Campus Foundation
James Koshland, President
Carol Saal, Vice President
John Freidenrich, Vice President
Don Seiler, Secretary
Lisa Gurwitch, Treasurer
Neill Brownstein, Assistant Secretary
Stuart Klein, Assistant Secretary
David Friedman
Mark Leslie
Larry Marks
Paul Resnick
David Steirman
James Koshland became president of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life in November 2004, having joined the board in May 2003. He is a partner and co-chair of the Venture Services Group at Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, where he has practiced law since 1978. He serves on the boards of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation (JCF), San Francisco Jewish Community Endowment Fund, Hillel at Stanford, and the San Francisco School Volunteers. He also serves as a member of the Strategic Council of the Dean of Stanford Law School (where he received a J.D. in 1978) and as a trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation.
Carol Saal, Campus Board Vice President, Campus Campaign Chair
Carol Saal chairs the Campus Capital Campaign and is a board member of the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center, where she previously served as president. She is a past board member and officer of JCF and also served as 1997 and 1998 overall campaign chair. She has been a long-standing member of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and has served as president of the South Peninsula Federation Council, South Peninsula Campaign chair and president of the Women's Division. For three years, she was Bay Area chair of the American Committee for the Weitzmann Institute of Science. Currently, she is on the executive committee of the American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev and was appointed to serve on the Board of Governors of the university in Israel. She is a founder of Hatikvah, a Jewish community residential facility serving the needs of developmentally disabled adults, and New Bridges to Jewish Community, an innovative outreach initiative.
John Freidenrich, Vice President
John Freidenrich founded the law firm of Ware & Freidenrich in 1968. The firm merged with Gray Cary in 1994. Freidenrich formed Bay Partners in 1976 and has led the firm for over 25 years as an active venture capitalist. From 1992-96, he served as president of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, where he was a trustee for 10 years and national co-chair of the major gifts committee for the university’s $1.3 billion Centennial Campaign. Freidenrich has served on numerous boards, including JCF, Stanford University Hospital, Lucille Salter Packard Children’s Hospital, the Community Foundation of Santa Clara County and a number of private foundations.
Don Seiler, Secretary of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, was managing partner of Seiler & Company, LLP, from 1957-1998 and currently serves as a consultant. Seiler’s areas of expertise include financial, estate, economic and income tax planning and preparation. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He serves on the public boards of Ross Stores, Inc. and Greater Bay Bancorp. From 1990-92, Seiler was president of JCF and was a member of the Executive Committee and chairman of the Endowment Fund. Other community activities included serving as vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University Hospital, The Jewish Home (Director and Officer), University of California Berkeley, Haas Business School, and Professional Accounting Program.
Lisa Gurwitch is the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, comprised of over $2 billion of funds and foundations. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and earned her law degree at George Washington University. Prior to joining the Jewish Community Endowment Fund in 1991, Gurwitch practiced law in San Francisco and Chicago, focusing on commercial real estate and finance transactions. In her professional capacity, she serves as an officer and/or board member of numerous charitable foundations.
Neill Brownstein, Assistant Secretary
Neill Brownstein is a founding member of the boards of directors of over 30 companies. He currently serves on the boards of Bisnet, Club One, and VYYO, Inc. In 1973, Brownstein was the co-founder of Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the largest firms specializing in technology investment. He is a member of the board of the San Francisco Jewish Community Endowment Fund and previously served for six years as a JCF board member. He has also served on the Overseas Committee of JCF, and chaired the Upper Galil Sub-committee. From 1978-84, he chaired the JCF JCC Oversight Committee during the period when the ALSJCC was established and the Marin Center was initially conceived.
Stuart Klein negotiated the purchase of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life site at 901 San Antonio Road from Sun Microsystems in 2001-02. Klein is an attorney and private investor who was instrumental in development of the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School (now the Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School) previously located in Palo Alto on Arastradero Road adjacent to the former site of the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center. He currently serves on the board of Hillel at Stanford and chairs the Site Committee for development of Hillel’s new facility on the university campus. Klein received a J.D./M.B.A. from Stanford in 1983 and subsequently practiced law at Cooley Godward, representing startup companies and venture capital firms, before co-founding SuperMac Technology in 1986.
David Friedman is president of Forell/Elsesser Engineers, a structural and earthquake engineering consulting firm in San Francisco founded in 1960. He currently chairs the board of the Jewish Home and is a trustee of the San Francisco Foundation, the UC Berkeley Foundation, Asian Neighborhood Design and Architectural Foundation of San Francisco. His background combines 30 years of professional experience in development of major institutional projects ranging from the San Francisco Jewish Community Center to the Asian Art museum and historic renovation of San Francisco’s City Hall, with extensive nonprofit leadership experience.
Mark Leslie is currently the managing director of Leslie Ventures, a private investment company. He is also a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford’s Graduate School of Engineering. He was founding Chairman and CEO of Veritas Software. From 1980 until 1990, he served as president and CEO of two Silicon Valley high-tech start-up companies. Mark currently serves on the boards of Avaya Corporation and Network Appliance, as well as a number of privately held high-tech corporations. He also serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley. Mark received a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and mathematics from New York University and completed Harvard Business School’s program for management development.
Larry Marks has been active in real estate financing, acquisitions and management for more than 30 years. His professional background includes arranging financing for commercial real estate projects throughout the country as well as having purchased and managed apartment and offices properties for investor groups. As a board member of the Jewish Home, he has chaired the Home’s Building, Finance and Investment committees. He currently serves as president of the Menlo Park Kiwanis, having been involved in various community projects undertaken by the group since 1995.
Paul Resnick is president of the OFJCC board. A principal at AKJ Asset Management, LLC, he holds aB.A. from Claremont McKenna College and a M.B.A. from UCLA. In addition to his work with the OFJCC, he sits on the boards of the Jewish Community Center Association, the Cleo Eulau Center and as chair of Investment Committee for the North Peninsula Jewish Campus. He also has served as board president/chair for Lytton Gardens, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Jewish Family & Children's Services, San Francisco Art Institute and Zonta Services and as treasurer/finance committee chair for various non-profits.
David Steirman is president of Kestrel Investment Management Corporation in San Mateo. He currently serves as the president of JCF. He is also a board member of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Education Services of North America, and Northern California AIPAC. He is the immediate past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, a past president of the Bureau of Jewish Education and a former director and officer of the Jewish Home.
“I am gratified each and every day by what I have been able to for the Jewish community but, equally important, I am content in what i get in return.”
Carol Saal,
Past President of the Palo Alto JCC and
Past President of the TKCJL Supporting Foundation