Operations Board

Jeff Sprung, President
Jeff is a partner at the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, where he focuses on representing whistleblowers in cases involving government fraud. Prior to joining Hagens Berman, Jeff was an Assistant US Attorney in Washington, DC and on staff with a presidential campaign. Jeff’s approach to Judaism is informed by being a first-generation American born to Holocaust survivors. He searched for the right Jewish community for over a decade in Seattle before discovering the newly formed Kavana Cooperative. With 2 young kids, he has been active in creating Kavana’s innovative approach to Jewish family education. He also currently devotes his energy to the Hanford Challenge, a public interest organization working on the safe and effective clean-up of the largest nuclear waste site in the US, located in eastern Washington. Jeff received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and has BA from the University of Michigan.

Barry Lasky, Vice President
Barry is currently a Senior Application Architect at First Data Corporation. His love/hate relationship with communications technology began some 20 years ago when he became the inaugural Technical Director for the "Arts Wire" project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Since that time, Barry has worked in a wide variety of commercial software engineering roles and contexts. Off the computer, Barry is a long time student and certified teacher of Taiji Quan. And he has an eight year old daughter who is just like him, but completely different.

Suzan LeVine, Past President
Suzi was a co-founder of the Kavana Cooperative. She is also the co-founder and development chair on the board at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington and is President of the Board of UW Hillel. Her community work was recognized with the 2008 Helen M. Jackson Woman of Valor Award for Washington state women distinguished by their communal involvement and the 2007 Spitzer Young Leadership award for service to the Jewish community. Suzi earned degrees in both English and Mechanical Engineering from Brown University, where she served as Hillel president. She was a national delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008, and an active supporter of the Obama campaign.  After working as an executive at Expedia, and taking time out of the workforce to raise her two young children, she now works at Microsoft's Education Division.  She lives in Queen Anne with her husband and two young children.

Scott Porad, Secretary
Scott's professional experience is in creating industry-leading Web properties in online media (ESPN.com, icanhascheezburger.com) and in e-commerce and online retailing (drugstore.com). In those efforts, Scott has held a variety of positions and is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Pet Holdings, Inc. Outside of work, Scott loves going on adventures with his wife and boys, hearing live music, playing golf and basketball, and sunshine!

 Adam Schoenfeld, Treasurer
Adam is a co-founder at Untitled Startup, an early stage technology company developing social media analytics solutions for businesses. Adam spends his days (and most nights) driving the business strategy for RowFeeder, Untitled Startup's core product. After graduating from Claremont McKenna College in sunny Southern California, Adam returned to Seattle to start his career as an Analyst at Lake Partners Strategy Consultants. After a few years in Seattle, Adam and his wife, Jenny, were looking for a Jewish community. They found Kavana via Coffee Shop Shabbat events in 2007 and were immediately impressed by the Kavana model, leadership team, and unique community dynamic. Adam and Jenny continue to participate in Shabbat and Holiday events and plan to be part of the community for the long term. Outside of work, Adam volunteers for Seattle Academy where he is currently VP of the Alumni Board and formerly a member of the Board of Trustees. Adam is an avid golfer, decent skier, and a bandwagon sports fan of all Seattle teams with a winning record.

Michelle Ein, Member at Large
Having started Kavana's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) "Happy Hour," now in its second season, Michelle has had a blast welcoming, and feeling welcomed by, the Kavana community. She appreciates having a Jewish context in which to explore land stewardship and food production/consumption issues. Michelle is an attorney at Law Offices of James L. Strichartz, whose clients are exclusively condominium or homeowner associations, and in that role serves as an educator and advocate for nonprofit lay boards of directors. She regularly teaches on community association legal issues for the Washington State chapter of Community Associations Institute (WSCAI). Michelle received her law degree from Seattle University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany. Originally from so far upstate New York that she listened to Canadian radio stations growing up, Michelle now lives in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood. 

David Pressman, Member at Large 
David Pressman is a clinical psychologist at the Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he specializes in the treatment of addictions and posttraumatic stress disorder, and he also has a private practice on Queen Anne. After moving to Seattle with his wife, Hannah, in the summer of 2007, David became involved with Kavana through participation in holiday and Shabbat Services. Hannah has enjoyed co-coordinating the Kavana book club and facilitating adult education workshops. After living in Manhattan for six years, David was very happy to return to his Pacific Northwest roots; his family lived in Portland during the time of the Mt. St. Helens eruption! David grew up in many corners of the country, with Franklin, TN (just outside of Nashville) being his hometown. Through his family's participation in synagogue life, and through his own involvement with the B'Nai B'rith Youth Organization in high school and with Alpha Epislon Pi and the Jewish Student Union in college, David developed a strong commitment to building Jewish community life. And, he carries on a family tradition by joining the board of a Jewish organization. David earned his doctorate from Columbia University, Teachers College and his BA from Brown University. He enjoys running, whether for exercise or to keep up with his young son.