Our Board Members and Fellows focus on a wide array of relevant critical issues and ideas. The aim of the center is to bring together a diverse group of experts from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. Our people have made it their mission to further the ideals of the PBCDPR.
Co-Founder, Senior Fellow and Board Member
Luis Fleischman, Ph.D is a professor of Sociology at Palm Beach State College. He served as Vice-President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, and as a Latin America expert at the Washington DC –Menges Hemispheric Project (Center for Security Policy)…
Co-Founder, Senior Fellow and Board Member
Stephen Sussman, Ph.D is a Professor of Public Administration at Barry University. At Barry, he teaches in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Bachelor of Public Administration (BPA) programs. He earned his MPA (1993) and Ph.D. (1999) in Political…
Board Member and Senior Fellow
Victor Comras worked in the State Department for 35 years. He served as a Senior Foreign Service Officer handling assignments both in Washington and abroad. During the Bosnia War Victor served as the Task Force Director for a multi-U.S. agency operation applying U.S. and U.N. sanctions against Serbia. He also served as the first State Department Coordinator for the Restitution of Holocaust related assets. After leaving the State Department he was appointed by the UN Security Council as the U.S. member of the UN’s Monitoring Group on Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He subsequently served as the U.S. member of the UN Security Council’s Expert Group on North Korea. He now works as an international attorney and consultant.
Advisor and Senior Fellow
Kerry Healey is the president of Babson College since 2013 where she expanded the college student body and the scope of the college programs. Healey served with distinction as the 70th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. During that time, she introduced, enacted and implemented a wide range of policy and legislative initiatives for the Romney-Healey administration, highlighted by a successful bi-partisan effort to craft first-in-the-nation health care reform legislation.
Board Member and Senior Fellow
Dr. Robert G. Rabil is Professor of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University. He received his doctorate in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. His area of studies and expertise include Political Islam, Salafism, Transnationaland Revivalist Movements, Terrorism, US-Arab Relations, Arab-Israeli Conflict, U.S.-Muslim Relations, and Contemporary Middle East Politics. He is the author of dozens of articles in major academic and professional journals and magazines. His books have been peer-reviewed and highly commended. Dr. Rabil served as the Chief of Emergency for the Red Cross in Baabda district, Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war, and was project manager of the US State Department-funded Iraq Research and Documentation Project. Dr. Rabil was awarded the LLS Distinguished Professorship in Current Events (2012-2013; 2018-2019), LLS Teaching in Excellence Award, and in May 2012 was conferred an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Senior Fellow
Michael Greenwald is an expert in illicit finance, sanctions, and the Gulf/Middle East, Europe, and Africa. A fellow with the Belfer Center Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Greenwald previously worked in senior roles within the United States Treasury in positions working with Africa, Europe, and serving as a financial diplomat in the Middle East spanning the tenures of U.S. Treasury Secretaries Geithner, Lew and Mnuchin. Most recently, he served as the first United States Treasury Attaché appointed to Qatar and Kuwait and opened the Treasury Department’s office in Doha, Qatar in August 2015.
Senior Fellow
Dr. Josef Olmert is a top Middle East scholar, former peace negotiator, much published author and journalist. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina.. Prior to this, he had an international academic teaching career in Israel, Canada and the United States where he taught at City University of New York, Cornell University and American University. In Israel he headed the Syria and Lebanon desks at Tel –Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies-where he served on the faculty.
Board Member
Linda Geller Schwartz is a former adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University in the Women’s Studies Center and the Department of Sociology. Her principal areas of focus were problems facing women in the workplace, including sexual harassment and occupational sex segregation. Linda was also the director general of the Women’s Bureau in the Federal Department of Labor in Canada, and a senior policy advisor in the government.
Board Member & Fellow
Aileen Walborsky, Esq. has been practicing immigration law in Palm Beach County for over twenty years. Aileen, is a graduate of Brandeis University and Boston college law school. Prior to opening her private practice, she worked as an Immigration Attorney in New York City for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and for Florida Rural Legal Services in Lake Worth, Florida.
Board Member and Marketing Advisor
Brett Sandala is a writer and marketing consultant specializing in social media advertising, and the founder of Ocean Drive Social.
With several years of experience at a leading political news magazine and website, Brett was one of the earliest “social media editors” in the business, combining expertise in editorial, marketing, and technology to create novel approaches to online publishing and sales.
Board Member
Michael Landau is President and CEO of HLC Industries, Inc., a 101-year-old family business. They are a US Government contractor who supplies fabric for parachutes, equipment, and toxicological protection end uses.
Board Member
Louis Solomon worked for nearly five decades in the Jewish Federation system, serving as Executive Director of St. Petersburg, Omaha, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Chattanooga. In his is last position before retirement, Lou served as Associate Vice-President, Planned Giving and Endowments at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County for 17 years. Graduated from Indiana University, Lou did graduate work in Social Work and Community Organization at the University of Connecticut and Hebrew Union College
Board Member
Jerry Spunberg is a radiation oncologist at South Florida Radiation Oncology in West Palm Beach. He is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and he interviews student prospects on behalf of Columbia University.
Board Member
Professor and Chair of the Health Services & Senior Living Leadership program in the College of Health Professions at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Wolf graduated from Villanova University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Administrative Science. David graduated with distinction from Cabrini University in 2007, where he received his Master of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership and graduated in 2012, obtaining his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership & Business Strategy with highest honors from Eastern University in St. Davids, PA. He most recently earned a Master of Science in Jurisprudence Degree in Hospital & Health Care Law from the Seton Hall University School of Law.
Board Member
is a psychologist. She is currently an Associate Dean, Continuing Education and Professional Development at Miami Dade College and a former Barry University Associate Provost for Extended Learning and Dean of the School of Professional and Career Education. Andrea received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Florida International University and is an expert on, anxiety disorders, children and community responses to trauma, and substance abuse treatment. She has worked, for over a decade, with mental health professionals and first responders to address anxiety and post-traumatic stress in children, families, and communities.
Board Member
For four decades, Joel Levin has been a commercial litigator and civil rights advocate, university teacher and author. His four books include How Judges Reason; Revolutions, Institutions, Law; Tort Wars; and The Radov Chronicles. His play, Marrano Justice, is an historical drama (with music) based on the life of Justice Benjamin Cardozo. He is presently working on Another Way of Seeing Things: Sephardics and the Creation of the Modern World. He received his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Chicago, his J.D. at Boston University, and his doctorate at the University of Oxford. In addition to founding two high-tech companies, he has taught law and philosophy in Russia, Canada and a number of American universities, including, since 1982, Case Western Reserve.
Board Member
Dr. Huberman is an Associate Professor of Public Administration in the Andreas School of Business and Public Administration at Barry University. She holds a CPA designation and certificates in fraud examination and forensic accounting. She was the Chief Audit Executive for the Pennsylvania Department of Treasury. .
The Center is a gathering of scholars, experts and community stakeholders, that engage in research and dialogue in an effort to create practical policy recommendations and solutions to current local, national, and international challenges.
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