Millstone Institute’s Need: A high level interactive program to bring lay leaders and professionals together from across the spectrum of the entire community for both immediate impact on leadership skills and long term impact strengthen their organizations.

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Director Marci Mayer Eisen:

We have had the pleasure of bringing Deborah into St. Louis three previous times and each time she wowed our professionals and lay leaders with diverse topics including communication, supervision and motivation. In 2014, we made a major commitment to offer Deborah’s Jewish Coaching Academy and we were thrilled to recruit 25 professionals and 15 lay leaders to participate in an 8 hour training experience (20 each day) and to build on Deborah’s training with ongoing peer coaching in 2015. Every aspect of Deborah’s training met or surpassed our expectations. At the end of the day, most commented that their views of managing and motivating others completely shifted. Several referred to the experience as life changing. Deborah has a very special and unique ability to make the learning informative, interactive, inspiring and fun at the same time. Deborah Grayson Riegel’s Jewish Coaching Academy will impact our leaders and St. Louis Jewish community for many years to come.

Wexner Heritage Program’s Need: “Gold-standard”, innovative leadership development seminars for volunteer Jewish Leaders.

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Rabbi Jay Moses, Director, Wexner Heritage Program:

The Wexner Heritage Program has set the gold standard for inspiring and educating volunteer Jewish leaders, primarily through the study of Jewish history and text. In an effort to experiment with new ideas and techniques in bridging the worlds of serious Jewish study and leadership skills and ideas, we engaged Deborah Grayson Riegel, MSW, PCC to teach a pair of leadership seminars. Deborah brought creative, well-thought-out ideas to the table with beautifully prepared materials. She was efficient, diligent, and delightful to work with in the preparation. And her students were intrigued, enriched, and entertained by her dynamic presentations, vivacious personality, and thought-provoking content. Our members have a deeper and broader vision of themselves and their own leadership skills as a result of learning with Deborah. I would recommend Deborah to any Jewish organization looking for creative leadership training.

JCC of Greater Boston’s Need: To offer professional development to managers at all levels.

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Mark Sokell, President/CEO

“Donna is an excellent and skilled teacher. She possesses both the depth of experience and a talent for making that experience relevant to a wide variety of professionals. Donna provided relevant hands on tools and strategies that staff can use in formulating goals and giving feedback.  So many of our staff found that her sessions gave them the opportunity to think about how we supervise, build partnerships with our staff and provide feedback throughout the year. I would highly recommend working with her to improve communication and performance.”

JCC Association’s Need:To create a professional development program based on core competencies.

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Dori Denelle, Vice President, Certified Governance Consultant, Governance, Emerging Leadership, and Community Consultation

Noa Peri-Jensch, through a series of interviews with seasoned JCC leaders from around the country, developed a training module focused on the competencies needed to be a successful JCC leader. Her session at the institute helped those in our group focus on the competencies they do well, and reflect upon how they can enhance critical skills that may not yet be in their personal leadership toolbox. The session was interactive and practical, really resonated with the participants and was one of our more highly rated workshops. Noa was great to work with, open to suggestions and it was a great collaboration. Her willingness to prepare so thoroughly gave me great confidence that the session would be on target, and we completely met our goals!

Client Need: Coaching support for a new business initiative

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Fran Mendelowitz, LCSW: Professional Coaching/Consulting

When I hired Orit Ramler Szulik to consult on my new interactive drama business, it was merely an embryonic idea in my head. Orit helped me to conceptualize and create my new business from its’ inception. With Orit’s thoughtful, professional and able assistance, I was quickly able to develop a business name, mission, timeline, promotional package, budget and product. My once vague idea quickly became a highly successful business. InterACT New York, utilizing dramatic enactments to heighten awareness around tough adolescent issues, has been enlisted by Jewish youth groups, advisors, camping staff and local colleges. With the help of Orit’s motivating manner and strategic support we reached over 350 audience members in our first 8 months of operation. Orit’s coaching skills are exactly what I needed to launch this exciting new endeavor. Her confident, sensitive, encouraging and attentive manner have provided the perfect formula for success. By staying attuned, Orit quickly assessed my needs and tapped into my strengths. Orit is a true gem as a coach and as a person. She is bright, reflective, polished and invaluable.

Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Need: To train new managers in Jewish camps to become effective, supportive coaches through distance learning.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Naomi Less, VP of Programs 2004-2007, Foundation for Jewish Camp


Deborah was hired to focus on the professional development of 1st year managers in Jewish camps through its inaugural program called CALL – the Cornerstone Alumni Leadership Ladder, now named Launchpad. Deborah was hired to work with the CALL program’s faculty, training them to be coaches for the young leaders they would ultimately train. She was very organized and well prepared for our sessions together. Our desire was to have her help us create a common language and understanding of coaching among a diverse group of Jewish educators for their own faculty work. Deborah produced excellent tools and resources for us that were very understandable and user-friendly. She was able to lead the group through distance training effectively, though she had met none of the faculty in person — a true gift. Deborah was very good to work with from a professional competency perspective and very responsive to her task. She was encouraging and helped keep all of us on task. In terms of training, Deborah Grayson Riegel is a great resource for Jewish professional development.

Client Need: To find a professionally and personally fulfilling position in a specialized industry.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Coaching Client:


Working with you gave me the confidence to approach people and let my best characteristics shine through. Last week I was at a conference where I approached someone for advice on how to best tailor my career search. I was expecting a nice conversation and maybe an introduction or two, but I ended up getting a job interview instead! The combination of networking and interview skills I learned from you were absolutely essential to finding my dream job. I had an offer within a month of filing my application, which is almost unheard of in my specialized line of work.

Lincoln Square Synagogue’s Need: To instill professional leadership and executive management skills in the current and prospective lay leaders of the community
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Alan Samuels, LSS Officer and Program Director, Lay Leadership Training Program:

In searching for professional training and development for the more “tangible” professional skills of meeting management, presentations and strategic thinking, Deborah was recommended to us. Deborah worked with us to understand our goals and our audience and tailor a series of sessions and workshops to develop and enhance our year-long program. She delivered each of these sessions in her unique style that was content-rich yet incredibly engaging, thought provoking yet practical and, always, on-time and on point. She was a pleasure to work with and built a tremendous rapport with the participants and other synagogue officers. Personally and professionally I would recommend Deborah wholeheartedly. She brings best-in-class management and coaching skills, but with a unique sensitivity to the nature and needs of Jewish individuals and organizations. She was exactly what we were looking for!

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School’s Need: Professional development for staff, faculty and rabbinical students in communication skills, fundraising and etiquette through ongoing training and one-on-one coaching
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Oksana Bellas, Former Director of Operations, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School

Deborah has been a tremendous asset to our organization! I feel truly blessed to have been able to find someone like her to work with our rabbinical students and staff on an individual basis and in Pastoral Counseling classes. Deborah has coached some of our students and staff in improving interpersonal communication styles, etiquette, and helping them develop professional conduct. We also booked Deborah to do a training session in fundraising for our alumni, which was both practical and educational. Her energy and can-do attitude are contagious! I have found Deborah has a unique ability to break down what might seem to be complicated into simple steps. The breadth and depth of her consulting and coaching expertise are most impressive. She works hard to please and to deliver positive results. She is a true professional – in and out.

Wechsler Leadership Development Institute’s Need: To provide an exciting, interactive opening session that sets the tone for a year-long leadership development program.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Emily Farkas, Director, Young Adult Division, United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh

Deborah Grayson Riegel, MSW, PCC has led the opening session in this 11-part series for the past four years and has been instrumental in exciting and encouraging the participants to learn about each others’ backgrounds, Jewish history and beliefs, and to think about their leadership strengths and what they have to offer each other and the community. She is a great person to launch the program and excite the participants about the opportunities ahead. Deborah is a pleasure to work with. Each year Deborah brings with her some new concepts and exercises…and brings back some of the great exercises that are worth repeating. Her energy is infectious and she works with the energy of the crowd to get them excited. She is extremely responsive with regards to scheduling, program content, and beyond. She is also enthusiastic and always has some new, and funny, stories to share. Deborah does a great job of getting people to think about themselves as leaders and what it truly means to be a leader in the Jewish world. Pittsburgh has welcomed Deborah for four years running and hopes to continue enlisting her help for many years into the future. She runs a wonderful opening workshop that is engaging, educational and, most importantly, fun! I would recommend her to any community who is looking for someone with intelligence, insight, and enthusiasm!

Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago’s Need: A fun, educational professional development retreat to help staff improve donor and colleague relations.

MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Audra Berg, Assistant Vice President, Leadership Development, Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago

We hired Deborah to run a department retreat for 50 people. Once we gave her an idea of what we hoped to achieve, she presented us with a creative and engaging day-long program for the department. The retreat exceeded our expectations. Not only did we learn new and interesting ways to interact with our donors and colleagues, we had a great time and got to know each other on a deeper level. I would highly recommend Deborah to other organizations. Her enthusiasm and energy as a facilitator is contagious!