Our Board
Felice Adler Shohet
Board President
Felice are up in Atlanta, GA and moved to Seal Beach in 1997 upon completion of her pediatric residency program. She currently practices Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). She has 2 children both of whom attended preschool at the Alpert JCC!
Felice wanted to get more involved in the Jewish community so she participated in the Alpert New Leaders Forum. Following that she became a Jewish Federation Board member and co-chair of the Alpert New Leaders Forum. She accepted a position of the Board of Long Beach Hillel as well as a Lentzer Fellow position. In 2018 she became Board Chair for Long Beach Hillel.
Through her work with Long Beach Hillel, Felice hopes to encourage young adults to celebrate Jewish learning and living, pursue social justice through tikkun olam and tzedek, and connect to their peers and their local and global Jewish community. She would like to see all the Hillel students develop a lifelong love of Israel (and the knowledge to advocate for Israel effectively whenever necessary), and encourage them to develop and engage with our Long Beach Jewish community since many of them may be our future leaders. She would like to help Hillel continue to be a place where every student in inspired to make and enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel!
Linda Simmons
Vice President
Linda Simmons was born and raised in Long Beach. She has been involved with the Jewish community since she was in her late 20's. She is a past president of Hadassah, Past VP of Membership & Fund Development at Temple Israel, Past Chair of Women's Philanthropy, past VP of Fund Development for Federation and now is fundraising for Hillel. Linda is the co-owner of several small businesses and residential and commercial real estate where she is still working. In the process of involving her sons in her laundromat, they discovered that there wasn't adequate software for laundromat who do wash and fold as well as pick-up and delivery. And so her latest venture is with her two sons who have started Curbside Laundries--software for laundromats developed by laundromat owners.
Linda has gotten involved with Hillel because she sees the importance of engaging our Jewish college students so we don't lose them in the future. She believes this is one of the last times that we can get them interested and involved so they will participate in the Jewish community when they adults.
Deni Volkoff
Secretary
Bio coming soon
David Rosen
Treasurer
David is a native of Long Beach, and was an active attendant of Beach Hillel events during his college enrolment. He looks forward to being able to give back to the next generation of college students by serving on the Beach Hillel board. David is also active in other Jewish organizations, including being on the Board of Directors for Temple Israel Long Beach, and the Treasurer for the CYD Jewish Caucus. Professionally, David works in the automotive industry, and is a real estate entrepreneur.
Jeffrey Bluttinger
Faculty Advisor
Bio coming soon
David Rowe
Student President
Bio coming soon
Suzanne Wechsler
Bio coming soon
Scott Newman
My name is Scott Newman and I am excited to be a part of the Beach Hillel Board. After a ten year legal career in civil litigation, I no longer felt fulfilled going to work. With the support of my wife, I left that career to become a high school teacher. After earning my teaching credential from CSULB, I am now in my fourth year teaching law to students at Carbillo High School in Long Beach. I love teaching high school and working with students to help them learn and prepare them for college and careers. This love of working with young people is also why I joined the Beach Hillel Board. As an undergrad at UC, Berkeley, I was extremely active in the Jewish community, serving as President of both Hillel and AEPi. This involvement continued in law school, when I was active in the graduate student group through Hillel. When I moved back to the San Fernando Valley after law school, Judaism remained a big part of my life as I continued to have Shabbat dinners with friends. I met my wife, Melissa, on JDate and we have two wonderful children, Evan and Mila, both of whom are graduates of the Alpert Jewish Community Center ECE. I hope to help ensure that students are provided the same great Jewish opportunities that I had as a student in both college and law school.
Solomon Hess
Bio coming soon
Melissa Carr Kreitenberg
Bio Coming soon
Neil Wasserman
Bio coming soon
Ken Schlessinger
Bio coming soon
Carol Adams
Bio coming soon
Daphne Zagenov
Bio coming soon
Deborah Moss
My name is Deborah Moss. I am a kindergarten teacher in the Cypress School District for the past 22 years. I enjoy taking long bike rides, hanging out on the beach, and traveling with my family. My college age sons (Sam and Daniel) are very involved at their respective colleges (Long Beach State and University of Oregon). I have enjoyed watching them be involved in the many activities that surround their college Hillels. I am very proud to be on the Beach Hillel board. It makes me feel very special to be among these wonderful people.
Nicolas Lippa
Nicolas engages with employers to provide them with technical business assistance for the Pacific Gateway Workforce Innovation Network, a bureau of the City of Long Beach's Economic Development Department. Throughout his professional experience, Nicolas has acquired the ability to demystify the recruiting process for both hiring managers/decision makers and job seekers alike. He has played a pivotal role in improving Talent Acquisition processes & procedures and the way that organizations go about getting their open positions filled faster.
Nicolas is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz and completed his Master’s degree at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. A native Californian born and raised in Redondo Beach, Nicolas has lived abroad in Costa Rica and Israel, where he lived on a kibbutz for over 7 months post undergrad. He was very involved in Jewish Student Life at UCSC and is so grateful to be able to give back as a volunteer board member for Beach Hillel. For fun, Nicolas enjoys surfing, rock climbing, being outdoors, and exercising.