NJC BOARD OF TRUSTEES

2023-2024 Board
     President: Bri Gaethe Steilberg
Vice President: Mark Gold​
Secretary: Danielle Cohen
Treasurer: Joan Soboloff
Trustees:
Mark Wolfe
Tiffani King
​

Please note that the NJC Bylaws are currently under review by committee.

Any member desiring access to Board of Trustee Meeting, Annual, or Special Meeting Minutes, please contact the Business Office and these will be made available.​

2023-2024 Trustees Bios​

• Bri Steilberg - President

Northshore Jewish Congregation holds a particularly special importance to me as a place to have for my three children to experience the calls of their Jewish faith. I personally grew up with my family as active members of the congregation; my dad has served on the board, my mom converted to Judaism with the same NJC community that prepared me to become a B’nai Mitzvah. When my mom passed away in 2018, NJC hosted her celebration of life in the same walls that housed our family my entire life. 

I graduated from LSU and had strongly considered becoming a rabbi. I took Hebrew as my foreign language and multiple entry courses before graduating with a degree in Sociology. I have taught Hebrew school and privately tutored in Hebrew throughout high school and college. The last three years I have taught religious school at NJC as my daughter Gabrielle has started her own spiritual journey. 

Professionally I own Kinder Haus Montessori Preschool and Kinder Haus Nido school in Mandeville. At home I am fortunate to have a supportive partner that embraces all my endeavors and helps me try to raise kind human beings. I am honored to serve as a board member and help carry on a future of having a Jewish home on the Northshore. 

• Mark Gold - Vice President

I was born in Shreveport, LA but my family moved to Leesville, LA when I was one. Growing up in Leesville, my siblings and I would carpool with the two other Jewish families in town every Sunday to Alexandria, LA to attend religious school there. At age ten, my family moved back to Shreveport where we became members of B’Nai Zion congregation. I graduated from Captain Shreve High School in 1994 and from LSU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. In 2003 I received my teaching certification and have been a social studies teacher in St. Tammany Parish ever since. I married my wife Aimee in 2005 and we have two children. While I have attended High Holiday services at Northshore Jewish Congregation a few times over the years since moving to St. Tammany, I only became a member about three years ago. I am very grateful to NJC for the opportunity be part of our Jewish community, and for the Jewish foundation it provides for my family. I hope that I may be able to return the favor and give back to NJC, as a member of the board, by helping it to live on, thrive and grow.

• ​​Mark Wolfe - Trustee

NJC has long been a part of my heart. My involvement began at its inception and in fact, my wife Rosalie and I hosted the first Exploratory Committee meeting at our home in 1996. I became a member of the first Board of Directors and the first, First Vice President to our then President, Joan Cox. I became the second President of the NJC and served four terms (two years 1998 - 2000 and two years 2004 - 2006). I was President when Katrina hit New Orleans which was a great time of uncertainty and stress for our Congregation. I chaired the Reform Movement's National Mission to New Orleans, post Katrina, to insure inclusion of the NJC on the Mission tours. I attended the Houston National Reform Conference representing NJC and as a member of the New Orleans Reform Synagogue President's Committee, helped craft National Support for our synagogue. 

I taught the NJC Confirmation Class for six years, first with Bonnie Bernstein and then with Stephanie Biller. Along with the help of Dave Simon, I negotiated the NJC Cemetery at Fielding's Funeral Home; Spoke on behalf of the NJC at the Parish wide Ecumenical Memorial after 9/11; chaired six successful annual Fund Raising Galas and cleaned the Synagogue and set it up for Shabbat Services and Religious School. I was always happy to be at the NJC in good times and in bad.
 
After 10 years on the board, I took a step back for numerous reasons, mostly health, becoming less of a regular at NJC, however, always staying in touch with other members and leadership. With joy, I have watched my Confirmation Students grow to adults and start families of their own. I have also witnessed a decline in Membership over the past few years for a variety of reasons. This saddens me greatly. I am moved to return to the board to help in any way I am needed to help assure continued success of the NJC and share the benefit of my experiences. I ask for your support.