Ilan Wagner

Ilan was born in New Jersey and moved to Israel in 1986 after years of activity in the Young Judaea youth movement. Upon arriving in Israel, he helped found the Keren Kolot Educational Seminar at Kibbutz Ketura, wrote a text book for teaching English at the high school level, and then went on to be the head of the Education Committee on Kibbutz Yotvata, and supervisor of Civics at the regional high school.

In 1996, he worked as an emissary for college students in North America on behalf of Hadassah. From 2002 until 2004 he directed the Jewish Agency Department of Education’s global student activities, and then returned to the United Sates as the Jewish Agency’s representative to Hillel and Student Affairs in North America. Beginning in August, 2007 he served as the director of the Jewish Agency’s educational efforts in North America and directed MAKOM, the Israel Engagement Network in North America.

Ilan returned to Israel in 2009, continuing his work as the Director of the Jewish Agency’s North American regional office and was involved in the creation of Onward Israel, of which he is currently the President and CEO. Ilan lives In Modiin with his wife Shoshi and two children, Amit and Adi, and their beloved dog, Eddie. If you meet Ilan, be sure to say a kind word about the Boston Red Sox.

Jessica Siskind

Jessica was born in raised in New Jersey. Throughout her youth, she attended and worked at Ramah movement summer camps and was involved in United Synagogue Youth (USY). During college, she had the opportunity to study abroad in two incredible cities, London England and Haifa Israel, which helped shape her interest in giving young people the opportunity to have immersive abroad experiences.

After graduating from Boston University with a B.A. in International Relations in 2008, she started work at the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Jessica served in multiple roles at JNF including in the Israel Advocacy and Education department and later in the Greater New York region as an events manager. In 2013, she completed her Masters Degree in Public Administration with a focus in Nonprofit Administration from Baruch College of the City of New York. She had the opportunity to participate in Germany Close Up and is currently a Birthright Israel Fellow.

Having been involved with Onward Israel since its inaugural year, Jessica proudly serves as the Onward Israel North American Director. She lives in New York City where she is an avid Yankees fan and loves to explore the city for different types ethnic foods.

Eliran Cohen

Eliran is married to Maayan and father to Or-Yosef. From a very young age Eliran was active in social organizations as both participant and staff. Eliran served as a fighter and commander in the Israeli navy. After this he was a Shaliach in US, before returning to Israel to continue his career. In the last few years he was a Director of Programs in diverse projects such as ‘Taglit’, ‘Masa Israel’, and more.

His academic career includes a B.A degree in Political Science and Public Communication. Currently he is completing his Master’s degree in the Studies of American Jewry. During his years as a student, Eliran participated in a number of significant leadership programs such as The Stand With Us Fellowship, The Jewish Statesmanship Center and the program for educators for Jewish Peoplehood in Beit H’atfutzot.

Among other endeavors, Eliran lived in and managed the Tel Aviv ‘Moishe-House’ extension. In addition, Eliran founded and manages his own company ‘Kelim Shluvim’ that specializes in the development and management of training skills for diverse audiences. Eliran is a big fan of sports and music of any kind.

Scott Copeland

Scott currently serves as the Vice President and Director of Education at Onward Israel. He holds a B.A. from Brandeis University in Judaic Studies and an M.A. from Hebrew University’s Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is also a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows, a prestigious leadership development center for the Jewish educational world.

Scott has worked as a tour guide and educator in a wide variety of Israeli and Diaspora settings. He has taught in Jewish communities around the world and has been deeply involved in educational tourism. His areas of expertise include Israel studies, Jewish history and thought, and travel as an informal educational arena. Scott has published online for the Jewish Agency, at Jewishlearning.com, in Shma, in Zeek, and in Blätter für Deutsche und Internationale Politik. His article on the vision and practice of Israel Travel Education appears in the Springer Press Handbook of Jewish Education.

Scott served as a reserve officer with the IDF Spokesperson’s Bureau. He was also the founding director of the Taglit-Birthright Israel Institute for Tour Educators, an academy providing training in experiential Jewish education for the tour guides/educators of Taglit-Birthright Israel.

