Joshua Venture Group

Lisa Lepson

Lisa Lepson has extensive experience building start-up non-profits and for-profits with a social mission. Previously, Lisa served as the global director of non-profit services at RockCorps, a social venture dedicated to engaging youth in volunteerism through the power of music. In this role, she established a department that developed more than 400 volunteer service projects with over 300 non-profits in three countries, engaging a total of 45,000 volunteers. Prior to RockCorps, Lisa served as the director of employer partnerships for San Francisco-based Upwardly Global, a social entrepreneurial organization that brings under-employed immigrant professional and employers together. There, she created revenue-generating relationships with corporate and public sector employers.

Lisa served as the founding president of Exhale, which provides services, training, and education to empower individuals, families, and communities to achieve post-abortion health. Lisa guided Exhale from an all-volunteer structure to a professionally run organization and currently serves on its National Advisory Council. Her organizational development and non-profit management experience also includes board membership of Killing My Lobster Theater Project and stints with Berkeley Hillel, San Francisco AIDSWalk, Juma Ventures, and Net Impact.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, Lisa’s career began in the Jewish community as a teacher’s assistant at the East Midwood Jewish Center. After college, Lisa worked at Lilith Magazine as an editorial intern and an outreach coordinator for programming aimed at unaffiliated young Jews in New York City. Lisa has traveled extensively in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe and holds an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA and a BA in Comparative Literature in Hebrew, French, and English from Brown University.

Jenny Kibrit Smith

Jenny Kibrit Smith has been committed to advancing the work of social mission organizations for more than ten years. Most recently, she conducted field interviews and managed data collection for a consulting team contracted by UJA-Federation of New York’s Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal to identify strategies for engaging young Jewish families. Prior to her consulting work, Jenny managed special projects in constituent communications and public relations at Mayyim Hayyim, an innovative mikveh and education center in Newton, MA. She has coordinated and facilitated community service learning projects for high school students attending the Genesis summer program at Brandeis University, as well as developed and implemented engagement programming for college students through Hillel at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Jenny holds an MBA in Social Policy and Management and an MA in Jewish Professional Leadership from Brandeis University, as well as a BA in International Studies and Spanish Language from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Margalit C. Rosenthal

Margalit C. Rosenthal is a graduate student in the NYU Wagner/Skirball Dual Degree program, where she recently earned her Masters in Public Administration in Non-Profit Management and will soon complete an MA in Hebrew & Judaic Studies. In addition to her work for Joshua Venture Group, Margalit serves as the graduate student program coordinator (Village GAP) at NYU’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. Prior to moving to New York, she planned, marketed, and administrated literary and music programs at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. Margalit graduated Phi Beta Kappa from University of Maryland-College Park with a BA in English Language and Literature.