Our Team
Serving our community with a smile
Meet Our People
Our professional and volunteer leaders bring a wealth of experience and expertise, reflecting the unparalleled diversity and dynamism of Eastern Connecticut’s Jewish community. They work side by side with our professional staff to address today’s most pressing problems and plan for tomorrow.
Our Leadership
2019-2020 Board of Directors
Meet Romana
President
Romana Strochlitz Primus was one of the first children born in the displaced persons camp at Bergen Belsen in Germany after World War II. She and her parents came to the United States in 1951.
Romana is a retired physician, a recently retired business woman, and a community activist. She has been involved in Holocaust education and remembrance for more than 50 years.
She served as an advisor to President Carter’s original Holocaust Commission and then subsequently served on the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Romana serves on the boards of several local and national non-profit organizations.
She and her husband, Chuck have four children and eight (8) grandchildren, each of whom is perfect.
Executive Committee
Scott F. Wolfe
Cindy Weiner
Gabriel Stern
Dan Bendor
Helen Elperina
Rosa Goldblatt
Tom Smith
Directors at Large
Term Ending June 2022
Steven Daren
Roslyn Etra
Ron Leeser
Caren Linden
Caryn Novick
Martin Rutchik
Gabriella Schlesinger
Sema Stein
Maeir Fein
Term Ending June 2021
Leonard Cohen
Ellen DeLeon
Les Kershnar
Alan Ruditzky
Helen Sapozhnikov
Jerome Schwell
Term Ending June 2020
Jo-el Fernandez
Evert Gawendo
Elyse Landesberg
Sarah Rogovin
Barbara Sahagan
Our Staff
Meet Carin
Executive Director
A native of New York City, Carin Savel is the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut. Selected from a national pool of professionals, she began her service in May 2019.
Carin came to New London from Raleigh, NC, where she served as the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary, leading all fundraising and programs for the Federation, JCC, Jewish Family Services, Jewish Community Relations Council and David R. Kahn Jewish Campus. She is the former Senior Vice President of Resource Development & Strategic Communications for the United Way of Pioneer Valley, in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she led a $4 million annual campaign.
For twelve years, Carin was president and senior managing partner of CSpotRun, LLC, a national political consulting firm, where she oversaw fundraising and election strategies for judicial, state, national, and presidential campaigns. A specialist in caucus communications, Carin spent eight years as chief of staff and policy advisor in the NC House of Representatives.
Carin has served on the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts Board of Trustees and chaired their JCRC. She has actively served on the boards of trustees of LIFEBeat: the Music Industry Fights AIDS, Bend the Arc, Phoenix House, Habitat For Humanity, Boys & Girls Club, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Jewish Council for Policy Affairs. Carin is a lifetime member of Hadassah and a proud Lion of Judah.
Carin graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Drama. She is the ridiculously proud mom of Oliver, a financial services manager who lives in Florida.