Introducing Our New Co-Presidents
First, we would like to express our profound thanks to our outgoing President, Louis Newman, for his tremendous service to this Congregation. What a professional, compassionate, and scholarly act to follow! When you see Louis, please thank him for his service. Second, please allow us to introduce ourselves.
Jeff Skochil
I can’t tell you how excited and humbled I am to serve as Congregational Co-President for the next two years. Why a Co-Presidency? A Co-Presidency gives us both the opportunity to fully cover the responsibilities of the Presidency while accommodating the work-related travel Eric and I have from time to time. It’s an arrangement that helps us serve as we help and serve each other in this community. Both of us look forward to working with our Rabbis, our professional staff, Board of Directors, volunteers, and all of you.
For those of you I haven’t met (YET), I’ve been a member of Beth Jacob Congregation since my family and I moved here from Eau Claire, WI back in 1994. Currently, I’m a Technology Solution Architect for Retail at Oracle Corporation and an adjunct professor in Graduate Programs in Software at the Universiy of St. Thomas. Some congregants know me as the ‘bee guy’ (it’s a Wisconsin thing-long story). I’ve been actively engaged in various shul activities over the past 17 years.
Eric Pasternack
I share Jeff’s joy and humility and add a sense of trepidation as we start on this journey together. We will need your support as the Congregation continues to grow and mature.
I am a relative newcomer to Beth Jacob, having moved here with my wife Jo in 1999 from Richardson, Texas. Jo and I found Beth Jacob to be our dream shul and immediately jumped in with both feet, getting involved in ritual-related activities. My job as a petrophysical consultant takes me all over the world, but I am home often enough to stay involved. Many of you know me as one of the gabbaim on Shabbat, as a Torah reader at morning minyan, or as the Ritual committee chair who sent you a letter about an aliyah on the High Holidays. I hope to get to know all of you better during the upcoming two years.
With you help, may we go from strength to strength.
Jeff Skochil and Eric Pasternack