On July 1, JEWISHcolorado welcomed five new members to the Board of Directors. Each brings a unique background and set of skills with them.
Bryan Frackman
Bryan Frackman has been a partner and portfolio manager with Spruceview Capital Partners for more than 12 years, responsible for building and managing multi-asset class portfolios including public equity, real estate, infrastructure, and real asset portfolios. He brings deep and extensive professional experience to his new role on the Board as Chair of the JEWISHcolorado Investment Committee.
“I can’t tell you what an honor this is,” he says. “It is such a vote of confidence to be asked to lead the committee. I cannot be more excited to help continue moving the Foundation into the future.”
Frackman grew up in Columbus, Ohio, with its small Jewish population.
“I think back to my bar mitzvah as a time of joy with my family and friends,” he says. “Probably 95 percent of the people who came were my non-Jewish friends and for some of them, it was the only bar mitzvah they had ever attended. I got cards from people that said, ‘Happy Birthday!’ Some of those people are still my close friends.”
Frackman attended Cornell University and spent the first years of his professional career in management consulting. In 2007, he joined J.P. Morgan as a Vice President with responsibility for managing J.P. Morgan’s employee pension plan.
“It was a fantastic experience,” he says. “I flew all over the world searching for the best investors in the world.”
By 2014, J.P. Morgan’s pension plan was overfunded by 140 percent at $15 Billion. Frackman and a group of senior J.P. Morgan employees started Spruceview, taking no capital from J.P. Morgan with them. The company is headquartered in Colorado, and Frackman urged his wife to relocate from New York for the mountains, the skiing, and the quality of life for their three children.
“My wife is from New York, but she agreed to try Denver for a year,” Frackman says. “That was 10 years ago. We think this is the best place in the world to live.”
Two years ago, a friend urged him to share his expertise managing pools of money with JEWISHcolorado’s Investment Committee. For the past year, Frackman has worked closely with Daniel Krasnitsky, the outgoing Chair of the committee.
“I anticipate we will continue to leverage the incredible investment expertise of the committee as JEWISHcolorado’s endowment campaign continues,” he says. “We will work extremely closely with Syntrinsic, JEWISHcolorado’s official investment and strategic partner, to build a best-in- class portfolio.”
As Frackman prepares for his oldest child to become a bat mitzvah, he has been reflecting on his own Jewish journey, going back to his bar mitzvah when his very ill grandfather attended just a month before he died.
“Traditions and history and family heritage are the most important part of my Judaism,” Frackman says. “You have to recognize who and where your ancestors have been and that it has not always been easy to be Jewish.”
Frackman sees his new role at JEWISHcolorado as a way to celebrate his Judaism at a very important time in world history.
“I don’t know if there is a more important time to be a proud member of the Jewish community given current geopolitical issues,” he says. “I feel fortunate that I can add value to JEWISHcolorado and be a better and more involved member of the Jewish community.”
Kim Schneider Malek
Kim Schneider Malek likes to describe her multi-generational business in two sentences.
“I work between the couch and the court,” she says. “I don’t do therapy, and I don’t do lawsuits.”
As Founder and President of Family Enterprise Alliance, Schneider Malek is a family enterprise consultant with expertise in family and board governance, succession planning, and conflict management for families who share decisions about business, wealth, and philanthropy.
“The upside of this work is watching when families figure out a way to do something together now in order to navigate to a shared future expression of their values,” she says.
As a member of the advisory committee for The Foundation at JEWISHcolorado, she is now bringing her professional expertise to JEWISHcolorado’s Board.
“My goal in this new role is to help individuals and families understand the impact of Donor Advised Funds,” she says. “I also want to help them see the power of intentional and strategic philanthropic giving.”
As a third-generation Coloradan, Schneider Malek has been involved with the Federation since her teenage years when she made her first trip to Israel with the Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour (IST) in the late 1970s. Her three children, who are now young adults, followed in her footsteps.
“My children had the exact experience I had when they went on IST,” she says. “They made connections within the community. Whenever I run into people I still know from my trip, I introduce them to my children. It makes me feel like a member of Gen Z!”
When Schneider Malek was recognized with the Charlotte B. Tucker Young Leadership Award, she was following in the footsteps of her father who was also honored for his young adult leadership. She served for six years on the Jewish Federations of America National Young Leadership Cabinet, and she brought her husband, Charles Malek, into Cabinet to join her.
She was a member of the reimagining team when the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado rebranded as JEWISHcolorado. She has been active in Women’s Philanthropy, co-chairing CHOICES twice. She has also served as a repeat host family for Shinshinim.
“My mom hosted Israeli emissaries, and I wanted my children to have the same experience,” she says. “My kids loved it, so every time Jco asked us, we said yes.”
