Be inspired by Meryl Ainsman and Cindy Shapira, two of the trailblazing women whose visionary work as Board Chairs of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh helped charter the organization’s course and shape the Federation’s role within the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish community.

Cindy Shapira is president of the Shapira Foundation and formerly served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, vice chair of the Jewish Federations of North America board, executive committee member of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and board member of the Jewish Funders Network. She is a director on the Birthright-Taglit governing board. She currently is chairwoman of PA’s State System of Higher Education board of governors, the founding chair of the PA State Board of Higher Education, a vice-chair of the Brandeis University board of trustees, a director of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities, and a board member of the Allegheny County Airport Authority. Cindy holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, and MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an Ed.D from the University of Pennsylvania.

Meryl Ainsman has spent most of her adult life in leadership roles in the local and global Jewish community. Meryl served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh from 2017-2020 after serving as a board member for several year, and she is now Chair of the Buncher Institute for Leadership Development (BuILD). She has also served as Board Chair of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh (2007-2010) and has served on the boards of Jewish Federations of North America and the Global JCC Association. Meryl currently sits on the boards of Tree of Life, Inc. and the Eradicate Hate Global Summit. Meryl is the retired manager of the law firm of Ainsman Levine, and still maintains her role as the Executive Director of the Philip Chosky Foundation.