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Leadership
Board
Ariel Ackerman is the founder and managing partner of Ackerman Development, a privately-owned company, specializing in real estate development, construction, and tech investments. The firm is well known in pioneering architecturally distinct residential and mixed-use projects.
Working in partnership with world-class architectural firms, currently, the company’s portfolio includes existing assets and ground-up development, including sky-scrapers in NYC and Miami. Ackerman’s strong proven track record allows the company to be nimble and selective in its projects. Presently, a robust pipeline of unique and imaginative projects are ongoing, such as 9 DeKalb and 247 Cherry Street in NYC, and Monad Terrace in Miami Beach – with a total of over 1300 apartments currently underway. Ariel Ackerman’s guiding principle for business is “Work hard in silence, let success be your noise”.
With his extensive background and proven track record, both in Real-Estate, as an important player changing the skyline of New-York, and in technology, being involved with the first Israeli company to be bought by Google (Quiksee 2009), Ariel’s rare and dynamic experience positions him to be one of very few — if not the only — real estate developers in New York, who is disrupting the industry with technology.
Dalia Cohen holds a degree in Business Administration from FAAP in São Paulo, Brazil, and began her career in finance at Safra Bank as a controller. Fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, with working knowledge of Hebrew, she brings an international perspective to her professional and community work. Dalia resides on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and serves on the Board of Manhattan Day School. She is also a parent at Ramaz Upper School.
Entrepreneur Colin Halpern has a long history of creating and growing businesses. In 1993, he secured the Domino’s Pizza Master Franchise Agreement for the United Kingdom and Ireland and founded UK-based Domino’s Pizza Group Ltd. (DPG). As of December 2021, the company’s market capitalization was £2.55 billion.
Under Mr. Halpern’s stewardship as chairman (1993 – 2011) and vice-chairman (2011- 2022), the company became listed on the London Stock Exchange, expanded its reach into Germany and Switzerland, and grew to include more than 1,200 stores delivering over 106 million pizzas a year.
In late 2021, Mr. Halpern announced he was stepping down from DPG to focus his efforts on Maverick Ventures, which he says was his most exciting project.
Yossie Hollander is a successful software entrepreneur and philanthropist. Hollander, spent over 45 years building technology companies in the United States and Israel. Over the years, Hollander founded several successful public and private technology companies. For the past 25 years, he has dedicated himself to philanthropy, with a significant focus on combating antisemitism in the U.S.
Hollander serves on many boards, including the Weizmann Institute of Science. He and his wife Dana founded the Dana and Yossie Hollander Center for Structural Proteomics, a world leader in the field. Hollander received an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute in 2010. He is also the founder and chairman of the Israeli Institution for Economic Planning, a think tank dedicated to improving the Israeli economy.
In the U.S., Hollander is co-founder and Chairman of the Fuel Freedom Foundation, a (former) member of the Board of Councilors at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College, a member of the board of advisors of Cornell Atkinson center for sustainable future. Hollander is also the founder and major funder of Echoes and Reflections, the largest Holocaust education program in the U.S., as well as a board member of the USC Shoah Foundation which is dedicated to archiving stories from Holocaust witnesses and survivors. He is a founding board member of Yad Vashem USA .
Daniella Gross Schlisser is a residential real estate broker in Manhattan, specializing in some of the city’s finest luxury properties since 2001. Daniella is a native New Yorker whose father Z”L was a Hungarian survivor of Auschwitz, three labor camps, and a death march, and whose mother was born in Palestine to Polish parents who fled the Holocaust and was raised in Vienna, Austria, where she still resides. Due to her heritage and upbringing, Daniella, educated in New York, Vienna, and Paris, and fluent in five languages, is a global citizen with a strong Jewish identity. In every city she has lived, she has been an active and outspoken member of the Jewish community. Her dedication to remembering and sharing Jewish history, especially the Holocaust, is ingrained in her.
Daniella currently lives on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and in Sag Harbor on Long Island, as closely as possible to her three children, two of whom are married, and her beloved French Bulldog.
Jennifer Smith was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, a Juris Doctor from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and a Master of Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
Jennifer is an attorney representing children in Dependency Court in Los Angeles. Prior to that, Jennifer practiced child advocacy law at The Legal Aid Society in New York.
As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Jennifer is focused on Holocaust education for future generations.
Staff
Tamar Major is a nonprofit leader with extensive experience in board building and strategic planning. She has led large capital campaigns and surpassed ambitious fundraising goals. Tamar held key positions at notable institutions such as The Jewish Museum and Yeshiva University. Most recently, she served as Vice President for Development at The New Jewish Home, a 175-year-old organization dedicated to the care of 10,000 older adults.
In her role as National Director of Philanthropy for Yad Vashem USA Foundation, Tamar partners with donors nationwide and fosters support for Yad Vashem’s mission of honoring Holocaust victims and celebrating the resilience of survivors.
Born and raised in Belgium, Tamar is the child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors. She moved to New York in her twenties and earned her degree in Instructional Technology from Columbia University. Tamar resides in Riverdale, New York, and is the proud mother of three adult children.
Beth Katznelson is a philanthropic leader with extensive fundraising experience. She has successfully raised millions of dollars through strategic campaign development and donor analytics. Her focus encompasses healthcare, social impact, and the Jewish community, where she has initiated grassroots campaigns and restructured leadership boards.
As the National Deputy Director of Philanthropy at Yad Vashem USA Foundation, Beth’s role is deeply personal as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Her previous positions include Director of National Development and Leadership for Community Security Service and National Director of Industry Partnerships and Corporate Giving for the Anti-Defamation League.
In addition to her philanthropic efforts, Beth serves as an adjunct professor at New York University’s George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising, teaching courses on non-profit management and donor analytics.
Beth earned her B.S. from Syracuse University with dual concentrations in Sociology and Child and Family Studies and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, specializing in non-profit management. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and twin daughters.
Alyssa Sadoff joins the Yad Vashem USA Foundation following many years as the Director of Special Events and Individual Relations at the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC), where she spearheaded their Annual Gala Benefit Concert and Dinner along with leading individual and peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. Prior to YPC, Alyssa had a career as a school librarian and in children’s book publishing. She is thrilled to apply her fundraising, events, and research skills on Yad Vashem USA Foundation’s mission.
Alyssa earned her A.B. degree in Art History from Washington University in St. Louis and also holds a Master of Library Science degree from Pratt Institute. She and her husband reside in Tribeca and are the proud parents of a grown-up daughter and son.
