The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies is pleased to welcome two new board members! Both are alums of flagship Pardes immersive programs. They represent the next generation of Pardes leadership, whose fresh perspectives will be critical to Pardes’s growth.
Dammara Kovnats Hall – Israel Board of Directors
Jessica Fain – North American Board of Directors
Dammara Kovnats Hall
Dammara is a proud alum of the Pardes Summer Program (2016) and the Pardes Educators Program (2016-2018), a 2021 graduate of the Boardified’s Board Member Institute, and was the head Jewish Studies teacher at Rodeph Shalom School in New York.
Currently, Dammara is leading the Jewish engagement company that she founded, which offers Torah-based and Kosher mixology services under the brand Jewish Cocktails. She also created and facilitates a Rosh Chodesh Well Circle for women of color through At the Well. Dammara is a 2021 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award recipient and was named one of The Jewish Week’s 2021 36 Under 36 in 2021.
While she is joining the Israel board, she splits her time between Israel and New York.
Jessica Fain
Jessica is likewise a proud Pardes alum; a graduate of the Year Program (2009-2010) and Fellows Program (2010-2011).
Currently, she is the Head of Core Product at brightwheel, which offers app-based management solutions for childcare and pre-schools. Prior to brightwheel, she spent five years with Slack. Jessica earned her BA in Learning and Organizational change at Northwestern where she spent a semester studying in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She is also a graduate of the Bridge Program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and was awarded a Dorot Fellowship in 2010-2011.
She lives in Berkeley with her husband and three children.