Schneider Malek has also been active in the wider Jewish community, serving as Chair of the Board of Kavod and on the Board of Denver Jewish Day School. She also hosted an Ethiopian medical foster child who lived with her family during treatment at Colorado Children’s Hospital and returned to Colorado for his college education. He calls the Schneider Maleks “my second family.”
With so many commitments over decades, it might be understandable if Schneider Malek was ready to take a break from Board service. But she is not.
“When things are going well, you can move out of the way for the next generation,” she says. “But when the world is troubled as it is now, there is too much need. You get to the point where you say, ‘I have to do what I can do.’”
To Schneider Malek, the work she does with The Foundation is in her professional zone, a place where she can bring a “lens that adds value.” Expanding that work to the Board is a way “to link the past and the future through the present.”
“I have hope for the future and capacity now, and I need to bridge the two,” she says. “I have family members who have used every JEWISHcolorado service, and I have family who have contributed their time and financial resources to make sure those privileges continue to be available to everyone. I don’t want to be a person who complains about what is wrong without doing something to make things better.”
Julie Schlafer
“My whole life has been about being Jewish.”
For Julie Schlafer, that simple statement sums up generations of commitment to the Jewish community. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Schlafer is a third-generation woman philanthropist, and she points proudly to the fourth generation (her daughter-in-law Carly Schlafer) and the fifth generation (her granddaughter).
Schlafer holds three Lion of Judah pins, one endowed with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, one endowed with JEWISHcolorado, and one as member of the Prime Minister’s Council. She is a member of Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) National Women’s Philanthropy Board. Now, she has joined the JEWISHcolorado Board as the Aspen Campaign Chair.
“Recently, at an event at my friend’s house, I was introduced to someone I didn’t know as ‘Julie Schlafer, the face of JEWISHcolorado,’” she says. “That was the nicest thing anyone has ever said. I am not the face of the organization, but I am the face of JEWISHcolorado in Aspen.”
It’s a surprising outcome, perhaps, for a woman who had one rule when she became involved in Jewish Women’s Foundation in Detroit—she was willing to make philanthropic donations but not willing to ask others to donate.
“When you ask people to give to something I feel passionately about and they don’t give, I find that to be a difficult thing to accept,” she says.
“I don’t care if you say no to me, but how can you not care about the needs of the Jewish community?”
Schlafer’s journey to becoming a powerhouse lay fundraiser for JEWISHcolorado began in 2010 when she and her husband Steve moved to Aspen as fulltime residents. She became involved with the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) of the Roaring Fork Valley. Over time, UJA was absorbed by JEWISHcolorado, and the connection between an organization headquartered in Denver and the residents and second homeowners of Aspen began to fray. But Schlafer was not willing to give up on JEWISHcolorado because, as she says, “I am a Federation girl.”
“I believe in JFNA because I trust their leadership,” she says. “They do due diligence and give away our charitable dollars with honesty, integrity, and knowledge that our money is being spent wisely.”
Over the past several years, Schlafer started attending Jco events in Denver. She became friends with JEWISHcolorado President and CEO Renée Rockford. She hosted an event for Lions and Poms from all over the country at which her daughter-in-law Carly became a Lion. When it came time to plan the annual 2025 JEWISHcolorado Aspen event, she approached Rockford with a proposal: “Put me in charge.”
That is exactly what happened. Schlafer threw herself into the planning and “called every single Jewish person I know.” She went to the country club and buttonholed people with her pitch. Originally, Steve referred to the project as “this Julie thing.” Then he started calling it “our thing.”
The event was hugely successful and raised a recent record amount for Jewish education, Israel, PJ Library, and security. Thus was a new board member born, uniquely suited to connect with the fulltime Jewish residents of Aspen who build a vibrant Jewish community year round and the second home owners who engage with that community primarily in summer.
“When I ask people to give, it gives me Jewish joy because I feel like I am giving them a gift,” she says. “The gift will be how good they feel about giving. I could not be prouder to know that I have instilled in my children the value of tikkun olam. We have been blessed and we need to share our blessings with others.”
Rabbi Sarah Shulman
Training to compete in triathlons is an excellent way to prepare for the rabbinate. So says Rabbi Sarah Shulman, Senior Rabbi at Hebrew Educational Alliance. A world champion in the grueling Ironman Triathlon competition, she knows whereof she speaks.
“As a rabbi, you balance the lifecycle moments of your congregation, fundraising demands, and community leadership,” she says. “Training to be an endurance athlete prepares you for all that.”
Now, Rabbi Shulman will add another responsibility to her demanding schedule as the incoming President of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors (RMRC). In that capacity, she will also serve as an ex officio member of the JEWISHcolorado Board.
