Brandeis Magazine

Jonathan Beit-Aharon received a patent for translating computer applications written in stacks of several procedural languages into a parallel processing data-flow system. Dan Jacobs is an assistant professor in the school psychology department at William James College and has a private practice in psychology. He presents nationally on the prevention of (and intervention in) opioid and other substance abuse by adolescents, and he has come to Brandeis several times over the past year to talk to undergraduates about applied careers in psychology and the mental health field. Dan says he enjoyed going to Los Angeles for the bar mitzvah of Jack Sanders, son of Jay and Sara Grossman Sanders ’89. Steven Lauridsen has moved to Massachusetts to pursue his third career: educational publishing. In Pearson’s Evaluation Systems group, he writes and edits the work of other writers to create teacher-licensure tests. His fourth career, in politics, is taking off, too, thanks to his election as representative to the town government of Amherst. Asher Perlin presented oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States in Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran. Asher argued on behalf of American terrorism victims attempting to enforce a $71 million judgment against Iran for its sponsorship of a triple suicide bombing at a Jerusalem pedestrian mall in 1997. (Other alumni involved in the case include David Strachman ’86, the lead counsel in the trial court proceedings, who was instrumental in obtaining the 2003 judgment in favor of the victims, and Robert Cheifetz, a local counsel in Chicago who joined Asher at the counsel table in the Supreme Court. Aron Friedman and Gabriel Aizenberg, P’20, also attended the oral argument in support of their friends and the victims.) Doug Rosner, director in the Boston office of international law firm Goulston & Storrs, was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy at a March ceremony in Washington, D.C. Fellows are recognized for their professional excellence in the bankruptcy and insolvency practice. David Salter is back in Los Angeles (Santa Monica, to be precise) after a few years in New York. He edited the animated version of “The Addams Family” for MGM. The feature film should hit theaters in time for Halloween 2019. Jodi Scher-Gast has become director of national accounts at Freestyle Marketing. She reports she continues to thrive in Hollywood, Florida, with Andy, her husband of 15 years, and their sons Leo, 13, and Nico, 9. Rex Solomon is president of the Texas Jewelers Association; his two-year term began in January. He also serves on the board of the Texas Retailers Association, as well as the board of Seven Acres, the Jewish Home for the Aged in Houston. Gregory Zuckerman and his two sons, Gabriel and Eli, have written their second book together, “Rising Above: Inspiring Women in Sports,” published by Penguin/Philomel Books. Aimed at readers in grades six through eight, the book is based on interviews with female superstar athletes, including Serena and Venus Williams, Simone Biles, Carli Lloyd and Kerri Strug, who share life lessons and explain how they overcame obstacles on their way to stardom.

SCALING UP: Paul Walborsky ’88, MA’89; Stephanie Tilenius ’89, MA’90, CEO and founder of Vida Health; Arnnon Geshuri, chief people officer at Livongo Health; Todd Yellin, vice president of product at Netflix; and Brandeis International Business School (IBS) professor Peter Petri explored the role of culture in exponential scale and global expansion at an IBS Fireside Chat in San Francisco.