Brandeis Magazine

Julie Fisher is director of engagement at the Good People Fund, which gives financial support to small and midsize philanthropic nonprofits.

Steve Lustig, an intellectual property attorney at law firm Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel, is a member of the International Trademark Association’s geographical indications committee. In February, he was named to World Trademark Review’s 2024 WTR 1000 ranking, which identifies the leading professionals and firms engaged in obtaining, protecting, managing, enforcing, and monetizing trademarks.

Debra Messing was among the speakers at the March for Israel, a November 2023 demonstration on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall in support of Israel and in opposition to antisemitism. She was also one of a group of celebrities who met with victims of the Oct. 7 attacks at a rehabilitation hospital in Ra’anana, Israel. She will serve as an executive producer on “Primal Fear,” a documentary about the increase in antisemitism.

Brian Meyers’ first book, “The Lantern of Tai Chi: Lighting the Path Ahead for an Ancient Art,” will be published by Braughler Books this year.

Barry Postman, Dan Farkas, and Jay Karp celebrated 37 years together at a dinner in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Pam Vaughan, Heller MMHS’96, is the author of “Missy Wants a Mammoth,” which will be published this year by Pixel+Ink. It’s the first in a picture-book series for children that centers on siblings Missy and Mason.

Matthew Breman is a branch owner at Apex Leadership Co., teaching leadership and character lessons to young people in Montgomery County, Maryland, while keeping them physically active, and helping teachers and schools bridge systemic funding gaps.

Wayne Cousin is a senior trial partner at New York law firm Sheeley, defending doctors, dentists, and other professionals. Wayne and wife Laura have been married for 25 years. Their two children attend Johns Hopkins University.

Jodi Golinsky writes, “My parents paid for me to go to Brandeis. Full freight. Not a penny of financial aid. And in the decades since, I’ve felt like my parents paid Brandeis its due, and I did my charitable giving elsewhere. Then Oct. 7 hit. I have two daughters in college right now. I’m horrified by what I’m seeing at elite universities when it comes to Jew hatred and protecting Jewish students. Brandeis and its response soothed my soul. I’m so proud to be a Brandeis graduate. My first-ever alumni gift in November will be the beginning of many more.”

Julie (Susman) Lichtman is executive assistant at the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, where she provides administrative support to the CEO and board, coordinates conferences, and administers the awards and recognition program. Previously, Julie ran her own virtual-assistant business, Freedom Professional Services.

Julie (Hoffman) Marshall is director of public relations at Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. A resident of Colorado, Julie is working on an effort to ban the trophy hunting of mountain lions and the fur trapping of bobcats in her state through a citizen-led ballot measure this year.

In December 2023, Jeremy Pressman gave a lecture titled “Israel and Palestine: Historical Observations and Their Contemporary Implications” at Central Connecticut State University. Jeremy is a political science professor at the University of Connecticut.

Amy Rutkin, longtime chief of staff to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), has left that position to launch her own political consulting firm.

Jeffrey Stein was appointed CEO, chief restructuring officer, and a member of the board of directors at Rite Aid shortly after the drugstore chain declared bankruptcy.

Kenneth Wong is dean of the graduate school and vice provost at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He previously served as associate dean and senior associate dean at Virginia Tech.

Stacey Ballis is working on her 11th novel; has published more than 1,500 articles in Food & Wine, EatingWell, Southern Living, and other outlets; tested recipes for a cookbook that won a James Beard Media Award; and is a contributing editor to Nation’s Restaurant News. Most recently, she was signed as a brand ambassador for luxury culinary-equipment company Rösle, which offers a 20% sitewide discount to her followers on Instagram (@stacey.ballis). Stacey and husband Bill Thurmond live in a historic home in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.

Jayne R. Bigelsen is a member of New York City’s new Juvenile Justice Advisory Board.

William Friedman earned a scholarship to pursue an MA in the social sciences, with a concentration in political science, from the University of Chicago, his fourth postgraduate degree. Previously, he served as a federal criminal prosecutor in the money laundering and asset recovery section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal division.

Michael P. Connell is a research staff member in the Institute for Defense Analyses’ intelligence analyses division. IDA is a nonprofit corporation that answers challenging U.S. security and science policy questions through objective analysis.

Erika-Marie Geiss, a Michigan state senator, in April 2023 discussed Michigan environmental law on the podcast “First Friday Focus on the Environment.”

Sara Chandros Hull is a deputy scientific director in the intramural research program at the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Jennifer Kalter is director of education and public programs at the Morgan Library & Museum, in New York City. She’s been a museum educator and administrator for more than 20 years.

Melissa Paszamant is a partner in the taxation and wealth planning department at the Philadelphia office of law firm Fox Rothschild.

James Ravitz is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm McDermott Will & Emery, working as part of a team that specializes in Food and Drug Administration affairs.

Joel Rubin is running as a Democrat for a U.S. House seat in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. Joel is a national security expert, a former official in the Obama administration, and a former member of the Chevy Chase town council.

Jason Schneider is the founder of Happy Camper, a tabletop games company. Previously, as the head of Gamewright, he was responsible for such games as Sushi Go!, Sleeping Queens, and Forbidden Island.

Bobbi Bittker is a member of the town board of Bedford, New York, a Westchester County town about 40 miles north of Manhattan.

Julia Cumes was named the 2024 Artist of the Year by the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. Julia lived in apartheid South Africa before a photography internship brought her to Cape Cod.

David Gold has worked for 25 years with the same employers: 23 years at Cambridge Computer Services, then (with the same bosses) at Starfish Storage. Wife Diane runs an elder law practice. Daughter Natalia is about to enter the fourth grade.

