Board of Trustees

Executive Committee

Rob Eber | President

Rob’s family joined Temple Sinai in 1968. He attended Religious School, was a Bar Mitzvah (during the Temple trip to Israel) and was confirmed here at Temple Sinai. He and his wife, Leslie, have been members since they married in 1994. Leslie was previously on the Board of Trustees and now Rob is excited to join Temple Sinai’s Board of Trustees. Rob and Leslie’s two children, Iliana and Ben, were active in Temple Sinai’s Youth Group and NFTY, and served on Regional Board.

Rob currently operates a real estate management company. Previously, he practiced law and represented Colorado’s hazardous and solid waste programs as Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Department of Law. He currently is a City Council Member in Cherry Hills Village and was a 10-year member and chair of the City’s Parks Trails and Recreation Commission. Many moons ago, Rob attended The National Law Center at George Washington University and Colby College.

Stephanie Podolak | Past President

Stephanie Podolak retired from the Department of Justice, United State’s Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, after serving 32 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. During her career, which spanned from 1991 to 2022, Stephanie specialized in the investigation and prosecution of complex, international drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.

In May 2023, Stephanie was selected as a Pro-Tem Municipal Court Judge for the city of Westminster, Colorado. In May 2024, Stephanie received an Associate Judge appointment to the Municipal Court in Thornton, Colorado, and in August 2024, she was sworn in as a Relief Municipal Judge for the city of Aurora, Colorado.

Stephanie obtained her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Stephanie is the mother of two children, Bill, an audio technology engineer and product manager, and Katherine, age 27, who is currently the director of the Young Adult Division of JEWISHcolorado. Stephanie is married to Michael Podolak, who retired as an Inteventional Radiologist with Kaiser Permanente Medical Group.

Marshall Tobin | Vice President

Marshall is a compounding pharmacist, retired. He previously served on the Temple Sinai Board and was President from 1994 to 1997. Marshall was on both the national and regional boards of the URJ and served briefly as President of the Midwest region.

Rebecca Hea-Wilson | Vice President

Rebecca Hea-Wilson and her family have been a part of Temple Sinai since its founding in 1967. Rebecca attended Religious School at Temple Sinai and her daughter and son were both B’nai Mitzvah here. Rebecca is the Executive Director of Denver Children’s Home, one of the major mental health providers for children in the state of Colorado. She is responsible for all clinical, financial, and operational aspects for the over $9,000,000 agency.

Ana Koser | Vice President

Ana Koser (Sandomire) was born and raised in Denver. She attended the International School of Denver where she learned to speak French fluently as well as igniting her love for other cultures, languages, history, and traditions. Ana and her husband, Gerritt’s two children have been attending pre- school at Temple Sinai for the past 8 years and they are thankful for the education their children have received in both schooling and Jewish traditions. Ana obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing and Real Estate with a minor in French from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a licensed Colorado Real Estate Broker and has been working as a commercial broker for nearly 15 years representing buyers, sellers, tenants, and landlords with their commercial real estate requirements in metro Denver and across the Front Range. Ana’s personal and professional background along with her ability to guide clients through challenging transactions allows her to have a unique approach to each task she works on, which she hopes will benefit the Board of Trustees of Temple Sinai.

Jeanette Amayo | Secretary

Upon moving from Florida to Colorado 10 years ago, Jeanette quickly found her Jewish home at Temple Sinai. Both her son and daughter attended Religious School and were Bar and Bat Mitzvah’d by Rabbi Rheins. Jeanette’s daughter, Arielle, will soon be graduating high school and her son Andrew will be a Junior at CSU studying Mechanical Engineering. Together, they traveled to Israel last year to visit extended family and the amazing Jewish Homeland. Jeanette is proud of the incredible young adults her children have become as they continue to be great models for the Jewish community.

Jeanette started her career in Education as an Elementary School Principal in Florida. She has made a career transition and over the past three years she has moved into owning her business in Real Estate. She regularly volunteers as a Special Olympics coach throughout the year in different seasonal sports. As for hobbies, Jeanette loves the outdoors and hiking, and just started learning to play the ukelele! Jeanette is incredibly excited for the opportunity to be on the Temple Sinai Board of Trustees as she is committed to actively supporting its mission and vision.

Board of Trustees

Judy Aronson

Judy Aronson found her Denver Jewish home at Temple Sinai when her friend Arnie invited her partner Steve and her to Friday night services the very first week they arrived in Denver. After services, they met the friendly dinner group and that was it. They joined Temple Sinai the next week and have attended Friday night services ever since. Judy has been involved in Jewish activities in all the places she has lived, from the JCC Nursery School Board and serving as B’nai B’rith Women’s President in State College, PA, to twelve years on the Springhill Avenue Temple Board, Jewish Family Service Board, and the Film Festival Committee in Mobile AL. In Denver, she has become active in Hadassah, a Temple Sinai Chavurah and organizing holiday dinners at Overture.

