Full Time Staff
Ari Gauss, Executive Director
Michelle Brownstein Horowitz, Assistant Director
Amanda Gross, Director of Engagement
Liat Srur, Israel Fellow
Ari Shapiro, Statewide Coordinator
Lisa Salzman, Development Coordinator
Linda Ellentuck, Bookkeeper and Operations Coordinator
Ari Gauss (email)
Executive Director
Ari is entering his third year as NC Hillel's Executive Director, and is loving life in The Southern Side of Heaven after twelve years in the northeast. He lived the last nine years in New York City, where he served as a Director of Development for the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, and also received masters degrees in non-profit management from New York University and Judaic studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He previously earned a BA in Philosophy from Pomona College.
Ari has also worked for Hillel at Tufts University and Yale University. In fact, he and his wife, Hollis, met when they were both Hillel Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellows. Hollis and Ari are the proud parents of Aaron, who is a Tar Heel born and a Tar Heel bred.
A native San Franciscan, Ari also lived in Jerusalem for two years, where he was the Jerusalem Little League Baseball Commissioner and coached the Israeli national baseball team for three summers.
Michelle Brownstein Horowitz (
email)
Assitant Director
Michelle Brownstein Horowitz joins NC Hillel as our new Assistant Director, having previously worked in a variety of positions in K-12 and higher education. Most recently, she ran an after-school program in the Durham Public Schools while completing her Master's Degree in Multicultural Education at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. During her Master's program, Michelle particularly enjoyed teaching an Introduction to Communications class for first-year students. Prior to living in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, Michelle spent eight years in Washington, DC, earning her B.A. in Political Science from American University, working in political communications and running a dropout prevention program in the DC public schools. Michelle was also involved in the lay-led Shabbat service and social justice group Tikkun Leil Shabbat, where she served on the leadership group and met her husband, Jonathan.
Amanda Gross (email)
Engagement Associate
Amanda Gross was born and raised in Newton, MA. She attended Elon University, where she majored in Psychology with a triple-minor in Spanish, International Studies and Religious Studies. She was an active member of Hillel, heavily involved in community service organizations and participated in a variety of other activities ranging from rugby to yoga. She travelled extensively in Latin America, studying abroad in Costa Rica and Peru in addition to participating in alternative spring break trips to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Following graduation she attended the Brandeis Collegiate Institute (BCI) for the summer before participating in Avodah: the Jewish Service Corps in New Orleans. After her year of service was completed, she stayed on with her Avodah placement at Rebuilding Together New Orleans for another year as an AmeriCorps VISTA. If you've had a conversation with Amanda, you most likely have heard her talk about her love for bad 90's pop music, food and/or New Orleans. Amanda is thrilled to be returning to North Carolina working as the Engagement Associate for UNC Hillel.
Liat Srur (email)
Israel Fellow
Liat was born and raised on Kibbutz Snir in Israel’s Upper Galilee. Her second home is on the other side of Israel, at the dolphin reef in Eilat where she worked on and off for the last 7 years. For the last two years, she worked in the Division of Public Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was also a student for her BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies. Liat also interned in Israel’s Ministry of the Interior in the Office of the Vice Director General. Her parents made aliyah (moved to Israel) from Argentina, so after the army, she traveled to South America – mainly to Argentina – to visit her family, developing a deep love for Latin music, specially tango and flamenco.
Ari Shapiro, NC Hillel's Statewide Coordinator, is looking forward to working closely with students and community partners on a dozen North Carolina campuses, from coast to mountains. Ari came to North Carolina via California, where he was a Team Leader for an AmeriCorps national service program. Previously, he was a Program Associate at AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps and Technical Director of Habonim Dror Camp Tavor. He is trained in disaster relief and responded to the tsunami that hit American Samoa in 2009 and the tornadoes that hit North Carolina and Alabama in 2011. Ari earned his B.A. from Hampshire College where his studies focused on Community-Based Learning.
Lisa Salzman (email)
Development Coordinator
Lisa Salzman, NC Hillel's first Development Coordinator, is a native Atlantan. She graduated from Yale in 1986 with a B.A. in English and has worked in banking and community development. Since arriving in Durham-Chapel Hill in 2004, she has been an active community volunteer, leading a number of fundraising intitiatives. Lisa served as Development Chair and board member of Judea Reform Congregation, helped start YO:Duham (a project of Durham Congregations in Action), chaired Durham Academy's Used Book Sale and raised money for the Levin JCC, Durham-Chapel Hill's new Jewish community enter. Most recently, Lisa helped produce an anniversary book celebrating Judea Reform's 50th anniversary. She currently serves on the boards of JELF (Jewish Education Loan Fund), DCIA (Durham Congregations in Action) and BounceBack Kids.
Linda Ellentuck (email)
Bookkeeper & Operations Coordinator
Linda was born on Long Island, NY and graduated Hofstra University with a BBA majoring in accounting. She has extensive accounting experience (public & private), working with Price Waterhouse and Interstate Hotels / Marriott Hotels, and as a self-employed accountant. She lived in South Florida for 20 years before moving to Cary, NC three years ago. She is most proud on her 25-year marriage to her husband, Joel, and her two amazing children. Her son, Andrew, is a student at UNC-Greensboro and her daughter, Remy, is beginning Ravenscroft, entering the 6th grade.