Biographies

JECEI National Staff

Dr. Patricia Bidol Padva, Executive Director

Prior to becoming part of the JECEI staff, Patricia Bidol Padva, PhD. was an international consultant in Jewish education whose work included the creation of sustainable consensus-based community plans, enabling organizations to successfully engage in transformative change, coaching lay and professional leaders, working with teams on becoming learning communities and the use of generative thinking in joint planning initiatives.

She has extensive experience consulting in Jewish Early Childhood education. She has worked with the Early Childhood Initiative of the Jewish Community Federation of the San Francisco and the Bay Area to create a consensus-based business plan for compensation and finance, quality ECJE and engaging parents, worked with the Jewish communities of Miami-Dade and West Palm Beach, Florida to implement Project Kavod: Improving the Culture of Employment in Jewish Early Childhood Education, provided research on the Friedman Commission for Jewish Education's Synagogue Enhancement Project and worked with Early Childhood Directors and Educators at CAJE conferences and in their communities. She has been a school superintendent and a Dean of Education at the National College of Education's Urban Campus that included an early childhood department. Her Ph. D. is from the University of Michigan in educational psychology with a major in complex change. She is a core faculty member of the American University - NTL's Organization Development and Change Masters Program.

Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman, Associate

Prior to joining JECEI, Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman completed five years as Director for Distance Learning for Siegal College of Judaic Studies located in Cleveland where she retains an adjunct faculty position. Dr. Goodman received her doctorate in adult education from Teachers College/Columbia University, an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and an M.A. in education focusing on educational psychology from the University of Southern California. Dr. Goodman's work as a researcher began with the Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE, now the Mandel Foundation) where she was on the research team that focused on an effort to improve Jewish education on a community wide basis and helped conduct a national study of Jewish educational personnel. Since then, most of her evaluation and research work has been done through consulting for central agencies for Jewish education, federations, and national and international organizations. Her work in early childhood includes action research for Project Kavod and Project Kavod II, efforts to raise the salaries and benefits of early childhood Jewish educators. Dr. Goodman's publications include curricula, student materials, and articles in the areas of faith development and spirituality, research and evaluation, adult education, Jewish educational personnel, and grant writing. She is a co-editor of What We NOW Know about Jewish Education (Torah Aura, 2008), which received the National Jewish Book Award.

Administrative Staff

Gavi Lewy-Neuman, Executive Assistant to the Executive Director

Predating her start of term at JECEI, Gavi has gone through the full works of the Jewish Education System from nursery through College in the NY/NJ area. Most recently, she earned her B.A. in English Communications with a focus in Advertising, as well as an Associate’s Degree in Judaic Studies from Yeshiva University Stern College for Women. Gavi’s professional experience includes 2 years in the music industry working in public relations, in addition to plenty of administrative work in various offices. She has worked as a freelance writer in addition to maintaining her own blog. Gavi spent a year, collectively, traveling around the world to 15 different countries, with a backpack and an open mind. Currently residing in Teaneck, NJ Gavi plans to ultimately set her roots in Israel.