We are thrilled to announce the nine incredible leaders selected for this groundbreaking experience:
Rebecca Knoll • Mara Leff Koperwas • Marjorie Manne • Rebecca Pollack • Andrea Ruttenberg • Claire Topal • Yana Warshafsky • Randi Weinstein • Lisa Zeidner Marcus

Leading for Tomorrow is a 9-month program designed to empower emerging Jewish board members in Pittsburgh with the vision, skills and values to lead with purpose. Guided by Jewish wisdom and ethical leadership principles, these leaders will shape the future of our community.

Rebecca Knoll

Rebecca is a health care leader with experience leading complex operational and strategic initiatives focused on improving quality, strengthening partnerships, and expanding access. A third-generation native of the Squirrel Hill Jewish community, Rebecca is a mother of three and deeply engaged in Jewish communal life. She serves on the boards of Jewish Family and Community Services and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and is about to celebrate a third-generation graduate of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. She is committed to strengthening Jewish communal institutions and building a vibrant, sustainable future

Mara Leff Koperwas

Mara Leff Koperwas currently serves on the board of the Jewish Association on Aging. In her professional life, she is the Director of Undergraduate Curriculum at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and serves on the Rodef Shalom board of directors. Prior to joining Pitt, Mara served as interim Executive Director of the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon, and before that spent five years working as the Director of Innovation at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation.

Mara is currently pursuing a doctoral degree (PHD) in the school’s Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences focused on undergraduate public health pedagogy and learning. Mara lives in Shadyside with her husband Matt, a geriatrician with Allegheny Health Network who specializes in long term care and hospice, and their two-year-old son Robbie.

Marjorie Manne

Marjorie is an esteemed attorney and community advocate, with a passion for strengthening and supporting the Jewish community. She is currently a Director and Legal Counsel at PayPal, where she leads PayPal’s AI legal team. Her previous professional roles include Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Citibank, NA in Baltimore and associate attorney at McGuireWoods LLC and Wiley LLC in the Washington, D.C. area.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Marjorie and her family moved back to Squirrel Hill in 2018. Marjorie currently serves on the boards of Community Day School, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition and Beth Shalom Congregation. She also sits on the advisory council for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and on the Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council and is an active member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee both locally and nationally. Marjorie lives in Squirrel Hill with her husband, Dan, and two young children.

Rebecca Pollack

Rebecca is originally from Denver, CO and has been living in Pittsburgh for 12 years. She is married to a born and bred Pittsburgher. Together they have 4 children ages 1-10 who all attend Hillel Academy, where she serves on the executive board. Rebecca went to the University of Pittsburgh School of Social work and is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She runs her own psychotherapy practice where she treats mood and anxiety disorders across the adult population, specializing in perinatal mental health.

Rebecca is an avid reader and enjoy all things social (mostly)! Although she was skeptical of the cloudy weather when she first moved here, she very quickly learned how unique the Pittsburgh Jewish Community is. One of her favorite things about our community is the openness to diversity within the Jewish people and overall belief that everyone has something to offer.

Andrea Ruttenberg

Andrea is in her second year on the board of the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, where she serves on the Development and Center for Loving Kindness Committees. She has also served as President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of PDMA, a professional association for product development and management. Professionally, she is an Associate Principal at Applied Marketing Science, a market research and consulting firm, where she specializes in product innovation, helping organizations turn customer insights into products and services that solve customers’ problems. Andrea lives in Squirrel Hill with her husband and our two children, aged 12 and 10.

Claire Topal

Claire Topal is Managing Director of Red Tomato Consulting, a woman-owned consultancy specializing in health equity, corporate giving strategy and strategic communications for global foundations, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies. She serves on the JFCS Pittsburgh Board and holds advisory roles with Global Health Innovative Technology Fund and The Galien Foundation. With a career spanning global health and international development, Claire brings experience in cross-cultural stakeholder engagement and pharmaceutical industry partnerships. She holds degrees from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and Cornell University. Claire moved to Pittsburgh from Seattle in 2021 with her husband and two children, who attend Community Day School.

Yana Warshafsky

Yana and her family emigrated from Ukraine in 1993 and, in true Eastern European fashion, once they arrived in Pittsburgh, they never left. Yana attended CDS and graduated from Ellis. After college, she received her law degree from Duquesne University and practiced as a litigator for nearly twelve years before transitioning, almost two years ago, to her current role as a law clerk to a Federal Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Yana serves on the boards of Hebrew Free Loan and CDS and currently sits on the executive committees for both organizations. Yana and her husband, their two children (both of whom are at CDS) and two dogs live in Point Breeze.

Randi Weinstein

Randi is a born and bred in Pittsburgher. Randi currently serves as the first Vice President of Hebrew Free Loan. In her professional life, she is a Vice President of Residential Lending at Dollar Bank and is a Hebrew teacher at Beth El Congregation. Randi is married with two children and two grandchildren. She is thrilled to be part of the inaugural Leading for Tomorrow cohort.

Lisa Zeidner Marcus

Lisa Zeidner Marcus serves as Senior Counsel in the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, where for nearly two decades—under five different Presidential administrations—she has represented the United States in cutting-edge federal litigation involving issues of constitutional and administrative law. A graduate of Duke University and Columbia Law School, she has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She proudly serves as a board member and as Development Chair for Community Day School. She is a parent of two CDS “lifers”—one graduate and one current 8th grader—and is deeply committed to the school’s mission and community.