, assists the Lifelong Learning Committee. She is a member of CBI Sisterhood.
Tonyia, a freelance journalist, is a regular contributor to numerous local publications including the Jewish Outlook. She also serves on the Cultural Arts Committee at the Jewish Community Association of Austin and the board of the Austin Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. In her spare time, Tonyia enjoys spending time with her husband, Evan, their dogs, Peepa and Matty, and racing triathlons. The Cones are expecting their first baby in July.
Trustee #11 – Allan Adelman
Allan Adelman has been a member of CBI since 1995. Previously, Allan was a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Amarillo, Texas where he had his Bar Mitzvah and was confirmed. Since joining CBI, Allan has volunteered for many different things within the congregation. Allan has been mentoring Bar and Bat Mitzvah students since 1997, he served as the Advisor for ATT for three years, he is starting his third year of chairing the Ritual Committee, he sings in the choir, directs the Tizmoret, and helps arrange the music for the yearly Purim Shpeil. Allan graduated from the University of Texas with a Mechanical Engineering Degree in 1994 and is currently an Engineering Project Manager at Applied Materials. In his spare time, Allan is on the Board of Trustees for the Longhorn Alumni Band Charitable Fund, and is a member of the Austin Symphonic Band.
Trustee #12 – Tina Gardner
Tina is a lifelong member of the congregation and was a member of the confirmation class of 1962. She served as president of B’nai B’rith Girls and B’nai B’rith Women. Tina won the Women's Leadership Award for Austin Jewish Community in 1977. She was co-president of Brooke Elementary PTA for two years. She has served on the Board of Trustees of both the congregation and the Jewish Community Association of Austin. Tina helped start the The Jewish Outlook and the day camp. In 2003, she chaired Congregation Beth Israel’s 125th Anniversary Celebration. She works for Integrated Financial Planning Center as a seminar coordinator and in client relations. She and husband of 40 years, Paul, have one son, Todd and his wife Stacey, one granddaughter, Avery, and another grandchild due the end of July '07.