Temple Emanu-El Board of Trustees
CRIS BORDEN
President
Cris Borden is the Chief Investment Officer of Shuster Advisory Group, LLC (“SAG”) and founder and director of Kobo Wealth Conservancy, LLC (“Kobo”), which he started in May 2007. Kobo is a Registered Investment Advisory firm with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to starting Kobo, Cris was the lead tax-exempt bond portfolio manager at Bishop Street Capital Management, a subsidiary of First Hawaiian Bank (“Bishop Street”), from November 2000 to May 2007. At Bishop Street, Cris was responsible for portfolio management and trading of tax-exempt bond assets. Under Cris’s management, the Bishop Street Hawaii Municipal Bond Fund received the Lipper award for highest total return in its class for 2001, 2002, and 2004 and maintained a four- and five-star Morningstar rating during his tenure. Cris spent much of his time advising private banking clientele on cash management, constructing bond portfolios to minimize tax liabilities, and other investment matters. He previously worked as an analyst with The Rendon Group in Washington D.C. from 1997 to 2000 and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua from 1995 to 1996. He is on the Board of Directors’ Investment Subcommittee for the Kāhala Nui Senior Living Community, and Treasurer and board member for Temple Emanu-El.
Cris holds a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from American University in Washington, D.C. which he received in 2000, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Colorado at Boulder, which he received in 1995.
JOSH WISCH
1st Vice President
Josh Wisch is President and Executive Director of Holomua Collective, a local nonprofit whose mission is to make Hawai'i more affordable for all working families. Josh has two decades of cross-sector professional experience in Hawai‘i. This includes serving as: Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i; Special Assistant to the Attorney General; Deputy Director for the Department of Taxation; Advocacy Director of AARP Hawai‘i; District Director for Congresswoman Mazie Hirono; litigator at the Cades Schutte and Chun Kerr law firms; and as the manager of multiple Hawai‘i political campaigns. Josh is on the board of directors for the Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival and Temple Emanu-El, and is a former member of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center Advisory Board and the Kailua Neighborhood Board.
Josh is a member of the Omidyar Fellows Program and is a frequent public speaker. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Carnegie Mellon University, his master’s degrees with honors from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, during which time he had the privilege of working for Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink.
Josh is married to Malia Wisch, an award-winning graphic designer and partner at Wall-to-Wall studios. Josh and Malia live on O‘ahu with their four cats: Sherbert, Wind, Norris, and Palmer. When he’s not working, you may often find Josh bicycling, corresponding with friends and colleagues from one of his manual typewriters, or watching movies, reading, or writing.
ELYCIA FINE
2nd Vice President
Elycia is a communications professional in the field of creative media technology. She previously served in the Army as a SIGINT analyst and cryptologist, and is a dual wartime campaign veteran. Elycia earned an AA in Arabic Language and Culture from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, a BS in Marketing from the University of South Florida, and an MA in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University.
Born and raised in Miami, FL, Elycia enjoys the music of Pitbull and has seen many alligators in real life. Elycia has 1 child, A.L, who is funny, cool, creative, and thoughtful. Together they love to spend time with their pets - senior dog, Charleston, and puppy, Maximus.
In her free time, Elycia enjoys yoga, taking walks, and watching reality TV. She enjoys helping to make Temple E a great place for everyone.
DEBORAH ZYSMAN
Treasurer
Deborah Zysman is Executive Director of Hawaii Children’s Action Network (HCAN), the state’s only non-profit committed solely to advocating for children. HCAN leads movements through analysis, education, advocacy and coalition building so all children in Hawaii are safe, healthy and ready to learn.
Deborah has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her work has spanned chronic disease, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse prevention, women’s and community health.
She is a Weinberg Fellow, winner of the 2019 Ho'okle Non-profit Leadership Award, 2017 AIM for Excellence in Nonprofit Management award, and one of Hawai‘i’s “Forty Under 40” by Pacific Business News. Deborah serves on the board of AlohaCare, and is an active volunteer with Scout Troop 33 (Manoa), and the Citizen Forester program. She is the past board President of both Hawaii Public Health Association and Junior League of Honolulu.
In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, reading, and going to the beach with her husband, and their two children. Deborah's children both went to the Gan for preschool and are currently enrolled in the School of Jewish Studies.
