Kitchen Cabinet
Jonathan Katzman
Board President
Jonathan Katzman is Director of Product Management for Learning at YouTube. Previously, he was the founding Chief Product Officer at Minerva Project, where he led both development of Minerva’s technology and its partnerships with other universities. Previously, Katzman founded a startup focused on email and personal search that was acquired by Yahoo in 2009. Previously, Katzman built and ran Tellme's directory assistance business in the early 2000's, served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ignition Corporation and worked at Microsoft on the Office and FrontPage teams. Having contributed to three successful startups, Katzman gives back to the entrepreneurial community through both angel investing and advisory work.
Jonathan grew up one town south of Rabbi Kushner in Massachusetts, but unfortunately did not attend her dad’s shul. He earned a B.A. in Computer Science from Harvard University, and more recently completed his Wexner Heritage Fellowship. He lives in Cole Valley with his wife and two sons. The Katzman family are OG Kitchen-ites, having attended services starting the first summer.
Deborah Anderson-Bialis
Board Vice President
Deborah Anderson-Bialis is the co-founder of FertilityIQ, an educational platform that helps people navigate all forms of family building. Deborah received a J.D. from University of California Berkeley Law School, and a B.A. from Williams College.
She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two toddlers. Her family joined the Kitchen in 2018 and regularly attends Rabbi Noa's Torah study classes, Shabbat services and Kitchen Playground events.
Maude Dull
I was raised in a loosely structured San Francisco commune to be a secular humanist, and at the same time, given a firm understanding that I am Jewish because my mom is Jewish, with no Jewish context. My parents predated the hippie era in San Francisco and could be described as betnicks. My strongest Jewish childhood memories are of visiting my grandmother in Florida, incomprehensible Passover seders, and, in particular, hearing firsthand terrifying descriptions of the Holocaust from Aunt Friedel, who is a close friend of my grandmother.
It wasn't until my 40s that I became more interested in Jewish practice, when I joined a Reconstructionist be'nei mitzvah class. In Buffalo, I served for a few years on the board of Jewish Family Services, which gave me a firm grounding in Jewish service. In 2015, I took a job in Huntsville, Alabama, and joined a reform synagogue, where I became very active. I lasted in Huntsville, Alabama, for three years and left to return to San Francisco, during the rising tide of right-wing antisemitism, misogyny, and homophobia.
Here in San Francisco, I am a professor of pediatrics at UCSF and a healthcare leader. I'm currently the medical director of an inpatient unit and the patient safety medical director for Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco. I provide direct inpatient care to children with medical complexity and technology dependence. When I first came to San Francisco, I struggled to find a Jewish home. I tried a few different synagogues and nothing really fit, and then during the pandemic, I dropped off from even trying to maintain a Jewish practice.
In October 2023, a friend invited me to the Kitchen, and since that first Kabbalat Shabbat, I've pretty much been a regular.
My membership in this congregation has been almost as transformational as learning how to keep Shabbat. Through adult education, attending services, and the relationships I've built, I'm beginning to realize the joy of “doing Jewish." I am honored to serve this congregation!
Barry Kendall
Barry has spent most of his career in leadership positions in small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations. Most recently, he served for 11 years as the Executive Director of Circus Center, the oldest and largest circus school in the US. While there, he turned around a near-bankrupt organization, and was thriving... when COVID hit. Then, with the Board and key stakeholders, they turned it around again! Today, he is the Director of Institutional Giving at the JCC of San Francisco. In his first year, he has raised more than $200,000 in new grant funding, and is on track to meet an annual goal of $4M, which is about 10% higher than last year's actuals.
He brings particular skill in all kinds of fundraising to this opportunity, but he also has many years of working with Boards on a wide range of matters, including legal, HR, finance, crisis communications, and more.