Always involved in the cities she has lived in, she has been a docent and on the Board of the Palmer Museum of Art in State College, on the Mobile Symphony Board, and a graduate of Leadership Mobile. Her career included serving as an Academic Advisor at Penn State and the University of South Alabama, and a private practice in Career Counseling. In her free time, she enjoys watercolor painting, travel, music and theater.

Al Blum

Al Blum is a fourth-generation Colorado native. Al and his wife joined Temple Sinai over thirty years ago after meeting with Rabbi Zwerin. All three of their children were Bar and Bat Mitzvah’d at Temple Sinai. Their youngest son was a part of the “Sinai Seven” who were Bar Mitzvah’d by Rabbi Zwerin in Israel.

Al practiced as a CPA wile attending law school and graduated with JD and LLM degrees. Al has developed real estate over the last forty years throughout Colorado.

Al is married to Bonnie and they have three children. Justin, Eryn, and Jared, and four grandchildren; two in Vermont (Ezra and Cora), and two who attend Temple Sinai Religious School (Elliot and Silas).

Al previously served on Temple Sinai board of directors and served eight years on Cherry Hills Village City Council. Al looks forward to participating as a board member.

Amanda Brooks

Amanda grew up in Southern California, where she was involved in her synagogue and NFTY, and spent summers at URJ Camp Newman. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was active in Hillel, earned a certificate in Jewish Studies, spent a summer volunteering on a kibbutz in northern Israel, and studied abroad through Semester at Sea. After college, Amanda worked in environmental education at Walt Disney World before moving to Boston, where she and her husband, Josh, lived for nearly a decade. Since moving to Denver in 2018, Amanda has served on several JEWISHcolorado committees, with a focus on engagement programming for young adults. Professionally, Amanda works in people operations and organizational strategy, specializing in employee experience and operational effectiveness.

Amanda and her family joined Temple Sinai in 2022, and their son, David, currently attends Temple Sinai Preschool. In her free time, she enjoys trivia, camping, and exploring local thrift stores for hidden gems. She is honored to serve on the Board of Trustees and looks forward to helping foster a strong and welcoming community.

Reid Goodman

Reid Goodman was born and raised in Denver, CO. He is married with three children and seven grandchildren. Reid practiced medicine in the field of OBGYN for 44 years in Denver delivering approximately 7500 babies. Reid joined Temple Sinai in 1973 when he married his wife, Linda Sunshine. His daughter, who lives in Denver, is now a Sinai member and her two children attend Religious School at Temple Sinai. Reid and Linda enjoy travel. Reid is an avid golfer, and both enjoy spending time with their grandchildren which requires travel to Chicago and Australia.

Jean Guthery

Born and raised in Michigan, Jean graduated from Hope College, a small liberal arts college in Michigan, and then medical school at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. where she earned her M.D. degree. She completed her first residency in general psychiatry and second residency in child psychiatry, both at the University of Colorado. She retired once 18 years ago from private practice and Chief of Child Psychiatry at Ft. Logan Hospital, but was asked by a colleague to come back and work part-time at Aurora Mental Health Center where she remains, working as a child psychiatrist seeing children and adolescents ages 6-18 years old. She has been a member of Temple Sinai for 43 years. She is mother to Lisa and stepmother to Karen, Debbie and Steve. She is grandmother of Charley, Nava, and Tommy, and step-grandmother to Tyler, Jessica, Allison, Andrew and Rachael. Her passions include her children and grandchildren, Temple Sinai, the State of Israel, supporting and strengthening Jewish identity, fighting antisemitism, learning about Judaism and educating non-Jewish people about Judaism and Jewish values, supporting literacy for children, the theater, art, reading (historical fiction), the Colorado Symphony and the opera – usually at Santa Fe. At Temple Sinai, she ahs sung in the Adult Choir for 43 years, attends as many classes as possible, including Sinai Sundays with Rabbi Rheins and Torah Study with Rabbi Zwerin and participates regularly in Shabbat Morning Minyan. Her favorite Temple Sinai fund to support is the IST Fund supporting the yearly visit to Israel for teens – and, of course, strengthening their identity as Jewish teens.

Jerry Lassow

Jerry Lassow moved to Colorado from New York, when he and his wife, Natalie, retired in 2005. Their children followed them to Colorado in 2006 (their son, Steven) and in 2011 (their son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Andrea).

Jerry’s background and expertise was in electronics, where he earned his degree. He worked at numerous companies during the Vietnam War before joining the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for almost 35 years. He started at the FAA in the communication area and stepped up to IBM’s Mainframe Computer maintenance after a 10-month course at the FAA’s training center in Oklahoma City. When he retired, he was a National Airspace System Operations Manager.

Jerry and Natalie joined Temple Sinai in 2009 and became very dedicated members, attending Shabbat services almost every Friday ever since. Both he and Natalie are involved with Temple activities and give their time, support, and love to Temple Sinai.

Adam Melnick

Adam is an Assistant Professor of Management and the Director of the MSU Denver Center for Entrepreneurship. His children both attended the Temple Sinai preschool, where the Melnick family fell in love with the Temple Sinai community. He recently joined the board and is looking forward to acting as a liaison between the early education center and the larger Temple community.

