Building Toward What's Next: The Mayberg Foundation Welcomes Managing Director, Operations Rob Levine for Meet-and-Greet

As the Mayberg Foundation looks ahead to its next chapter of growth and impact, we are expanding our leadership team to support that momentum. Taking the first step in this next chapter, we are thrilled to welcome our incoming Managing Director, Operations, Rob Levine, to the team. Last week, ahead of his official start on September 8th, staff, trustees, and venture partners came together—online and in person—for an informal meet-and-greet to give Rob a warm welcome and a first taste of who we are, with thoughtful and heartfelt remarks from our senior staff and trustees helping to frame the spirit of the day.

Things kicked off online with a fun icebreaker, as staff shared their ice cream-versus-pie allegiance and tried their hand at explaining their job the way they might to a 5-year-old. Trustees Manette and Louis Mayberg then joined the in-house staff for lunch, where our Executive Director, Todd Sukol, opened with a warm welcome, sharing his excitement about the Foundation's growing reach and impact and noting that our expanding team reflects the investment we're making to support that growth. Amanda Mizrahi followed with a beautiful Dvar Torah, drawing on the approach of Rosh Hashanah and the idea that creation itself began not with order but with Tohu va-Vohu—raw, unformed potential. She connected this to our own moment as a Foundation: our vision and momentum are abundant, but sustainable growth depends on the same kind of structures and systems that turn potential into progress. Amanda closed with the hope that we'd continue "building the strong vessels needed to bring our highest visions into the world."

Rob then took a moment to share his own story. He talked about growing up with an expectation that he'd become a rabbi, a career in advertising instead, and the years since spent raising his family and building a deep involvement in Jewish communal life in nearby Howard County. He spoke candidly about how turning 50 and losing his father brought him to a season of real soul-searching—a time of asking what the next chapter of his life should be about and where his heart was pulling him. That search, he shared, led him here: to the chance to be "an enabler of really great and wonderful work" by putting the right structures in place. In a particularly moving moment, Rob shared that he's stepping into this work "with an open heart," looking forward to taking this journey with all of us as part of his "second mountain."

Manette and Louis rounded out the afternoon with reflections of their own. Manette used the season of introspection before Rosh Hashanah as an invitation for all of us to think about our unique strengths and where we might still grow, sharing candidly that one of her own goals this year is to become more "concretely strategic." Louis spoke to the high expectations that come with this new investment in operations, calling it a milestone in the Foundation's ongoing professionalization and a chance to cut through friction so the team can focus on its highest and best work. We were also delighted to have Sarah Knox, Manette's new executive assistant, at the table for her first lunch with the team—one more sign of the exciting season of growth we're in together.