Bruce Tomar has been involved in Men’s club since the early ‘80’s when he joined Oxford Circle Jewish Community Center and served on the programming committee. He was tasked with organizing the first annual Sweetheart’s dance, which went on to become a successful annual event. Upon moving to Cherry Hill, NJ in 1985, he joined Congregation Beth El (then in Cherry Hill) and rose up the ranks to become club president in 1992. Some of his proudest accomplishments were the establishment of the Jewish Athletic League in South Jersey and becoming a mentor to younger men who ultimately became the future leaders of men’s club.
After becoming his clubs’ Man Of The Year in 2001, Bruce became involved at the regional level in the Middle Atlantic Region. He served on many committees, most notably chairing two Man of the Year dinners. Additionally, it was his responsibility to organize retreats with neighboring regions. All of these experiences served Bruce well as he took on the mantle of Regional President for the Middle Atlantic Region from 2008 – 2010. The penultimate event during his tenure as president was having the honor to host the 2009 FJMC convention in Philadelphia.
Since 2010 Bruce has chaired two Leadership Development Institutes as well as different committees for three conventions. Bruce has served on the FJMC executive committee for the past four administrations and is completing his tenure as International Executive Vice President.
Bruce spent his formative years in Philadelphia. After graduating from Northeast High School in 1971, he attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of Sciences in Philadelphia) where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Science for Pharmacy in 1976.
Married since 1976, Bruce and his lovely and supportive wife Marcia have three children – Jennifer, David and Heather and three grandchildren – Zachary, Alana and Harvest.
Bruce firmly believes that the strength and future of men’s club has always been and will continue to be a strong grass roots movement at the club as well as the community level.
Gary is married to Lynne, and they have two adult sons – Jonathan and Joshua. Gary began his Men’s Club career “because David Shechter asked him to join Men’s Club” at Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, CA in 2008. Within a few years, he was the Men’s Club President, then the Temple President, moving on to Western Region Presidency in 2019. Gary has chaired and been heavily involved in the HMV and the nascent Imagine Life initiative. Gary serves as a Psychology Professor at California State University, Northridge and maintains a small private psychological practice in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Marc S. Cohen is a passionate educator, committed community leader, and proud family man. He and his wife, Lisa, are the devoted parents of their son Brendan. Together, they are active members of Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where Marc has served with distinction as TBS Men’s Club President and several synagogue board positions.
Marc originally from the Bronx, NY, is a lifelong New York sports fan — an allegiance that has prepared him well for spirited, good-natured debate as a New Jersey resident. His commitment to Jewish education and heritage is evident through his participation in Holocaust Education training at Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, deepening his role as both a teacher and advocate for remembrance and learning.
Marc has held several leadership roles within the Middle Atlantic Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC), culminating in his service as MAR Regional President, a position he held between 2019 – 2021. A dedicated alumnus of LDI (Leadership Development Institute), As a FJMC Executive Board member Marc has served as a Vice President of Programming and Regions. He is a regular presence at the FJMC International Conventions, having attended eight gatherings to date, where he continues to mentor, learn, and lead.
Creighton grew up in St. Louis, Missouri where he resides with his wife and three children and is a member of Congregation B’nai Amoona. He has had many different roles in the FJMC, including the Programming Chair for the 2019 convention and the Ritual Chair for the 2015 convention, among others. He is currently the President of the FJMC’s Midwest Region and the chair of the FJMC’s Regional Presidents’ Committee.
In addition to the FJMC, he is also involved in many different community organizations. He is one of the two commissioners of the St. Louis Inter-congregation softball league in which synagogue teams play each other, and, the captain of his synagogue’s team. He is also a volunteer with the St. Louis Naturally Occurring Retirement Community and a member of Jews United for Justice, among others.
