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Lisa Ezrol Curran
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After a career that has included consulting for growth stage companies, founding a trade organization for FinTech companies in Chicago, and many years in strategic planning and emerging technology at leading financial services institutions, Lisa began researching her family history in 2017. She has traced her roots back to Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and has found and reconnected with cousins from several “lost” branches of her family.
Her research has verified several family stories (yes, her great grandmother was cousins with Sidney Skolsky), and helped answer relatives' questions like, “Who were those really tall guys at my Bar Mitzvah?”
Lisa's passion for sharing her skills and knowledge led her to the JewishGen Education Team.
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Larry Fagan
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After a career spent researching and teaching about topics at the
intersection of science and technology, Larry focused in
retirement on genealogical research. He has used most major
genetic genealogy sites and has met many new relatives through the
DNA matching process.
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Marjorie Geiser
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Marjorie graduated from Loma Linda University with a BS in Nutrition & Dietetics and was a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for 30 years. She graduated from Southern California, San Bernardino with an MBA with emphasis in Entrepreneurship. For 20 years, she ran MEG Enterprises, Inc, which helped health professionals start or grow their own businesses. She spent much of her time writing for multiple publications and speaking at conferences around the country. She is the author of the book, “Just Jump: The No-Fear Business Start-up Guide for Health and Fitness Professionals.“
In 2016, she retired to travel the country and the world, and to spend more time with family.
When preparing for a trip to Poland, home of her maternal roots, she became engrossed in genealogy. Since then, she has spent hundreds of hours learning all aspects of genealogy related to Eastern European immigrants, pre-colonial America, and DNA, just to name a few areas of focus. She graduated from the Strrathclyde Glasgow’s Basic Genealogy course, as well as other specialty genealogy courses. She is a member of the DAR, NYG&B, and is VP Membership of the San Diego Genealogy Society.
As someone focused on trying to be as efficient as possible, she put great attention into how best to organize, plan and track her genealogy work. As a natural teacher, she started to teach others how to do the same so they could feel in control of their genealogy research and enjoy their own personal quest for answers about their Jewish roots.
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Nancy Holden
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Nancy Collier Holden, B.A., University of Wisconsin, M.S., Pepperdine University; graduate work in Clinical Psychology and Human Development. Los Angeles Superintendent of Schools: Administrator; Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic: Special Education; Florence Crittendon, San Francisco: Administrator of Education.
Nancy is currently the Director of Education at JewishGen; was IAJGS Volunteer of the Year in 2023; holds a certificate from ProGen Study Groups; member of National Genealogists Society, American Professional Genealogy Society, Jewish Genealogy Society of New York, Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland, Italian Genealogy Society, New York Biographical and Genealogical Society. She has been a volunteer at the National Archives Regional Branch-Laguna Niguel, lecturer on Jewish Genealogy, Native American Genealogy, and Eastern European Genealogy.
She is a Past-President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles and is a Past President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Orange County; Past Editor of Shorashim, the JGS Orange County Newsletter; Editor of the Svensionys Yizkor Book; the Webmaster for seven Kehilalink websites for towns in Belarus and the Ukraine; Past Editor of Roots-Key, the journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles for five years. She was a founding member of Jewish Family History Foundation. In early 2000, Nancy worked as the Project Coordinator for the Belarus SIG. In 2017, she worked with Alan Raskin to revamp the Belarus SIG website, which had grown exponentially since the early 1990s. In 2001 and 2002, she traveled to Eastern Europe with her husband, to visit the shtetls of their grandparents.
“I grew up in New York City. I have lived in California since 1952. I have been working on my family history since 1983 and traveled for many years in the United States collecting stories, visiting cemeteries and viewing photographs as a way of filling in my family lines. I have traced my father’s line back through rabbinic scholars of the eleventh century; my mother’s line to the 1700s, working through the Grodno Archives, Lithuanian Archives, Latvian Archives and Odessa Archives. In the course of this search, I have had to learn to read Hebrew, Rashi script, rudimentary Polish and Cyrillic. I have attended IAJGS conferences in Los Angeles, Boston, Salt Lake City and Washington D.C.”
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Todd Holden
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Todd received a B.A. in Social Ecology from UC Irvine and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Social Science from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. He was a tenured professor at Tohoku University, has taught at UCLA, Tufts, and Bentley Universities, and has coached professional and collegiate basketball both in Japan and the U.S.
As a writer he has published numerous academic texts and professional articles, written a regular column and then a blog for PopMatters, and published a travel memoir, and numerous works of fiction.
Genealogically, he received a certificate from Boston University, completed the ProGen Study Group, and attended Jill Morelli’s Certification Discussion Group. Along with JewishGen’s Nancy Holden, he founded HoldenWorks, which conducts ancestral investigations, assists in project design for those interested in completing their own research, and offers editorial help and seminars to improve genealogical writing.
