Jake Brzowsky is a research professional dedicated to community impact, currently serving as the manager of community research at UJA-Federation of New York. He also served as the study director of the 2023 Jewish Community Study of New York. Before joining UJA-Federation, Jake was a researcher at the Orthodox Union’s Center for Communal Research. A graduate of Princeton University, he holds a bachelor of arts in public and international affairs and a certificate in Judaic studies.

Eric became UJA-Federation’s CEO in July 2014, following a lengthy career as a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Prior to becoming CEO, Eric served in many volunteer leadership roles at UJA, including as vice chair of the Board. Eric graduated magna cum laude from both Columbia College and Cornell Law School. He and his wife, Tamar, live in Manhattan and have four children.

A child survivor of the Holocaust, Gabriella Major was born in Hungary. In 1944 when the Nazis invaded Hungary, Gabriella, her mother, and her grandmother were herded into the newly created ghetto in her hometown, Debrecen, while her father was taken separately to perform forced labor in a labor camp. After a few months of horrible living conditions in the ghetto, they were squeezed into cattle cars heading to Auschwitz as the final destination. Through a stroke of luck, their transport mistakenly was diverted, ending up instead in a concentration camp in Austria. Gabriella and her mother miraculously survived through very tough times of disease, hunger, and filth. Her grandmother unfortunately...

Greg Schneider was appointed executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in 2009. A passionate advocate for Holocaust survivors, he joined the Claims Conference in 1995 as an assistant to the then-executive vice president.  

Since 2011, he has facilitated the preparation for ongoing negotiations with the German government that have resulted in funding for compensation programs and home care for poor and disabled Holocaust survivors. In 2025, the Claims Conference will distribute approximately $530 million in compensation for survivors globally and $960 million for survivors’ welfare needs, such as home care, medicine,...

Violetta Shmulenzon is a native New Yorker whose family is originally from Odessa, Ukraine. Violetta rose from a counselor to a madricha and later director of camping and leadership development at the JCH, where she had the opportunity to develop multifaceted initiatives to meet the evolving needs of the RSJ community of New York. Taking a few years away from the JCH, Violetta was the recipient of the Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship in International Jewish Service, on behalf of JDC, working overseas on Jewish renewal activities in Odessa, Ukraine, and on migrant issues in Jerusalem.

Violetta also served as the program director for Overseas Experiences on the JDC Entwine team, overseeing...

Hanan Simhon was appointed vice president of Selfhelp’s  Holocaust Survivor Program in August 2015. He is responsible for overseeing the full scope of Selfhelp’s comprehensive programs and services for over 5,000 victims of Nazi persecution.  

Previously, he served as Selfhelp’s managing director of government-funded programs, overseeing a broad range of services to seniors, including affordable housing, case management, and aging services technology.  Hanan is intimately familiar with the challenges facing Holocaust survivors, especially as they age and their needs intensify, having served for nine years as an accomplished social service...