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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tom Cajka, President & Co-Treasurer, is an entertainment business manager, certified public accountant, and the CFO of Ogulnick Leventhal & Cajka, LLP, with over 30 years of experience in running the financial activities of entertainment clients and small businesses. Tom has served on the board of The Miracle Project, previously as treasurer, since 2011.
Lauren Katz, Elaine Hall, and Neal Katz
TMP's Spring Showcase, 2023
Lauren Katz, Secretary & Co-Treasurer, has been involved in executive management and major fundraising for various non-profits and foundations for the past 25 years. She is the Past President of the Board of Directors for the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara and sits on their executive board. Her roles include Major Gifts chair and member of the Jewish Family Service advisory board. She is also a member of the National Women’s Philanthropy Board of Directors. In addition to serving on the board, Lauren is a strategic advisor on TMP’s fundraising endeavors.
Elaine Hall, Founder of the Miracle Project, also known as “Coach E,” has been referenced by The New York Times as “the child whisperer” and is a pioneer in using theatre and movement practices as a portal for connection among individuals with autism and related disabilities. Elaine was a top Hollywood acting coach when her adopted son was diagnosed with severe autism. When traditional behavioral therapies did not work for him, she developed an innovative methodology combining mindfulness and the expressive arts with what she was learning from autism experts, Dr. Stanley Greenspan, Dr. Ricki Robinson, and Dr. Barry Prizant. These methods are chronicled in her book, Seven Keys to Unlock Autism: Making Miracles in the Classroom, which is used as a textbook in several universities, including Brown University. Elaine’s memoir, Now I See the Moon: A Mother, A Son, a Miracle, was selected by the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day, where she has been a featured speaker. Elaine has been lauded in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as on CNN, CBS, and the Oprah Winfrey Network. The Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary, AUTISM: The Musical, profiles Elaine’s early work with The Miracle Project, which has since been deemed evidence-based and is now being replicated nationally and internationally.
Rob Eshman, Vice President, is the former Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of TRIBE Media and the Jewish Journal. Rob is also the recent recipient of the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California Lifetime Achievement Award. Rob’s reputation, connections, and passion for both the Jewish community and the disability community are why he has been a central figure on our board for many years.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Rabbi Naomi Levy is the founder and leader of Nashuva, a groundbreaking Jewish spiritual outreach movement based in Los Angeles. Levy was named one of the top fifty rabbis in America by Newsweek and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today show, and NPR. Her latest book, Einstein and the Rabbi, was published in September 2017. She is the author of the national bestseller To Begin Again, as well as Talking to God and Hope Will Find You. She was in the first class of women to enter the Jewish Theological Seminary’s rabbinical school and the first woman in her movement to head a congregation on the West Coast.
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Dr. Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, is among the world’s leading authorities on autism, with more than forty years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and international consultant. He is an adjunct professor at Brown University, author of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism with Tom Fields-Meyer, and coauthor of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries.
Dr. Ricki Robinson is co-director of Descanso Medical Center for Development and Learning in La Canada, California. She is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Senior Attending Physician at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She has been in private pediatric practice for over 30 years, specializing in children and adults with developmental delays for over twenty years.
Dr. Stephen Shore is a professor at Adelphi University, where his research focuses on matching best practices to the needs of people with autism. In addition to working with children and talking about life on the autism spectrum, Stephen is internationally renowned for presentations, consultations, and writings on lifespan issues pertinent to education, relationships, employment, advocacy, and disclosure. A current board member of Autism Speaks, president emeritus of the Asperger’s Association of New England, and advisory board member of the Autism Society, Dr. Shore serves on the boards of the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association, the US Autism and Asperger Association, the Scientific Council of OAR, and other autism related organizations.
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