Brad Garoon

As VP of Marketing and Communications, Brad creates and implements marketing strategy, finds new ways to grow Onward’s network and engage its community, and manages the organization’s branding, web presence and social media channels.

Brad grew up in suburban Detroit, and lived in the Philippines before moving to New York City. Brad comes to Onward Israel with over a decade of marketing experience, both inside and outside of the Jewish communal world. Before working at Onward Israel, Brad helped to build robust online communities for 16 Handles frozen yogurt company, JDC Entwine, American Friends of The Hebrew University, and Columbia/Barnard Hillel.

Brad received a Masters in Informal Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Bachelors degrees in Comparative Religion and Journalism from Western Michigan University. He is also the founder and editor of Burger Weekly, a blog dedicated to finding and sharing the best hamburgers in the country.

Veronika Matlov

Veronika was born and raised in Vilnius , Lithuania, After making aliyah in 1990 she continued her B. A studies in Hebrew University in the field of Sociology and History. Veronika worked for the Jewish Agency for 20 years , mostly with educational projects for young adults and professional projects to new immigrants all over the world . In 2001-2004 and 2007- 2008 she worked as an emissary in Kiev , Ukraine, working with local Jewish community and other Israeli organizations such as Nativ, ORT, and private companies , running the Israeli oriented activities , seminars , summer camps etc. After returning from the second emissary mission Veronika directed the professional integration unit In The Jewish Agency , focusing on helping new olim build their careers in Israel. She joined the Onward Israel team in November 2015.

Veronika is married to Boaz and has 3 suns – Eliyahoo and Yonathan – soldiers in the IDF, and Noam – middle school student. Sives in Mevasseret Zion, a small town near Jerusalem, and is a big fan of music of any kind , interior design, travelling, and good coffee.

Keren Dahan

Keren was born in Paris. She studied in Jerusalem at the David Yellin College of Education, earning a BA in Informal Education and History. As a student, Keren spent her summers in Israel guiding groups from abroad with with the JNF.

In 2005, Keren began to working at Yad Vashem as a guide, and two years later she became coordinator for all educational activities for students from abroad at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies. At the same time, she began working with March of the Living, guiding groups in Poland which she still does to this day.

From 2011-2015, Keren worked at Taglit Birthright Israel as a Program Evaluation Coordinator, and from 2015-2018 she was the Educational Director at the World Betar Movement. Today, Keren is in charge of housing, internships, and security issues at Onward Israel.

Desiree Neissani

Desiree manages the coordination recruitment and registration for theme-based programs. With the expansion of theme-based programs, she works on best practices for recruiting participants and works with organizers on the ground to ensure meaningful summer experiences.

Desiree is a Long Island native and went to Fordham College Lincoln Center where she studied Religious Studies and History. After graduating from Fordham, she went on the Onward Israel New York Service Learning Program. This experience fostered her desire to give back and prompted her career in the non-profit sector. After returning from Israel, Desiree worked at UJA-Federation of New York in the SYNERGY department.

Desiree lives in New York City, loves to travel, run in Central Park, and hang out with family and friends.

Liad Shahar

Liad coordinates Onward Israel’s CRM system and website. she takes the lead on interactions for logistics issues with program organizers before and while the programs are running and is also managing the Israel office and in charge of Ilan Wagner’s schedule, Onward Israel’s CEO.

Previously, Liad has worked in the Priority Regions Division ,Scholarships Unit and the Social Activism Unit of The Jewish Agency for Israel. She has a MA in Educational Management & Policy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a BA in International Relations, Sociology and Anthropology.
Liad is married to Yaniv and a mother to Eitan, Nevo and Re’em and lives in a Moshav near Jerusalem. She really loves interior design and art.

Renana Shanani

When Renana was a child her family went on a four year Shlichut program to Canada. There she created a deep connection and personal identification with the international Jewish community.

Ever since, she has been active and connected to the worldwide Jewish community and committed to connecting it. She believes the personal and national connection between all diaspora communities is important and significant for personal, communal, and national development.

Renana traveled to various Shlichut missions in South Africa, Australia and the Netherlands. In Israel, she worked with youth and young adults from all over the world in cooperation with federations, schools and youth movements.

Renana is a BA graduate in Business Administration and is currently getting a masters in American Jewish Studies though the Ruderman program at the University of Haifa.

