MEET OUR BOARD

The David Labkovski Project's Founding Members

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Leora Raikin
​Executive Director​, Founding Member

Leora Raikin is the founder and executive director for the David Labkovski Project (DLP). Leora is an international speaker who captivates audiences throughout the world. As an educator, artist, author, Leora teaches students about the Holocaust and Jewish life in Eastern Europe through the artwork of Lithuanian-Israeli artist David Labkovski (1906-1991). She lectures on many topics, including The Life and Art of David Labkovski: Documenting History through Art and the use of art as an educational tool to educate individuals about the Holocaust.  Leora Raikin has served as a keynote speaker at prestigious universities, museums, and educational centers, including: Chapman University, West Point Military Academy United States Military, American Jewish University, Lithuanian National Library, Jewish American Holocaust & Literature Symposium (JAHLIT), Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Durban Holocaust Museum, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center, Loyola Marymount University, Santa Barbara Jewish Community Center, Irvine Merage Jewish Community Center, Long Beach Jewish Community Center, Arizona East Valley Jewish Community Center, WIZO Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the Uniworld Jewish Heritage Cruises, which included the Rhine and Danube Rivers. 

In June 2019, Leora was honored by the city of Los Angeles for her commitment and dedication to educating audiences about the Holocaust. She was invited to present the cutting-edge educational program to the city council, and in September 2021, the exhibit Documenting History through Art was presented at the Los Angeles City Hall. This exhibit was also presented at the California state capital in Sacramento for Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2019. Additionally, the David Labkovski Project was a finalist in the Nonprofit Recognition Summit in 2021. 

​Leora earned a Bachelor of Business Science undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a Masters degree in Research from UCT, South Africa. Upon graduating, she served as the Marketing Director for Broll Property Group, Founded Strategic Property Research and was awarded the COSMOPOLITAN  Business Achiever of the Year Award in South Africa.. Since moving to Los Angeles Leora has served as the Senior Research Consultant at Robert Charles Lesser & Co and as the Vice President of NATO (North American Testing Organization).

Nili Alon Amit, Ph.D.
Director of Education 

​During her years of study at Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities (Art History, English Literature, Ancient Languages and Philosophy), Nili assisted Prof. Judith Buber Agassi (1924-2018) in her research on the Jewish women prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp - Ravensbrück. After receiving her PhD in Ancient Philosophy (Haifa University, 2013), Nili has been researching and teaching in the fields of philosophy, literature and education in Israeli teacher colleges (David Yellin, Oranim and Seminar Hakibutzim), and in Los Angeles as Israel Institute Visiting Assistant Professor in UCLA (2019-20), and Visiting Research Scholar in UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies (2020-2022). She has also served as Scholar in Residence in Sinai Temple (Spring 2020), giving talks on Happiness in Jewish Literature. In addition, Nili is an educational assistant at Pressman Academy. Her ongoing research on the history of happiness culminated in her latest publication: Happiness, Stability and Transcendence in Western Religion, Philosophy and Poetry  (Cambridge Scholars, 2021). 
Nili is very excited to combine her various areas of interest as the new DLP Director of Education!

Lisa Lainer-Fagan
Founding Member

Lisa, a San Fernando Valley native, has been active in Los Angeles Jewish life for many years. She is a board member of BJE and Camp Ramah in California and has been involved with the Jewish Federation since high school. Lisa holds a BA in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and received her MBA from UCLA. She is also a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program and is a member of Valley Beth Shalom synagogue. Lisa is CFO at Selective Real Estate Investments. She has been researching her family's roots in the US, Latin America, Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine for over forty years. Lisa enjoys giving lectures about her family history research.

Connie Marco
Board Chair, Founding Member

Connie has a BA from UCLA and an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Phillips Graduate Institute. She is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Connie has been involved at the LA Museum of the Holocaust from its establishment, and is currently a docent. She is part of the Kalt Group, a real estate development and management company. Connie served on the Alonim Advisory Board of American Jewish University from 2011-1012.​

Meet the DLP Board Members

Thank you to our amazing Board Members who work to engage, enrich and educate our communities about the Holocaust through the art of David Labkovski.

Beverly Brutzkus
​Board Member

As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Holocaust education is a very important cause to Beverly. Since joining the DLP Board in 2016, Beverly has been involved in raising funds at the annual auction which supports DLP’s mission. Beverly is a graduate of UC Davis, holds a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA, and is an Independent College Counselor. Beverly and her husband Mark, live in the Los Angeles area, and are the parents of three young adults.

Jennifer Kaufman Djavadi
​Board Member

Jennifer Kaufman Djavadi grew up immersed in art. In 1985 Jennifer earned her BA in Art History from UC Irvine, in 1987 she received her Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America, and worked several years with emerging decorative artists, particularly jewelry. An independent  college counselor, Jennifer highly values education and the David Labovski Project marries several of her passions; education, art, and the need to promote cultural understanding. ​

Jeff Kobulnick
​Board Member

Jeff Kobulnick is a partner at the law firm Brutzkus Gubner and Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Jeff is also a third generation Holocaust survivor, and throughout his legal career he has provided pro bono legal services to survivors, their families, the David Labkovski Project and other organizations who assist survivors and promote Holocaust awareness.  Jeff was awarded the Legacy of Hope Award by the David Labkovski Project in 2020. 

