David Weiner
 
David Weiner has followed in his father’s footsteps in operating their Insurance Agency that focuses on Employee Benefits along with Life and Health Insurance with offices in the Chicago area since 1959. After moving to Phoenix in 1983 he became involved with the Jewish Federation where he served in many roles and was Co-Chair from 20017-2020. In addition to this David Chaired the Phoenix Chapter of AIPAC in the late 90’s and served on AIPAC’s National Board and later Chaired the Jewish Community Foundation. Currently David serves on the board of the community wide Oasis High School which expects to have their first class in 2023 and is on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Jerusalem. David has gained invaluable experience from these different organizations that allows him to bring the best practices from so many different organizations to Temple Chai.
 
David has been a member since 1996 and three years ago had the privilege of having his wedding to Robert Weiner performed by Rabbi Koppel. Robert reminds David how welcoming Temple Chai has been to both of them and they value the social action spirit of the temple and caring and open ways of our community.   David joined the board in 2021 and is excited about the opportunity to help chart our future into our new home while welcoming the new leadership of Rabbi Segal. 
 
Michael Loya
8/15/2022
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​Michael has been a proud member of Temple Chai, joining with his husband, Dr. Ronald Paler in 2015 after moving from California to Arizona.
 
Over the last several years he has been a student of the Mussar program embracing our Jewish traditions on a path leading to spiritual development. He has continued his Jewish learning as a student in the Adult B’nai Mitzvah program.     
 
Michael currently serves as the Temple Chai Marketing Chair, bringing over 7 years of synagogue marketing experience from a leading Jewish reform temple in Los Angeles.
 
He has over 25 years of marketing experience, creating advertising campaigns and managing multi-million-dollar budgets for leading companies in United States and Canada.
 
Michael is also a board President, serving 1,500 homes for the Retreat Village Association in Scottsdale and is the Communication Chair for the Grayhawk Community Association.
 
He continues to use his marketing expertise and talents to help support Temple Chai. 


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Betsy Zangara
8/15/2022
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Betsy Zangara is a Partner at Connor Group, an accounting advisory firm that specializes in helping companies work through complex business issues including technical accounting, mergers & acquisitions, audit readiness, IPO/SPAC, internal controls, SEC reporting, and monthly close. Prior to Connor Group, Betsy was an audit partner at BDO and spent nine years in the audit practice at Deloitte. In addition to her accounting degree, Betsy has a master’s degree in social work, focusing on non-profit organizations. Betsy has also spent time in Jewish education, starting as a madricha at Temple Chai in middle school, serving as a Hebrew school teacher during college in St. Louis, and then becoming the Hebrew School Principal, NFTY Advisor, and then the Director of Education at Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis. Locally, Betsy was in the 5th Cohort of the JFCS Professional Leadership Group, has co-chaired the Jewish National Fund Breakfast in Phoenix, and has served on the Associate Board of Teach for America.
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Betsy has a long history at Temple Chai – she attended religious school as a child, became a Bat Mitzvah, was involved in NFTY-SW and TCTY, and her three daughters (Talia, Leora, and Eliana with husband Jeremy) all went through the early childhood center and are now in the religious school. Betsy is looking forward to helping Temple Chai through the process of finding a new home and excited about the future of Temple Chai with Rabbi Segal as the new Senior Rabbi. 




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Lori Bruggeman
8/3/2022
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Lori Bruggeman is a CPA.  She started the first 10 years of her career working in public accounting and has spent the last 20 years working as a Controller/CFO for a Fire and Life Safety and currently a Roofing subcontractor in the construction industry.  She brings everyday, hands on accounting experience to her role as VP of Finance.  She has also maintained her public accounting experience with her own small accounting practice helping small businesses and individuals with financial and tax assistance.

She has served as the Treasurer of Release the Fear, a health and human service organization, serving the community by providing youth empowerment curriculum; utilizing principles of social emotional learning and inquiry-based programming.

​After being part of the adult bnai mitzvah program, Lori felt much more connected to Judaism and chose to become more involved in the Temple.  She is a regular at Friday night services and enjoys ending her week enjoying the meaningful music and prayers that Kabbalat Shabbat offers.


