Commissioners

Kenneth “Kenny” Goldberg is retired from Gold Metal Recyclers, which he founded in 1976 and helped it grow into the largest privately held metal recycling company in the southwestern United States. Goldberg is former President of Dallas’ Jewish Community Center, and chaired a campaign that raised over $3 billion to support Israel’s economy from 2016-2018 for The State of Israel Bonds while still serving on Israel Bonds’ national board. He was a vice president and a member of the founding team for the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum and North Texas’ chair of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s Cabinet while serving on its National Council.

He has received many awards, including Friends of Fair Park Centennial Award for Civic Leadership, Jewish Community Center Leader of the Year, Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas Young Leader of the Year, and the Obelisk Award by the Business Council for the Arts.

A native of Dallas, Goldberg graduated from Hillcrest High School and then received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin; he also served as the president of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

Term: 2023-2029

Sandra Hagee Parker is Chairwoman of the CUFI Action Fund, the policy arm of the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, Christians United for Israel. Based in Washington, D.C., the Action Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) nonpartisan organization whose policy agenda includes promoting a strong US-Israel relationship, defending Israel’s right to self-defense and self-determination, combating antisemitism, enhancing Holocaust education, and opposing efforts by rogue regimes and terrorist organizations to target Israel.

In her tenure as Chairwoman, Parker has appeared before legislative committees in multiple states and testified before the US House Judiciary Committee on antisemitism. Prior to joining the Action Fund, Parker worked at RPSA, LLP, where she practiced corporate and non-profit law and was peer voted a “Top Lawyer” in San Antonio.

Parker, who is also a Board Member for Aid the Silent and a member of the State Bar of Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University, an Executive Master of Public Service & Administration degree from The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s School of Law.

Term: 2022-2025

Jay S. Zeidman of Houston is the co-founder and managing partner at Altitude Ventures (AV), a healthcare investment firm. Before starting AV, he was the director of Business Development for U.S. Capital Advisors and served as a White House aide to President George W. Bush. He serves on the boards of the Houston First Corporation, University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston, and the Emancipation Park Conservancy. He was named to the Houston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” class in 2014.

Zeidman received a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Political Science from Texas Christian University, where he also served as student body president. Additionally, he received a Master of Business Administration from the Jesse Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Term: 2023-2029

Jeffrey L. Beck of Dallas is Chairman of the Board of United Texas Bank. He is national board member for the Secure Community Network National Board, Jewish Federation, and the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum and previously served as the National Board chair for the American Senior Housing Association.

Beck received a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Miami.

Term: 2023-2029

Adam Blum owns and manages Old Hickory Partners, a specialty finance and private credit investment business. Mr. Blum began his principal investing career as a private equity investor at Austin Ventures, a $4 billion private investment firm. Before Austin Ventures, he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the technology, media, and telecommunications group.

Mr. Blum serves on more than ten leadership boards affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas System. Mr. Blum is a member of YPO and is active in the YPO Austin Chapter. He is a past Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of Business Executives for National Security. Mr. Blum is a board member of the Greater Austin Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame and a life member of the National Football Foundation. Mr. Blum is a graduate of Leadership Austin’s Emerge Program, class of 2009. He is the Chair of the American Enterprise Institute’s Enterprise Club group in Texas and serves on the Enterprise Club’s National Board. Mr. Blum is a member of The Fifty, a board affiliated with the Seton family of hospitals. Mr. Blum is a director of Texas Hillel and a member of Texas Hillel’s finance committee. He previously served as a board member of the Austin chapter of TeXchange.

Mr. Blum graduated first in his class of 722 at the Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. He received a joint MPA/BBA with Highest Honors (2006) from the Master in Accounting Program and a BBA with Highest Honors (2006) from the Canfield Business Honors Program. Mr. Blum is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Blum resides in Austin with his wife, Brooke, and their young children.

Term: 2024-2027

Since she was a junior in high school in Philadelphia, Lucy Taus Katz has been a voice for the six million Jews that had a name and a face and were murdered during the Holocaust. Upon learning that during the Holocaust Lucy, an infant, was rescued by a Catholic family in Poland, her English teacher encouraged her to enter into a competition that was titled Why I Am Proud to Be an American which was sponsored by the American Legions in Philadelphia. The paper she wrote was about her experience as a Hidden Child during the Nazi occupation in Poland. Since that time, Lucy has continued to speak throughout the country at middle schools, high schools, universities, and military bases. Her mission is to remind everyone that we are all G-d’s miracles and that we must do everything to lift each other up for the good of all, no matter our religion or ethnicity.

Although busy with a career in home building and remodeling and participating in major leadership roles in the industry, in years past, Lucy has chaired numerous Yom HaShoah programs, bringing the Jewish and non-Jewish communities together. She is a member of the Steering Committee for The Descendants of Holocaust Survivors in Central Texas, lifetime director of the Texas Association of Homebuilders and the National Association of Homebuilders, and past president of both the National Association of Remodelers Industry and the National Kitchen and Bath Association, both in Austin.

As a Holocaust survivor, Lucy’s goal is to educate students, their parents, and the communities in which they live about the Holocaust and genocides that have occurred in the past, some even in our own lifetime. She strives to inspire everyone with a sense of responsibility to uphold human value and to prevent future atrocities.

Katz attended Temple University in Philadelphia.

Term: 2022-2025

Commissioner Cara Mendelsohn was appointed in May 2024. Cara has an extensive resume of service to the community as both a non-profit executive and an active volunteer leader. Cara has served as the District 12 representative on the Dallas City Council since 2019, currently chairing the Public Safety Committee, Legislative Committee, and Ad Hoc Committee on General Investigating and Ethics. She also serves as a board member of the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Regional Transportation Council and Chair of the Dallas Area Partnership on Ending Homelessness.

Raised in Dallas, Cara earned a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been married to her childhood sweetheart for more than 35 years and has three hilarious sons. Cara is the granddaughter of immigrants who fled to America at the start of the Holocaust.

Term: 2024-2027

Ira M. Mitzner is president and CEO of RIDA Development Corp and chairman of Apollo-RIDA Poland. He is a member of Holocaust Museum Houston's Advisory Board, board member of American Society of Yad Vashem, trustee of Baylor College of Medicine and United Orthodox Synagogue, and chairman of the Board of Yeshiva University.

Mitzner received a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University, where he was also bestowed with an honorary doctorate.

Term: 2023-2027

Providence (Umugwaneza) Nkurunziza of Fort Worth is the founder of the Kabeho Neza Initiative. She is a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, where she lost her parents, five siblings, and numerous extended family members. Two of Providence's uncles and their entire families were victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, thus she lives to be their voice and speak about what they endured.

Providence volunteers with fellow Rwandan Genocide survivors to advocate for the women and girls who were assaulted and infected with HIV/AIDS during the genocide. She currently leads educational programs in the United States to educate and raise awareness. She recently authored a memoir, Next Couple Hours, which focuses on education about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, dealing with loss and trauma, and, most importantly, preventing genocides from happening in the future.

Nkurunziza received a bachelor’s degree in Administrative Science from the University of Kigali in Rwanda.

Term: 2022-2025