Joel Lazar, CEO
Joel is a powerful storyteller, voracious inquirer, thoughtful collaborator, strategic decision-maker and passionate mentor. Joel's skills and experience are diverse, spanning commercial law, educational program design, Jewish youth leadership, facilitation and scriptwriting.
Joel's passion for Judaism runs deep. He was born and raised in the Melbourne Jewish community and has held various leadership positions in Jewish youth movements and synagogues. Joel's commitment to social justice in a Jewish context culminated in him receiving the Ron Castan Young Humanitarian Award in 2019.
Above all, Joel firmly believes that the Australian Jewish community has a key role to play in addressing the impacts of climate change that are now unfolding, while also enjoying the social and economic benefits now flowing to those who are taking swift and effective action.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joel-lazar/
Ash Denshams, Public Programs Coordinator
Ash is an engaging communicator and practised community builder, with over 10 years of experience in the facilitation and education space. Holding degrees in environmental science and botany, Ash is passionate about climate solutions and gets way too excited about emerging clean technologies.
He believes that the Jewish tradition is a toolkit for living a better life as more resilient, giving and connected people. He can also make a mean cup of coffee!
Dina Bloom, Sydney Project Manager
Dina is our first Sydney team member. She spent the first 10 years of her career as a lawyer, then almost out of nowhere had a light bulb moment. Words around climate in articles and headlines that had never meant much, were suddenly holding her attention.
Motivated to be part of the solution she went back to university to study Sustainability and Climate Policy then joined the team at Canva working to develop and implement their sustainability strategy.
As an active and engaged member of the Sydney Jewish community, Dina is excited to be bringing her worlds together through the JCN and helping the community realize the impactful role we all play in creating a safe future for the next generation.
Elinor Hasenfratz, Strategic Engagement Manager
Elinor is an accomplished educator, a passionate storyteller and she believes deeply in the power of our community to meet the climate challenge head-on. She uses her intuitive leadership style to deeply engage those around her to help realise our collective potential - that we are the people we have been waiting for.
Mitch Burnie, NSW
Mitch is an experienced and passionate community developer, innovator and educator. He has been applying his trade in community leadership for the past 10 years around the world at different environmental grassroots organisations. He is particularly passionate about the intersection of environmentalism, Jewish wisdom and community.He is excited to bring the amazing work of the JCN to Sydney and to be a trusted resource to help the Jewish community become leaders in the greatest challenge of our time.
