Arnie Harris | President
Arnie is proud and honored to currently serve as president of the National Ramah Commission. In this role, Arnie is focused on expanding and strengthening the Ramah brand through year-round engagement programs for all ages, both for those who have attended Ramah camps and those who have not. Arnie’s work includes building professional and lay leadership pipelines within NRC, the Ramah Camping Movement, and the camps, with a focus on succession planning to keep Ramah strong and vibrant. In addition to Arnie’s role as president of NRC, Arnie was formerly the president of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. 

Professionally, Arnie was the CEO of a call center business. A licensed attorney, Arnie is now retired. Personally, Arnie is married to Nina, a clinical social worker. Their adult children are Jonah and his wife Dr. Maya Feldman, who live in the Boston area; and Shira, who lives in New York City. Arnie and Nina are active in Jewish philanthropy through their family foundation, supporting Ramah camps, Jewish day schools, Federation, and synagogues.

Keath Blatt | Secretary
Keath is the general counsel of The Jewish Theological Seminary. In this capacity, he is responsible for all legal matters pertaining to the institution and its affiliates in the United States and Israel. Previously, Keath was the in-house counsel for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its charitable foundation. He managed a wide array of legal issues for both organizations and regularly interfaced with various government officials and legal advocates on select legislative and policy initiatives at the state and federal level. Earlier in his career, Keath practiced law in Los Angeles and was a professional fundraiser in various capacities, including as the national Jewish finance director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Keath also serves on the board of directors of the Charleston Jewish Federation. He and his wife are the proud parents of two boys and are delighted to be part of the Camp Ramah Darom family.

Ellen Brown | Vice President, Development
Born in Los Angeles, Ellen is the immediate past chair of Camp Ramah in California. She received her BA from UCLA, and began her career in advertising. She then shifted her professional life to the Jewish community, working at Hadassah, The Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging, and de Toledo High School.

While her three children attended Valley Beth Shalom Day School, Ellen was the chair of the annual campaign, co-president of the Parent Association, and a member of its board. 

Ellen served as campaign chair and chair of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles Valley Alliance Women's Department, and as chair of the Valley Alliance Strategic Planning and Distribution Committee. 

A product of Los Angeles's Conservative Movement, Ellen belonged to USY, attended Los Angeles Hebrew High School, and spent her summers as a teen and young adult at Ramah California.

Ellen resides in Tarzana, California with her husband Jeff, a commercial real estate attorney. They have three adult children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and an adorable grandson.

Sheldon Disenhouse | Vice President, Governance and Bylaws
Sheldon is a partner in Dentons Canada LLP with a practice that focuses almost exclusively on commercial leasing. Based in Toronto, Sheldon has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating leases and ancillary documentation for offices, retail, and industrial spaces on behalf of his diverse client base. 

Sheldon began his career at Camp Ramah in Canada as a swim instructor and then rosh agam in the 1970s. He subsequently joined the board of Ramah Canada and served as the President from 1999–2002. As a member of the National Ramah Commission, he served in numerous positions including on the executive board as vice president, Israel programs. He was the president of the NRC from 2011-2015, and has been on the executive board since then. 

Sheldon is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program. In addition to his work with Ramah, Sheldon has been active with UJA Federation of Greater Toronto for many years, serving on the board and numerous committees. He was most recently on the governance committee and the chair of the Silber Family Centre for Jewish Camping. Sheldon presently serves as the vice president of Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks.

Rob Hirsch | Vice President, Finance and Operations
Rob Hirsch, born and raised in New Rochelle, NY, considers himself a card-carrying Conservative Jew. He attended Camp Ramah in Glen Spey, Camp Ramah New England, and Ramah Israel Seminar, as well as afternoon Hebrew school and Hebrew high school.

He is a past president of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, a position he filled from 2008–2012. Rob has served as the president at Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn, NY and served on its board since 1993. Rob is also a former board member of the Schechter School of Long Island.

Rob is a graduate of Tufts University, with a BS in chemical engineering. He and his wife Judy are the proud parents of four children, Joshua, Sigal, Sarah, and Max, all Schechter Long Island and Ramah Berkshires alumni.

