Brandeis Magazine

In May, David Arkowitz was named chief financial officer at biopharmaceutical company Flexion Therapeutics. Previously, David was the COO and CFO at Visterra. Since 2014, he has served on the board of directors and as audit committee chair at Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals. Robert Baker was elected president of the Westchester County (New York) Board of Health. He was also recently elected as a board member at Beth El Synagogue Center, in New Rochelle. Iris Bloom is a principal quality engineer at Raytheon. Formerly, she spent nearly 20 years as an adhesives chemist and then a quality assurance engineer at Draper Lab. Iris celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary to Bennett Lavine by taking a cruise to Bermuda. Daughter Shoshana planned to wed in November. Ian Finnell writes that he and his wife, Janice Friedman ’82, “have released our firstborn, Gabe, into the grasp of Lehigh University as an incoming freshman. Our high-school junior, Daniel, is playing varsity tennis and gearing up for his pursuit of a D3 school in the Northeast. Janice has obtained tenure, entering her fourth year of teaching journalism to juniors and seniors at Randolph High School in New Jersey. In the aftermath of a departure from the financial industry (four layoffs in 10 years), I’m wondering if some campaign work in the interest of unseating our president is my calling. There is passion for that mission, to say the least.” Forrest Scott Freedman has run a law, tax and accounting firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for 27 years. He is vice president/chief legal officer of GoodLife SuperThrift Stores, operating in Texas and Florida; vice president of U.S. Record Search, an internet public-records search company; and vice president of Support by Recycling, which helps charities and others turn used clothing, appliances, vehicles and more into cash. He lives in Boca Raton with his wife, Jamie, and children Blayse Raquel and Nash Israel, and reports he is still an avid Republican and Red Sox enthusiast. Wayne Goldstein is one of two founding partners of investment firm Endicott Management. He is a board member of both Bank Leumi USA and BLC, the U.S. bank holding company of Bank Leumi USA. David Lewis is senior associate, Americas program, at the international think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, with a special focus on economic development, trade, and U.S. relations with Caribbean countries and Latin America. Pearl Mattenson and husband Eric ’81, P’18, are fulfilling a lifelong dream and making aliyah. They will live in Jerusalem, where Pearl will continue to work for Rosov Consulting. She looks forward to reconnecting with many Brandeis friends in Israel. Spencer Sherman combines an MBA in finance from the Wharton School, 20 years of experience as the CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners, and 35 years of personal meditation practice to create profitable and thriving work environments through corporate mindfulness and communication training. He’s currently teaching at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He remains grateful to sociology professors Maury Stein and Charlie Fisher, who taught him meditation at Brandeis. Gary Silverman joined international law firm White & Case as a partner in their mergers and acquisitions practice. He recently opened the firm’s new office in Chicago, where he and his wife, Louise Monger, live. Meher Tatna has been re-elected president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for 2018-19. Meher will preside over the group’s annual Golden Globe Awards; the 76th Golden Globes ceremony airs in January. She previously served as vice president, treasurer and executive secretary at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and is a contributor to The New Paper. Jay Zagorsky cycled by himself across the U.S. this summer, 3,000 miles from Seattle to Washington, D.C., in six weeks.