Aryeh Solomon

After his army service as a commander in the Paratroopers Brigade, Aryeh studied for his B.A. in education while working with both formal and informal education projects. In 2009 Aryeh joined Yavne Olami as the director of a summer internship program.  A couple of years later he moved to one of the largest educational tourism companies in Israel, the Israel Experience. Working there for over 7 years in various roles including managing the internship placement team, and as the director of Masa and Onward programs in the company.

Aryeh joined Onward Israel in  2019 as part of the operations team. As a quality control manager Aryeh works closely with the program providers to ensure the Onward Israel programs are run at a high level and meet the quality standards.

Jacob Kranitz

Jacob grew up in Eugene, Oregon and studied Political Science with a focus on the Middle East and the Environment at the University of Oregon. He spent the summer between his Junior and Senior years as participant on Onward Israel’s Green Energy Theme-Based Program where he lived in Bat Yam and worked in an alternative energy start-up in Tel Aviv.

Prior to joining the Onward Israel team, Jacob worked at Cornell Hillel where he recruited for and led Taglit-Birthright Israel trips, facilitated on-campus Israel programming, and assisted students in locating and taking advantage of various related opportunities – including Onward Israel.

Jacob currently lives in Denver and during the weekends he can be found yelling at the TV as he roots on the Oregon Ducks and the Cleveland Browns.

Yoni Mann

Yoni Mann serves as the Senior Advisor to the CEO of Onward Israel. He grew up in San Francisco and made Aliyah to Israel in 2011. Yoni has a deep passion for Israel and Jewish Peoplehood. Prior to Onward Israel, Yoni founded and headed the Campus Department at Jerusalem U for four years, working to provide Israel educational experiences to thousands of college students throughout North America.

He most recently completed his term as Board Chair of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), the umbrella organization representing over 500,000 Jewish students worldwide. His involvement in Israel and Jewish communal affairs extend to over 10 years with numerous Jewish organizations such as AEPi, Hillel, Chabad, StandWithUs, Israeli Jewish Congress, and the Jewish Agency for Israel, where he directed a flagship program encouraging Aliyah on college campuses.

During his service in the Israel Defense Forces, Yoni served in the Foreign Relations department working for senior foreign high-ranking delegations to Israel. His political experiences include advising various Israeli Knesset Members, and he currently heads the Olim Department of the Hitorerut in Jerusalem party, with which he was a candidate for the Jerusalem city council in 2018. 

Yoni served as a delegate in the 37th World Zionist Congress and is a member of the Zionist General Council of the WZO.

Yoni lives in Jerusalem and enjoys playing the trumpet with Jerusalem’s Harel Orchestra. He graduated with a B.S. in Marketing from California State University, Northridge in 2010.

Sydney Katz

Sydney coordinates the registration, implementation, and operations for all of the Theme Based Programs. As a past Onward Israel participant herself, Sydney is excited to be working for the organization to help provide the same professional growth and enriching summer experiences to our participants that she experienced.

Sydney was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio before heading to Washington, DC for college. Between her junior and senior years of college, she spent her summer as a participant of Onward Israel’s Cleveland program where she lived in Tel Aviv and worked for a local nonprofit that provided enrichment programs for underprivileged youth. Prior to joining the Onward Israel team, Sydney worked in the international legal field where she gained invaluable knowledge of the of the international political sphere before moving to New York City to start her non-profit career.

Sydney lives in New York City and spends her free time taking her chocolate lab Moose on long walks through Central Park, hanging out at the Met, eating Zuckers bagels, and cooking recipes found on Tasty Buzzfeed.

Eliana Rohrig

Eliana manages the coordination recruitment and registration for the New York and Camp Counselor Program. As a New York local and a long time camp person Eliana is thrilled to be working for Onward to ensure meaningful summer experiences and opportunities for professional development for our participants.

Eliana was born in Budapest, Hungary and moved to New York when she was 4 years old. After graduating from SAR High school, Eliana spent a gap year in Jerusalem. Eliana went to Binghamton University where she studied Judaic Studies and History. During University, Eliana had the opportunity to intern at the Shalom Hartman Institute and was a fellow on the Nachshon Project. Eliana has worked for five years at her summer home, Ramah Nyack. In college, Eliana was a barista at Moss Café, where she learned all about espresso and the history of coffee.

