Executive Staff

Avi Rose, LCSW, Executive Director

Avi Rose has served as the executive director of Jewish Family & Children's Services of the East Bay since 2005. Avi is a licensed clinical social worker with an extensive background in nonprofit administration, service delivery, and leadership, both within and outside of the Jewish community.

Avi received his B.A. from Brandeis University in 1976 and later earned an MSW from the University of Southern California and an M.A. in Jewish communal service from Hebrew Union College. Subsequent to his graduate education, Avi worked at Jewish Family Service in Los Angeles and later managed the pioneering AIDS program at Jewish Family and Children's Services in San Francisco, for which he received the Louis Kraft Award for Outstanding Young Professional in Jewish Communal Service in 1988. Avi continued to work on HIV/AIDS issues for several decades, including a period serving as executive director of a national HIV treatment information and advocacy organization. He also worked extensively in the area of community-based health care for low-income people.

In 1989, Avi co-edited a groundbreaking anthology, Twice Blessed: On Being Lesbian or Gay and Jewish. He has been highly involved as a writer, speaker, and organizer with efforts to address GLBT and HIV/AIDS issues in religious communities and was a founding board member of the AIDS National Interfaith Network. In 1995, he was honored with KQED-TV's Community Hero Award.

Avi was a longtime board member of the organization currently known as Jewish Funds for Justice and has served on many other boards of directors and planning and advisory bodies for agencies, foundations, and communities. In 2008, Avi was awarded an honorary doctorate of Jewish communal service by Hebrew Union College, recognizing his more than twenty-five years of leadership in the Jewish community.

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Libby Granett, Director of Human Resources & Operations

Libby has been with JFCS/East Bay since April 2000. In addition to her operations responsibilities, she writes grant proposals and grant reports to agency funders. Libby has worked in nonprofit and education for more than twenty-five years. She was the director of Turning Point Career Center at the University YWCA in Berkeley, and the director of career services and the director of human resources at Holy Names College in Oakland. Libby has a B.A. in social welfare from UC Berkeley, and an M.S. in career counseling and a human resources management certificate from Cal State Hayward.

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Glen Kashiwa, Director of Finance

Glen has been with JFCS/East Bay since early 2006. His professional career spans twenty-five years, sixteen of which with nonprofit organizations as financial controller or finance director. He has also worked in accounting firms, providing tax, auditing, and consulting services. He received his bachelor's degree in accounting from California State University Sacramento. He has been a licensed CPA since 1986.

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Barbara Nelson, MSW, M.Ed., LCSW, Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services, Director of Contra Costa Services

Barbara is a licensed clinical social worker who has worked in county hospitals, clinics, and schools and in private practice. She joined JFCS/East Bay as a case manager in 1990 and resettled more than 1,500 refugees from the former Soviet Union. For the past ten years, she has run the Refugee & Immigrant Services department, developing multilingual, culturally sensitive health and mental health, senior services, family support services, and acculturation programs. Barbara holds a master's in education from the University of Massachusetts and a master's in social welfare from UC Berkeley.

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Lynn Simon, Director of Development

Lynn joined JFCS/East Bay in August 2009. Previously, Lynn was the development director of Oakland Hebrew Day School. Her Jewish communal work also includes serving as executive director of Sherith Israel in San Francisco, in multiple roles in the campaign department of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, and as director of special programs for Lehrhaus Judaica. Lynn has also served on the boards and as president of both JFCS/East Bay and Temple Sinai in Oakland. She holds a double degree in sociology and psychology from Oberlin College and is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program for Jewish community leaders and professionals.

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Carol Singer, MSW, LCSW, Director of Clinical Services

Carol is a licensed clinical social worker who has worked with children and families for more than twenty-seven years. She received her MSW from UC Berkeley in 1983. Carol has expertise in child, individual, group, and family therapy, and she works extensively with parents on parenting skills and family dynamics. She has significant experience consulting to teachers and staff of preschoolers through high school age students. Carol is a graduate of the Harris Training Program and currently specializes in parent-infant/child therapy and early childhood mental health consultation, particularly with children who have experienced trauma. Prior to joining JFCS/East Bay, Carol was a middle school therapist, as well as the director of a special education day treatment program serving severely emotionally disturbed children.

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Holly Taines White, Director of Grants & Communications

Holly joined JFCS/East Bay in 2006 as the agency's Marketing & Communications Manager. She took on her current role in November 2009. Holly is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in English and minored in French. She spent twelve years in book publishing before bringing her writing, editing, and project management skills to JFCS/East Bay.

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