Staff

Mandy Book (mbook@jcouncil.org) Assistant Director, Education Programs & Services

Mandy Book, who joined the JCRC in April 2023, runs the award-winning Student to Student peer education initiative and assists in responding to school-based antisemitic incidents. She also coordinates JCRC’s Holocaust remembrance and education programs, fulfilling the agency’s sacred responsibility to preserve survivors’ testimonies and share their narratives with younger audiences.

Mandy is a licensed attorney who has specialized in aiding vulnerable populations, having served as a Guardian ad Litem and court-appointed advocate for children. Originally from Baltimore, she has worked with teens in numerous capacities, teaching Street Law and Hebrew school, engaging in Jewish teen programming with a Jewish Scout troop and serving on the Board of Directors of a local Jewish Day School. She has also been a realtor for more than 20 years in Northern Virginia, where she passionately advocates for Jewish issues.

Mandy holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola College in Maryland and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola University Chicago. She has three adult children and one high schooler, with whom she lives in Fairfax.
 

Alan Brody (abrody@jcouncil.org) Director of Communications and Marketing

Alan Brody joined the JCRC in February 2023 following a career in journalism and Maryland state government. Originally from Pennsylvania, Alan graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland in 2002 and worked for newspapers in the Washington, D.C.-area, covering education and local government in Charles County before being elevated to the regional and state politics beat for the Gazette of Politics and Business. Switching careers, he became deputy communications director for the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, working under both Attorneys General Douglas Gansler and Brian Frosh. He held the same title for Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, where he worked from 2016 until 2023.

Alan and his wife, Jennifer, live in Columbia, with their three daughters.

Rachel Feinstein (rfeinstein@jcouncil.org) Director of D.C. Government and Community Relations

Rachel Feinstein joined the JCRC in July 2023 as the first full-time Director of D.C. Government and Community Relations, reflecting the organization’s commitment to serving the growing Jewish population in the District of Columbia.

A South Jersey native who grew up outside Philadelphia, Rachel spent 12 years working in local, state, and federal government relations for a national law firm and for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA). While there, Rachel created a women’s mentoring program for the industry to provide personal and professional development opportunities. Rachel was reelected in 2023 to the Women in Government Relations Board of Directors where she has championed antisemitism education and allyship.
 
She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Rachel lives in the District with her two cats and is active in local Jewish life, serving as the Women Engagement Coordinator for Chabad East DC on Capitol Hill. 

Vicki Fishman Esq. (vfishman@jcouncil.org) Director of DC & Virginia Government and Community Relations

Vicki Fishman is an attorney and longtime local Jewish community leader. She has served as President of Gesher Jewish Day School, as a Director of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, as a Trustee of the United Jewish Endowment Fund, and is a member of the National and DC Leadership Councils of AIPAC.

Vicki began her legal career at Ross, Dixon and Bell, LLC, a boutique litigation firm in Washington, DC. Prior to joining JCRC, she was a founding member of FishmanKlain, PLLC, practicing primarily in the areas of Wills, Trusts and Estates. Vicki received her BA in Religion from Swarthmore College and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School. She is also a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program.

Vicki and her husband, Dr. Simon Fishman, a neurologist, live ​in Falls Church, Virginia, ​with their four children.

Nirma Medrano (nmedrano@jcouncil.org) Office Manager/Program Associate

Nirma is the JCRC Office Manager and Program Associate. Prior, she served as an Executive Administrative Assistant and Operations Manager and has been in the administrative field for over 15 years. 

Deborah Miller (dmiller@jcouncil.org) Director of Maryland Government and Community Relations

Deborah is the Director of Maryland Government and Community Relations. Before joining the JCRC in this capacity, Deborah served as a consultant, running key projects, including the Holocaust Commemoration, and bringing a passion for policy issues, relationship building and grassroots outreach. Deborah had an extensive career as an award-winning producer and broadcast journalist at National Geographic, CBS, CNN, and MacNeil Lehrer Productions.

