Team

David Alpern is a Founding Partner of Varsity Healthcare Partners. Prior to founding Varsity, Mr. Alpern was a Partner with Aurora Capital Group, a middle-market private equity firm, where he led the healthcare investing effort. Previously, Mr. Alpern was with GTCR Golder Rauner, a middle-market private equity investment firm, where he focused on both healthcare and financial services industries. Mr. Alpern began his career as an investment banking analyst in the global industrial & services group of Credit Suisse First Boston, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and high yield financings. He holds a BA in History from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Alpern serves on the Board of Directors for Angels of Care, Emergency Care Partners, Ideal Option, Probo Medical and The Orthopaedic Institute.

Melissa Balaban was IKAR’s founding board chair and has been Executive Director/CEO since 2007. In 2004, Melissa and her husband were searching for a Jewish community that would enrich the lives of their entire family and draw on Jewish tradition to engage the world in a meaningful way. Ultimately their search led to a serendipitous meeting with the immensely talented Rabbi Sharon Brous and an inspiring group of people, who came together to form IKAR, a leading edge Jewish community that fuses tradition, imagination, activism and spiritual practice. Melissa works closely with Rabbi Brous, the board and staff to guide the overall vision and strategic direction of IKAR. Prior to joining IKAR professionally, Melissa was Assistant Dean at the University of Southern California Law School. Previously, she was Directing Attorney of Public Counsel’s Child Care Law Project, a senior consultant (and now board member) for a national human resources consulting firm, and an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount MBA program. Melissa is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California Law School. She was the 2017 recipient of the Trailblazer Award from NewGround, a Muslim Jewish partnership for change and the Outstanding Professional Achievement award in 2017 from the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California. Melissa is married to Adam Wergeles, a lawyer, and has two daughters with whom she took a family “sabbatical” in 2007 that included six and a half months of travel and volunteering in Africa, Southeast Asia and Israel. She now has the rare pleasure of blending her life’s passion with her profession, even though she’s still shocked to be a professional Jew. Connect with her here.

Karen joined the IKAR board in 2011 and quickly became immersed in the finance and development activities of IKAR. She is a former investment banker and sits on the boards of five public closed-end investment funds. She has a B.S. in economics and French from SUNY Albany and a M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Ethan first came to IKAR in its early years but remained on the fringes until falling in love with core IKARite Lirona Kadosh, who — along with IKAR– drew him into the community. After brief careers in film production, radio and computer consulting, Ethan has been creating websites since the early esoteric days of the Internet. He founded the website for KCRW and co-created one of the first online serials. Since 1998, he has been a partner at kapow, inc. which specializes in online design, development and consulting for major non-profits and cultural institutions. Ethan is a proud native Angeleno and an alumnus of Sinai Temple Religious School, LA Hebrew High, LA Ulpan and Camp Ramah, as well as Beverly Hills High School and Yale. He’s happy to have found such a warm and welcoming Jewish community that so beautifully blends action, progressive ideals, serious discourse and casual attire.

Todd joined the IKAR board in 2008 after many years as an active member in the community. He also serves on the board of the Tufts University Communications/Media Studies Program.  He is a volunteer teacher at the Open School of LAUSD.  He is a television executive whose recent credits include Co-Executive Producer-Nashville, Co-Executive Producer-Pan Am, Co-Executive Producer – The Good Wife/CBS, Executive Producer-The Unit/CBS and Supervising Producer – Rome/CBS. Todd is a graduate of Tufts University.

Fred has served on the IKAR Board of Directors since May 2008. Focusing on development and structuring the organization for growth, Fred worked closely with IKAR’s Executive Director and professional staff to create a board that can raise money effectively and support the multi-faceted activities of IKAR. Fred is a founding partner in Reason Ventures and heads business development for Critical Mass Studios and Rightsline following the companies’ recent merger. Fred has previously served as Executive Director of Jewish World Watch, a non-profit that fights genocide happening today, and as President and General Manager of Withoutabox.com, the film festival submission system that was acquired by IMDB.com. He served as Chair and Treasurer of fellow-IKARite Nick Karno’s 2010 campaign for State Assembly, and has produced two feature films. He has a BA from the University of South Florida.

Adam has been a member of the IKAR Board since 2005. Professionally, Adam is the founder and President/CEO of CornerstoneOnDemand, a publicly held enterprise software company. Adam is extensively involved with the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation and the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. He has also done work with Heal the Bay. He has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. and M.B.A. from UCLA.