Professional Staff

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Karen Parry

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Karen sets the vision and strategy for Hillel of San Diego- ensuring that Hillel of San Diego is nurturing the Jewish identies of our next generation. A San Diego native, Karen earned her BA at UCSD and Masters at NYU.  Previously, she served as the Development Director at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, as Education Director at Temple Adat Shalom in Poway, and she got her start as the Teen Director at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. Karen is a proud Wexner Foundation Field Fellow alum, Merrin Teen Professionals Fellow alum, and Lipinsky Art Festival Woman of Valor. When not at Hillel, Karen enjoys all things musical theatre and chasing around her daughters and beagle with her husband…preferably at the beach. 

Jacob Leibowitz

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jacob is responsible for student engagement for Hillel of San Diego at all four campuses. Jacob was born in New York and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. He graduated from Beit Berl College, double majoring in history and Israel Studies. Following that he recieved his Masters in American Jewish Studies from Haifa University. Previously he served as the Director of Education and Travel at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel of Jewish National Fund.  Outside of work, he enjoys playing and watching sports and exploring the outdoors with his wife and dog.

Lisa Kalal

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Lisa is responsible for Hillel’s fundraising strategy, major gifts, capital campaign, planned giving, board relations and marketing. She has held key fundraising roles at San Diego Opera, Jewish Federation of San Diego County, United Way of San Diego County, and UC San Diego. Lisa and her husband are parents to three children in college who are all involved in Hillel.

Scotty Epstein

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Scotty oversees the operations at the Melvin Garb Hillel Center and the Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center. Born and raised in Arizona, Scotty has been involved in the Jewish community his whole life- from going to work with his dad at the JCC to being a coach for the Maccabi Games. Prior to joining the Hillel team, Scotty led large tours to national parks and monuments all over the United States. In his spare time he is a basketball coach at La Jolla High School and loves all sports! 

Eva Kvaloesund

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (based at UCSD)

Eva is arriving in San Diego from Tucson, AZ where she served as Director of Jewish Lifelong Learning at a large synagogue. She has experience in a variety of fields, from tech to escape rooms, but her passion is to build vibrant and diverse Jewish communities. She has degrees in History and Archival Studies. In her spare time Eva loves to cook, read, shul hop, and hike with her dogs.

Jessica Meyer

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (based at SDSU)
Jessica oversees the programming and engagement opportunities for students at San Diego State University. Throughout these multiple positions, she realized her true passion was working in the Jewish community.  She is a proud Puentes Leadership and Resiliency Fellow Alum through Jewtina y Co. Through this fellowship, Jessica has found her passion for creating more spaces for Jews of multiple intersectional identities. When Jessica is not at Hillel, she is most often enjoying a day at the beach, watching a Disney movie, or finding a new coffee shop to get an iced latte at. 
 

Danielle Botvin

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (Based at USD and CSUSM)

Danielle serves as our new Assistant Director based at University of San Diego and California State University, San Marcos. Danielle is no stranger to Hillel. She was an active student at Beach Hillel during her college years and has spent the last three years working at San Francisco Hillel as their Israel Education and Experience Coordinator. When not at one of the two campuses Danielle serves, she is usually cooking up something delicious in her kitchen or playing at the beach with her pup Roxxie. 

Daniel Parker

JERRI-ANN AND GARY JACOBS FAMILY DIRECTOR OF STUDENT LIFE (based at UCSD)

Daniel is responsible for bringing compelling and innovative Jewish learning experiences to students at UCSD. Daniel is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, where he was active in Hillel. Originally from San Diego, Daniel has worked as a song and prayer leader, Hebrew tutor, camp counselor and a rabbinic intern at a local synagogue in San Diego.

Alex Kaufman

EZRA JEWISH LEARNING SPRINGBOARD FELLOW (based at SDSU)

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio Alex Kaufman attended Kent State University where he studied journalism, before transferring to the University of Cincinnati and majoring in Judaic Studies. As an undergraduate, he exercised his passion for communication while working at the Kent State student radio station, and blogging for several sports websites. These experiences helped him to better understand how to explain complex issues among Jewish, and Israeli society to colleagues. 

Or Amrani

JEWISH AGENCY FELLOW (based at SDSU)

Or is one of our Israeli emissaries for the Jewish Agency responsible for Israel engagement and education at Hillel of San Diego. Originally from Tel Aviv, Or was a captain in the army—commander of officer’s courses, and a lecturer on leadership and values. He is the founder and CEO of MirrOR, an organization that specializes in providing professional tools to improve public speaking skills and how to read body language. While in law school, Or was the founder and President of the Public Speaking Skills Club at The College of Management.  In his spare time, Or loves to travel the world and see different cultures, as well as play soccer and tennis.

Eyal Asher

JEWISH AGENCY FELLOW (based at UCSD)

Eyal was born and raised in Tel Aviv, and after high school he served 3 years in Sayeret Golani Unit. After his service at IDF, he traveled for 6 months in South America, and when he came back he started his academic phase at Reichman University, and studied Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy. During school he participated in a selective program for Public Diplomacy, and took initiatives against antisemitism. In his 2nd year of school he started to work under the Masa Organization. Fun fact: Eyal has a sheep collection, and he is very picky about it! 

Maya Satnick

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Maya is responsible for marketing & communications, content creation, data management & assisting the development department in fundraising campaigns. Maya graduated from SDSU in 2023 with a B.S. in Kinesiology. During her time at SDSU, she held leadership positions at Hillel of San Diego at SDSU as a Student Ambassador, President of Challah for Hunger, and on the Kef Committee. In 2023 Maya earned the Hillel Leadership Award for the SDSU campus. In her free time, Maya enjoys doing various art projects and spending time with her family and friends.

 

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