People

Lobna Agbaria, Chief Executive Officer

Lobna was introduced to OGS as a fellow in 2017 and joined the team in 2018. Before moving to Boston, Lobna practiced law for 7 years. As the manager of her own firm, she specialized in construction law with a focus on planning and zoning. Lobna is a Palestinian Citizen of Israel and, in her early 20s, co-founded the Sana Foundation, a nonprofit that provides academic scholarships to Arab women in Israel. As an OGS fellow in 2017, she co-founded SnapLand, an online platform for real estate professionals. Lobna holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. In her free time, you can find Lobna playing middle blocker on a volleyball court. Lobna can be reached at lobna@ogspeaks.com.

Ellen Varney, Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Ellen joins OGS with experience in executive leadership in a range of environments and organizational cultures. She has served as a board member, executive leader, chief financial officer and risk management executive in healthcare, financial services and nonprofit organizations, with leadership and expertise in finance, audit, risk management, capital risk frameworks, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and operations. Ms. Varney is a qualified financial expert. She has held executive roles in highly-regulated environments, including insurance (commercial and captive), health care, brokerage, nonprofit/public charities. Ms. Varney is a member of the Board of Pact, Inc., a nonprofit international development organization, operating in nearly 40 countries to improve the lives of those who are challenged by poverty and marginalization, and serves on the finance/audit committee and is chair of the governance committee of its Board.

Ms. Varney holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Maine and an M.A. in economics from the University of Memphis. She has also completed executive programs at Northwestern University in executive leadership and financial management strategies.

Ellen can be reached at ellen@ogspeaks.com.

Trine Lustig, Chief Advancement Officer

Trine has over 20 years of non-profit fundraising and management experience. Prior to joining OGS, she was Chief Advancement Officer at Gann Academy and previously served as Vice President of Philanthropy at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. She spent more than a decade consulting with an array of non-profit institutions, including Brandeis University and the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, and also partnered with the Prospero Consulting Group to advise numerous institutions including hospitals, schools, and camps. In this capacity, she provided a comprehensive approach to agencies with diverse needs, including annual campaigns, capital campaigns, endowment campaigns, planned giving, special events, and board development.

Trine grew up in Denmark before coming to the US to attend Brown University. She received a double Master’s degree from the Hornstein and Heller MBA programs at Brandeis University. She lives in Needham MA with her husband and has 3 daughters. She can be reached at trine@ogspeaks.com.

Jennifer Miniman, Operations Manager

Jennifer is an experienced Operations Manager with a background in Workforce Development. Before joining the team at OGS, she worked for The Workplace where she oversaw day-to-day operations of an American Job Center. There, she and her staff helped people who were unemployed and under employed find placement in job training programs, and connected them with career counselors for additional supports. Prior to that, Jennifer was a program manager at Community Work Services, where she ran both the Culinary Arts and Hotel and Hospitality job training programs.

Jennifer has a B.A. from Johnson and Wales University and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Human Services Management from Suffolk University. She is currently studying to receive her EMBA from Quantic School of Business. She lives with her partner and two stepdaughters in Taunton, MA. She can be reached at jennifer@ogspeaks.com.

Eitan Perry, Program Manager

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Eitan has been working with and supporting social change agents and communities, locally and globally, for over 20 years. His passion for building bridges and creating meaningful connections between people directed his life. He co-founded Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem, Israel’s first fan-owned soccer club. He served as a counselor and advisor at Ashoka, a global organization supporting large-scale social entrepreneurs. Eitan also carried a leadership role at ROI, a worldwide network of Jewish community and social leaders. In his spare time, he enjoys taking people on walking tours of his home city and its wonders.

Eitan can be reached at eitan@ogspeaks.com.

Kiki Spiezio, Communications Coordinator

Marie Encabo, Executive Assistant

Sami Awad, Program Manager

Born in Jerusalem and residing in Haifa, Sami has worked with and supported local and global startups for over 10 years. His passion is creating win-win situations and connections, as he aspires to break through communication barriers and bring people together. Sami has extensive experience in digital marketing, community building, leading and managing complex cross-sector projects and delegations, as well as in creating tailored per-sector programs. He has an MA in Organizational Behavior and Development from Reichman University and a BA in Business and Marketing. In his spare time, Sami enjoys meeting new people and forging new connections.

Sami can be reached at sami@ogspeaks.com.

Perry Solomon, Co-Chairperson of the Growth Committee

Perry is the former CEO and Chairman of Esquire Solutions, which is a company that employs 2500 people and operates in 36 domestic cities. Perry served for 6-years as CEO of Wordwave, during which the company grew EBITDA 470% and revenue 175%. The company acquired and integrated 36 acquisitions and successfully sold to Merrill Communications. Perry has also served as the CEO of Bankruptcy Management Solutions, HR Logic, BostonCoach, and as an Executive in Residence for Battery Investment.

David Mendels, Co-Chairperson of the Growth Committee

David has helped build and lead several of the most innovative software companies of the last 25 years. Most recently, David worked as the CEO of Brightcove, the leading software-as-a-service online video platform. Brightcove was also named Best Place to Work in Boston by the Boston Globe. Prior to Brightcove, he held multiple leadership roles at Macromedia and Adobe for over 16 years, including leading the business units for technologies that had a fundamental impact on our experience of the internet such as Adobe Flash and PDF. David currently serves on the Board of Witness and Resilient Coders and serves as an advisor to the Movement Voter Project.

