Executive Staff

Dr. David Bryfman is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Jewish Education Project. After working in formal and informal Jewish educational institutions in Australia, Israel, and North America, David earned his Ph.D. in Education and Jewish Studies from NYU, focusing on the identity development of Jewish adolescents. David has authored several articles and presented broadly on topics ranging from the Jewish teenage experience, innovation and change in Jewish life, Israel education and more broadly about Jewish education. He is a founder of the annual Jewish Futures conference, helped direct the 2019 study  GenZ Now: Understanding and Connecting with Jewish Teens Today, and was the lead researcher of the groundbreaking 2016 study, “Generation Now: Understanding and Engaging Jewish Teenagers Today,” and editor of “Experience and Jewish Education,” a compendium of essays written by and for Jewish experiential educators. David is a member of Cohort Three of Leading Edge's CEO Onboarding Program. He is an alum of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program and the Schusterman Fellowship. 

Steve Goldberg  is Chief Operating Officer (COO) of The Jewish Education Project. He most recently worked as a consultant at the executive search firm DRG Search. Prior to that, Steve held senior leadership roles at Hadassah, and served as Executive Director of B’nai Jeshurun, one of the nation’s leading progressive synagogues.

Nessa Liben is Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) of The Jewish Education Project. She joins The Jewish Education Project from UJA-Federation of New York, where she has worked in development for over a decade, including as a part of UJA's Senior Financial Resource Development team. Most recently, Nessa served as the Director of Community Outreach and Engagement where she oversaw a team of fundraisers and major gift portfolios, community-wide speaker events, and partnerships with local institutions. Prior to UJA, Nessa worked at The Jewish Teen Funders Network and The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She earned graduate degrees from New York University in Nonprofit Management and Judaic Studies, and is an alum of both the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholarship and the FEREP Graduate Program.

Susan Holzman Wachsstock is Chief Program Officer (CPO) of The Jewish Education Project. Previously, she served as the Managing Director of Jewish Education and Engagement for The Jewish Education Project. In her past role at The Jewish Education Project, Susan supervised a team of several senior staff, and managed multi-year grants from major philanthropic partners, notably in the Jewish Teen engagement space through grants from UJA-Federation of New York, the Jim Joseph Foundation, and others in the Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative.