Ally joined Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in 2023 as our marketing copywriter and coordinator. She was born and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. She attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor’s in English literature and rhetoric and a minor in Judaic studies. She has been trying to read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in Hebrew and loves listening to podcasts at the end of each day.
Daniel Pensante is graduate of Bernard M. Baruch College, with a bachelor’s in accounting and over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Daniel has always preferred working in service organizations, and most recently worked for Alcoholics Anonymous Grapevine, which publishes a magazine for the AA community; and Camelot of Staten Island, a drug rehabilitation and social services organization. Daniel was born and raised in Brooklyn and lives in Marine Park with his wife Sheila, daughter Sofia and niece Elizabeth.
Isaiah Benedek brings over a decade of nonprofit experience to Stephen Wise, where he is the director of membership engagement. Isaiah began his career in admissions at the International School of Brooklyn and was part of its founding development team. Later, he worked in principal giving at Memorial Sloan Kettering and at a prominent charter school network ,where he developed and executed strategic initiatives to steward and engage friends of the organization. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he earned his bachelor’s in political science from the University of Vermont and lives in Brooklyn with his dog, Roka.
Mira has over 25 years of administrative experience. Previously, she worked in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Mira earned her bachelor’s in education from Hakibbutzim College in Israel.
Meredith was born in the Bronx and raised in Westchester. She studied textiles at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and worked for the state of New York for 14 years before joining Stephen Wise’s staff at Westchester Hills Cemetery. She’s also the proud mother of a teenage son.
