Who We Are

Leadership

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm

CEO, Bnai Zion

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm is Chief Executive of Bnai Zion, Co-Founder of SoulShop Studios and Host of Good Faith Effort, a weekly podcast on the Bible and Society. Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm is proud to lead one of America’s oldest organizations dedicated to strengthening and accelerating Israel and the Jewish People.

Prior to his tenure at Bnai Zion, he served as Special Advisor to the President of Yeshiva University. He is also formerly the William Fischman Resident Scholar at the Jewish Center in Manhattan. A graduate of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Lamm earned his MA, as a US-UK Fulbright Scholar, in Jewish Studies and Eastern Christianity from University College London, an MA from Princeton University in Religion, and rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He earned his PhD in ancient Judaism and Christianity from Princeton University.

Rabbi Lamm’s writings on faith and the public square have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The Jerusalem Post, FOXNews, The New York Post and The Jewish Standard. He has spoken and taught across the world – from New York to Los Angeles; from London to Jerusalem; from Toronto to Hong Kong – about the role of Jewish values in addressing real-world problems. Ari is passionate about exploring traditional values and human ingenuity as powerful forces for good in the world.

Justin Hayet

Justin Hayet

COO, Bnai Zion

In this position as COO of Bnai Zion, Justin oversees the operations, finances, media strategy and day to day management of the organization. Prior to this position, Justin served as Senior Project Manager at Genesis Philanthropy Group, one of the Jewish world’s leading foundations, helping craft the foundations’ approach to Israel-Diaspora engagement. Before that, Justin served for three years as Senior Advisor to the Israeli Ambassador at the United Nations; he led operations and strategy for Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who held one of Israel’s most challenging and important diplomatic posts. Justin received his Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Binghamton University and his Master’s Degree in Public Administration, focusing on non-profit leadership and management from Binghamton University.

Board Members

Chairman

George Schaeffer

George W. Schaeffer’s story is a unique and inspiring example of living the American Dream, filled with adventure, philanthropy and entrepreneurial spirit.

The son of Holocaust survivors, Schaeffer was born in Hungary and immigrated to America with his family in 1956. As a young boy, he developed a strong work ethic and passion for business.  After receiving his degree from City College of New York in 1969, he ran his family’s garment manufacturing business in New York City.

In search of new opportunities and challenges, Schaeffer moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and started a business that would ultimately become a dominant global consumer brand, OPI Products.  He built OPI from the ground up and introduced the world to the nail lacquers now preferred by professionals and loved by customers. With an eye for detail and a unique name for every color, Schaeffer shaped and infused OPI’s brand with his passion for excellence and innovation, while creating a work environment that treated everyone like family, regularly providing new computers and school scholarships to children of OPI employees.

As the company thrived, Schaeffer maintained a top priority of giving back to his community. He formed the Schaeffer Family Foundation, which has donated millions to charities worldwide, including the American Heart Association, the Cedars Sinai and the National Kidney Foundation. In 2012, the City of Hope Cancer Center presented Schaeffer with the hospital and research center’s most prestigious honor, the Spirit of Life Award, in recognition of his compassion, dedication and generosity to important charitable causes. Schaeffer also is actively involved as Chairman of the Board of the Bnai Zion Foundation, which supports critical health and education projects in Israel. He has been a member since 1965. His dedication to Israel is visible throughout the country in numerous projects from Haifa to Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim.

After building OPI to be one of the top brands in the world, Schaeffer sold the company and recently assumed the role as President and CEO of People’s Trust Insurance, a Florida based homeowner’s insurance company he cofounded in 2008.

In an industry not known for innovation, People’s Trust has pioneered a solution that provides affordable rates and a concierge claims service through its Rapid Response Team partner. Built on the fundamentals of preparation and responsiveness, this unique approach to addressing one of Florida’s toughest challenges was recognized as the winner of the 2013 Enterprise Florida Innovators in Business Award.

With more than 550 employees within its family of companies and over $250 million in direct written premium, People’s Trust has emerged as an industry leader currently providing protection to over 125,000 policyholders throughout the Sunshine State.

