Biographies of Senior Educational Staff Members:

Michael Wegier - Executive Director
Michael combines a passion for creative teaching with a commitment to strategic planning and educational leadership. He has worked in Jewish education and policy planning in Israel, the USA and the UK. His most recent position was Director of Program and Planning for the United Jewish Israel Appeal in the UK. Michael is a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows (2000-2002) and has a Master's Degree in Contemporary Jewry from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Previously, he served as a senior educator at Melitz in Jerusalem and was also the Melitz Scholar to the JCC in Baltimore from 1996-9.

Shalmi Barmore - Founder and Director ECHO
Past founder and director of Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem; Past Hebrew University School for Overseas Students teacher of history; Designed Holocaust curriculum for Israeli high school students and for American Jewish high schools

Janna Gayevsky - Director Olim Department
Born in Russia; BA in History and Philosophy at the University of Haifa; Joined Melitz in 1990; Jewish Agency Consultant for immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in North America

Helen London - Executive Director Melitz America
Certified educator for general and Judaic studies; Past Executive Director of the Meyerhoff Teen Initiative in Baltimore; Former Director of the Central Scholarship Bureau in Baltimore; Member of committees for management innovation and standards for excellence for a Maryland non-profit consultation group

Rena Magun - Director of the Overseas Department
Past Director of Development at the JDC; Coordinated and Implemented "Seminars on Wheels Day" for 5000 people at the 1998 GA (General Assembly) in Israel; Former Administrative Director, Short Term Student and Family Programs for Ramah Programs in Israel

Shira Steinitz - Director of Israel Department Writer and educator specializing in Israeli and Jewish identity and Israel-Diaspora relations through the prism of modern Hebrew literature; Author of (Hebrew University Hershon prize winning book) of poetry, The Stream of the Skin *; Involved in performance poetry and writes stage and theater productions

Shlomit Naor - Director of Ta Shma Shlomit was born and bred in Raanana, Israel, and received her B.A. in Philosophy and Hebrew Literature from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During the course of her formal studies, she learned and taught at Elul, a pluralistic beit midrash in Jerusalem. Shlomit has worked for more than a decade in Jewish education, primarily with the Education Department of the Jewish Agency heading both the Nitzanim program for training Israeli informal Jewish educators, as well as the Amitim program, which sends North Americans and Israelis to the Former Soviet Union for joint work in the Jewish communities. Recently she returned from three years as shlicha in Redbrige, Northeast London.