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Lea Plosker
8/3/2022
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​I am so excited to be a part of the Temple Chai community and humbled to have been asked to step into the role as VP of Education during this pivotal time in our history.  I have a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Character Education from the University of San Diego.  I also have a BA in Judaic Studies from University of Arizona.  I met my husband Ari while I was teaching in San Diego 14 years ago and married for 12. ( Ask my sometime about how we met!)  Ari likes to joke that I have 2 full time jobs, but not neither of them paid! 1 is all my volunteer work at Temple Chai and at Pardes and the other is a mom to our 2 beautiful girls!  Sophie is almost 11 and Julia is 7.  We have been at Temple Chai since 2015.  We started off as an ECC family and transitioned a couple of years ago to full members. The ECC and Temple Chai immediately felt like my home away from home.  The amazing warmth of our community, the family oriented atmosphere and most of all the open arms I feel at all times is what keeps me at Temple Chai.  I enjoy giving back knowing that my efforts will help make others feel the same way I do.  I have been volunteering since I was a teenager and my experience ranges from being a Madrich at my Synagogue in San Diego, helping start one of the biggest chapters of Far West USY, being a camp counselor, being a PTO president, co-chairing the Tikkun Olam committee at Pardes for 2 years, Co Chairing Staff Appreciation and Literacy at Pardes, Chairing the ECC Gala a few times and now my current position as VP of Education.  I am always willing to help where I can, especially if that means that one day someone else may say that Temple Chai has become their Home Away from Home! 


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Ingrid Gold
8/1/2022
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Ingrid Has been a member of Temple Chai for 30 years. She has been involved in many facets of Temple life, some of which include: teaching for 16 years off and on in the religious school, staff at religious school retreats, participating actively in a number of committees including caring committee, shiva minyan committee, visioning committee, co-chairing with Sarah Paikowsky the TC Civic Engagement Committee for Marginalized Communities, Family Promise Volunteer, TC Vegan Challenge, Advisory committee for Rabbi Search last year, co-chair with Nona Siegel of Eco Chai, High Holiday Usher. She has been an active member of Bat Chai, participating in meetings, events and retreats, including reading Torah. She was part of an active Chavurah at TC which met monthly for over 15 years, and many of the Chavurah members continue to be her closest friends. She was in a structured 3 year longTorah study group with Rabbi Bill Berk and continued in the Sunday Torah study group. She’s been blessed to have children who  have had baby namings at TC, attended pre-school at TC, religious school,  had B’nai Mitzvahs at TC,  confirmations at TC, been madrachim, and been married by TC Rabbis.

She has been an active volunteer in the community outside of TC as well, Including:
 City of Phoenix Park Steward 2021-present
HOA Board 2016-present
Precinct Committee Chairperson for LD24 2016-2019
Vice Chair- American College of Nurse Midwives Phoenix Chapter 1998-2002
Board Member-Chandler Library Board 1990-1992
President -Arizona Assoc of Midwives 1985-1992
President DoDiLi BBG 1974-1975

Ingrid has worked in  Women’s Healthcare for over 40 years; although she has delivered thousands of babies, she no longer delivers babies and currently works as a Nurse Practitioner. In addition to Nursing and Nurse Midwifery degrees, she has a Bachelor’s in Business, and Master’s in Health Services Administration from the WP Carey School at ASU, and worked as Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona.


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Alan Zeichick, VP of Administration, has found his Arizona community at Temple Chai, and loves that the congregation is so warm, welcoming, spiritual, and brings Judaism to life.
A tech media entrepreneur, Alan and his wife Carole retired to Phoenix in 2013, after nearly 25 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. A few years later, though, Alan un-retired and now works for Oracle as the editor of Java Magazine.

In Greater Phoenix, Alan is on the boards of the Jewish Community Resource Council and of the Jewish Federation, and currently serves on the Ethics Committee for the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). Alan is a former board member of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).
Alan and Carole are empty-nesters: Their son, daughter-in-law, and beautiful grandkittens live in Northern California.
 