CHERYL EDELSON
Secretary
Cheryl Edelson is Professor of English and Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Design, at Chaminade University of Honolulu. Cheryl and her husband moved to O’ahu in 2004. Since 2020, Cheryl and her family have been members of Temple-Emanu-El. Her daughter is a student in the School of Jewish Studies and Kadima and their family has been very impressed with the excellent educational programming. Recently, Cheryl has served on Temple Emanu-El’s Interim Rabbi and Settled Rabbi Search committees. She very much enjoyed the opportunity to play a role in the future of Temple Emanu-El and to get to know more members of the temple community and the larger Jewish community in Hawai’i. Cheryl is looking forward to learning more about Temple Emanu-El and helping to increase membership and outreach to the community. When she’s not working, Cheryl enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, watching films, and horseback riding.
SAMANTHA BERMAN
Member-at-Large
Samantha is an educator at Punahou School, where she teaches computer science and engineering classes. Originally from Boston, she has found a home at Temple Emanu-El since moving to Honolulu in 2020. Samantha regularly attends Shabbat services and Temple events, and has enjoyed getting to know members of the community on Friday nights, at Rosh Chodesh events, and on the annual Rosh Hashanah sunrise hike.
LISA JACOBSON
Member-at-Large
Dr. Lisa Jacobson is a practicing Emergency Physician and the Vice President of
Medical Affairs for Hawai’i Emergency Physicians Associated, a group providing
emergency medicine coverage to 12 hospitals across the State of Hawai’i. She moved to Oahu in 2016 after an initial career in academic medicine with Georgetown University and the University of Florida – Jacksonville. She’s served as adjunct faculty at SimTikiand with the John A Burns School of Medicine.
Lisa studied at the University of Wisconsin for both her undergraduate and medical education and completed her residency at Mt. Sinai in New York. A proud Midwesterner, she grew up in a strong Jewish community in Milwaukee. Having experienced Jewish communities and synagogues in varying parts of the country, she is delighted to have Temple Emanu-El as the current religious and cultural home for her family.
Lisa’s children are active members of the School of Jewish Studies and love that living in Hawai’i far away from aunts, uncles and grandparents they have the Temple as a place for connection to their Jewish roots and culture.
Lisa recently served as a committee member for Temple Emanu-El’s Interim and Settled Rabbi searches. It was an honor to work with so many dedicated members to shape the future of Temple Emanu-El and she looks forward to continuing those efforts in a
different way.
JOSH LEVINSON
Member-at-Large
Josh Levinson first joined the Temple Emanu-El board in 2019 and served as President from July 2021 to June 2023. Josh grew up in Kaneohe and Manoa and spent a significant portion of his childhood at Temple Emanu-El where he became a bar mitzvah and was confirmed. Josh's two kids are 4th generation members of Temple Emanu-El, following in the footsteps of their parents (Josh's wife, Elila, also grew up at Temple Emanu-El), grandparents, and Great-Great Aunt and Uncle, Carlyn and Bernard Levinson. Josh has extensive professional experience working with boards as part of his consulting practice, providing partnership and support for communities, organizations and institutions addressing the collective health and wellbeing of the people and islands of Hawaii. Josh is a graduate of Duke University and holds a Master's degree in Folklore from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He lives in Kailua with his wife and kids.
JUSTIN LEVINSON
Member-at-Large
Justin D. Levinson, who has served on the board for over a decade, is a Professor of Law and Director of the Culture and Jury Project at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law. His primary areas of expertise are legal decision-making, juries, and corporate law. His scholarship focuses on the role of automatic (implicit) biases in law and society. He has authored or co-authored over twenty law review articles, and served as lead editor of Implicit Racial Bias Across the Law, a book published by Cambridge University Press. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, UCLA, and Harvard University.
Justin’s family has always been active in the Temple Emanu-El community. His grandfather, Bernard Levinson, was President of the Temple throughout the 1950’s, and his grandmother, Carlyn Levinson, served as President and was active in the Temple Sisterhood.
His father, Peter Levinson, became a Bar Mitzvah at the Temple, later served as a member of the Board, and has been a continuous member of the Temple since the day in which he was first eligible to join as an adult (over 60 years ago!). Justin’s wife, Galit, has been a teacher in the School of Jewish Studies (SJS), and Justin and Galit have two daughters. Justin is serving on the Board because he believes that the Temple serves as a pillar of Hawaii’s Jewish Community, and he is committed to expanding Temple membership through new programs and outreach.