She holds a BA in Political Science from Barnard College and received her MA in Jewish Education from George Washington University. Deborah is an ADL Washington, DC Regional Board Member.

Tanya Nguyen, CPA (tnguyen@jcouncil.org) Controller

Tanya Nguyen has been with the JCRC since 2020.  Previously, she worked for the United Nations, Marriott International and several nonprofits in the DMV area. Tanya holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Maryland and is a Certified Public Accountant with the state of Maryland.

Tanya is originally from Vietnam and has also lived and worked in Europe.  She and her husband Josh Rozen currently reside in Chevy Chase with their two daughters.

Adam Odesser (aodesser@jcouncil.org) Director, the Dr. Stuart Lessans Israel Action Center

Adam Odesser joined the JCRC in 2019 and serves as the JCRC’s Director of the Dr. Stuart Lessans Israel Action Center since 2021. He is a native Israeli who relocated with his family to the DC area in 2019. In Israel, Adam worked for Gesher, an NGO focused on facilitating workshops and seminars for high school students and IDF soldiers on an array of issues, including Jewish identity, religion, and social differences, having extensive experience in informal teen education. Adam has also worked for The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Business School, focusing on forming partnerships between the International MBA program and Israeli start-ups. Adam served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Home Front Command Unit as a Reserves Recruiter and Training Officer.

Adam earned a BA in political science and a BBA in Business Administration and Management from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Adam and his wife, Emily live in Silver Spring with their two children.

Rabbi Abbi Sharofsky (asharofsky@jcouncil.org) Director, Intergroup Relations/ Rabbi in Residence

Rabbi Abbi Sharofsky is the JCRC's Director of Intergroup Relations/JCRC Rabbi in Residence. She studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and was ordained in 2012. Abbi also holds a master’s degree from the Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary, specializing in experiential Jewish education. Abbi was the deputy director of the Jewish Welfare Board Jewish Chaplains Council, where she worked with Jewish military personnel and veterans.

Rabbi Sharofsky is the recipient of the 2016 JPRO Network Young Professional Award for her dedication to the Jewish community through her work in the Jewish not for profit field. She is a Rabbis Without Borders fellow, 2018 cohort. She currently serves on the Executive Council of the Rabbinical Assembly.

Abbi and her husband, David live in Silver Spring with their two children.

Lisa Silverman (lsilverman@jcouncil.org) Operations Manager and Executive Assistant

Lisa is the JCRC’s Operations Manager and Executive Assistant. Before joining the JCRC team, Lisa served as an Executive Assistant at the Edlavitch DCJCC, and as Operations Manager at Sunflower Bakery. Lisa has also worked as a Hebrew and Judaics teacher and tutor, math teacher, librarian, personal chef, swim instructor, lifeguard, and waterfront director. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from New College in Sarasota, FL and attended the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. She is the mother of three adult children and one senior dog and lives in Chevy Chase, MD.

Sara Winkelman (swinkelman@jcouncil.org) Director of Education Programs and Services

Sara leads JCRC’s wide-ranging education outreach efforts to 10 public school districts and hundreds of independent and private religious schools throughout the greater Washington, DC region. In her role, Sara works to combat school-based antisemitism; advocate on behalf of Jewish students, families, and employees; and promote safe, hate-free, respectful learning environments for all students. Sara's career at JCRC started in 2018 with the launch of the Student-to-Student initiative, which empowers Jewish teens to combat antisemitism by having them talk to their student peers about Judiaism, the Holocaust and other topics.

Previously, she was the director of Nishmah: The St. Louis Jewish Women’s Project, a department of the Jewish Community Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and has headed up projects and divisions of the Jewish Federations of Boston and St. Louis. She also served the Jewish community of India under the auspices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Sara and her husband, Rabbi Hyim Shafner, live in Washington, D.C.