Our Team

Founding Director

Ilana Schatz lives in El Cerrito, CA and is the Founding Director of Fair Trade Judaica. Ilana previously was the founding director of the Volunteer Action Center of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, where she spearheaded multiple social justice initiatives. She is currently a board member with the Northern California Community Loan Fund, and is a lay Spiritual Leader at Kehilla Community Synagogue.

Advisory Board

Sue Bachman lives in Oakland, CA and is a past board member of Women of Reform Judaism. She is past President of Oakland’s Temple Sinai and past chair of the Volunteer Action Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater East Bay. She also served on the Jewish Federation of the East Bay’s Executive Board and as a co-chair of the Joint Grants Committee.
Lisa Kleiner Chanoff lives in San Francisco, CA. She is an investor with a long history of involvement in the Jewish and arts communities. A trained mediator and attorney (not practicing) with a Masters in Museum Studies, Lisa has worked on exhibitions and education programs with the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco and the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley.
Sandy Curtis lives in Berkeley, CA and is Chief Innovations Officer for the Mexican Heritage Corp.  She served as Senior Vice President for Zorro Productions for over twenty years. As head of Creative Development, she produced, created, and managed  projects across many forms of media. She is a Regional Board Member of the New Israel Fund, San Francisco Bay Area. She was the former Chair of the Volunteer Action Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater East Bay.
Abby Edelman lives in Arizona and is currently a graduate student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. She previously served as the Director of Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Online Store. Abby founded the El Salvador Fair Trade Menorah Project, and was a Jeremiah Fellow with Progressive Jewish Alliance in 2008. Abby is also a Board Member of the Middle East Peace Dialogue Network (MEPDN).
David Lingren David Lingren lives in El Cerrito, CA and has been a Computer development professional for 30 years. He currently serves as Fair Trade Judaica’s Chief Technology Maven. He previously was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s West Coast Campus, a Board Member of the Andrew Carnegie Society of Carnegie Mellon University, and a Board member of Emeryville Taiko Dojo.
Dara Mattes Darya Mattes lives in Boston, MA and works at Equal Exchange, the first fair trade coffee company in the US, where she helps to coordinate an interfaith program that connects congregations to fair trade. Through her work at Equal Exchange, she is also a member of the Fair Trade Boston coalition. Previously, she worked for Jews United for Justice in Washington, DC, where she organized the Jewish community around local social justice issues.
Jonathan Rosenthal Jonathan Rosenthal lives in Watertown, MA and is currently an independent consultant creating and managing projects in the global fair trade community. Current and former clients include Divine Chocolate, Oxfam America, TransFair USA, Rainforest Alliance, and SERRV. He is an emeritus board member of Root Capital and informal advisor to numerous fair trade organizations and companies. Jonathan was the co-founder and former Executive Director of Equal Exchange and co-founder and former CEO of Oke USA.