“JEWISHcolorado is an umbrella for the entire Jewish community,” she says. “Along with many other congregational rabbis, I have been involved with Jco on community events and fundraising and the many ways our work intersects, so this will not be my first time in the building!”
Rabbi Shulman studied biology and creative writing in the pre-med track at Stanford. After she graduated, she taught and worked in administration in the Jewish day school world of Northern California. At the same time, she continued competing in ultra-endurance events, finishing at the top of the women’s age bracket in the 2004 Hawaii Ironman. At what seemed to be her peak, she had to step back from competitions after she started experiencing stress fractures and discovered that she had developed a form of osteoporosis that affects young, active women.
“The best thing that happened to me was all those stress fractures because it led me to something more meaningful,” she says. “I had to give up my identity as a triathlete, but that made room in my life for my faith and my Judaism. I needed faith to get through a difficult time in my life and that led me to rabbinical school.”
She was ordained as a Conservative Rabbi with dual Master’s degrees in Education and Rabbinic Studies from American Jewish University. Her connection to Colorado began in 2009 when she helped train staff for the nascent Ramah in the Rockies. She returned a year later as founding Assistant Director of the new camp. She went on to found Camp Ramah Northern California.
As President of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors, Rabbi Shulman believes that one of her major roles will be the creation of strong partnerships between spiritual leaders and the leadership of JEWISHcolorado.
“These partnerships affect everything we do, from our daily collaboration to our response in a crisis,” she says. “When JEWISHcolorado and RMRC clergy have partnered well, that supports the community, especially with all the challenges we have faced since October 7th and also as we move forward to the next challenges.”
The increase in antisemitism, an aging population in need of a support system and housing, ongoing security needs—these are just some of the challenges that Rabbi Shulman believes RMRC and JEWISHcolorado will face together. But she also will tell you that “Colorado is an exciting place Jewishly.”
“We have growing congregations, vibrant music and education, strong collaboration across the community, and so much potential,” she says.
“I love the work I do here and I am honored to serve on the JEWISHcolorado board as rabbi in this very special and unique community.”
Steven Summer
Had it not been for the Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Steven Summer might never have met his wife of 40 years. As young adults, both signed up for a leadership trip to Israel. The trip came to an end, but their friendship and relationship did not. They were married in December, 1985, a marriage of shared values.
“My wife and I firmly believe that giving back is important to us,” Summer says. “I live that belief in both the Jewish community and the non-Jewish community.”
When the family—now including two sons—moved to Denver in 2006 so Summer could take over as President and CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association, he wanted to grow some substantive and meaningful roots in his new home. Through JEWISHcolorado—then the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado—he met Michael Klein, President and CEO of Kavod Senior Life.
With Summer’s extensive background in healthcare and his history of leadership in the nonprofit sector, it was no surprise that Klein recruited him to join the board of Kavod. Summer would go on to chair the Kavod governance committee, and he chaired the Kavod Board from 2020-2022. Through Kavod, he joined JEWISHcolorado’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). He has remained a member of the JCRC for nearly 20 years, and he will now assume the responsibilities of Chair of the JCRC, transferring the skills he has honed through nonprofit health care to “the challenges we face in the Jewish community.”
“My whole professional life, I have been involved in leadership positions of nonprofits and governance of nonprofits, examining how to navigate complex issues through a political process,” Summer says. “I bring the ability to build consensus among people who share a value system and are sitting at the table as volunteers.”
Through his many years of experience with the JCRC, Summer has watched the organization evolve. He was motivated to take on the role of chair because of the work being done by JCRC Senior Director Brandon Rattiner.
“With growing antisemitism, the JCRC could not be more important, knitting together various factions in the Jewish community,” he says. “I have found Brandon’s leadership to be amazing and, for that reason, I decided to put my shoulder to the wheel and participate more actively to help him succeed.”
Summer’s vision of the JCRC mission is to represent the Jewish community in legislative advocacy and on other critical issues during these years when “we are being challenged as a community in ways we have not seen since World War II.” He sees the JCRC of the future as an increasingly nimble organization, responding in real time to challenges,
“Traditionally, you could form a committee, discuss, make a decision, bring that decision to the board for further discussion,” he says. “We are now at a point when decision-making has to be rapid because people on the opposite side are moving rapidly as well.”
A decade beyond traditional retirement age, Summer is still working full-time as the President and CEO of Healthcare Institute (HI), a nonprofit organization that convenes the nation’s leading hospital and healthcare system CEOs. He will now bring the same leadership development and governance improvement that HI promotes to the ongoing evolution of the JCRC.
“With Brandon as its leader, the JCRC is reaching out to various organizations in the state that represent the multitude of constituencies that are JCRC members,” Summer says. “We are trying to find common ground, so we can speak with one voice and have that voice reflect as much as possible the views of all members.”