Our Board

SCY High Board Officers and Members

David Kupferberg M.D., M.P.H., President

Dan Kaplan, Vice-President

Karen Aron, Secretary

Brian Marcus, Treasurer

David Feifel M.D., Ph.D., Immediate Past President

Arielle Desmond

Melissa Johnson

Barry Klein

Elaine Lepow

Pam Resnikoff, M.D.

David Kupferberg M.D., M.P.H., President - David, better known as Duvy, grew up in Montreal, Quebec, where he attended the Hebrew Academy for elementary and high school. Duvy was an active leader in Bnei Akiva and his shul youth programs. After high school, Duvy spent a year in Israel at Yeshivat Kerem Yavneh. He received an M.D. from McGill University, where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine. He then moved to San Diego where he completed dual Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowships at UCSD while concurrently earning a Masters Degree in Public Health at San Diego State University. Duvy is currently a partner in a pulmonary and critical care practice at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. He is also a voluntary assistant clinical professor at UCSD. Duvy has assumed numerous leadership roles in Jewish causes. He was on the Congregation Adat Yeshurun Board of Directors for six years, including two years as the shul's vice president and two years as the shul's president. He has been involved in the San Diego community Eruv project for over ten years. David is married to Jessica, who was one of SCY High's founding board members, and has 5 children, Jake, Kayla, Dalia, Keira and Avi.

Dan Kaplan, Vice-President - Danny was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. A graduate of Eitz Chaim Day School, Ner Israel Yeshiva High School and York University. Danny moved to the New York area after meeting his wife Yonina in the Southern Ukraine while both were working in an outreach camp run by Yeshiva University. Danny, Yonina and their children, Moshe, Tamar, Yosef and Dovi moved to La Jolla in August 2007. Danny is an SVP Media Director with Universal McCann, a full serve ad agency located in Los Angeles.

Karen Aron, Secretary - Karen is originally from South Africa, where she graduated as a Physical Therapist. She left South Africa in 1989 and has lived and worked in a few different countries due to her husband’s career. She has been living in San Diego with her husband Mike and their four sons, Liam, Joey, Elie and Nadav since 2008 and is currently working as a full time Mom. Karen has always taken an active role in the various Jewish communities she has lived in and has served on various school committees. Wanting to ensure that her sons and other boys in her community have the opportunity to receive a Torah education without leaving home, means that Karen has a vested interest in helping SCY High thrive for many years to come.

Brian Marcus, Treasurer - Brian Marcus has devoted many years volunteering with Jewish organizations since retiring from a fruitful career as a consulting civil engineer. Having moved to La Jolla from Dallas Texas with his wife and three daughters in 1996, he found himself involved in the building of the new Synagogue complex for Congregation Adat Yeshurun. Besides overseeing the building of the new Synagogue complex, Brian also supervised the construction of the Eruv, and headed up the Legacy campaign. He has served on the board of Hillel of San Diego, Congregation Adat Yeshurun, Jewish Family Services of San Diego, and Congregation Ohev Shalom in Dallas. In addition, he has been on long-range planning committees for the San Diego Jewish Academy, Solomon Schechter Academy Dallas and a grant allocations committee of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego. Brian currently is an investor in commercial real estate, while his wife Suzanne is a psychologist in La Jolla.

David Feifel M.D., Ph.D., Immediate Past President - Dr. Feifel is a Professor in the UCSD School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. He received a doctorate in Neurobiology and a Medical Degree from the University of Toronto. He joined UCSD in 1992 and currently he is Director of the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Program at UCSD Medical Center. At UCSD he teaches, cares for patients and conducts research. He lives in La Jolla with his wife and three children.

Arielle Desmond - Arielle grew up in Palo Alto, Ca. where she attended the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School and The Palo Alto Orthodox Minyan (now Emek Beracha); her parents were pioneers of both of these intuitions during the years when the Orthodox community was just beginning to take hold in the Bay Area. As a kid, Arielle headed her school’s Bnei Akiva chapter. Arielle attended NYU and UC Santa Cruz, graduating with a BA in Literature. Arielle has worked for Intuit Inc. since 1995 and is currently a Project Manager for the Intuit infrastructure network team. In 2000, Arielle and her husband Robert moved to San Diego from the Bay Area and started their family. They have 5 children – Eliyahu, Yakov, Avital, Yedidiah, and Orlee Ayden. The Desmonds are active members of the Beth Jacob community. Arielle and Robert are committed to helping SCY High continue to grow and thrive so that San Diego boys, like their 3 sons, have the option to get a comprehensive Torah and secular education without leaving home.

Melissa Johnson - Melissa Johnson grew up with a strong Jewish identity and little practical observance. While her husband Matthew was making his initial reform conversion, he began learning with an Orthodox rabbi and decided he wanted to pursue a more observant path. Five years later, the Johnsons were shomer mitzvot and discussing education for their impending first child. With a two year old son in Soille Hebrew Day School, Melissa is committed to doing whatever it takes to make SCY High a strong school for when Zachary, and all the other boys out there, arrives. Melissa is happy to be able to contribute her experience in higher education administration and, most recently, the past nine years as a professional trainer in various financial fields. The Johnsons purchased a home last year in the Beth Jacob Congregation eruv, and look forward to raising their children, Zachary and Rebecca, here in San Diego.

Barry Klein -

Elaine Lepow -

Pam Resnikoff, M.D. -