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Amy Mitchell
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Amy Mitchell has worked in creative industries as a production manager, graphics producer and writer/editor. She has also taught undergraduate level courses in a variety of film studies topics.
Her obsession with genealogy began when she took her first DNA test for fun during the pandemic. Since then, she has uncovered the origin town of her family surname and traced her mother’s side back to the Puritan migration in the late 1600s.
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Hap Ponedel
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Henry “Hap” Ponedel holds a B.A. in Biology and Zoology from Humboldt State University (1978). Working in construction and as a plumbing contractor for some 45 years, Hap became interested in genealogy and family history in 2003, joined the Jewish Genealogical Society of Willamette Valley Oregon in 2004 and currently serves as vice-president. In 2013 he became the translation coordinator and co-editor of the Telšiai Yizkor Book at jewishgen.org. Telšiai is one of the towns central to his genealogical study.
His work in mapping began in 2009 with a collection of historical maps of ancestral towns which compelled him to launch easteurotopo.org in 2012, a historical map website with Jewish content. In 2015 He received a grant from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York to study Russian laws pertaining to anti-semitisim and to map border changes that resulted from some of the laws. He continues to update the map website adding new material and functionalities.
Hap also participates as Shabbat baal koreh at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon, and at Temple Har Zion in Mount Holly New Jersey. He is husband and partner to Hazzan Dr. Evlyn Gould, University of Oregon Emerita, and father of Ben and Jesse Ponedel.
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Susan Rand-Lakritz
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Intrigued by an email from an acquaintance who thought they were distantly related, Susan began filling in her family tree and was soon hooked on genealogy. Eventually she got to a branch that had long been a mystery. What had happened to her great-grandfather’s brother who had emigrated to South Africa? What had been his name? From what town was he and her direct ancestors?
These questions brought Susan to tentatively enroll in her first JewishGen class and to being exposed to the wealth of resources available there. The research skills and tools she acquired led her to solve the family mystery and to find descendants of her great-grandfather’s brother. She is honored to now be part of the JewishGen Education team, helping others uncover their past in order to leave a legacy for the future.
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Barbara Rice
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Barbara is a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) who was also recognized multiple times by her district and peers for the quality of her teaching. In addition to K-12 teaching, Barbara also worked as an adjunct at a local university teaching preservice teachers for 15 years. Barbara currently serves as Vice-President of the Minnesota Jewish Genealogical Society (MNJGS).
Barbara started her genealogical journey while planning for her American-born grandmother’s 100th birthday celebration. Census and other records confirmed all the vital information her grandmother remembered and Barbara started to research additional branches of her family. A connection from an Ancestry tree turned out to be a 2nd cousin 1X removed who knew her grandmother well. She remembers the thrill she felt when she uncovered her other grandmother’s passenger record into the United States as a 6 year old, something her grandmother never spoke about.
After retirement from public school teacher, these family history research experiences led Barbara to sign up for JewishGen classes with Phyllis Kramer where she learned to extract all the details from records and discovered unknown family branches in the US. Spellbound by genealogical research, Barbara joined Phyllis Kramer’s Galician research class and discovered records in Galicia for her family. Additional educational experiences include Basic Genealogy at the University of Strathsclyde and “All About the Mishpochah" at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Barbara enjoys solving puzzles and research so genealogy is a natural fit for her interests. She enjoys guiding others to make their own genealogical discoveries.
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April Stone
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April started her genealogy journey in 2009 after a career as a biologist and chemist. She knew nothing about her Jewish ancestors, but her dream was to unlock the puzzle of that family lineage.
In her first JewishGen class, with the help of her instructor, she quickly discovered that her ancestors changed their surnames… FOUR separate times!
However, it was ten years later, when more records became available, that she was finally able to find the documentation that supported these changes.
She now has the privilege to give back by helping others pursue their genealogy goals.
In her free time, April enjoys time with her family, gardening, and volunteering at the Animal Shelter. She also struggles to wrangle an out-of-control cat.
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Marion Werle
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Marion Werle began family history research 25 years ago, researching
family from Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus, who settled in the US,
Canada, UK, and Israel. She has been on the boards of JGSLA and
JGSCV (Conejo Valley/Ventura County) and is a past president and
founding member of the Latvia SIG (Special Interest Group). She is
currently on the board of the revitalized JewishGen Latvia
Research Division. A retired IT professional with master’ s
degrees in both European History and Library Science from UCLA,
she has written two unpublished family histories. One, The
Skuders from Skud,
traces her Litvak grandmother’ s family. She successfully
completed the Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate
and recently completed the ProGen study group. She has an ongoing
interest in applying general genealogical methodology standards to
Jewish research. She is a member of the JewishGen Latvia and
Belarus Research Divisions, as well as the Litvak SIG. Marion has
also spoken at several IAJGS conferences and local genealogical
societies in the Southern California area. She was a member of the
Southern California Genealogical Society Writers Group for several
years, which gave her the opportunity to hone her family history
writing skills.
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