​Jonathan Miller is a native of California and married to Penny who is originally from New York.  They have two children Madison (21) and Jason (23) are both graduates of Colorado State University and live in Fort Collins, CO.  Madison is a kindergarten teacher and Jason is a Program Director for a youth activity center
 
Jonathan is the Managing Partner of Miller Wolman CPAs PLLC.  With over 30 years’ experience as a Certified Public Accountant in business and tax services Jonathan and his professional team are able to integrate their four core capabilities: strategic business planning, corporate structure, tax planning and compliance to provide you or your business with solutions that fit your specific needs. Jonathan is also experienced working with CEOs, Professional Athletes and Entertainers as a Business Manager.  Jonathan and Penny have been members for over 20 years at Temple Chai.  Jason and Madison both attended the ERC, went through all the years of Hebrew school, had their Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s at Temple Chai as well as being confirmed.   Jonathan is a new member to the board and hopes to bring his financial consulting experience to Temple Chai.  
 
“ I feel we are at a fantastic time in our Jewish spiritual life with an incredible opportunity to create a unique Temple. I look forward to working with all members to achieve the goals of finding and creating a new and amazing home for the Temple Chai Community” 
 
Meaghan Kramer 7/31/2022
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​Meaghan is a civil rights lawyer at the Arizona Center for Disability Law (ACDL), where she is the Managing Attorney for the healthcare team. Through her work at ACDL, Meaghan targets systemic issues affecting Arizonans with disabilities in healthcare, voting, and employment matters. A long-time mental health and disability advocate, Meaghan is the former Chair of The Centers for Habilitation, the largest non-profit supporting developmentally and intellectually disabled Arizonans. She serves on the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners, the local Ryan White Planning Council, and the Phoenix Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues. Meaghan is also involved with NCJW Arizona and the organization's fight for reproductive justice in our state. Meaghan presents and writes on issues related to Arizona’s healthcare system, employment discrimination, and unconscious bias in the workplace. She has degrees in Public Administration, and Law from the University of Arizona. 
 
Meaghan and her wife Emily joined Temple Chai because of the community's commitment to inclusive judaism and social justice. They live in north central Phoenix with their dog, Frankie.
 
 
Don Schon 7/31/2022
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​Born Detroit; educated at Univ of Michigan, Yale School of Medicine x 2 and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently retired after practicing medicine in the valley since 1981.  Accomplishments include 13 patents, many professional awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Am Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (a field which he was instrumental in establishing). Member Temple Chai about 35 years. Involvement in the community include being on the Board of the Federation and Foundation, chairing the major gifts campaign of the Federation as well as becoming campaign chair. Currently on the boards of Temple Chai and the ADL. 
​Alan Zeichick, VP of Administration, has found his Arizona community at Temple Chai, and loves that the congregation is so warm, welcoming, spiritual, and brings Judaism to life.

A tech media entrepreneur, Alan and his wife Carole retired to Phoenix in 2013, after nearly 25 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. A few years later, though, Alan un-retired and now works for Oracle as the editor of Java Magazine.

In Greater Phoenix, Alan is on the boards of the Jewish Community Resource Council and of the Jewish Federation, and currently serves on the Ethics Committee for the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). Alan is a former board member of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).
Alan and Carole are empty-nesters: Their son, daughter-in-law, and beautiful grandkittens live in Northern California.

David Weiner
 
David Weiner has followed in his father’s footsteps in operating their Insurance Agency that focuses on Employee Benefits along with Life and Health Insurance with offices in the Chicago area since 1959. After moving to Phoenix in 1983 he became involved with the Jewish Federation where he served in many roles and was Co-Chair from 20017-2020. In addition to this David Chaired the Phoenix Chapter of AIPAC in the late 90’s and served on AIPAC’s National Board and later Chaired the Jewish Community Foundation. Currently David serves on the board of the community wide Oasis High School which expects to have their first class in 2023 and is on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Jerusalem. David has gained invaluable experience from these different organizations that allows him to bring the best practices from so many different organizations to Temple Chai.
 
David has been a member since 1996 and three years ago had the privilege of having his wedding to Robert Weiner performed by Rabbi Koppel. Robert reminds David how welcoming Temple Chai has been to both of them and they value the social action spirit of the temple and caring and open ways of our community.   David joined the board in 2021 and is excited about the opportunity to help chart our future into our new home while welcoming the new leadership of Rabbi Segal. 
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