Creighton works as a solo attorney who primarily represents individual consumers in matters such as credit reporting and debt collection issues as well as fraud and lemon law cases and also represents small businesses and handles commercial litigation. He is often asked to give continuing legal education classes for the Missouri Bar on various topics related to consumer law and alternative dispute resolution. He also mediates disputes between lawyers and clients for the Missouri Bar and between landlords and tenants for the Missouri Courts.
David Glass is a Past President of the Northern NJ Region of the FJMC. He is a Past President of his Men’s Club as well as a Past Synagogue President of Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael in Springfield 2009-2012. He served many years as Jewish youth leader shepherding award winning USY chapters as well as teaching religious school.
David enlisted in the United States Navy from 1986 to 1994. While serving in the Navy, David served the Jewish community as a Jewish Lay Leader (an official designation) on the USS Lasalle and the USS Suribachi. As such, he conducted Shabbat and holiday services for his fellow Jewish servicemen; including the conducting of a Passover Seder on the USS Lasalle while the ship was in port in Muscat, Oman.
David has taught Social Studies at Parsippany High School for the last 23 years after being awarded his BA in History from Montclair State University in 2000, and an MBA in Nonprofit Management from Touro University in 2016. David is married to Lisa Harris Glass they have two children Carolyn and Jonah.
Mitch is passionate about the FJMC and has served in many roles at the club, regional and national level, most recently as Chair of the 2023 Leadership Development Institute. He is a Past President of Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale, AZ, and sits on the Pacific Southwest Regional Council of the USCJ.
Mitch lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with his wife Heather, a professor at ASU. They have three children, Alison, Kate and Shell. He is an avid photographer and a moderately obsessive cyclist. In his remaining time, Mitch works as an interventional cardiologist and manages a busy clinical practice in Phoenix.
Benny Sommerfeld (a native Swede) is a firm believer in FJMC’s simple but powerful mission statement, “Involving Jewish Men in Jewish Life”. This has guided Benny to be actively involved in Men’s Club on a local and regional level since 2005. He has held many positions and was elected Club President 2012-2014. Three years later in the summer of 2017, he became president of the Western Region. On an international level, Benny has presented at several LDIs, served as Religious Chair in 2015. and as a member of the Executive Committee has led club services. Benny lives with his wife Irma and their two daughters in Thousand Oaks, CA. Benny belongs to Temple Etz Chaim where he enjoys being a layman “davener” with a lot of ruach.
Bob grew up in Connecticut, and after graduating from Columbia U. with a Masters of International Affairs went to work for the State Department as a Foreign Service Economic Officer, serving in DC, Portugal and Brazil. He was sent by State to study economics at Stanford U., and shortly after met his wife Linda at State. They served together in Peru, Canada and Uzbekistan and settled at Olam Tikvah in Fairfax, VA with children Vega and Zach. After being club President, Bob went on to Seaboard leadership, serving as President from 2019-2021. Bob picked up IT skills, and after retiring from the Foreign Service in 2010 continued to work part-time at the State Department as a consultant on online collaboration and communications. He went to the 2011 Convention and was asked to edit The Unraveller, beginning of his involvement with FJMC IT. He set up the first FJMC webinars and has led the organization on social media, tech training, and photography and video, and managed the migration of the FJMC website to its new platform. Bob was the FJMC Secretary from 2023-2025, chaired the monthly regional leadership training, and continued to support the website and IT needs. As a VP he will be responsible for Programming for Men’s Needs.
Jon was born and raised in Chicago. He has been married for over 20 years to his lovely wife Chris and he has two wonderful daughters, Elizabeth and Laila. After graduating from the University of Iowa, Jon soon joined the City of Chicago and has worked for their video production operation for nearly thirty years. Since 2011 he has been the Station Manager of the production team, and oversees the Livestreaming of mayoral press conferences and the creation of video content for the mayor’s and other city department’s social media platforms.
