Meet Our Advisory Board
Vlad Khaykin serves as the inaugural Director of Programs on Antisemitism at the Anti-Defamation League.
Vlad joined ADL in 2014 as the Associate Director for the Central Pacific Region, leading the office’s international affairs work, representing ADL to leading social media and internet technology companies in Silicon Valley, and delivering all programs related to antisemitism and white nationalism.
Before joining ADL, Vlad served as the Assistant Director for Communications and Advocacy for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Philadelphia where he advocated on issues related to immigration reform, foreign policy, and human rights with state and federal lawmakers and foreign diplomats. Prior to AJC, Vlad worked in the International Programs department of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
Vlad earned dual Master’s degrees in Non-Profit Leadership and Near Eastern & Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, where he was awarded the Genesis Fellowship, and a B.A. in Economics and Business Management from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
A former refugee from state-sanctioned antisemitism in the Soviet Union and a grandson of Holocaust survivors, Vlad holds ADL’s work to secure justice and fair treatment for all deeply personal.
Ira D. Handelman has provided public affairs, government relations, community outreach, entitlement, public education and affordable housing services to California and Los Angeles area public and private sector clients for the past 40 years. He has represented major commercial, residential, retail and industrial projects and is considered an expert in muti-ethnic community outreach programs for real estate development projects. He has also worked with numerous cities and counties throughout California on development projects and public education campaigns.
Mr. Handelman has been very involved in the Jewish Community working on social
justice and social action issues, as well as Israel. He is a member of the Stephen Wise Temple and a former member of the Milken High School Board. He is currently a Board member of AJC Los Angeles, a member of the AJC National Policy Steering Committee and a former Co-Chair of AJC LA’s Public Policy Committee.
Mr. Handelman received his Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelors degree in History from Rutgers
University. He also studied social work at Columbia’s School of Social Work.
America 2012, Jubilee USA Network and American Jewish World Service. In addition, she serves as a board member for the JCRC of Greater Washington and the Inter Jewish Muslim Alliance (IJMA). She has been featured in forwarding, Refinery 29, Washington Jewish Weekly,
Tablet Magazine, the Washington Post, Politico, CNN, and the Jerusalem Post. She was spoken at the ADL Never Again is Now Summit and National Leadership Summit, The Israel Forum at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Z3, The Israeli Embassy, and RESULTS International Conference. In her free time, Carly enjoys engaging in Jewish Twitter and making Shabbat with her family.
Arthur Slepian is Board Chair of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. Previously, he was the founder and a board member of A Wider Bridge, the North American organization working through education, advocacy, relationship-building and grant-making to create equality in Israel by expanding LGBTQ inclusion in Israel, and equality for Israel by cultivating constructive engagement with Israel. Arthur loves to walk his dog, listen to Broadway showtunes and sample dessert wines with his husband.
Erin is an activist and social entrepreneur. This leading voice on sustainability, social impact and millennials recently ran for US Congress and has developed eco-education for millions since co-founding Turning Green in 2005. Erin speaks and consults internationally, contributes to top media, and led #ChefsForPuertoRico post-Hurricane Maria, serving 3.7+ million meals and investing in food systems island wide, now driving her non-profit’s Conscious Kitchen to serve hot, organic, nutritious meals to students, elders and vulnerable populations near her home in Marin County. This bold innovator and community organizer inspires and mobilizes people to activate passion for social impact and policy change.
Andrea Beth Damsky, L.Ac. is a National Board-Certified Acupuncturist, herbalist, and nutritional consultant. Andrea Beth is also an environmental activist who served on the Environmental Sustainability Commission of La Mesa CA from 2017 to 2022, the last three years as its elected Chair. Climate change, environmental activism, drought, food insecurity, racial justice, police reform and equity are among the many issues Andrea Beth champions. Voting rights, healthcare access, housing the unhoused, and access to clean air and water are among her top current issues of concern.
Originally from New York, Andrea Beth cut her political eye teeth at the tender age of 11, when she helped launch and staff Baldwin’s Efforts to Salvage Trash (BEST), one of our nation’s first recycling centers in Baldwin, NY. During her 20’s she was involved in feminist politics as President of the Atlantic City, NJ chapter of National Organization for Women. The 1980’s also saw her active in LGBTQ+ activism, AIDS issues, abortion rights, and electoral campaign work; these issues have driven her activism for the last 40 years.
In 2021, Andrea Beth was Co-Chair of San Diego Pride’s DevOUT LGBTQ+ Interfaith Coalition. A lay cantorial soloist, Andrea Beth often represents the Jewish community in interfaith demonstrations of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in San Diego County. She speaks at city council meetings and press conferences in support of marginalized and targeted community groups as a faith leader who experiences hate through a quadruple lens: as a woman, as a Jewish person, as a senior, and as a lesbian. Andrea Beth is a former Hebrew school teacher, Bar and Bat Mitzvah tutor, and synagogue administrator, who enjoys co-leading worship services in the San Diego Jewish community.
Andrea Beth helped co-found the following organizations:
- Progressive Zionists of California
- Democrats for Israel – California
- San Diego Democrats for Peace in the Middle East
- San Diego Progressive Democratic Club
- Pardes Rimonim, a Berkeley/San Francisco Jewish LGBTQ+ worship community,
- Queer Minyan, San Francisco Shabbat services for LGBTQ+ Jews & allies.
Currently Andrea Beth serves on the Board of Directors of A Wider Bridge, and is Executive Vice President of Democrats for Peace in the Middle East. Andrea Beth is a voting member of the San Diego County Democratic Party Central Committee, and a delegate to the California Democratic Party, where she serves on the Resolutions Committee.
Ms. Damsky is a 2022 alum of Emerge-California, which trains Democratic women to run for office and win. That year she was appointed to the brand-new California Commission on the State of Hate. She also ran for office for the first time, and won her election as Director of the Helix Water District in San Diego County, where she is honored to serve as the first openly LGBTQ+ elected official in East San Diego County.
A friend recently commented to Andrea Beth that most people don’t realize how funny she is. Andrea Beth replied that she is actually a very funny person who successfully pretends to be serious a great deal of the time. Andrea Beth and her wife live a happy and quirky life in La Mesa, CA.
Rami Rivera Frankl is President of Sherwood Media, an independent content company. The company is led by a management team with over 30 years of experience in the development, production, distribution, finance, and marketing of feature films and television programming.
Currently, he is the current Los Angeles Regional Board of Directors, ADL, and previously serve as a Board Member of Democrats for Israel. He has also served as an appointee to American Jewish Committee’s Latino Media Committee.
Outside of the Jewish nonprofit world, Rami is a member of the DGA and served as the Co-Chair of the Latino Committee at the Directors Guild of America from 2015 to 2019.