Meet Our

Leadership

Rabbi Emily Langowitz

Executive Director

Rabbi Emily Langowitz is the Executive Director of the Women’s Leadership Institute. She is a graduate of Yale University and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2017 where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Tisch Rabbinical Fellow. In the summer of 2017 she arrived in Phoenix to serve Temple Solel as their Assistant Rabbi for three years. After her time at Solel, she worked for the Union for Reform Judaism as Assistant Director of Engagement and Learning before stepping into the role as Executive Director of WLI. Rabbi Langowitz is also an 18Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellow, focusing on providing support for interfaith families and couples in Jewish life. She has been a proud member of the Phoenix Jewish community since 2017.
In addition to her professional work, Rabbi Langowitz serves on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and as Vice President of Social Action and Advocacy for the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She has taught and published extensively on a progressive framework for discussing Judaism and abortion. She volunteers on triannual interfaith panels for parents at All Saints Episcopal Day School in Phoenix and sings in the Phoenix Symphony Chorus. Beyond all of her professional and volunteer activities, Rabbi Langowitz enjoys visiting her family in Massachusetts, trying new vegetarian recipes, making her way through NPR’s best books of the year, and sharing life with her wife, Meaghan Kramer, and their dog, Frank.

Rabbi Elana Kanter

Founder

Rabbi Elana Kanter, Founder of the Women’s Leadership Institute, is a graduate of Barnard College and a member of the first class of women Rabbis of the Jewish Theological Seminary. She was ordained in 1989. In 1998, Rabbi Kanter also received the Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators for her work in Adult Jewish Learning.

Jessielyn Hirschl

Board Chair

Jessielyn Hirschl came to the Valley in 2015 in pursuit of getting involved in the Jewish community. She is fortunate to have worked on the professional staff of both the Hillel Jewish Student Center at ASU as well as Congregation Beth Israel of Scottsdale. In 2018, Jessielyn became a mentee in the Women’s Leadership Institute; cohort three. During this time, she was charged with the task of using her new leadership skills to make an impact on the Jewish community. After meeting with the Associate Executive Director of Jewish Free Loan, Jessielyn decided to create a financial literacy guide to support JFL’s education programs. Working on this booklet grew into a more long-standing commitment to JFL, as a Community Outreach and Engagement Committee member and later as a staff member from 2020-2023. Currently, Jessielyn works as the Associate Director of Donor Relations for the ASU Foundation. She is honored to be on the board of both the Women’s Leadership Institute and Jewish Free Loan, two organizations that have had an immense impact on her life. Jessielyn is also a OneTable host. She’s very proud to live in Tempe with her husband, Jared, and her two sons and dog.

Laura Drachler

Immediate Past Board Chair

Laura has been a native of Phoenix, Arizona since 1976. She derives great joy from raising her two children, Max and Zoe, as her family is her focal point. Laura along with her children and parents enjoy all moments and experiences together and savor each of the memories and Drachler traditions. Laura enjoys traveling and the arts, a glass of Pinot Noir, has a passion for Jewish overnight camp and donating time and effort to various causes in the community. Her passion for overnight camp goes back to the 80’s when she attended Camp Charles Pearlstein and continues today with both her kid having attended Camp Stein. She has served on national camp boards as well as boards and committees in our Phoenix community including Congregation Beth Israel, Jewish Free Loan, Camp Swift, CJP Community Impact Committee, and proudly serves as the Immediate Past Board Chair for the Women’s Leadership Institute. She continuously seeks opportunities to serve the community to promote its future. Laura first got involved with WLI in 2016 as a mentee in the second Cohort where she developed, fundraised and launched PJ Family Camp. She remains involved with program and is proud of the now annual program hosting over 500 participants since its inception. Laura has served as a mentor for Cohorts 4 and 6 and is honored to serve with her fellow board members who are all dedicated to ensuring women have the knowledge and skills to serve in leadership roles our Phoenix Jewish Community.