Robert Hughes is chief information security officer at RSA Security, a computer and network security company. He came to Brandeis with his family to attend the 75th-anniversary celebration.

Jonathan Leiken is executive vice president, chief legal officer, and secretary at Fortune 150 retailer Dollar Tree. Formerly, he was chief legal officer at technology company Diebold Nixdorf. Jonathan also serves as president of the board of directors of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and teaches a course at the Ohio State Moritz College of Law.

Jessica Ramer Herzberg is a producer at NBC News, creating pieces for “Nightly News With Lester Holt,” the “Today” show, and the NBC News health unit. She is co-founder of the exEXPERTS website, which provides information on surviving and thriving after a divorce, and co-hosts the “Divorce, Etc. ...” podcast, ranked among the top 20% of podcasts on Spotify.

Maya Stein is the poet laureate of Belfast, Maine.

Andrew Douglas is deputy director of Bryn Mawr Film Institute, a nonprofit film exhibition and education center outside Philadelphia. He was hired as its director of education in 2005, when BMFI opened.

Rebecca Handler writes that Steve Bensusan celebrated his 50th birthday at the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival: “Highlights included Dimitri Vermes ’96 taking a ride in the trunk of a car; Amy Fishbein ’94 getting down to Lizzo; Rebecca narrowly avoiding a drug cartel; Ken Bulow practicing his invaluable EMT skills; Niv Mor raging at a silent disco; and Dave Andrade drinking beer with his favorite social-media personality, Jax. Steve, as always, was a perfect gentleman, and we hope he lives forever.”

Robert Hirsh is a partner in the New York office of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Erica Jackson is chief discovery officer at Scorpion Therapeutics, a clinical-stage oncology company. She previously served as its executive vice president, biology.

Ayal Korczak teaches coding and robotics to elementary school students in Lafayette, Colorado, and recently learned to play the accordion.

Gregory Solof received a Mastership Award from the Academy of General Dentistry. He practices general dentistry in Avon, Connecticut, where he lives with his wife, Sandra (Kirschen) ’94.

Joshua Gordon, P’13, is a salary arbitrator for Major League Baseball during the 2024 season.

Talent manager/producer Jeremy Katz and actor Lea DeLaria (“Orange Is the New Black”), Jeremy’s longtime client, won a 2023 New York Emmy Award and a GLAAD Award for executive producing the Lesbian Bar Project on Roku.

Suzet McKinney, principal and director of life science at national real estate firm Sterling Bay, is a member of the board of directors of insurance company Kemper Corp.

Ross Melnick’s book “Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World” (Columbia University Press, 2022) earned the Theatre Library Association’s Richard Wall Memorial Award. The book examines Hollywood’s ownership and operation of movie theaters around the world from 1923-2013.

Lisa Marie Dyson, who has a PhD in physics from MIT, is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a company that is reimagining food creation.

David Greenberg is a counsel in the area of litigation and dispute resolution at Manhattan law firm Davis+Gilbert.

Diana Rose Steinberg creates popular videos on TikTok (under the name @luniemoon) featuring her daily improvisational dances. Last October, The Boston Globe did a story about her dance practice, based in a form of dance therapy known as Authentic Movement, which she learned as a Brandeis student.

Jeffrey Abramsohn is command sergeant major of the 532nd Military Intelligence Battalion at Camp Humphreys, in South Korea. Wife Michelle accompanied him overseas.

Alina Bas, who holds a PhD in strategy from the University of Strathclyde Business School, is a strategy consultant and executive coach in the New York City metropolitan area. She and husband David have three teenagers.

Micah Berman is the Stephen F. Loebs Professor in Health Services Management and Policy at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health as well as a law professor at the university’s Moritz College of Law.

Samantha Elbaum is the transit reporter at Spectrum News NY1, covering news related to New York City’s subways and buses. This is her second stint at NY1; she worked there as an anchor/reporter from 2008-11.

Adrienne Hullum earned Top Leaser distinction in May and June 2023 at the Willow Bridge Property Company. She’s also been accepted into Bentley University’s McCallum Graduate School of Business, and her photo art was exhibited at the Needham (Massachusetts) Art Gallery.

Vladimir Levykin lives in London with his family, works in portfolio management, and plays lots of tennis when he has the time.

Daphna Nissanoff-Gerendash works with a philanthropic organization called the Change Reaction, which seeks to improve the way giving is delivered to provide grants and loans quickly to those in need.

Anne Pollock, president of the Society for Social Studies of Science, is a professor in the global health and social medicine department at King’s College London.

David Benforado showed his paintings last fall at a group exhibition in the Emsdettener Kunstverein, in Emsdetten, Germany.

Shari Dollinger is the co-executive director of Christians United for Israel, a pro-Israel organization in the U.S.

Michael Hayden is vice president of the Massachusetts Bar Association for the 2023-24 membership year. Michael is a partner at Morrison Mahoney in Boston; his practice focuses on professional liability.

Jenny Small is associate director of Brandeis’ Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education.

Thoracic surgeon Erik Sylvin has joined Holy Cross Medical Group, in Broward County, Florida. As a member of the Brandeis varsity baseball team, Erik played in four NCAA tournaments.

Nicola Tegoni serves on the government of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta as a member of the Order’s Sovereign Council in Rome.

In addition to his day job of supporting Chicago school leaders, Max Weinberg has launched Belonging, an educational advising practice that helps schools become stronger sites of belongingness, particularly for historically marginalized children. Max has a PhD in educational leadership from Concordia University Chicago.