Josh Wisch
NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT (One-year term)

Josh Wisch is President and Executive Director of Holomua Collective, a local nonprofit whose mission is to keep all local working families in Hawai‘i by creating cross-sector solutions and executing sustainable pathways to make sure they can afford to stay. 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 Temple Emanu-El, the Kūpa‘a Network, and the Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival. He 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. 
 
Most importantly, Josh is married to Malia Wisch, an award-winning graphic designer and partner at Wall-to-Wall studios. Josh and Malia live in Kailua with their five cats: Sherbert, Wind, Norris, Palmer, and Mr. Bones. 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.

Cheryl Edelson
NOMINATED FOR 1ST VICE PRESIDENT (One-year term)

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
NOMINATED FOR 2ND VICE PRESIDENT (One-year Term) 

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. Samantha is currently serving on the Temple's Board of Trustees as a member-at-large.

DEBORAH ZYSMAN
NOMINATED FOR TREASURER (One-year term)

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.

ELYCIA FINE
NOMINATED FOR SECRETARY (One-year Term) 

Elycia is an innovative communications professional in the creative media technology space. 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, 

Elycia was born and raised in Miami, FL, and happily spends her free time doing activities with her teenager, AL, and dogs Charleston and Maximus. She also loves fruits and vegetables, watching reality TV, and pondering liminal spaces.  

Elycia is excited to be a part of Temple E and is dedicated to helping keep it a great place for the community to come together for generations. 

LARRY STEINBERG
NOMINATED FOR MEMBER-AT-LARGE (completing final year of Samantha Berman's term)  

Larry Seth Steinberg spent his childhood 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 basketball team (12-time National Champions!), 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.

CRIS BORDEN
NOMINATED FOR MEMBER-AT-LARGE (completing final year of Josh Levinson's term)                                      

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.

SCOTT PAUL

NOMINATED FOR MEMBER-AT-LARGE (Two-year term)                                                                                   

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.

EMILLIA NOORDHOEK
NOMINATED FOR MEMBER-AT-LARGE (Two-year term) 

Emillia Noordhoek is a dedicated leader with a rich background in education, non-profit management, and the arts. As a Special Education Teacher for the Hawai'i Department of Education, Emillia consistently advocates for diverse learners, creating engaging and inclusive environments where every individual can thrive.

Before moving to Oahu in June 2022, Emillia spent 15 years on Moloka'i. During that time, she co-founded and served as Executive Director of Sustainable Moloka'i, with much of her time spent on strategic planning and community outreach. She also spearheaded the creation of the Moloka'i Arts Center (MAC). As its co-founder and first board president, she established the island's only art center.

Emillia is passionate about contributing her proven skills in advocacy, relationship-building, and program development to our synagogue. Her collaborative spirit, strong organizational prowess, and heartfelt passion for service represent valuable assets for the board.

SAM GOLDSTEIN
NOMINATED FOR NOMINATING COMMITTEE (Two-year term)                                                                                         

I'm a wildlife disease biologist and emergency responder, active with the Temple and fostering Jewish education and community. I've been coming to Temple Emanu-El for about 16 years. Both of my sons had their bar mitzvahs here and I'd like for the temple and our community to remain strong and successful for their future and that of all of the families who come to Temple Emanu-El.

INCUMBENTS
 

The following Trustees have one year remaining on their current terms: Lisa Jacobson, Justin Levinson, Dan Tabori, and David Sadker. Jackie Mild Lau will serve on the Board of Trustees in the seat designated for Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood.

All biographies were written and submitted by BOT nominees.