Faculty Information

Larry Ziffer

Larry Ziffer

Larry Ziffer is Executive Vice President of the Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore.  Following twenty-four years as a federation planner, Larry assumed this executive role in July 2002.  Prior to taking on this new responsibility, Larry was a senior planner in Boston (at the Combined Jewish Philanthropies), planning director in Detroit (at the Jewish Community Federation of Metropolitan Detroit) and, from 1994 to 2002, Vice President for Community Development at The Associated. 

Larry graduated from Yeshiva University with a bachelors degree in philosophy, received his ordination from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and his Masters in Social Work (majoring in community organization) from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work.

Larry and his wife, Flo (who is a teacher in the Beth Tfiloh Community Day School) have four children and three grandchildren. 

Ellen B. Kagen Waghelstein, M.S.W.

Ellen B. Kagen Waghelstein, MSW, is on the faculty of Georgetown University and Director of the Georgetown Leadership Initiatives, a national learning and consultation effort on effective leadership and change management for professionals and civic activists. She has over 25 years experience training and facilitating at the national, state and local levels and regularly trains, consults and coaches with such entities as the Michigan Office of Children, Youth and Families, Missouri Department of Mental Health, New Jersey Division of Health, Maryland State Department of Education, Kansas City Public Schools, Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Hillel Jewish Day School.

In addition to her professional experience, Ellen has a wide range of lay leadership involvement at the local, national and international levels. She is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program and is a past chair of the National Young Leadership Cabinet of United Jewish Communities (UJC) and PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. She currently serves on the boards of the Lippman Kanfer Institute of JESNA, BBYO, Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the JCC of Greater Washington. Ellen served as the founding president of the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, the new collaborative education and identity building agency in Greater Washington, DC where she successfully integrated three separate organizations into one new entity. She also co-led the efforts to create a nationally recognized, community-wide, teen identity agency called JET, Jewish Experiences for Teens. Ellen and her husband David established the Waghelstein Family Hopes and Dreams Endowment Fund to further advance leadership opportunities for emerging activists. 

Ellen, and David, President of MemberCar, have two children, Andrea (23) and Evan (20).