Becca Norton

Treasurer

Becca Norton has been involved with WLI since 2016, when she participated as a mentee in Cohort 2. The bulk of her professional career has been spent in market research, focusing on Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Insurance. After relocating to Arizona nearly a decade ago, she made the move from corporate marketing to consulting, conducting research on behalf of area non-profits, and becoming an active community volunteer. In September 2023, Becca joined Jewish National Fund-USA as the Senior Israel Advocacy & Engagement Director for the Southwest. Becca credits her WLI experience for helping her identify a role and organization she feels so passionately about. In addition to WLI, Becca also sits on the board of NCJW Arizona, and continues to be an active volunteer in the community. Becca is married and has two wonderful teenage children and two adorable dogs.

Faith Boninger

Faith Boninger has been involved with the Valley’s Jewish community since 2000, when she and her family moved to Scottsdale and registered their daughters at Gan Yeladeem. That began a long involvement with the Solel Preschool, Pardes Jewish Day School, and Temple Solel. Faith mentored Women’s Leadership Institute mentees in Cohorts 4, 5, and 6; and is now in her second year on WLI’s board. By day Faith works as a research professor at the the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education, serving as Publications Manager at the National Education Policy Center and as co-director of the Center’s Commercialism in Education Research Unit. Her research centers on how companies market products and perspectives to children in school. In recent years, this work has focused on educational technology. She likes to run, read, and cook – especially in the company of her husband and daughters.

Jamie Kornbluth

Jamie moved to Arizona 6 years ago from Princeton, NJ. Her husband, Ian, is an AZ native and they decided this is where they wanted to raise their twin girls, Camryn and Lindsay, who are Juniors at Pinnacle High School. Jamie has her Master’s in Physical Therapy and co-founded practices in NJ, CO, and ATL with her husband called Activcore PT and Sports Performance, however since moving she has focused her time on her family and becoming involved in the Phoenix and Scottsdale communities. She is a member of Congregation Beth Israel and has served on numerous Religious School and Women of CBI committees.  She received the Amdur Volunteer of the Year Award last year for her work on the Scribing of a new Torah for CBI’s Centennial Celebration. She and her daughters are members of the Sonoran Centennial National Charity League chapter, where she has served as a philanthropy liaison and the class of 2025 Grade Level Advisor. Jamie spends her weekends working with Events 13 planning and executing Bar and Bat Mitzvahs all around the Valley. Jamie got involved with WLI first as a Mentee in Cohort 5. Her focus with WLI is event planning and leading the Wranglers in their communications, and she’s honored to serve with her fellow Board Members. For her project she helped create Shalom Phoenix now at the CJP, and is still involved and Chair of the program. In her spare time, you can find her playing tennis or walking her AussieDoodle Koda.

Andrea Kravets

Andrea Kravets moved to Phoenix in 1998 and has been involved in the community ever since. She spent many years on the board of Hadassah Valley of the Sun chapter as Membership VP, Education VP, Programming VP and also served as the chair of various programs, including Young Keepers of the Gate and Voter Challenge.  Andrea met many of her closest friends through the Ruach Hadassah group, where she served as Membership VP and President. While her sons were at Pardes Jewish Day School, Andrea and her husband were very involved and co-chaired the Silver Anniversary Gala.  Andrea also volunteered at Pardes as the Kesher PTO Co-Chair for many years as well as on several board committees.  When her oldest son moved on to Brophy College Preparatory, Andrea volunteered her time with the Brophy Robotics Club, serving as the parent volunteer coordinator.  Andrea was also very involved at New Way Academy during her youngest son’s time there, serving as a Gala Co-Chair and on various committees. She was also the PTO chair at the Temple Chai Early Childhood Center and participated in the Center for Jewish Philanthropy’s Women’s Philanthropy League. Andrea was a mentee in WLI’s Cohort 1 and is honored to join this board of impressive leaders. She enjoys traveling, live music, playing mah jongg, and spending time with family and friends.  Andrea has a BA in psychology from the University of Michigan and a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law.  She was a longtime Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Jon W. Thompson at the Arizona Court of Appeals and worked in the appellate group at Jones, Skelton, and Hochuli. Andrea is married to Dan and is the mom of two sons, the oldest a student at Tulane University and the youngest a student at Brophy.