On July 1, 2024, the JEWISHcolorado Board added seven members. Six are new to the Board and one is returning. We talked to all of them about their personal Jewish journey and their vision for the future of JEWISHcolorado.
Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg-Margo
Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg-Margo joins the JEWISHcolorado board as an ex officio member in his new role as President of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors. He views his time on the board as an opportunity for observation and guidance.
“With the wisdom and knowledge already in the room, it will be an easy job,” Ginsberg-Margo says. “The board already includes seasoned, good people.”
For Rabbi Ginsberg-Margo, his appointment to the board comes at a time of transition in his own life. After 30 years in business—during which time he trained to be a rabbi—he is now intending to move into a more full-time rabbinical world.
“I pledged to my wife not to take a full-time rabbinical position until the youngest of our three children is out of the house,” he says. “Fulltime rabbinical work is demanding. It’s like having another family.”
Rabbi Ginsberg-Margo’s journey to become a rabbi started when he was a PhD student at UCLA in the late 1990s. A Hillel rabbi saw in him a graduate student who was insatiable about Jewish learning and used Hillel as his second home and asked him, “Why are you studying Korean history? You should be a rabbi!”
Instead, with few professional prospects as a PhD, Rabbi Ginsberg-Margo left the program and found his way to the field of logistics and supply chain management where he spent nine years. For the past 18 years, he has worked for SAP, a software solutions company, in a variety of positions.
Eventually, he decided that Hillel rabbi was right. “I wanted to lead services and teach classes,” he says. “So I went and did it.” He has a Master’s degree and ordination as a Rabbi from the Academy for Jewish Religion|California. He is serving as an adjunct member of the clergy team at Temple Emanuel and hopes to move into full-time rabbinical work. He is also a learning and development professional and serves as the Program Director for the Denver Introduction to Judaism program.
On the board, he looks forward to discussion of any agenda item focusing on Jewish education. He also hopes his time on the board will enable him to meet people in the community that he might not otherwise meet. When necessary, he will “lend prayers and blessings for success in all endeavors.”
“I gain a lot of satisfaction serving people at the happy and the sad moments in their lives,” he says. “Being present in those moments fulfills my sense of purpose.”
Jules Kramer
Ask Jules Kramer about his previous experiences with JEWISHcolorado, and he will tell you he “grew up in the hallways of the Federation—only it was a different building then.” Now, he is joining the Board as the Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).
Raised in Hilltop, Jules headed to Hebrew University after high school for what was supposed to be a one-year gap year program. He fell in love with Jerusalem and made Aliyah in 2006.
Jules served in the 890th Battalion of the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade, studied Middle Eastern and Israeli history at the University of Haifa, and trained for two years to become a professional Israeli tour educator.
For almost a decade, Jules designed and led missions exploring the Israeli–Palestinian conflict with global leaders and elected officials from all six continents, as well as student leadership missions from leading Masters in Public Policy programs. In what would pave the way for his new role at JEWISHcolorado, he led the JCRC Public Officials Mission Trips in 2017 and 2019.
In April 2021, during COVID lockdowns in Tel Aviv, Jules and his wife decided to move to Denver.
“Jewish community is a vibrant albeit routine of daily life in Israel. When we moved to Colorado, we realized engagement would take a more focused effort,” Kramer says. “We want to ensure a prosperous future for the Jewish community here and realized we must proactively bring that vision to life. We strive to model community engagement for our children so they learn the value and privilege of championing the Jewish community into the future.”
Kramer is excited to be taking on Board leadership of the JCRC during challenging times.
“My goal for the JCRC is to expand our ability to strategically operate within the political sphere at all Colorado levels while building an umbrella for the entire community to advocate for our Jewish community and Israel at state and local institutions,” he says.
Professionally, Jules has served as the Director of Policy for Glowlit, a Tel Aviv-based start-up that built a machine-learning platform to create price transparency in global raw materials. Recently, Jules was VP of Customer Experience at Biofire, a start-up that built the world’s first biometrically enabled handgun. Currently, Jules advises early-stage start-ups on their go-to-market strategy.
He and his wife have two children under the age of four and can always be found on the spectacular hiking trails of Colorado.
Daniel Krasnitsky
Daniel Krasnitsky includes one personal note in his LinkedIn profile: “Fluent trilingual speaker with diverse cultural and life experiences.” Behind that detail lies a story of individual diaspora lived by one child.
Krasnitsky left the Soviet Union with his family to make Aliyah when the gates opened and Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate in the late eighties and 1990s. He was six years old and spoke Russian.
“Israel was a hard adjustment because Middle Eastern culture took some getting used to,” he says. “But after I picked up the language, I loved every second.”
Krasnitsky’s father died when he was nine years old, and his mother died several years later. When he was 14, his mother’s sister and her family in Denver adopted him, and he found himself, yet again, learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture.
