Our Staff Team
Executive Director:
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Head of Community Life:
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Head of Education:
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Programme & Volunteer Officer:
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Our Board of Trustees
Ella Rose (She/Her)Ella worked professionally in the Jewish community for many years, including at the Holocaust Educational Trust and Jewish Labour Movement. She started her career as President of the Union of Jewish Students and is now the External Relations Director for Unlocked Graduates. She is the Labour Councillor for Whetstone in the London Borough of Barnet. She is a trustee of the London Jewish Forum, Co-Chair of LGBT+ Labour London and Equalities Officer of the Jewish Labour Movement.
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Eve BerteenEve is the Head of Inclusion at the disability equality charity Scope, overseeing the charity's work on equality, diversity and inclusion. As a charity senior leader, Eve has significant experience of strategy, governance and risk. Eve has also served on the Governance and Risk committee and People and Culture Committee for the LGBTQ+ youth homelessness charity akt. She has been a volunteer with KeshetUK for three years, seeing the charity grow and develop over that time. As a Jewish member of the LGBT+ community herself, Eve is committed to ensuring Jewish LGBT+ people and their families are included throughout Jewish life. Eve grew up in the Leeds Jewish community.
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Michelle Jacobs (She/Her)Michelle has a background delivering complex programmes for government and non-profit organisations. She has a deep commitment to providing leadership in promoting inclusive values and creating change across the Jewish community and, as a Founding Governor of Alma Primary, helped to establish the country’s first cross communal, inclusive Jewish Primary school.
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Robin Moss (Acting Chair) (He/Him)Robin worked professionally in the Jewish community for many years, including almost a decade at UJIA, finishing his time as Director of Strategy. He was previously a movement worker for LJY-Netzer. In a voluntary capacity, he has been involved with Limmud since 2011 and was on the Board of National Officers of Liberal Judaism for six years. He is now the Chief Executive of Unitas (Barnet Youth Zone), a purpose-built facility in Burnt Oak providing high-quality activities and support to young people in Barnet from the ages of 9 to 18.
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Simon Solomon (Acting Vice Chair)Simon grew up in an orthodox family in London and attended an orthodox jewish primary and secondary school. He has an MBA from Cass Business school and has worked for 25 years in the technology sector in a number of commercial and business development roles and also as an investor in several enterprises.
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Steph Saffer (She/Her)Steph is an experienced charity professional, specialising in fundraising from trusts and foundations. She has worked across multiple sectors in both paid and voluntary roles, including several Jewish charities. She has served on committees and engagement groups to improve equity, diversity and inclusion within organisations, and is passionate about making people feel welcome and valued. Steph is also a retired professional chocolatier.
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Stephen ShashouaStephen is a programme designer, trainer and capacity-building specialist working at the intersections of the arts, identity and culture in order to promote better social relations and inclusion. Of Iraqi background and born in Montreal, Canada, Stephen moved to the UK in 2003 and found his calling. He is former Director of the UK based 3FF (Three Faiths Forum now Faith & Belief Forum) having led it’s development over 10 years. He is Co-Director of the intercultural intermediary, The Caravanserai Collective, whose CERITA programme has run in different parts of the world through partners Google and Facebook.
Stephen is a Yale World Fellow, a KAICIID International Fellow, a member of the IF20 Educational Working Group, an Advisory Board member of Standing Together Against Domestic Violence SAFE Programme, a Strategic Advisor to New Horizons in British Islam, and a UNAOC Global Expert. |
A bit about the Founding Trustees of KeshetUK
You can find out more about the history of KeshetUK on our 'About Us' page . As a formal organisation, KeshetUK was incorporated as a limited company in May 2014 with three founder directors - Alma Reisel, Benjamin Ellis and Dave Shaw and then in September 2015 received Charitable status in England.
Alma and Dave stood down from formal roles within KeshetUK in 2021 and Benjamin stood down in 2022. We are very thankful for their leadership and guidance.
Alma and Dave stood down from formal roles within KeshetUK in 2021 and Benjamin stood down in 2022. We are very thankful for their leadership and guidance.
Alma Reisel (She/Her)Alma is a family therapist and social worker now working in the NHS supporting teenagers with mental health difficulties and their families, as well as offering private therapy online to individuals, couples and families of any configuration. She became involved in KeshetUK in 2011.
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Benjamin Ellis (He/Him)Benjamin divides his time between medical work as a Rheumatologist and as Senior Clinical Policy Advisor to a national non-profit, Versus Arthritis. Benjamin grew up in an Orthodox family in Leeds, England, then studied for two years at Yeshivat Har Etzion before completing degrees at Cambridge then University College London.
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Dave Shaw (He/Him)Dave has a background in marketing communications and has worked with organisations at different stages of development – from start-ups through to heritage brands. Over the years he has supported different commercial and charitable organisations to communicate effectively and engage key audiences.
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Some of our passionate volunteers
Emma Grant
Emma grew up in Brighton and believes her hometown helped inform her strong beliefs of equality. She has a background in informal education, volunteer coordination, and ceramic art. Since having her children, she has been increasingly passionate about the gender inequality wider society shows towards all children. Emma defines as Modern Orthodox and believes that the Jewish community at large can do more to include LGBT+ communities. |
Jordan Jacobs
Jordan is a trainee solicitor at an international law firm. He was born and raised in London and has always been engaged with the Jewish community, whether that be through school, university or the University of Warwick Jewish society. Over the last few years he has been increasingly passionate about improving inclusion of LGBT+ Jews in the community, and believes the best way of achieving this is through volunteering his time with KeshetUK. By volunteering with KeshetUK, he hopes not only to make the community as inclusive as possible, but also to learn more about himself and the community. |
Naomi B
With a background in teaching languages, Naomi was our intern from October 2017 to March 2018 supporting our Director of Programmes for schools and youth organisations, as well as in schools and other community organisations. They are passionate about discourses of language and terminology, and how these relate to and interact with our understanding of ourselves and those around us. As a non-binary and queer Jewish person, they are keen for new and intersectional identities to be understood and included in LGBT+ Jewish communities. Naomi continues to volunteer as a facilitator for our education and training. They received their BA in Russian with German and their MA in Applied Linguistics from University College London. |