Professionally, Rob was a co-founder of Chaverware synagogue membership software since 1993. He is currently mostly retired, acting as a business consultant, volunteer, and saba.

Jeff Kopin, MD | Vice President, Israel Programs
Jeff Kopin is a Ramah lifer. He began his Ramah journey at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as a young camper, and progressed to serving as a staff member and then as a rosh aidah. Jeff, a practicing physician, decided to pursue a career in medicine in part because he saw medicine as a way to continue to spend summers at camp as camp doctor. Jeff eventually served as president of Ramah Wisconsin, followed by service as the president of the National Ramah Commission. 

Jeff is a chief medical officer for Northwestern Medicine in the Chicago area. He is a faculty member of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He attributes his abilities as a physician leader to skills learned as a staff member at Ramah.

Jeff and his wife Beth split time between homes in Chicago and Jerusalem. They are the parents of three Ramahniks and five grandchildren. Beth and Jeff look forward to the designation of Ramah grandparents.

Cliff Nerwen, MD | Vice President, Health and Safety
Cliff Nerwen has been involved and interested in the health and safety of Ramah camp communities for more than 25 years. A graduate of the Joint Program (JTS and Columbia University), and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, he is an academic general pediatrician at Cohen Children's Medical Center at Northwell in New York City. He is a lifelong Ramahnik, having been a camper at Camp Ramah in Canada, a madrich and rosh edah at Camp Ramah New England, and the medical director of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, where he was also the camp doctor for more than twenty years. He has also volunteered his time serving three terms as the president of his synagogue, the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale (CSAIR) and has served as the board chair of Sacred Spaces, where he remains a member of the board of directors. Currently, Cliff is the chairperson of the National Ramah Commission medical committee and is the NRC vice president for health and safety. He is the proud father of two Ramah alumni and resides in Riverdale, NY. 

Jay Reisbaum | Immediate Past President and Chair, Presidents Council

Jay is the senior vice president of Laemmle Theatres, a family-owned and operated small chain of art, foreign, and independent movie theaters in Los Angeles. In 1979, Jay met his wife, Tara, at Camp Ramah in California, where they were both campers and on staff. A longtime Ramah California board member, Jay served as board president from 2002 through 2005. He was the founding board president of Camp Ramah in Northern California (Ramah Galim), which opened in 2016.

Jay and Tara have three adult children, Max, Ariel, and Danielle, who are also Ramah California alumni. Jay enjoys playing basketball, listening to funk, and smoking a variety of kosher meat on his backyard smoker.

Jonathan Sherman | Vice President, Legal Affairs
Jon’s lifelong connection with Judaism was sparked by his years as a camper at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, which he later served as president. In that role, Jon spearheaded a fundraising campaign that supported a major renovation of camper cabins and guided a transition in the professional leadership of the camp. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Jon has practiced law for more than 40 years, achieving courtroom victories and serving as a trusted advisor to clients he served for decades. 

Jon lives in Highland Park, Illinois, with his wife Fran, a violinist and editor, where they are active members of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El and their local Jewish community. They are most proud of their three adult children—all former Ramah campers and staff members—their wonderful spouses, and grandson.

Samuel E. “Skip” Vichness, Ph.D. | Vice President, Strategic Initiatives

Samuel E. “Skip” Vichness was raised in Newport News, Virginia but currently resides in Manhattan and Delray Beach, Florida. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Randolph Macon College and his doctorate in European history from Florida State University. Skip is also a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program.

Skip has worked as a director and investor in the summer camp industry for 45 years. He serves as president of Quality Camping Properties, Inc. and is a senior partner in GreyPine, LLC. He also is a past chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, a past president of the American Camp Association, New York Section, and a former chair of the TriState Camping Conference.

He has served in numerous other Jewish communities including being the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of Hillel International, a former Hillel vice chair responsible for their Israel engagement philosophy, chair of Hillel’s Task Force on Public Statements, and a former president of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union Counties (The Golda Och Academy). He currently serves as Board Chair of the Hunter College Hillel.

Skip is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program. He resides in Manhattan and Delray Beach, Florida with his wife Ilana. They have two sons, Ittamar (Aileen) and Shai (Aileen), and three grandsons, Adin, Lev and Jude.