His wife Mirit was raised a "super Jew" in New Jersey - conservative synagogue, Jewish day school, Zionist youth movement summer camps, year-course in Israel after high school — the lot. Elana is 11.5 years old, uses they/them pronouns, and is deeply invested in their Jewish identity. Barry’s son Asa is 7.5 years old, and some of his most abiding friendships these days are at the Kitchen.
Jenny Lefcourt
Jenny Lefcourt is a General Partner at Freestyle and a serial entrepreneur with 30+ years of start-up experience. Alongside her work as an investor, Jenny is a committed builder of communities and causes. She is a co-founder of All Raise, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing diversity among funders and founders, and has served on the boards of both companies and nonprofit organizations, including KIK (Kentfield Invests in Kids) and All Raise.
Before her work in venture capital, Jenny co-founded WeddingChannel.com (acquired by XOXO) and Bella Pictures (acquired by CPI), and was an early angel investor in companies including Discord, Minted, and MainStreetHub. She has been recognized on the Forbes Midas Seed List, Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance, and Business Insider's Top Seed 100. Jenny earned her B.S. in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and attended Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
Jenny lives in Marin with her husband of 29 years. They have three adult children — one living and working in New York, one recently graduated and headed to Los Angeles, and one off to UT Austin this fall. Above all, Jenny treasures time with her family. She also loves being with friends, laughing (preferably a lot), yoga, hiking, the beach with her dog, and always learning something new.
Michael Mizrahi
Michael grew up in the Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn, New York. Half-Sepharadi and half-Ashkenazi, he loves the rich-cultures and histories of both traditions. When he and his wife Erika Ryan first came to The Kitchen they quickly felt at home in the sepharadic melodies, egalitarian messaging, and welcoming and loving community; they knew they found a congregation they wanted to be a part of. Michael has been living in the Bay Area since 2018 and a member of the kitchen since 2023.
Michael has experience building and leading teams focused on both technical and operational challenges. Since 2018 he has been working on autonomous-vehicle safety at Zoox. He has his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.
Matt Ranen
Matt Ranen is Senior Vice President, Strategy & Ventures for WGU Corporation, one of the largest digital education providers in the U.S., with a mission to expand economic mobility for those not well served by traditional college pathways. Previously, he was a scenario planning and strategy consultant, helping organizations navigate change and uncertainty brought on by broader macro trends in the world. Before that he spent over ten years as a product manager in the media and technology sectors.
Matt lives in Noe valley with his wife, Melanie, and two children. His family has been a member of the Kitchen since 2012, when it was still in its first year. Over that time, they have celebrated everything from their kids’ baby namings to their oldest child’s Bar Mitzvah with the Kitchen congregation, and have been regular participants in Freedom School, the annual Shabbaton, and other joyful Kitchen events. As a music fan, Matt is especially drawn to the melodies and rhythms that are a unique part of every Kitchen service.
Eric Ries
Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Business, published by Crown Business.
He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has consulted to new and established companies as well as venture capital firms. In 2010, he was named entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School and is currently an IDEO Fellow. Previously he co-founded and served as CTO of IMVU, his third startup. In 2007, BusinessWeek named him one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. In 2009, he was honored with a TechFellow award in the category of Engineering Leadership. The Lean Startup methodology has been written about in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Inc. (where he appeared on the cover), Wired, Fast Company, and countless blogs. Eric lives in San Francisco.
Joseph Schliffer
Joseph was born and raised at the Rochester Folk Art Guild, an intentional community in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. Growing up in this setting helped instill a deep understanding of community, care for others and service that remain core values. Despite his non-traditional, rural upbringing, Joseph developed a passion for technology at a young age and has been working in the tech space ever since. In 2015, Joe relocated to San Francisco for a job at a tech giant with his wife Stacey, and children Aria and Jude.
Joseph and family are also active members of the Brandeis School of San Francisco community where both children attend (Jude ‘30)/attended (Aria ‘26). They were drawn to The Kitchen as a way to deepen their Jewish practice and identity and find immense comfort in the music, learning and family oriented community.