Rachael Narcisi

Rachael Narcisi is a National Board certified and tenured high school math teacher in the Cherry Creek School District, with more than 23 years of experience. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and moved to Colorado, settling in Centennial in 2002 after meeting her husband, Scott, at Washington University in St. Louis. She also holds a master’s degree in administration and principal licensure. She is passionate about project-based learning, a teaching methodology that engages students in real-world applications of math concepts.

Outside of the classroom, Rachael and Scott have two daughters who are both graduates of the Temple Sinai Preschool and are currently enrolled in the Religious School. When she is not teaching, Rachael and her family spend time hiking, biking, road tripping and going on new adventures. She has enjoyed being involved at Temple Sinai for many years now, and has found it to be a tremendously welcoming, warm and nurturing community.

Mark Shulman

Mark Shulman grew up in Maryland and moved to Colorado shortly after graduating from the University of Maryland. His work life centered on multi-family housing development and management throughout Colorado and the western United States, with a specialty for affordable and historic redevelopment projects. Mark and wife DeeDee are blessed with two children and four grandchildren. Their son Zach, daughter-in-law Dana, and their two children Danny and Zoe are active Temple Sinai members. Mark has a strong Zionist commitment, which began as a young man while working on kibbutz Beit Zera on the southern shore of the Kinneret. Over the past two years, Mark has spent many weeks of volunteer work throughout Israel. Mark is grateful to be part of the vibrant community that is Temple Sinai and looks forward to his role as a Trustee.

Tamara Siegel

Tamara Siegel was born and raised in the Hudson Valley area of New York, graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and spent about a decade in Houston, Texas. Tamara served as the Director of Jewish Life at Houston Hillel, engaging Jewish college students and young professionals. Tamara has been calling Colorado home since 2019, when she moved with her husband, Adam and their newborn, Emily. Her involvement at Temple Sinai began when her daughter Emily started preschool there at the age of two. She is excited to be part of the board and to bring her passion for Jewish community building to Temple Sinai.

John Spanbauer

John (and wife Lori) joined Temple Sinai after a trip to Israel with Rabbi Rheins in 2011. John grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (where Lori and he met) with a degree in Psychology in 1978, and later an MBA from the University of Colorado in 1987. After graduating from Wisconsin, John moved to Colorado where Lori and he were married. John worked in IT for 45 years before retiring in 2023. John and Lori have two children, Allyson and Justin, and three grandchildren, Cooper, Addison, and Levi. John joined the Board about a year after retirement and is looking forward to being more a part in supporting Temple Sinai’s future.

Jim Stone

Five years after joining Temple Sinai, Jim Stone is excited about representing our community as a Trustee. Jim and wife Jill joined other members on a trip to Israel in 2019. They have remained involved ever since. “We’re proud to be active members,” said Stone. The Stones met, and graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree from Mizzou’s highly regarded School of Journalism. He was a sportscaster for almost forty years. Stone served on the National Alumni Board for the Tigers. Giving back is nothing new for Stone. He was part of the Board of the Huntington’s Disease Association in San Diego where they lived for twenty-five years before retiring to Colorado. The Stone family, all located here, include children Mindy and Zach; son-in-law Kevin, along with grandchildren Kendall and Beckett.

Terri Tilliss

Terri Tilliss is a Denver native and has been a Temple Sinai member for 44 years, where both of her children were B’nei Mitzvah. She is looking forward to returning to Board service after a two-year hiatus.

Terri’s Bachelor’s Degree is from the University of Iowa, where she also earned a Master’s Degree in Dental Hygiene Education. Additionally, she holds a Master’s Degree in Counselor Psychology and a PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Colorado.

Terri retired after 40 years as Professor at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine where she taught in the Baccalaureate Dental Hygiene program, and then in the Orthodontics department where she helped orthodontics students with their research projects and their patient behavioral management skills. In addition, she helped dental and medical students improve their communication skills with patients.

Busy since retirement, Terri serves on the Parker Scientific and Cultural Commission where she chairs the Parker Arts Lecture Series. She has chaired the very active Temple Sinai Action Against Antisemitism Committee for several years, recently stepping down to allow other leaders to emerge. She is currently
co-chairing the newly revamped Sinai Social Committee.

Terri and her husband, Stacy Pocrass, have five adult children and two adorable grandgirls who are 16 months young. She feels that Temple Sinai is the best place for one’s Jewish journey, and looks forward to “being back in the room where it happens,” borrowed from a lyric in the Hamilton musical.

Melanie Wiseman

Melanie Wiseman is looking forward to her time on the Board and gaining a greater connection with the Sinai community. She has lived in Denver for the past 12 years, having moved here with her husband, John, from Boston and prior to that, San Diego. They have two daughters, Juliet and Olivia, and live in Elizabeth. They joined Temple Sinai in 2021 and have been enjoying Religious School, Temple events, and forming friendships with other families. Over the past year, she was been involved with the Religious School Task Force and has been enjoying bringing her girls to Twisted Shabbat. She works fulltime as a speech language pathologist and clinical director for a private practice. Outside of that, she enjoys reading, cooking and baking, and spending time outside with her family.