SCOTT PAUL
Member-at-Large
Scott Paul is president of The Facilities Group Hawaii, LLC, which was formed in 2022 by the merger of Kleenco Group, Inc. and Armstrong Building Maintenance, two locally-owned building maintenance and janitorial companies each with more than 50 years of continuous operations. Prior to the merger, Scott had been the owner, president and CEO of Kleenco Group since December 2012.
Prior to Kleenco, Scott was President & CEO of Hoku Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed solar company based in Hawaii and majority-owned by a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Scott first joined Hoku in 2003 as its VP Business Development & General Counsel. In 2008, Scott was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and in April 2010 became Chief Executive Officer and joined Hoku’s Board of Directors. Scott resigned as Hoku’s CEO in June 2012, but continued to serve on its board of directors as Chairman of the restructuring committee until Hoku filed for bankruptcy in July 2013.
Before joining Hoku, Scott was a corporate attorney and business development professional in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1998 until July 2003. Immediately prior to joining Hoku, Scott worked as Director of Business Development and Associate General Counsel at Read-Rite Corporation, a publicly-traded multi-national company that was acquired by Western Digital Corporation in 2003. Previously, Scott worked as an attorney at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, and Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May (now Reed Smith), law firms, where he represented high tech emerging growth and large-cap public companies, and their investors and underwriters, on financing and acquisition transactions.Scott earned his JD cum laude from Santa Clara Law School in 1998 and his BA in psychology from University of California, Los Angeles, in 1995. He has served in varying capacities on the Temple Emanu-El Board of Trustees since 2016. Scott is married to Malia Oshima Paul, who is deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senator Brian Schatz. Scott & Malia’s two children, Kainoa and Mehana, attended Gan Yerushalayim and have graduated from SJS as b'nai mitzvah.
DAVID SADKER
Member-at-Large
David Sadker is a Courage & Renewal facilitator who teaches and writes in Tucson, Arizona. Working with healers, educators, social workers, lawyers, political and business leaders, as well as spiritual communities, David employs poetry, storytelling, music, art, reflection and mindfulness to create a circle of trust, a place where individuals can explore their inner landscape. As a Courage and Renewal® Facilitator prepared by the Center for Courage and Renewal, David builds on the work of Parker Palmer, enabling individuals to bring their role and soul into greater harmony, and to reignite their life’s purpose. For more information, contact David Sadker at dsadker@gmail.com.
With his late wife Myra, Dr. Sadker gained a national reputation for research and publications promoting equity in education. He has directed more than a dozen federal education grants, authored seven books and more than seventy-five articles. His work has been reported in hundreds of newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The London Times and Newsweek, and he has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, The Diane Rehm Show, Talk of the Nation, and twice on Dateline: NBC with Jane Pauley. Dr. Sadker has degrees from CCNY, Harvard University, and the University of Massachusetts, and is professor emeritus at The American University (Washington, DC).
The Sadkers’ book, Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls (1995), was revised with Karen Zittleman Still Failing at Fairness (2009). He is also the co-author of a best-selling teacher education textbook Teachers, Schools and Society (McGraw Hill, 2013), now in its 10th edition, and A Brief Introduction to Teachers, Schools and Society (McGraw Hill, 4th edition in 2015).
The Sadkers were honored with national awards from The American Educational Research Association, The American Association of University Women, and The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. In 2012, they were selected as one of “Nine Most Influential Actors in Title IX History” by The American Civil Liberties Union. David Sadker has been awarded two honorary doctorates, and was selected as a torchbearer in the 2002 Olympics.
LARRY STEINBERG
Member-at-Large
Larry Seth Steinberg and his wife, Diane Farkas, both spent their childhoods in Bloomfield, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford.
