Staff

Staff

Steve Friedman, Chief Operating Officer

Steve Friedman joined Temple Sholom in April 2007 after twenty-eight years of experience serving the Jewish Community of Cleveland, Ohio as the chief financial officer of the Cleveland Jewish Community Center ("CJCC"), an organization with over 10,000 members. Prior to the CJCC, Steve was the Executive Director of the Park Synagogue in Cleveland, one of the largest Conservative congregations in North America, with over 1,800 members. Steve also has worked at the Bureau of Jewish Education, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland. 

Steve has a wide variety of experience in financial management, congregant/membership services, facilities management, information technology, human resources, cemetery management, purchasing, budgeting and strategic planning. Steve has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Accounting from Myer's College in Cleveland. 

Steve and his wife Noreen have three daughters.
 

Phyllis Lyons, Nursery School Director

Prior to joining Temple Sholom as Director of the Selma Maisel Nursery School, Phyllis Lyons was the Education Manager at Childcare Learning Centers in Stamford for six years, responsible for the curriculum for Infants, Toddlers and Preschool as well as training and managing a staff of 80 teachers. She was a member of the Stamford Committee on Kindergarten Transition. Under Phyllis’ leadership, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has accredited the nursery school. 

Phyllis has a BA degree in Elementary Education and has earned a Director’s Credential Certificate. As an educator, Phyllis believes it is the responsibility of the school to provide an environment where children feel safe, have a smile on their face, build self-confidence and develop a curiosity about things around them. She has opened a Discovery Room where our children make connections with animals and the world we share.

Lori Baden, Senior Director, Membership & Programming

Lori is a native to our area having grown up in Stamford and actively involved in the Jewish Community in Fairfield County her entire life.  She has been a communications professional for over 20 years.  Prior to joining Temple Sholom, Lori owned a successful marketing agency working with many corporations and not for profits in the area.  Additionally, Lori is a professional photographer and focuses on photographing children and their families.  

For many years, Lori volunteered with the Stamford JCC, sitting on their Board of Directors and leading many successful initiatives including the 1st and 2nd Annual Jewish Film Festival, photography for the Maccabbi Games and creating videos and yearbooks for the Sara Walker Nursery School.  In 2000 she was the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Lori resides in Stamford with her three children.

Ezra Konigsberg, Ritual Director

Ezra Konigsberg was born in New York City and raised in Connecticut by a family of cantors. Ezra was educated at Solomon Schechter Day School in Woodbridge, CT. He earned his BA in English from Southern Connecticut State University. 2010-2011 marks Ezra’s fourteenth year at Temple Sholom, where he serves as the Youth Leader and the primary Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutor.

In addition to his duties in the Religious School, Ezra assists the clergy in conducting services from the bimah. Ezra and his wife Robin play an active role in many synagogue programs. They have recently welcomed their first child, a daughter, Hannah.

Andi L. Rosenthal, Director of Marketing & Communications

Andi Rosenthal has been a marketing and communications professional for more than 15 years, most notably at The Metropolitan Opera, the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, and the 92nd Street YM-YWHA. She has also served in several executive capacities in the for-profit sector, along with creating strategic communications campaigns for numerous Westchester County not-for profits including the Westchester Library System, the American Red Cross, the Pajama Program, and Entree to Hope, a fundraising partnership among the Food Bank for Westchester, Grace Church and the Literacy Volunteers of Westchester. During her tenure at the Museum, Andi was one of the primary architects of the Museums of Downtown Manhattan marketing initiative, created to heighten the profile and awareness of downtown New York City's cultural institutions in the wake of the September 1th, 2001 attacks. This campaign was developed in association with American Express, PBS, WNYC, and Kirschenbaum Bond Partners.

Andi's marketing and advertising campaigns have won numerous awards from Communication Arts magazine, The New York Times Roper-Starch survey, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She is also the author of the acclaimed novel The Bookseller’s Sonnets (O Books, 2010) which was named as a 2011 National Jewish Book Council “Book of Note,” and a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute “Conversations” book club selection. She is the former Interfaith columnist for the Westchester (NY) Jewish Chronicle and InterfaithFamily.com, and is a contributing writer to Reform Judaism magazine and the Reform movement blog RJ.org. In her volunteer life, Andi serves as a Schindler Outreach Fellow for Conversion, Interfaith Families and Membership, as Ritual Committee co-chair, and as a member of the Board of Trustees, Cultural Arts, Cemetery and Outreach committees at her home congregation of Larchmont Temple. She has also served, for the past five years, as the High Holiday cantorial soloist at the Sarah Neuman Jewish Home and Hospital. Andi lives in, and is a native of, Eastchester, New York.

Meb Noormohamed, Controller

Meb is a graduate of Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City, and holds a BBA in Public Accounting. He comes to Temple Sholom with over 20 years of accounting experience working in publicly traded companies in various sectors including pharmaceuticals, power and industrial, publishing, food services and management consulting

Meb previously worked for Taro Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an Israeli-based pharmaceutical company in Hawthorne, NY. Additionally, Meb was employed by Hitachi America, Ltd. in Tarrytown, New York and Pearson, Inc. in New York City. He also served as Controller for two start-up businesses: Canyon Ranch Spa Cuisine, Inc. and American Institute, Inc.

In a volunteer capacity, Meb has served as Chairman of the Hitachi America Community Relations Board, as a Board Member of Westchester Habitat for Humanity, and as a Member of various committees in his local community serving in the areas of Education, Youth and Economic Development.

Meb is blessed to be married to his wife Karima for over 12 years. His brother Amin served in the US Army for 19 years, and he is especially proud of his nephew, Aamed, who is also currently serving in the US Army.