“I didn’t speak a word of English, and I didn’t really know anyone in the American Jewish community,” he recalls. “Going back to my days in Israel, I did not like to speak Russian and preferred to speak only Hebrew. I had a hard time finding people to talk with, given the limited Hebrew speakers in Denver at the time. I had a difficult time finding myself. My age didn’t help.”
With his unique life experience and worldview, he was eager to become engaged with JEWISHcolorado. He joins the Board as the Chair of the Investment Committee.
“I have a strong appreciation for the American and global Jewish foundations that made it possible for Soviet Jews to leave the Soviet Union by getting refugees like my family to countries like Italy, Austria, and Hungary until the immigration paperwork for U.S. or Israel worked itself out,” he says. “I remember the good deeds that were done, and I am forever thankful for the work that gave Soviet Jewish refugees the opportunity to contribute to American and Israeli society in every aspect, sector, and business.”
Krasnitsky spent more than 15 years with Janus Henderson Investors U.S. Today, he is the Institutional Consultant Relations Director with ArrowMark Partners. When he is not working, his life revolves around spending time with his two young children and his wife.
In an era of heightened threats and instability, Krasnitsky brings to the Board a perspective forged by lived experience.
“I am passionate about all things making a stronger Jewish community,” he says. “It is important to me to contribute, especially in more difficult times because I have witnessed hard times and have also heard about unimaginable times from my grandparents. I hope to be a strong voice for our community in Denver and everywhere else. I have and will continue to fight for Jewish communities for as long as I can.”
Lorne Polger
Lorne Polger has lived his adult life between two states—California and Colorado. He spent his high school and college years in Colorado and moved to California to earn his law degree at UCLA. Two years ago, he returned to Denver after 37 years in San Diego. Why come back?
“For the love of a good woman,” he says simply.
When Polger returned to Denver, he already had lifelong friends in the community. He and JEWISHcolorado Campaign Chair Neil Oberfeld grew up together. Their fathers were best friends, and in 1978, the two families moved from Montreal, Canada, to Denver for business. He also went to high school with former JEWISHcolorado Board Chair Rob Kaufmann.
Polger has been deeply involved in Jewish life and advocacy for most of his life, starting when he was very young, working at JCC summer camps.
“If I had three legs on my stool, they would be family, business, and the third leg is community involvement,” he says. “I have always been active in nonprofit boards within and outside the Jewish community. It is who I am and what I do.”
Polger served on the board of the Antidefamation League in San Diego for 25 years and as chair for four years. He and a business partner recently co-founded the San Diego office of the American Jewish Committee to combat antisemitism during a time of increased threats.
“Antisemitism has always been important in my life,” he says. “I first encountered it when I was eight years old when someone spoke in a derogatory way to my mother and that always stuck with me. It is something I have focused on—now more than ever.”
When Polger returned to Denver, he became involved with the JEWISHcolorado Real Estate & Construction Network which led to his new role on the Board. Inspired by the success of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, he would like to explore more ways that JEWISHcolorado’s Jewish Community Foundation could have a positive impact in the community.
Polger and his wife Lori Weiner knew each other in high school but had not seen each other for 30 years when they reconnected. Both were widowed. They now have what Polger calls a “Brady Bunch Family,” with five adult children, four of whom are engaged or newly married. Polger and his wife divide their time between San Diego, Denver, and their home in the Vail Valley.
Polger is the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Pathfinder Partners, a real estate private equity firm based in San Diego. Prior to co-founding Pathfinder in 2006, he practiced real estate law for 20 years and was head of the Real Estate team at San Diego’s largest law firm. He is a Co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Endeavor Bank and serves on multiple additional for profit and nonprofit boards.
Josh Widoff
Josh Widoff’s new role on the JEWISHcolorado board comes as the result of a convergence of multiple factors, starting the day he picked up a flyer for High Holiday services at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. When he called the name on the flyer, Edie Sperling, President of the Jewish student organization, answered and offered him a ride to services.
“As I recall, I was immediately enthralled,” Widoff recalls with a laugh. “She wasn’t so sure.”
The two were married after they finished college, and, Widoff says, “She was smart and brought me to Denver, but she did not have to twist my arm.” In Colorado, Widoff was welcomed into the Jewish community by his in-laws, Morton and Jo Ann Sperling.
At the University of Colorado School of Law, Widoff landed a summer clerkship with Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck.
“It was a wonderful place to be trained as a lawyer and start my career, and it was also the kind of place where almost every day of the week, you could raise your hand and go to a nonprofit luncheon, fundraising dinner, political or community event,” Widoff says. “At Brownstein, I learned from some great examples how to get active politically and join nonprofit boards.”
At one point in his career, Widoff officed on one side of Steve Farber’s corner office and former JEWISHcolorado Board Chair Rob Kaufmann officed on the other side.