Larry was in both the first B’nei Mitzvah and Confirmation classes of the newly formed Congregation Beth Hillel. He served as President of the Junior and Senior United Synagogue Youth chapters of Beth Hillel and was a Board officer of the Connecticut/Western Massachusetts/Rhode Island USY region. Post high school, under Rabbi Herbert Feder, Larry was Assistant to the Director of Youth Activities for the tri-state region. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Cultural-Historical Geography & resided in Nevada and the Great Basin for almost forty years. As a Historical Archaeologist he worked for the Nevada State Museum and Nevada DOT & taught in the University of Nevada system. He was affiliated with Temple Sinai in Reno, directing its religious school. A Nevada state scholarship allowed Larry the opportunity to earn Shoah teaching certification at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Larry was a Firefighter-EMT in the Central Lyon Fire District, Ambulance Chief of Dayton, Nevada and Fire Chief of the Silver City VFD.
Larry’s interests include photography, genealogy, NY Yankee baseball, UConn Women’s (11-time National Champion) basketball team, motorcycles, and historical research. Larry serves as Archivist for Temple Emanu-El’s Levinson Hawaii-Jewish Archives and is a past TE-E Board Member. His sense of humor, while obscure, is ever-present.
DAN TABORI
Member-at-Large
Dan Tabori is the President and Managing Partner of Tabori Gilbert, LLC, a boutique Business Brokerage and Mergers & Acquisitions advisory firm focused on working with Hawaii and mainland businesses to achieve their succession goals. Dan represents owners and businesses looking to achieve their goals through the sale of their business, as well as advise buyers looking to enter the market or grow through strategic acquisitions. In addition, Dan is also the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kairos Biomedical, an evidence-based startup founded in 2017, currently focused on developing and introducing novel immune health supplements to the global market. In late 2020, Dan also stepped in as interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Locations, a leading residential real estate company in Hawaii.
Previously, Dan was the Executive Vice President of Locations between 2004-2017. In that role he was responsible for the firm’s day-to-day business operations, as well as overseeing innovation and growth in the company’s Technology, Research, Marketing, Business Operations and Property Management departments. Dan was also responsible and oversaw the companies Affiliated Business family of companies including founding new companies in Mortgage, Title & Escrow, and Property Management. Dan served for 13 years as an Executive Board Member of the Locations Foundation, the non-profit arm supported by Locations’ agents and employees.
With a wealth of experience and understanding of business strategy, management, and mergers and acquisitions, Dan has held various executive and Board of Director roles in both Hawaii and California. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Common Ground Kauai whose mission is to build the farm of the future, where people come together to create, share, nourish and connect. He has also previously served on the Board of Directors of several companies, including Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Compass Home Loans, Premier Title & Escrow and Real Estate Title Solutions.
Prior to moving to Hawaii with his family, Dan spent 12 years in San Francisco and Silicon Valley with Vestek Systems, Net-it Software and finally Allegis Corporation, later acquired by Click Commerce, Inc. Dan helped build and grow organizations that developed and marketed enterprise software targeted at Global 2000 customers in hi-tech, financial, manufacturing, and various other industries. During his tenure, he held senior management and executive level roles and has extensive experience in Executive Management, Business Development, Professional Services, Product Management & Product Development. Dan has bachelor degrees in both Computer Science and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dan was born in Israel, and served 3 years in the Israel Defense Forces. He is married to Jerusha Tabori, a local girl born and raised on Oahu, and an elementary teacher at Punahou School. Dan & Jerusha have three children, Noah (21), Dahlia (18), and Aviv (15). Their children have been enrolled in the School of Jewish Studies throughout their childhood and are B'nei Mitzvah of the Temple. Dan has spent the past 8 years as a Temple Emanu-El Board Member including Treasurer and 1st Vice President.
JACKIE MILD LAU
Sisterhood Representative
After first being elected in 2014 and serving three consecutive years in office, Jackie returned after a break and continued for two additional years of service as Temple President. She is a familiar face at Temple Emanu-El's School of Jewish Studies, where she has taught art enrichment and "visual culture" to students since her own children, Alena and Leah, were in attendance. Jackie is a practicing artist, specializing in sculpture. She is an active member and past president of Hawaii Craftsmen, helped found the new Glass Fusion Collective and continues to teach bronze casting and sculpture at her small foundry and workshop in Kaneohe. Examples of her collaborations with students can be seen on the walls of the Weinberg Learning Center, Prince David Kawananakoa Middle School Cafeteria, and Roosevelt High School. Samples of her sculptures can be seen at www.sculptureoutofhand.com and on her Instagram account: Sculpture out of Hand.
Note: All biographies written and submitted by BOT members.