PAS Staff are Here for You
From the receptionist who answers your call and greets you at the door to the educators who plan events, our dedicated and capable staff welcome you to a rich array of classes, social events, and innovative explorations of all facets of Judaism.
Administrative
Valerie Russo
Executive DirectorValerie Russo is the Executive Director of Park Avenue Synagogue. She joins us after a decades-long successful career in the non-profit sector and in government, and she brings to PAS her proven leadership and her operational and administrative excellence. Valerie, her husband Marc Freud, and their two teenage children live on the Upper East Side. They are longtime members of Temple Israel just a few blocks away and are looking forward to also becoming part of the PAS community.
Geet Engel
Director of FinanceGeet joined Park Avenue Synagogue as Director of Finance in March, 2015. She has extensive management experience in accounting and financial management positions with a specialization in working with private Jewish Day schools. She has an expertise in accounting procedures and financial statements, payroll and financial forecasting.
Hadley Rolf
Director of DevelopmentHadley Rolf joined Park Avenue Synagogue as Director of Development in October 2019. Most recently, Hadley was the Associate Director of Development at St. Anne’s Episcopal School an independent school in Denver, CO. She has experience in growing annual funds, enriching capital campaigns, and managing planned giving societies.
Lesley Alpert-Schuldenfrei
Director of CommunicationsLesley Alpert-Schuldenfrei is thrilled to join Park Avenue Synagogue as Director of Communications. She is a marketing and communications professional with more than 25 years of experience creating strong brands, building audiences and constituents, and establishing communications strategies in a variety of nonprofit organizations. Lesley has worked in a wide range of industries from Broadway and the circus arts to live music and visual arts.
Jason Santos
Facilities DirectorJason Santos started working with Park Avenue Synagogue in 2010, spending his first two years at PAS as a contractor. During that time, he shined as a leader and was promoted to a managerial position in 2012, later becoming Facilities Director in 2018. As Facilities Director, Jason manages three buildings for PAS – 50 E 87th Street, 9 E 89th Street, and the Eli M. Black Lifelong Learning Center at 11 E 89th Street — as well as five clergy and staff apartments.
Programming
Rabbi Bradley Solmsen
Director of Congregational EducationRabbi Bradley Solmsen is a senior Jewish educational leader with significant experience engaging youth and the staff who work with our young people, as well as creating innovative programming. Immediately before he joined the Park Avenue Synagogue community as our Director of Congregational Education, Bradley served as the Executive Director of Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, New York.
Rabbi Lori Koffman
Director of Content and InnovationRabbi Lori Koffman joined Park Avenue Synagogue in June of 2021 as Director of Content and Innovation. Prior to this, she was the Director of Engagement and Innovation for USCJ, where she developed educational, social, and issue-based programs with an emphasis on building connection and community among members.
Mara Bernstein
Director of Synagogue Programming and Adult EducationMara joined the Park Avenue Synagogue team in June 2018 as Director of Synagogue Programming and Adult Education. She has a background in event planning and program management, having worked at several New York City nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions, including Fraunces Tavern Museum, the Museum at Eldridge Street, and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Jennifer Stern Granowitz
Director of the Congregational SchoolJennifer joined Park Avenue Synagogue in 2011 after receiving her Master of Arts in Jewish Education from the William Davidson School of Jewish Education at JTS. Earlier, she earned a BA in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University. Jennifer served as a unit head at Camp Ramah in New England and continues to be connected to Jewish camping as a board member of her childhood camp.
Pamela B. Schwartz
Director of Penn Family Early Childhood CenterPamela B. Schwartz joined PAS as Director of the Penn Family Early Childhood Center in July, 2014. As Director, her mission is to move the PFECC from strength to strength by incorporating best practices in early childhood education. Before coming to PAS, Pamela was the learning specialist in the early childhood division of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School for seven years.
Jamie Diamond
Director of Young Family Education/Director of Camp KeshetJamie returned to PAS as the Director of Young Family Education and the Director of Camp Keshet in July 2016. In 2011–14 she was an Assistant Director of the Congregational School, focusing on the learners in grades K–2 and helping to develop the school's experiential education program.
David Enlow
Music DirectorDavid Enlow is a “commanding” organist (The New Yorker), teacher, and conductor based in New York. He serves as Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur to the Clarion Choir and has appeared in almost all of New York’s major concert halls as an accompanist at the piano with choruses and solo singers, as well as in performances of chamber music. He is also organist of the Clarion Music Society and appears with various groups at the organ, harpsichord, and fortepiano. David has worked for PAS since 2012, and became Music Director in 2020.