Sari Rapkin, OGS Chairperson, Retired Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers

Sari’s career in public accounting and non-profit involvement in Greater Boston spanned over 40 years. Recently retired, Sari, a certified public accountant, served as an Assurance Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their Private Company Services practice. Sari currently serves on the boards of Our Generation Speaks, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Encounter, Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, Jewish Arts Collaborative, and Jewish Family Service of Metrowest. Sari also serves on the Heller School for Social Policy and Management Board of Advisors at Brandeis and the Saunders College of Business National Council at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Lester Fagen, Retired Partner at Cooley LLP

Les Fagen has been a leading attorney representing both emerging and established technology companies and investors, as well as non-profit businesses, for over 35 years. His clientele runs the gamut from entrepreneurs launching new disruptive technology to Fortune 1000 clients in the fields of life sciences, software, information technology, medical devices, health services, smart city technologies, data, and artificial intelligence. He focuses his practice on companies that have the promise for meaningful social impact and entrepreneurs who are mission-driven. He co-founded and served as the head of Cooley’s Boston office and serves on the Board of a number of non-profit organizations.

Sally Ourieff MD, Founder of Translational Consulting

Sally Ourieff MD has over twenty-five years of experience as a physician, health care leader, executive advisor, and management consultant. As the founder of Translational Consulting, she works with C-suite leaders and teams to improve leadership performance and organizational management. Her clients range from Fortune 25 companies to start-up ventures with a primary focus in health care, pharma, biotech, academia, and finance. Sally is an adjunct faculty member at Brandeis University in The Heller School of Social Policy and Management where she teaches in their MBA for mid-career physicians. She also is a facilitator and coach in executive education at Harvard Business School, including in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative for mayors.

Sleiman Solomon Owayda, Founding Partner of Mozaic Capital

Solomon is a founding partner of Mozaic Capital with over 32 years of experience investing and managing institutional private equity investment portfolios. Prior to forming Mozaic Capital, Solomon was a Managing Director at Siguler Guff where he was a senior member of the investment team. Solomon started his private equity career at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System where he was head of alternative investments.  Solomon is currently a trustee of The Church Pension Group, a $17 Billion Pension Fund where he serves as Chairman of the Investment  Committee.

Lee Cohen Senderov,

Lee currently serves as the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer for Foundation Partners Group. Previous roles include President of Digital at Richline Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company and various roles launching and growing private equity and venture capital-backed start-up companies. Lee has a History degree from Brandeis University and obtained her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Brenda Anderson, Academic Director

Brenda serves on the faculty at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the International Business School at Brandeis University, and is an adjunct associate professor at Tufts School of Medicine. In these roles, she teaches in the accounting and finance fields across numerous Brandeis graduate business programs and is extensively involved in providing financial literacy training to physician leaders in executive education programs. Brenda received her BS from the University of Connecticut and PhD from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. She is a Certified Public Accountant and prior to entering academia, Brenda worked for KPMG.

Carole Carlson, Venture Development Leader

Carole is the Director of the MBA program at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management where she teaches courses in strategy, entrepreneurship, and consulting skills.  She has worked with OGS teams from the very beginning helping them create, shape and pitch their ventures.  Prior to joining the Heller School, Carole was a Principal and Engagement Leader for The Parthenon Group, where she directed client engagements in the nonprofit, government, information, and education sectors.  Carole is the author of multiple case studies, three Core Readings in Entrepreneurship (Harvard Business School Publishing) and Social Entrepreneurship (Sage Publications, forthcoming.)  She holds advanced degrees from the Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elif Sisli Ciamarra, Teaching Faculty

Elif is an associate professor of finance in the Leo J. Meehan School of Business at Stonehill College and an adjunct associate professor in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her research and teaching interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship and financial technology. She is also the founder and president of Derin Adaptive, a start-up company that meets the clothing needs of children with special needs. Elif received her BS from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey), MBA from International University of Japan (Niigata, Japan), and PhD from Stern School of Business at New York University.

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Teaching Faculty

Joel is a professor in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, with expertise in large-scale systems change, multi-stakeholder collaboration, employment relations, high performance work systems, negotiation, and new technology.  Previously he served as a professor and dean of the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and as a faculty member in MIT’s Engineering Systems Division. Joel has consulted with unions, employers, and government agencies in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, United Kingdom, and the United States.  He holds a Ph.D. in industrial relations from MIT.

Alain Lempereur, Teaching Faculty

Alain promotes responsible negotiation, mediation and leadership, as the Alan B. Slifka Chair Professor and Director of the Conflict Resolution and Coexistence Program at Brandeis University.  He is an affiliated faculty and executive committee member of the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), the academic editor of Negotiation Briefings and a PON Global instructor.  He published a dozen books, including The First Move. A Negotiator’s Companion and Mediation. As a facilitator or a mediator, he supports nonviolence programs in the Near East (Forward Thinking, Negotiation Strategies Institute, Our Generation Speaks) and humanitarian organizations (HHI, ICRC, MSF).

Brian Denenberg, Teaching Faculty

Brian Denenberg is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Venture Lane Studio, Co-Founder of Sales Hunters Inc and an Adjunct Professor at the Brandeis University Heller School of Business – Our Generation Speaks program.

He has been part of multiple founding teams, a 6 time founder and has over 25 years of senior sales experience. He has held sales leadership roles at early-stage companies that were acquired by Thomson Reuters, Hewlett Packard, Business Week, Quadient, and Yellow Media.

He has extensive experience building direct, channel, and inside sales teams. In addition to working with over 100 early stage companies, he has advised over 50 multinational companies on their regional or global channel sales strategies. This has included working directly with partners of major IT vendors to better plan their Go-To-Market strategies.

Brian has developed the Agile Sales Method ™ which assists company founders and executives in evaluating, building, and measuring the best path to market for their company’s products, services, and culture.