The JewishERGs Leadership Council

Alla Aronov is a senior operations and project leader in financial services and a passionate advocate for Jewish community engagement and inclusion.

She co-founded and lead PwC’s Jewish Employee Resource Group, which has grown into one of the firm’s largest ERGs with more than 1,000 members in the US, fostering connection, education, and visibility for Jewish professionals.

Since 2019, Alla has also served on the Board of the Jewish Parent Academy (JPA), helping expand its programs nationally and empowering parents to strengthen Jewish identity and advocacy within their communities.

Drawing on over 20 years of leadership experience in the financial and asset management sectors, she brings a strategic, people-focused approach to building communities that are both inclusive and impactful.

Cindy Gros is a Client Service Executive at a leading financial services firm based in New York. With over 25 years of industry experience, Cindy is widely recognized for her commitment to delivering exceptional service and building lasting client relationships. Her career has been defined by strong leadership, a deep understanding of change management, and the ability to navigate complex global business environments with agility and precision.

Cindy is deeply passionate about fostering inclusive workplaces where individuals feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. She has been an active member of multiple Employee Resource Groups within her firm, championing initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and belonging across the organization.

Courtney is a Senior Manager of Data and AI Enablement at PwC. As a data science and AI leader, she guides her team in turning data into actionable insights for senior leadership. She holds a B.S. in Finance and an M.A. in Econometrics, and has previously held roles at the Federal Reserve and the University of Maryland.

Courtney is deeply committed to supporting Jewish life both within and beyond the workplace. She currently leads the Career pillar of PwC’s Jewish ERG and is an active member of Hadassah, and has previously served on the board of her local Jewish Federation. Courtney lives outside of Baltimore, MD with her husband and daughter.

Eric is passionate about Israel and fighting anti-Semitism around the world. He was recently recognized by the Knesset as a Voice of Iron for Israel for his exceptional advocacy defending Israel’s truth during the Swords of Iron War. Eric also serves as a Global Ambassador for the Maccabi World Union and is only the second person to hold that position in the organization’s 125-year plus history.

Currently, Eric is the President and CEO of Project Max which is an organization comprised of current and former professional athletes that combat racism, antisemitism, and intolerance through sports; the Executive Director and Board Member of Together Vouch For Each Other U.S., an Arab-Israeli nonprofit organization; a member of the Board of Directors of the International Legal Forum, an organization that fights legal battles against terror, antisemitism, and de-legitimization of Israel; and holds several other important Board roles.

Eric is a leader in sports diplomacy and using professional athletes to combat racism, antisemitism, and anti-Zionism. He speaks regularly on the role of sports to unite people and was asked to speak at the United Nations on his efforts to strengthen the Abraham Accords by enhancing people to people relationships through sports.

Esther Cohen lives in the Boston area with her husband, 2 kids and dog. She graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Psychology in 2004 and a MS in Leadership in 2008.

Esther made Aliyah and lived in Israel from 2008 to 2012. After working at Tishbi Winery for a year, she founded My Israel Wine Tours, a wine tour company that guided hundreds of visitors around Israel’s beautiful wineries.

When returning to Boston in 2012, Esther started working at Northeastern University in the College of Engineering. Today, Esther is the Director of Operations and Business Management in the Department of Bioengineering. Esther was the co-founder and co-chair of Northeastern Affinity Group NU Parents from 2019 to 2023. Esther is currently the founder and co-chair of Northeastern Jewish Affinity Group.

Justine’s career centres around entrepreneurship combined with a life purpose to develop the support structures surrounding women on their journey and neurodiversity.

Prior to the Abraham Accords, she founded the Jewish Women’s Business Network, Co-Founder of Gulf Israel Women’s Forum, Founding Member of UAE Israel Business Council; Member of first cohort VOP Voices of President Herzog.

Board advisor for God’s Gang, Project Max, Top Teff, SAHI Youth at risk support, Athena Fund, Autism awareness; Israel Bonds and Avi Solomon, my brother Ethiopian blind runner, running with vision.

She is a lucky mum of two lovely girls, one of them is on the spectrum and is wife to a wonderful patient husband.

Melissa Rubock is the Director of Graduate Student Services at Northeastern University’s College of Science. A Double Husky, she earned both her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and her Master of Science in Leadership with a specialization in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern.

Before joining the College of Science in 2013, Melissa worked in admissions at Northeastern’s College of Professional Studies.

Melissa lives in Sharon, MA with her husband, Josh Rubock, and their two lively caique parrots, Kaibo and Mango.

She is a founder and a leader of Northeastern’s Jewish Affinity Group (JAG), and had the honor of representing the community on the JewishERGs trip to Israel—an unforgettable highlight of her year as a proud Zionist.

Rolene Marks is a freelance journalist and broadcaster and keynote speaker who appears on international radio, television and has been published in numerous global publications. Marks is the owner of Rolene Marks Consulting, specialising in Media, Public Relations, Consulting on Jewish and Israel related issues as well as Media Training with both local and international clients as varied as public relations companies, non-profits, security, strategic planning, hi-tech and commercial.

Rolene can be heard everyday on Chai FM, a Johannesburg based radio station and is a regular correspondent on Channel News Asia and WINA Radio in the USA and has been invited to speak to international audiences including in Brazil, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Israel, USA, UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Limmud Finland and others. Television appearances include i24News, Newzroom Africa, SABC Africa, Channel News Asia. CNN, KurdSat and more.

Rolene produces and presents Modiin and Beyond – a weekly English-language show on Radio Modiin.

In 2007 Rolene participated in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Young Jewish Diplomats Leadership course and the IUA Kesher Leadership Academy. Currently residing in Modiin, Israel, Rolene volunteers for WIZO and is a member of the World WIZO Executive holding the Public Diplomacy portfolio and previously represented the organisation on the World Zionist Congress. Rolene Marks represents World WIZO at the UN Alliance of Civilisations sessions on antisemitism and is World WIZO’s representative to the International Alliance of Women.

Rolene is a co-founder of Lay of the Land (www.layoftheland.online) host of the Israel Brief on YouTube and co-founder of the South Africa-Israel Policy Forum and is the national spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation.

Marks is a DProf Phd candidate in the field of the media, politics and antisemitism at the University of Middlesex, London.

Samantha is passionate about building spaces where Jewish employees feel seen, supported, and celebrated. Previously, she was the North America Program Manager for Shalom@LinkedIn, helping bring Jewish culture to life across 11 offices and even managing to get kosher-for-Passover options into LinkedIn cafés nationwide.

Samantha is currently between traditional nine-to-five roles and exploring creative projects in branding and entrepreneurship. Samantha serves as the brand strategist for Step Into Next, a podcast about the honest moments that follow big milestones, and is the founder of Challah Days Bakery, sharing small-batch challah across New York City.

Veronique leads fiscal management, compliance, operations, and HR for the Center for Research Innovation (CRI). She has over a decade of experience in higher education administration and previously held multiple leadership roles at Harvard University.

Veronique is passionate about creating inclusive workplace environments where employees feel welcomed and can share their identities in ways that are genuine.

Additionally, she is passionate about healthcare reform and serves on the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Institute for Excellence and Quality in Learning Health Systems