“I approached Rob about joining the JEWISHcolorado board because I was familiar with his work for the organization,” Widoff says. “I felt like engagement with a Jewish organization was missing in my life, and JEWISHcolorado, because of its mission, its people, and other board members felt like the best fit.”
Today, Widoff is a Partner and Co-General Counsel of the Real Assets Group for Ares Management. Prior to joining Ares in 2021, he was a Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer at Black Creek Group. After 10 years, he recently stepped down as a chair of the board of commissioners for the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Widoff and his wife have two adult children who, he says are “both active and proud members of the Jewish community.”
“My wife and I are at a point in our lives that we value giving back to the community that has supported us as we raised our family,” Widoff says. “JEWISHcolorado advocates for the Jewish community in the face of significant challenges, fosters programs that help people solidify their connection to Judaism, and supports Israel.”
Seth Wong
Seth Wong has already spent 10 years serving the JEWISHcolorado Board, including time as Treasurer. He is returning after a two-year hiatus.
“We have outstanding leadership, and [Board Chair] Ben [Lusher] and I have always wanted to work together so this gives us that opportunity,” he says. “I am excited to see what Ben, [President and CEO] Renée [Rockford], and the rest of the Board want to do.”
Wong represents the second generation of his family to create personal history with JEWISHcolorado. His mother, Jackie Sprinces Wong, is a past recipient of the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award and is active in local and national philanthropic work. Wong’s first stint on the board took place when he was Chair of the Young Adult Division (YAD) and was involved with Jewish Federations of North America National Young Leadership Cabinet.
Now more than ever, he sees the need to galvanize the Jewish community.
“Because we are under threat, people see the value of the Secure Community Network (SCN), and I think we need to promote it as aggressively as we can,” Wong says. “SCN has taken us back to our Federation roots, stewarding the community in ubiquitous ways, transcending all cultural and religious differences.”
Wong describes himself as a board member who “asks a lot of questions.”
“I am interested in looking at the funding model of JEWISHcolorado with an eye on what role the endowment can play,” Wong says. “We have people who are exceptionally generous, and we also need to look at new opportunities and funding mechanisms.”
Wong is president of Industrial Laboratories, the market leader in the horse race drug testing. Industrial Laboratories also does food safety analysis and international food safety method validation.
Wong met his wife Ashleigh through Federation. They have three children under the age of 5. His background includes gymnastics and cheerleading at the collegiate and world competitive levels. He likes to collect things—during COVID, he started collecting bourbon.
“I just want to be the best,” he says. “I want to be the best in gymnastics, cheerleading, business, and collecting bourbon. And I want my Federation to be the best.”
Stuart Zall
Stuart Zall likes to call himself a Judeophile.
“I love all things Jewish,” he says. “We are all family and all connected. Now, more than ever, we need to stick together and create a community.”
Zall traces the start of his passion for the Jewish community to his childhood. He was three years old when his father died. Every Friday, his single mom took him and his two older siblings to Oneg Shabbat.
“My mother really needed something to do with her children and that is where I was educated in Judaism,” Zall says. “But it was also my social life. All my friends—that’s what we did on Friday night.”
Zall became involved with United Synagogue Youth (USY), and when he was 16, he traveled around the country with USY on Wheels.
“I didn’t think Jews lived outside New York, New Jersey, and Israel,” he recalls. “We stopped in different cities, and I realized there were Jewish communities all over America. Today, I am still doing business in at least half of the cities we stopped in. I have not gotten off the bus yet!”
When he was at the University of Denver for his undergraduate degree, Zall worked to rejuvenate the Hillel under the leadership of John Wesley Rice Jr., the father of Condoleezza Rice. He took away a life lesson from that experience and went on to become president of Hillel of Colorado.
“Organizations are only as strong as the people in them,” he says. “If you have a strong leader, good things happen.”
Between college and his first major job, the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado (now JEWISHcolorado) gave Zall a scholarship to attend the Bradeis-Bardin Institute, a Jewish retreat in Simi Valley, California.
“It was like a Jewish think tank, pluralistic, and so eye-opening,” Zall says. “It was absolutely amazing and to this day, some of my best friends are from my time there.”
With more than 35 years of retail leasing expertise, Zall founded The Zall Company in 2000. Under his guidance, the company has established itself as a premier retail brokerage serving retailers, landlords, and developers internationally. With his experience, it was natural for him to get involved in JEWISHcolorado’s Real Estate & Construction Network (RECN), and, as the new chair of that committee, he now holds a board seat. In his new role, he would like to continue to grow RECN and support the JEWISHcolorado mission.
“If there were not a community safety net with wonderful programs, our life in Denver would not be as fulfilling,” he says. “We need JEWISHcolorado. Who else is going to steer the ship?”
Zall and his wife Elise are the proud parents of three children, and they have a new daughter-in-law.