Biographies of the nominees for the Board of Trustees

Nomination for Vice President

Sara Moss

Sara Moss is the Vice Chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies. In her role, Sara serves as a senior advisor to the Board of Directors, Executive Management, and the Lauder family. She also co-leads the Women’s Leaderships Network (WLN) and is a leader of the Sustainability Executive Committee. Previously, Sara served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for The Estée Lauder Companies, where she was responsible for the Company’s worldwide Legal function for 16 years. Sara began her legal career as a law clerk for Constance Baker Motley, then became a litigator at Davis Polk & Wardwell. She then went on to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where she prosecuted a wide range of federal cases. Moving back to the private sector, Sara became a litigation partner at Howard, Darby & Levin (now Covington & Burling) and then Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Pitney Bowes Inc.

Sara has been a member of Central for 11 years and has served on the Cantorial Search Committee which selected Senior Cantor Dan Mutlu. She has four children and lives in New York with her husband, Michael Gould.

Nominations for Trustees

Devana Cohen

Devana Cohen is the Chief Investment Officer of UJA-Federation of New York (“UJA”), responsible for investment of its Endowment and Retirement Plan assets. Prior to joining UJA in 2013, Ms. Cohen spent six years managing public market investments at the Ford Foundation and The California Endowment. Ms. Cohen was an Asset-Liability Manager at Toyota Motor Sales where she also managed the pension plan assets. Prior to starting a career in investments, she was a Design Engineer at International Rectifier, developing semiconductor devices. Ms. Cohen graduated from University of California at Berkeley with dual B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and earned an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, specializing in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies. Ms. Cohen is a CFA charterholder. Devana has been a member for 8 years and has served on the Racial Justice Task Force and a co-facilitator of the Jews of Color CORE Group.

Richard Cohen, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Over the past forty years, Richard Cohen has been an Internist on the staff of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) and a Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCM). In addition to providing patient care, Richard is involved in administrative and teaching duties at the medical center. He chairs the Quality Assurance Committee and serves on the Legal Affairs Committee of the hospital. He regularly teaches medical residents and his current teaching responsibilities at WCM largely center on the Medical Ethics curriculum. He has been honored with many teaching awards and has served on the Board of Overseers of the medical school. Richard graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Clark University in 1971. He then attended Cornell University Medical College and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at The New York Hospital. He is married and lives on the Upper East Side with his wife of almost fifty years. They have two children and four granddaughters. Richard has been a member for 20 years, is a regular at our Saturday morning Mishkan service, and served on the COVID Task Force.

Cindy Edelson

Cindy had a twenty-year career on Wall Street after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, beginning with a short stint at the Union Bank of Switzerland before joining Bear Stearns, where she became a Limited Partner. After the birth of our third child, my focus turned to non-profit work. She served as the president of the parents’ association and as a trustee at both the All Souls School and the Spence School. Subsequently, she joined the board of the Sylvia Center, an organization that teaches young people about the connection between food and health. She currently serves as the Board Chair of the Sylvia Center. Cindy and her husband have three adult children – Charlotte, Annabel, and Oliver. Cindy has been a member for 24 years and has served on the Nominations Committee, various search committees, the Social Action Committee, and led an Elul small group.

Alan Herman

Alan Herman is the New York Executive Director of the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) the largest non-government funder of cancer research in Israel. Alan is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the New York region, including developing and managing key relationships with board members, donors, and strategic partners. Prior to joining ICRF, Alan worked as a Synagogue Executive Director, most recently at Congregation Beth Elohim, a nationally recognized Reform Synagogue in Park Slope Brooklyn. Prior to pivoting to the not-for-profit world (which was largely influenced by his involvement with Central), he held various executive level positions with Bentex Group, a leading manufacturer of licensed consumer products, as well as ran a wholesale distribution business for over twenty years of which he was one of the founders. Alan and his wife Miriam have been members of Central for over 15 years along with their daughter Noa. Over the years Alan has been involved in various Central programs and initiatives including leading the Breakfast Program, The Ronald McDonald House Project, an active member of the initial Core Team / Listening Campaign and the “No One is a Stranger at Central” project.