Village Shalom announces the election of a new board chair and the addition of four new members to the Village Shalom Board of Directors that oversees the Overland Park Continuing Care Retirement Community. Frank Lipsman will serve as the new board chair. Bruce Kershenbaum, David Spizman and Bob Gershon will continue to serve in their respective roles as vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. The outgoing board chair, Karen Glickstein will continue her term on the board.
“I would like to thank Karen for incredible leadership and guidance throughout her term,” said Village Shalom President and CEO, Matt Lewis. “She oversaw the implementation of years of strategic planning that brought the construction of our campus expansion to life last year.”
Simon Abrahms, Leslie Mark, Stewart Stein and Todd Stettner are the board’s newly elected members. They join Michael Abrams, Allison Berey, Irene Bettinger, M.D., Barry Fink, Shirley Helzberg, Joe Hiersteiner, Jim Klein, Rachel Krantz, Rod Minkin, Alana Muller, Howard Rosenthal, M.D., Steve Ruben and Tracy Shafton who are continuing their service as board members. Marcia Schoenfeld, Jonny Girson, Andrew Kauffman and Ellen Chilton’s terms on the Village Shalom Board will expire.
Lewis said Village Shalom is “grateful for Marcia, Jonny, Andrew and Ellen’s service on the board and will miss their many contributions.”
“We’re excited to welcome Frank as board chair, along with our new members — each of whom will help lead our campus into a new era of serving residents when our expansion is fully completed next spring,” Lewis continued.
Lipsman said he is honored to have been asked to serve as chairman of the board of Village Shalom “during this important and transformative time.”
“I am grateful for the exemplary leadership of immediate past chair Karen Glickstein and I look forward to working closely with our board, Matt Lewis, and his extraordinary staff as we (literally and figuratively) build the future of Village Shalom,” Lipsman said.
Lipsman is a partner in Kreamer Kincaid Taylor Lipsman Arney Wait and Bottaro, LC where he has practiced law since 2002. He previously practiced with the firms Smith Gill Fisher and Butts, LC and Bryan Cave LLP.
His past community involvement includes serving as board chair of the Jewish Heritage Foundation, the Jewish Community Center, and the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee. He is currently board chair of Gilda’s Club Kansas City. He and his wife, Janet Mark, have two grown children and a 9-month-old grandson, Murray.
Abrahms is a health care executive with more than 30 years of experience in business development, finance, operations, organizational strategy, planning and marketing.
His community involvement includes service on the boards of St. Louis Connect Care — an inner-city health care provider, Saint Louis University Hospital, and Greater Kansas City March of Dimes. Abrahms lives in Kansas City with his family.
Mark owns a freelance calligraphy practice. She came to the States from Geneva, Switzerland, and landed in Kansas City for a calligraphy apprenticeship with Hallmark Cards. She has now called Kansas City home for 35 years with her husband and three children.
Mark’s community work includes reorganizing Beth Shalom Preschool for the National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation, serving on the KU Hillel board as vice president of development, and in a number of board and committee roles supporting her alma mater, Smith University. She’s volunteered for the Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Services Food Pantry, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education White Rose Essay Contest and Bridging the Gap. Mark is also treasurer of the local Kansas City chapter of Indivisible, an organization focused on community engagement and political leadership.
Stein retired from Stinson LLP where he practiced law and served on the firm’s three-member charitable giving committee which helped connect Stewart with a number of community arts and humanitarian organizations.
Stein’s community work includes serving on the boards of the Congregation of Beth Shalom, Beth Shalom Foundation, Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and the Johnson County Community College (JCCC) Foundation Board. He was the president of the Congregation of Beth Shalom. He’s also served on the development committee for the Carlsen Center at JCCC, the Johnson County Arts Commission and he was involved with the development of the Kauffman Performing Arts Committee. Stein lives with his wife in the Kansas City metro.
Stettner has spent 44 years working in social services specializing in fundraising, administration and community development. In 2016 he retired as president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
After almost 40 years with the Jewish Federation Stettner started work as a nonprofit consultant, which he still does today. He left consulting briefly to serve as the interim director of the Medical Missions Foundation but returned to his practice earlier this year after hiring his successor. He lives in Kansas City with his wife, and the couple has two children.