Digital Leaders
Digital Leaders Program
Jewish Community evening
Tuesday 17 December
19:00-22:00
@ JW3 341-351 Finchley Rd, London NW3 6ET
Evening Schedule
19:00
Mingling drinks and finger food
19:20
Shai Babad - General Director, Ministry of Finance, Israel
Martin Paisner - Chair of Israel Executive Committee, JDC Board
Raymond Simonson - CEO JW3
Michelle Janes - Executive director, Lead
Welcome and addresses
20:00
Dinner and conversation - round tables
21:00
Closing remarks and desserts
VIP UK Guests
Raymond Simonson
CEO, JW3
Raymond is the first CEO of JW3, London's Jewish Community Centre - the only one of its kind in the UK – which opened in September 2013. He came into this role with over 25 years' experience in informal Jewish education, leadership development, youth work and community building. He is a qualified Community and Youth Worker, holds a BA in Jewish History, an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community & Youth Work, and is an alumnus of the Cambridge University Senior Faith Leadership Programme. He was the first full time Executive Director of the global Jewish learning organisation Limmud. Prior to this he was the UJIA/Jewish Agency Director of Informal Jewish Education, where he spent a decade working with thousands of Jewish educators and youth leaders across the UK. In a lay capacity, he sits on the Limmud FSU International Steering Committee, the advisory boards of Mitzvah Day and the London Jewish Forum, and mentors a young professional leaders across the British Jewish community. Raymond is the author of the chapter “Limmud: A Unique Model of Transformative Jewish Learning” published in the ‘International Handbook of Jewish Education’. He is grateful that his wife, an NHS Psychiatric Nurse, and two children are incredibly patient.
Michelle Janes
Executive Director, Lead
Michelle is the Executive Director of Lead and is responsible for the strategic growth and direction of the organisation.
Having completed an MBA with a focus on senior lay-professional relationships in the UK Jewish community, Michelle’s links to leadership training and development stretch back over 20 years.
A graduate of the Machon L’Madrichei Chutz L’Aretz and with much leadership experience gained from her involvement in RSY-Netzer, the youth movement of Reform Judaism in the UK, enabling others has always been at the heart of what motivates her.
After studying for a BSc (Hons) in Multi-Media Technology she gained a PGCE in Secondary ICT and worked as a Head of Department in a London school where she brought back teacher training placements and was also seconded to Middlesex University as a lecturer on the PGCE ICT course.
Before joining Lead, she worked for Masorti Judaism as their Operations Director for 5 years managing programming, events and volunteer development.
She is passionate about diversity and equality and is always looking for the next challenge
Chana Kanzen
CEO, Jewish Interactive
Chana Kanzen, B.Ed(hons) QTS. Dip.Ed, set up Jewish Interactive in the UK in 2013. She directs the UK’s expanding team and sits on their Board of Directors and is CEO for the global operations across US, Israel and South Africa.
Chana has helped to write and develop integrated curriculums, established community programmes and regularly lectures to parents and teachers on a variety of educational topics. She has spoken at Google HQ in London and Tel Aviv, Apple HQ London and NYC and at Oxford University’s Department for Education.
Before joining Jewish Interactive, Chana was a teacher mentor at the Jewish Curriculum Partnership, Head of Jewish studies at Morasha Jewish Primary School in London, England.
Chana is passionate about innovative kodesh teaching and enjoys nothing more than watching children’s faces light up as they experience Judaism through Ji.
Jonathan Simmons
Founding Partner, Zone
As a founding partner in leading UK digital agency Zone, Jonathan worked with some of the UK's biggest commercial brands and ‘social purpose' organisations including The Guardian, The Depts of Business, Health and Education, The Scouts, Cancer Research UK, The NSPCC, and the hugely successful Girl Effect campaign. Following the sale of Zone to Global consultancy Cognizant, Jonathan spends his time starting businesses and consulting, including as a trustee of The UK's biggest housing charity Shelter and retained consultant to JK Rowling's foundation Lumos.
Ellisa Estrin
Director of Marketing, Communications & Customer Engagement, Jewish Care
Ellisa was appointed into the role of Director of Marketing, Communications and Customer Engagement at Jewish Care in August 2018.
Ellisa joined Jewish Care 10 years ago having held roles in various London advertising agencies where she was responsible for delivering marketing campaigns for clients including; NSPCC, Department of Health, LA Fitness, Waitrose, Privilege Insurance and Vodafone.
Ellisa’s career began at Jewish Care in a Fundraising & Marketing role at Redbridge Jewish Community Centre (a place she volunteered at from the age of 15–18 years old). Over the last decade she has held several roles of increasing responsibility including overseeing the marketing of Jewish Care’s services, brand development, and for four years was the Assistant Director of Marketing
Joshua Salter
COO, Jewish Interactive
Joshua is the Chief Operating Officer for Jewish Interactive. He has worked in operations, events & logistics for Jewish communal organisations in the UK for over 15 years. These include UJIA, JAFI, Chabad Lubavitch and most recently for Aish UK as campus operations director. Much of his work has been focused around Jewish educational programmes and projects for youth and young adults and he has facilitated travel programmes for thousands of young British Jews on study trips to Israel & Poland. He has a BA hons degree in English Literature & Language and a postgraduate NCTJ Journalism accreditation. Joshua lives in London and is based at the Ji London JHUB office
Avi Gillis
Head Of Digital Inclusion Policy and Diversity in Tech, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Avi is the Head of Digital Inclusion Policy and Diversity in Tech at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. He and his team lead on government policy responses to issues surrounding the digital divide, improving the digital capability of those with limited digital skills and bringing underrepresented groups into the UK's world-leading tech ecosystem.
Before working in government, Avi worked in and around the UK Jewish community, including a long stint at UJIA and the Jewish Agency, as well as two years setting up the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev)'s UK base. Avi has also lived in Yerucham, where he attended the Yeshivat Hesder.
He is married with three children and for his sins, supports Arsenal and enjoys a sunny day at the Cricket.
Zoe Steel
Director of Marketing and Communications, JW3
Zoe joined Jw3 in 2008 with experience working across the whole Marketing Mix including management and development of websites, online advertising and media buys, Google analytics and SEO, with a documented record of success in increasing online presence, ROI and brand awareness.
She brings expertise in multiple digital disciplines, including SEO, PPC, front end development, app development, data and behavioural analytics as well as email marketing. Results have included significant sales growth and fulfilment of large-scale national campaigns.
Key Areas of Expertise: Social Media Marketing, PPC platforms, HTML5, CSS3, Content Marketing, Branding and copywriting, SEO & SEM, Data analysis, Conversion Optimisation, Email Marketing and A/B Testing.