As an integral foundation of the company, Schaeffer has instilled People’s Trust with his vision for building a respected and superior brand that provides the best value and encourages employees to treat customers the way they would want to be treated. Schaeffer lives every day with a joyful attitude toward life, exemplified by his signature “Five F’s” —Family, Fairness, Food and a Fun Future. He remains active as an investor in several consumer products companies and has numerous real estate holdings throughout the country. George is married to Irina Schaeffer and has two grown children. George and Irina reside in Boca Raton, Florida.

President

Stephen J. Savitsky

In the world of Social Impact, Steve Savitsky needs little introduction.  Steve’s passionate advocacy on behalf of those less fortunate everywhere had been a trademark of his lifetime of achievements and largely focused on his work for many prominent Non-Profit Organizations.  He has held some of the most distinguished executive positions and provided incredible leadership as President and Chairman of the Board of the Orthodox Union and today provides the same vision, commitment to service and generosity of spirit as President of Bnai Zion Foundation.

Notwithstanding his illustrious career in the nonprofit sector, Steve also successfully heads ATC Health Care Services, as the President and Chairman of the Board of this nationwide provider of temporary medical staffing services.  He also founded and served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Tender Loving Care – Staff Builders, one of the nation’s largest providers of home health care services. Steve with his wife Genie, are proud parents of four children and 18 grandchildren who much to the Steve’s delight, live within walking distance of their grandparents.

Vice President

Jan Kiderman

Since graduating Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1985, Jan has worked with startup founders and investors, optimizing business plans, building teams, transforming business models and raising capital to ideally and quickly position them for rapid growth.  He calls it, “Strategic Development on Steroids.”

Focused largely on startups and early-stage companies in services, materials, environmental technology, agriculture and healthcare, Jan is often retained with the mandate to operate in stealth mode and under-the-radar, unlocking value while protecting the founders’ and investors’ interests and Intellectual Property.  Even with the challenges that such work entails, Jan has been instrumental in helping over a dozen fledging companies. Jan’s expertise is diverse. He has crafted unconventional market entry strategies and helped many startups gain traction, raise significant capital, and close on highly successful market-entry and exit strategies.

Jan credits his unique brand of market savvy problem-solving and his ability to find the right doors, and then, get them to open, to years of “rubbing elbows” with some of the brightest strategic minds, including Angel, Venture Capital and strategic investors and M&A executives in a variety of industries.  He has worked closely with executive and board level directors of companies as diverse as:  AWS, Alphabet, Apple, Cargill, Comcast, Google, GE, IBM, Intel, Pfizer, Medtronic, Stryker and Verizon and with key stakeholders at a variety of State and Federal government agencies. 

When not helping turn around startups, Jan has also applied himself with over 20 years of impressive track record in the Real Estate and Title Insurance industries, advising and managing real estate and title closings for thousands of residential and commercial transactions, including some of the most prominent transactions in New York City and elsewhere in the US. Jan brings a wealth of passion and experience to everything he touches as a tireless volunteer and friend to so many. Be it connecting someone unemployed with a job opportunity, or advising or mentoring someone on life’s other challenges, Jan is always there.

Treasurer

Shira Lewis

Chief Executive Officer and National Secretary
Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm

Board of Directors
Gabriella Diamond
David S. Edrich
Sharon Halpern
Shira Lewis
Daniel Posner
Liran Yechiel

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Privacy Policy

At Bnai Zion, we believe it is important to respect the privacy of our constituents, our business contacts and others who provide us with personally identifiable information. Personally Identifiable Information is defined as information that can be used to identify an individual such as name, address, telephone number and any other information connected personally with an individual.

Our policy was created to affirm our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our constituents and to inform you of the practices we follow in protecting your Personally Identifiable Information. This policy also applies to Bnai Zion's related entities.

Why Do We Collect Information?

At Bnai Zion, we have lots of opportunity to collect your Personally Identifiable Information. Some of these might include when you:

If you give us your Personally Identifiable Information for any reason, we consider your information to be strictly confidential.

