Marca Gay serves as Executive Director of Kehillat Israel and joined the Senior Staff team in August of 2008. A warm and engaging person, Marca came to KI after working over eighteen years at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, ten of them as Executive Administrator of the Offices of the Dean and of the President of the College-Institute. Before coming to KI, Marca was the founding Chief Administrative Officer of the L.A. Community Mikveh and Education Center where she produced "The Mikveh Monologues" at the Wadsworth Theatre.
Marca has established ties in the Los Angeles (and national) Jewish community, solid experience in oversight and management, and a reputation as a strategic planner and consummate organizer, able to bring vision to reality.
Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Marca lived and worked abroad before moving to Los Angeles.
Marca attended Princeton University and earned a Certificate in Synagogue Management from HUC-JIR/LA's School of Jewish Communal Service. Marca is a member of the Professional Association of Temple Administrators (PATA) and the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California (JCPSC).
Beginning in July 2008, Alice Greenwald will serve as the Education Director of Kehillat Israel Religious School. Alice is returning to Los Angeles from Chicago where she has been the Education Director at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue for nine years. Her commitment to education is evident in her passion for excellence, innovation and creativity in the classroom and outside the walls. The programs developed under her leadership at Shir Hadash have become models for educating children, teens and families.
Alice holds a California K - 8 teaching credential and a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. She has over 30 years of teaching, counseling and administrative experience in Los Angeles, Bishop and Chicago.
Alice is a co-founder and past president of REACH (Reconstructionist Educators' Association of Chicago). She is currently a board member of RENA (Reconstructionist Educators of North America) and an active participant in CAJE (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education).
Paula Hoffman serves as the Director of the Early Childhood Center of Kehillat Israel. This includes the preschool and infant/toddler program of the Parenting Center. Paula lives in Woodland Hills and has two grown sons and a daughter.
Paula holds a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies and received her teaching credential from California State University Long Beach. She has worked in the field of education for close to thirty years, including teaching kindergarten, art classes when her children attended Hebrew School, and working as an early childhood director. Paula's previous experiences as an ECC Director where at the North Hills (Granada Hills) JCC and the Palo Alto JCC.
Paula is currently on the board of AEJE - the Association for Early Jewish Education, as the secretary. During the summer of 2005, she has traveled to Israel with other Jewish educators where the purpose of the trip was "bringing Israel into the early childhood classroom."