​Jeff earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego and his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire.  While at UCSD, Jeff developed a series of Holocaust awareness programs which won several awards for being the best educational program on a college campus that year, and also received the Ernest C. Mort Award for Outstanding Leadership Excellence.  In law school, Jeff founded the school’s Hillel, which still continues today.

Avlyn Kotton
​Board Member

Avlyn Kotton MA. BCET. is the Director of the Kotton Educational Therapy Center. She is a Board Certified Educational Therapist (License # 10122) with a private practice in Brentwood and Malibu.  Avlyn has thirty years of experience working with both public and private school students from Kindergarten to High School who have learning differences including: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, ADHD, Executive Functioning Deficits and other learning differences. Avlyn has been an active member of the Association of Educational Therapists and has presented at national conferences on identification of learning disabilities and assistive technology skills. Avlyn has been a board member of the David Labkovski Project since its inception and is committed to advancing knowledge about the Holocaust through education emphasizing tolerance and acceptance.

Annabelle Krishel
​Board Member

Annabelle Krishel, Secretary for the David Labkovski Project , is one of the founding Board members of the David Labkovski Project.  Her appreciation for fine art and history lead her interest to be involved as well as having had family members impacted by the Holocaust. Annabelle attended UCSD and Southwestern University School of Law. She is an attorney practicing in CA for over 30 years.

Debra Neustadt Levine
​​Board Member

Debra grew up in the Conejo Valley, just outside of Los Angeles, and after years in the San Fernando Valley, and Scottsdale, Arizona, returned to the Conejo with her husband, Jay, to raise their son.  
She has shared the skills used in her administrative career with numerous charitable, school, and sports organizations.
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Debra served on the Board of Temple Etz Chaim, in Thousand Oaks, and has coordinated their semi-annual Blood Drives for 20 years.  
She also serves on the Board of Remember Us, The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project.

Jennifer Lopata
​​Board Member

With a background in social work and education, Jennifer Lopata has always been committed to educating our youth and giving back to the community. She has deep ties to the Jewish community and feels strongly about the importance of educating young people of all cultures about the Holocaust. As a DLP Board Member and founder of Synergy Academics, she not only sponsors the DLP Student Docent Training program but graciously hosts the meetings at her West Hills academic tutoring center. Jennifer believes strongly in the docent program because she feels “it is vital that young people learn about the Holocaust and are empowered to teach their peers” in order to ensure that it never happens again. Jennifer also involves herself with other community organizations, including American Jewish University, Connecting A Caring Community, and The Fulfillment Fund to name a few. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at UCLA and her Master’s degree in Social Work at USC. She is married to Robert and is the proud mother of three children, Jason, Carina and Ryan.​

Keren Perlmutter
​​Board Member

Keren Perlmutter, Ph.D. is an award-winning scientist, filmmaker, publisher, and public speaker. She obtained her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA and her M.S. in Electrical Engineering, M.S. in Statistics, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, all from Stanford University. She was chief scientist and head of an international research and development division at AOL.  She is also actively involved with multiple non-profit organizations dedicated to Holocaust education, Holocaust survivor support, and other humanitarian causes.

Laura-Beth Sholkoff
​​​Board Member

As the proud daughter of a child survivor of the Holocaust, Laura-Beth is passionate about Jewish history, Holocaust education and teaching empathy, tolerance and the importance of bearing witness to history. After a successful career in the banking industry, serving as an executive in retail marketing, advertising and product management and development, Laura-Beth now provides strategic marketing expertise as a consultant to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.  She is active in many Los Angeles area Jewish community organizations including Ikar, IsraAid and Temple Aliyah. She co-chairs the annual Virtual 5K fundraising event for Camp Ramah and also has served as a board member of Temple Aliyah and Camp Ramah.  She graduated from Tufts University, magna cum laude, and received a GC from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Austin Sober
​​​Board Member

Austin earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, graduating magna cum laude in three years. After several years in the healthcare industry managing software implementations, he founded Claim Capital, a healthcare data analytics company focused on reducing claim denials. Austin helped the David Labkovski Project with budgeting and grant applications while on the advisory board prior to joining the board of directors.

Meet Our Advisory Board Members

Arlene Agress
Marion Berkovitz
Renee Blankroth
Monica Borochoff
Aleta Bryant
Nadine Farber
Cindy Furst
Karen Gaspin
Stephen Gingold
Anthony Ginsberg

Lisa Auerbach Grant
Rosalie Hirsch
Ellie Lainer
Mark Lainer
Dr. Noah Marco
​Bernard May
Michele Medved
Stephanie Payab
Helen Reznik
Arnold Rudnick

Kathryn Rudnick
Frayda Salkin
Dorothy Sank
Julie Levine Schoen
​Edva Sims
Felicity Swerdlow
John Paul Thornton
Leny Tward
Jennifer Kaufman Valdes
Carole Wegner