HOWARD LOVY
 
Canary Publishing is led by Howard Lovy, an editor and journalist for forty years, including more than a decade in book publishing.
 
He is the former managing editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, former executive editor of Foreword Reviews, and nonfiction editor at Judith Magazine, with op-eds and features in JTA, The Jerusalem Post, Publishers Weekly, The Algemeiner, and other publications.
 
Through his widely read newsletter, Emet-Truth, he was among the first to document the marginalization of Jewish voices in the literary world, and he is an author and frequent panelist on the literary landscape after October 7.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

SCOTT SHAY
Scott is actively involved in Jewish formal and informal education. As part of his involvement, he serves or has recently served as a board member of the UJA- Jewish Federation of New York, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, the Jewish Agency, the Birthright Israel Steering Committee and the American Hebrew Academy. He is past chair of the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal of UJA – Jewish Federation and the Fund for Jewish Education (a joint venture of UJA and the Gross Life Monument Fund). Mr. Shay is the President of Chai Mitzvah and is the Chairman of the Lapid Advisory Board Coalition of non-profit Israel Teen trip groups. He and his wife Susan are the founders of the Jewish Youth Connection.
 
He is the author of three books:  Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry (Devora, 2nd Edition 2008), In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism, and Conspiracy U: A Case Study.
 
Scott is Founder of N3XT. Previously, he served as a founder of Bank United of Texas, Merrick Bank and Signature Bank, as well as a founding director/partner of Ranieri Partners, Super Derivatives, Shellpoint Mortgage, Home Partners of America and the Elah Funds. Scott was also the creator of Signet, the first 24/7 block chain enabled bank money transfer system that enjoyed enormous success and popularity within the compliant crypto industry.Scott received a B.A. degree in economics from Northwestern University in 1979 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1980, he received a Master of Management degree from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

HARVEY ARFA
Harvey credits his Jewish day school education, his study at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a dozen years at Jewish summer camps for his commitment to the continuity of the Jewish community and Israel. He believes in the importance of continuing Jewish education for children and adults. The appeal of Chai Mitzvah and Canary Publications is the ability to reach out to all Jews of all points of view and all levels of observance in order to bring them closer to their history, their traditions, and to each other. Over the past decades, Harvey has accepted leadership roles in Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, United Jewish Appeal in New York, CLAL, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, MID-Manhattan Political Action Committee, Hillel New York, American Jewish Congress and American Friends of Yad Vashem. Harvey is a graduate of Hunter College, Columbia Law School, and Columbia Graduate School of Business and a lifelong resident of New York.

ALAN MENDELSON
Since early 2017, Alan has been the managing General Partner for the Connecticut Israel Opportunity Fund; its purpose is to invest in Israeli companies willing to set up a presence in Connecticut.  Prior to that, Alan was the Managing General Partner of Axiom Ventures Partners, which he founded in 1994 . Axiom had $200 million under management, investing in early-stage technology and healthcare companies. Alan worked for 25 years at Aetna in the Private Placement Department.  Among his many accomplishments, he has made 3.6 billion dollars in loans and started Aetna’s Direct Investment program, along with helping to create MBIA, the country’s first and largest municipal bond insurer.

Alan has been active in the Hartford Jewish community all his adult life. Currently, he is head of the Grants Committee of the Hartford Jewish Community Foundation, part of the Investment Committee of the Jewish Community Foundation and is with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. He has served on the boards of the Hartford Jewish Federation and the Emanuel Synagogue. He was instrumental in building the Trinity College Hillel, where he is President of the Advisory Board. Alan has been on the Board of Chai Mitzvah since its founding in 2009.

AUDREY LICHTER
Audrey is the founding Executive Director of Chai Mitzvah, which was launched in 2009, and is the legal entity for Canary Publishing. She has been a professional Jewish educator for more than 30 years. Audrey is also the founding principal of Yachad, the award-winning community High School of Greater Hartford. As a lay leader, Audrey has been the recipient of many community awards and has been very involved locally and nationally in the Day School movement.

NINA FONDILLER WOLDIN
Nina is the Managing Director of Chai Mitzvah and Canary Publishing, and has worked in Jewish education for decades, creating student materials and programs for all ages, pre-K to adult. Her work has been published by Behrman House, Ktav, Kar Ben Publishing, Addison Wesley, and Grolier. She created one of the first online Jewish education resource centers, Yourpage.org, which became part of Jewish National Fund’s website in 2003.