Albert Z. Praw

Prior to his current role as Chair of the Board of Directors, Albert served as its Vice Chair for six years, during which time he also served as Chair of the Strategic Planning and Distribution Committee. He previously served as Chair of the Finance & Administration Committee. In 2017, Albert was honored with the Federation’s Bruce I. Hochman Maimonides Torch of Justice Award.

Among his other leadership positions in the community, Albert is a member of the Board of Governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and was formerly a member of the International Board of Directors of Shaare Zedek Hospital of Jerusalem and the Board of Directors of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters. Albert is also a past president of Stephen Wise Temple.

Albert is Executive Vice President, Real Estate and Business Development, of KB Home, a NYSE-listed company and one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. He graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley and received his law degree from UCLA Law School, graduating with Order of the Coif honors.

Albert and his wife Heidi have four children and seven grandchildren.

Orna Wolens

Orna currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Jewish Federations of North America as well as National Women’s Philanthropy. She serves on our Federation’s Campaign Cabinet and Strategic Planning and Distribution Committee, and she is a Community Leadership Institute (CLI) mentor. Orna has chaired the NuRoots Committee, Ensuring the Jewish Future Committee, Jewish Campus Life Committee, and the Hineni Dinner.

In addition to her Federation leadership, Orna enjoys her involvement in the art world. She is on the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Board of Directors and a member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Contemporary Acquisitions Committee, and in the Hammer Circle. She is active as a Friend of both the Israel Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Orna graduated from Bryn Mawr College and received her law degree from Loyola Law School.

Orna and her husband Keenan have four children.

Lynn Bider

Lynn currently serves as the Chair of The Jewish Federation’s Unistream Committee, Executive Committee and Board of Directors; on JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board; as the Secretary and member of the Board of Beit T’Shuvah; and on the boards of USC Hillel and the Los Angeles Jewish Community Foundation. She is the former President of Stephen Wise Temple and the former Chair of the Federation’s Sylvia Weiss Women’s Philanthropy and Caring for Jews in Need strategic initiative.

Among the honors Lynn has received are the JQ Community Leadership Award, the Beauty Bus Lifetime Achievement Award, and our Federation’s highest honor for Women’s Philanthropy: the Leah Rabin Award for distinguished leadership in the Jewish community.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Lynn graduated from UCLA and then USC. Lynn and her husband Les are the proud parents of two children and two wonderful grandchildren.

Heidi Monkarsh

In her second term as Vice Chair of the Board, Heidi also serves on the Federation’s Executive Committee, the Campaign Cabinet, and Birth Through High School strategic initiative. Previously, she served as Chair of Sylvia Weisz Women’s Philanthropy, the Ensuring the Jewish Future strategic initiative, and Young Adult Engagement and Leadership Development. She was instrumental in launching CLI (Community Leadership Institute), our Federation’s premier leadership program.

Heidi is currently Co-Chair of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy’s upcoming International Lion of Judah Conference as well as a board member of JFNA. In 2001, Heidi received the Mildred Allenberg/Dorothy Handler Young Leadership Award, and in 2007 she was awarded the Doris Factor Leadership Award. In 2017, Heidi was honored with the Woman of Achievement Award from the American Jewish University.

She is a past member of National Young Leadership Cabinet and has held leadership roles with The Jewish Community Foundation, Sinai Temple, Camp Ramah, Cedars-Sinai, The Cayton Museum, and Brentwood School.

Heidi and her husband Jon have two adult children.

Jerry Coben

Jerry, an active Board Member since 2011, is Vice Chair of the Board, a member of the Executive Committee, and Chair of the Strategic Planning and Distribution Committee. He also chairs the Federation’s Advisory Committee for the L.A. Jewish Teen Initiative (LAJTI) and serves on the committee overseeing the Federation’s strategic partnership with Unistream in Israel.

Jerry is also a vice chair of the Board of American Jewish University and a member of its Executive Committee. After an extended tenure as a director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, where he served as Board President, Jerry is currently a member of the Bet Tzedek President’s Council. He is also a Life Member of the USC Shoah Foundation’s Board of Councilors.

Jerry is currently retired after a 40-year career as a corporate lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions and finance transactions. Following his retirement, Jerry has served as a director of several corporations and often serves as an expert witness in a variety of cases arising from his areas of practice.

A graduate of Brown University, Jerry received his law degree from New York University, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. He and his wife Carol have two children and two grandchildren.

Jill Namm

Prior to becoming Valley Alliance Chair, Jill was Valley Alliance Campaign Co-Chair, Valley Alliance Women’s Philanthropy Chair, and Valley Alliance Women’s Chair. Jill currently sits on Federation’s Executive Committee as Secretary and holds the roles of Mission Chair and Chair of the Jewish Campus Life Committee. She is also an alum of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board (NWP).

Having traveled on many Federation missions to Israel, Poland, Ethiopia, Budapest, Greece, Russia, China, and Lithuania, Jill has seen firsthand how Federation’s work impacts the lives of those in Jewish communities worldwide.

A Lion of Judah since 1998, Jill was Co-Recruitment Chair for the International Lion of Judah Conference in New York City in 2012, Co-Chair of the Heart 2 Heart mission to Israel, and Vice Chair of Communication on the NWP Board.

Jill is a proud recipient of Sylvia Weisz Women’s Philanthropy’s Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award, Golda Award, and Rita Reznikoff Award.

She and her husband Steven reside in Encino and together have three children and three grandchildren.

Leon Janks

Leon is a returning Board Member, having served on the Federation Board for more than 10 years and as Chair of the Audit Committee. Leon is a Board Member of the Milken Community School and is Past Chairman and currently serves on its Executive and Finance Committees. Leon also served for many years on the Board of Camp Ramah of California. Leon was Managing Partner at Green Hasson Janks, a public accounting firm on the Westside, and currently serves on the Board of PriceSmart, a public company located in San Diego. Mr. Janks earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. He and his wife Sharon have three children and five grandchildren.