Jon and his family are members of Anshe Emet Synagogue and, in addition to being a member of many committees, he was an Officer of the Anshe Emet Board for eleven years, including Secretary of that board for four years. In his spare time he sings in high holiday choirs, a cappella groups and has even dabbled in singing with a barbershop quartet. He is looking forward to working with such a great group of guys on the EC!
Rick Wronzberg was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He had his bar mitzvah at theHebrew Men of England Synagogue (amalgamated in 1975 with Beth Emeth Synagogue in Toronto). Rick attended Northview Heights Secondary School and played soccer, was a member of the swim team, and coordinated intramural sports and related programs.
While in high school he found his passion volunteering at the local Y.M. & Y.W.H.A.
־ Northern Branch (“Northern Y”) where he was a volunteer lifeguard and swim instructor from age of 13 through 19. At the age of 17, while lifeguarding, he met a young girl named Debbie Greenfield who was hanging out at the pool. They dated, and married five years later, in 1978, at the Beth David Synagogue in Toronto. They settled, and remain, in Vaughan, Ontario – a part of the greater Toronto area.
Rick attended York University in Toronto and received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He then earned his Chartered Accountant license (CPA) with the accounting firm Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. After obtaining his professional accounting designation,Rick went to work in various industries, including 14 years as controllerfor a large gold jewelery manufacturer. In 2011 he returned to public accounting and is currently working with WRZ LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants.
Debbie and Rick had two girls, Alexis and Danielle. Sadly, Alexis דיל passed away at age of 27 from leukemia in 2010. Danielle and her husband Dean Jacobson live nearby in Vaughan with their 2 young children. While saying Kaddish for his daughter Alexis ז״ל 3* Beth David Synagogue, Rick met Stan Greenspan who convinced Rick to get involved in helping to rejuvenate the men’s club and help attract younger men. Two years later Rick was club president. While still being an active member of the Beth David Men’s Club, he then became involved with FJMC’s Lake Ontario Region (now Ansh-eh Zafon Region). He was elected Regional President in 2017, and continues to be actively involved at all levels in both the Club and Region -including the Region’s annualretreats and its other programs.
Rick was responsible for coordinating the planning and running of the local programming events for the 2019 FJMC Convention in Toronto. He was then appointed co-chair of the 2021 FJMC Virtual/Chicago Convention. Rick is the Chair of the 2023 FJMC Bi-annual Convention in Philadelphia.
Along with helping to create, play, referee, and coordinate the operations of a ten team Men’s Floor Hockey League since 1975 at the Northern Y, his true passion happens every September. Since the inception in 2011 of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation’s Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, he brought together friends and family to form Team Lex in memory of his daughterAlexisדיל. As one of the original 11 teams that have played since inception(130 teams play each year),Team Lex has raised over $375,000 to “help conquer cancer in ourlifetime”.
Rick has a long history of volunteering at his synagogue, with all levels of FJMC, and in the community in the greater Toronto area. He is a well deserving honouree as the Ansh-eh Zafon Region Ma’asim Tovim honouree.
Alan Budman, Immediate Past International President, was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. He is married to Susan and they are the proud parents of Heather (married to Chris) and Traci (married to Dustin) and the ecstatic grandparents of Isabella Rose and Avary Denae. He is now retired and was previously an attorney. He also taught at Penn State University for 28 years. He has served as President of the Associated Alumni of Central High School, a Big Brother volunteer with Jewish Family Services, Vice President of Melrose B’Nai Israel and Chair of the Development Committee of the American Heart Association’s Philadelphia Office. He was President of the Temple Sinai (Dresher) Men’s Club and the Middle Atlantic Region. He is the past Co-Chair of the Keruv Initiative of FJMC, a Senior Consultant, past Co-Chair of the Yellow Candle Program, past Program Convention Chair, Founder and past Chair of the Inclusion Initiative, and past Vice President for Programs, Regions, and Training. He is a Henani Fellow of the Foundation for Jewish Life.