Eliana lives in New York City, loves to cook, do yoga, and read at the Hungarian Pastry Shop.

Jason Steckler

Jason was raised in Culver City, California and studied Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration with a focus on Tourism at San Francisco State University. Jason spent the Summer of 2014 on Onward Israel’s National Hillel program where he lived in Jerusalem, interning for a Dual-Narrative Tourism organization. His experience that Summer helped him materialize his passion and love for providing immersive community-building experiences and set him up early-on for his burgeoning career in Jewish communal work and Israel education.

As an SFSU Alum, Jason has served the last 3 years as an Israel Engagement Associate with San Francisco Hillel. There, he helped shape Israel educational programming, promoted dialogue and coalition-building amidst controversial Anti-Israel campus activism, organized trips for non-Jewish student leaders to Israel, and strengthened students support in their connections to Israel and Judaism, as well as, taking advantage of programs and opportunities to advance their careers, education and Jewish Journeys. He currently serves on a multitude of board and committees within San Francisco Jewish community focused on Israel education and engagement, and will soon be a certified Birthright Israel Fellow.

Jason can usually be found in the city at Jewish communal events, Salsa or Israeli Dancing, trying the best food SF has to offer and exercising.

Isabel Greenblatt

Isabel was born and raised in Portland, Maine. She attended Iona College in New Rochelle, NY and graduated in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Marketing. After attending college in New York, she decided to permanently live in New York City.

In the summer after her sophomore year of college, Isabel was an Onward Israel participant on the New York 2017 summer program. She lived in Tel Aviv and worked for a startup company that focused on travel sharing, working on their social media marketing.

Isabel lives in New York City and spends her free time cycling, binge watching Netflix, hanging out with her cat Baby, and spending time with her friends.

Shunit Karake Tanne

Shunit is in charge of placements and business relations for our Law & Entrepreneurship Theme Based Program and the Finance & Economics Theme Based Program.

Born and raised in Israel, Shunit moved with her family to Amherst, Massachusetts for a few years as part of her father’s Navy service.

For the past few years, Shunit has been working with international young professionals, new Olim, and MBA students on finding internships, jobs, career development, networking and professional growth as well as connecting international talent to the Israeli market. She has worked for both the Israel Experience and Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management career center.  Shunit has a BA social work and MA in organizational sociology from Ben Gurion University and also has experience as a social worker and English teacher. She is married to Niv, mother of Doron and Omer, and lives in Modiin.  

Zehavit Algem-Haimof

Zehavit coordinates finance and operations at Onward Israel, taking the lead on budget issues, and managing negotiations with suppliers and organizers.

Zehavit served in the army as a satellite communication guide in the Computer and Information Corps. Prior to joining Onward Israel, she has worked at the Jerusalem Mayor’s building as a social media intern in the mayor’s spokesperson’s office. She has B.A in Journalism and Social Media from Ramat Gan College.

Zehavit is married to Tomer. They live in Jerusalem and are expecting the first child. Zehavit likes to paint in oils and acrylic colors on canvas.

Liel Zahavi-Asa

Liel made Aliyah from California with her family and was raised in Efrat, Israel. She holds a BS in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University and an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. She is also a graduate of the ICenter’s Masters of Concentration in Israel Education. She served as the Director of Jewish Life and Israel Engagement and IACT Birthright Coordinator at Rutgers Hillel in New Jersey. She has extensive experience working as a formal and informal Jewish educator at summer camps, Hebrew schools, and Jewish communities across America. Liel lives in Jerusalem and is currently a student in the Israeli tour guide course.

Jessica Soria Korsunsky

Jessica is a New Jersey native, but found herself at home when she moved to San Diego with her family in 2016.  She brings over 10 years of Jewish community engagement and marketing experience. Her past work includes roles with Open Dor Project, GrapeVine, Jewish Federation of Northern NJ, American Jewish World Service as well as her own non-profit consulting business. In her free time, Jessica loves to spend time with her husband, dog and two young children by the beach and around the Shabbat table.