Do We Obtain Your Consent to Collect Your Information?

When we collect, use or disclose your Personally Identifiable Information we will obtain your consent to do so unless such permission is obvious or implied, for example, when you makes a purchase via our website or call to place an order with our customer service department.

If you would like to withdraw your consent for any reason, please email us at [email protected].

How Do We Use Your Information?

We use your Personally Identifiable Information to provide you with the services or products for which you provided us with your information, and/or for those purposes considered reasonable under the circumstances. We are not in the business of selling your information to third parties and only share information with our related entities, with vendors to whom we obtain services, or when it is necessary to comply with the law or to protect the rights, property or safety of Bnai Zion.

How Long Do We Retain Your Information?

We retain your Personally Identifiable Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which you gave it or for any legal or business purpose. When your information is no longer required by Bnai Zion for any reason, we have procedures in place to destroy it, delete it, or convert it to anonymous form.

How Is Your Information Kept Accurate?

Bnai Zion endeavors to keep your Personally Identifiable Information as accurate as possible so that it can continue to provide you with the products and services you've requested. For this, we will need your assistance in maintaining the accuracy of your information. You may request a correction to your Personally Identifiable Information by emailing [email protected].

How Do We Protect Your Information?

Bnai Zion is committed to protecting your Personally Identifiable Information from unauthorized access or disclosure. In this, we do our best to maintain appropriate security both in our technology and our physical records. We also limit access to your information to persons management determines need to know for the purpose of providing you with the requested products and services.

Internet Privacy Policy

Your privacy on the Internet is extremely important to us. Because you give us personal information, we believe you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding what we do with that information. This privacy statement discloses the information we gather, how we use it, and how you can correct or change it.

Here's What We Do With Your Internet Provider (IP) Address

We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web site. Your IP address is used to help identify you and your shopping cart and to gather broad demographic information.

Here's Why We Place A Cookie On Your Hard Drive

Bnai Zion's website uses a feature of your Internet Web browser that is called a "cookie." A "cookie" is a file that your Web browser places on your computer's hard drive. When you initially log on to our website, we create a "cookie" for your computer and then use it to track your clicks as you go through the Web site. Approximately 95% of eCommerce websites use "cookies" to help make their shopping cart work. Our website uses cookies to improve the user experience, including:

There is no personal information stored within the cookie itself and the data included in the cookie is useful only to Bnai Zion. Our website does not and cannot use cookies to retrieve personal information about you from your computer. Cookies cannot be used by our website to retrieve any personal information about you unless you have previously purchased from or registered on our website.

The "help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies allow you to take full advantage of some of our website's best features, and we recommend that you leave them turned on.

This Is Who Gets Your Information

Information about our website's visitors is an important part of our business, but we are not in the business of selling it to others. We share customer information only with the subsidiaries and partners described below:

Protection of the Website and Others

We release account and other personal information when we believe that it is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce or apply our Terms of Use or protect the rights, property, or safety of Bnai Zion, our website, or our users.

This Is Why You Register With bnaizion.org

Our registration form ask you to give us information about yourself which will allow us to help you in the following ways.

When You Place An Order, This Is What We Do With The Information

We'll Protect You When You're On Our Site

Our website may contain optional links to partners and third party Internet sites and services that may collect data from you or your computer. Please be aware that if you choose to leave our site via a link, Bnai Zion assumes no responsibility for the privacy practices or the content of other web sites.

You Can Use Your Credit Cards Safely

Our website uses a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information. All user contact information is contained behind secured networks and is accessible only by a limited number of trusted employees who have special access rights to production systems. Passwords are encrypted in our secure database, which is also located behind secured networks. All sensitive/credit information supplied by users is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

How to Remove Your Name From Our Newsletter/Mailing List

Our website gives users the following options for removing their e-mail address from our database so you will not receive future communications:

If You Want To Change Your Information

We want you to enjoy all of the features of our website by keeping your account information current. We provide our users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided:

All Other Questions

If you have additional questions about this privacy statement, the practices of Bnai Zion, or your dealings with this web site, please email us at [email protected].