Aaron Altman, originally from New Jersey, relocated to Long Island in 1999, where he and his family joined the Dix Hills Jewish Center. He has held numerous leadership roles at both club and regional levels within the New York Metro Region. In 2021, Aaron became President of the NY Metro Region, where he was responsible for overseeing governance, launching the Gesher newsletter, and directing fundraising efforts.
Aaron has served twice on the FJMC Executive Committee, both as an appointee and as Vice President for Business Development. Since 2019, he has successfully chaired the Convention Journal Ad Committee, generating over $250,000 in advertising revenue. He has led and contributed to multiple committees, including those focused on inclusion, men’s wellness, combating anti-Semitism, and fundraising.
Presently, Aaron is a member of the Executive Committee Board, overseeing Strategic Planning and Marketing Initiatives at the international level. In this capacity, he collaborates with both EC and Regional leadership to implement their respective FJMC portfolios. He has participated in several LDI programs as both presenter and attendee and has been actively involved in every FJMC Convention since Boston, including serving as Marketing Chair for the 2017 Washington DC convention.
In addition to his volunteer work, Aaron is the President of The Altman Group, a sales and marketing consultancy established in 2006 that serves clients in the wholesale optical and sports industries.
Born in Salisbury, Maryland, Mark Givarz graduated from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County and began his professional journey in Tampa, Florida, where he met and married Alyce in 1984. They have three children and are grandparents to one granddaughter, with a second grandchild expected.
In 2001, Mark relocated to St. Louis to work with AT&T. Upon retiring in 2021, he and Alyce moved to Palm Coast, Florida, where they stay active in their synagogue and community.
Mark’s FJMC Involvement includes B’nai Amoona Men’s Club, St. Louis (President, 2007-09), Midwest Region (President 2017-19), FJMC Secretary (2019-2021), Chair of 2 major events: 5782 Leadership Development Institute, 2025 FJMC International Convention (Chicago). He is the past Men’s Club President, Congregation B’nai Torah (Ormond Beach, FL), and current synagogue Vice President.
Danny has been involved with organized Jewish groups since his USY days. Danny’s passion for Yiddishkeit has been an important part of his life especially as it relates to singing.
Danny has been very involved with his shul . Most notably, serving as a board member and officer for 12 years. As Danny termed out of those responsibilities he shifted his focus to the FJMC. Danny chaired the very successful 2021 Virtual Convention that took place June 6-13, 2021.
Danny is currently leading the effort to attract new clubs and members, as the Overall Chair of Expanding Clubs and Membership, and is Co-Chair of the very popular Sports Affinity Group.
Lester and his wife, Lynn, reside in the western suburbs of Philadelphia and are the proud parents of sons Randal and William. A longtime member and leader at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El in Wynnewood, PA. and proudly honored as the Man of the Year in 2011, Lester served as co-president of the Men’s Club before being invited to join the FJMC Middle Atlantic Region board, leading up to his term as regional president from 2021 through 2023. During his term he also strongly supported the planning involved with the region’s hosting of the 2023 International Convention in Philadelphia, along with serving as a co-chair of the Torch Awards Committee. His service at the FJMC international level further continued as the chair of the Ha D’Var Newsletter Committee, vice-chair of the Club and Member Recruitment Committee and continuing as the acting chair of the Torch Awards Committee for the 2025 International Convention.
In addition to his synagogue and FJMC International involvement, Lester has served for many years as the commissioner and coach for the Challenger Baseball Program of the Lower Merion Little League, which allows children and young adults with special needs to enjoy an afternoon of friendship and baseball with their teenager ‘buddy’ counterparts throughout the spring and fall. Lester was proudly honored as the Adult Volunteer of the Year for the league in 2019.
A graduate of New York University and with following careers in equipment marketing management and direct marketing quality control analysis, Lester now provides care, along with home, community and vocational support for his adult son with special needs. He looks forward to serving the organization in his new role as the leader of the Communications Portfolio.
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