Lay Leadership

Barbara Accetta

When my husband, Don, and I moved to Westwood with our family in 1986, we joined the Temple Beth David  community. Shortly after the Temple burned down in 1987, I served as the Treasurer, on the Executive  Committee and as a Board Member helping to rebuild the Temple at its current location. Our daughter,  Deborah, grew up at the Temple and had her Bat Mitzvah at the new Temple site. Now, Don and I live in  Walpole, and we enjoy seeing our grandchildren, Leif Pederson and Freya Pederson attend Shorashim. In  addition to serving on the Board in the past, I most recently served on the Early Learning Task Force and  Committee for Shalom Corner, the Afghan Resettlement Project Committee and search committees for new  Temple staff. I am a retired attorney and have enjoyed serving on the Executive Committee and watching our  community grow and thrive. I look forward to continuing to serve on the Board of the Temple.

Michelle Shapiro Arroyo
Michelle Shapiro Arroyo, her husband Jorge, and their 13-year old son Gabriel live in Westwood and have been members of TBD since moving to the area in 2019. She served on the Shorashim Committee from 2020-2023, most recently serving as co-chair. Michelle is a white collar criminal defense attorney in private practice. She represents executives and companies in high-stakes internal and government investigations and prosecutions. She also counsels companies on how to prevent and detect legal and ethical violations by building and implementing effective compliance programs. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys exploring the area with her family (especially after spending most of their first two+ years here at home, courtesy of Covid), going to the theater, singing karaoke, relaxing at the ocean and
discovering good restaurants.

David Baime
David and his wife Stacy have been members of Beth David for a little over 20 years. They have been living in Medfield since 1997 and their daughter Melanie attended Hebrew school and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at the Temple in 2012. David grew up in northern NJ and went to undergraduate college in western NY before moving to Boston to study at BU’s Graduate School of Business Management. After graduation David remained in Boston and worked at The Boston Company (since acquired by BNY/Mellon) for a number of years before becoming the 3rd Regional Owner of APPS Paramedical –Massachusetts. Recently retired after running the regional APPS business for 30 years, David enjoys the outdoors, a wide variety of sports (and somehow delicately balancing being a fan of the Boston teams
and still some of the NY teams he grew up with), meteorology and some other hobbies and interests, as well as more time to travel after what could be described as a rather workaholic life style. Temple activities have included occasional Friday evening Shabbat services and participating in the annual Shabbat home dinners (which are a lot of fun), as well as a few years pitching with the Temple Torahnadoes softball team.

Wendy Berliner
Wendy has been a member at Temple Beth David for 20 years. She is currently the Congregational Secretary and has served as the VP of Education, Chair of the Shorashim (Religious School) Committee, VP of Administration, and the Board of Trustees.  Wendy is a “recovering lawyer” who is the Director at Camp Lindenmere, a coed overnight summer camp in the Poconos. She lives in Westwood with her husband, Marc, and has two very busy kids (a daughter in college who became Bat Mitzvah and completed Confirmation and Double Chai at TBD and a son who is a Junior at Westwood HS and became Bar Mitzvah, completed Confirmation and continues to be involved at Double Chai and the Temple’s youth group). 

Jonah Berman
Jonah has been with Google for 11+ years, and currently serves as the Site Program Manager for Google Cambridge. In this role, he oversees local strategy and operations, employee development and cultural programming, and works to ensure the health and success of this 2500-person campus. Prior to this role, Jonah worked on a Google Advertising sales team, helping health industry clients maximize their marketing investments with Google. His professional life before Google includes work in the non-profit and education sector, in various roles including development, program management, and leadership training.  Jonah holds a Dual Bachelor's from Oberlin College and Conservatory in Sociology and Jazz Performance (Saxophone), and an MBA from Boston College. As a temple member, Jonah enjoys attending Shorashim, Tot Shabbat and holiday celebrations with his family. He lives in Medfield with his wife, Beth, and three children Caleb, Micah, and Hazel.

Rebecca Brogadir
Becca, her husband, Josh, and two children, Sophie (14) and Nate (12), live in Norwood and have been members of TBD since 2016. Becca has been an elementary school principal for 8 years and currently serves the Newton Public Schools as principal of Ward Elementary School. Becca is passionate about supporting students, staff, and families and building an inclusive community of learning. Prior to her current role, Becca was a school leader in Walpole, Lexington, and at Milestones Day School in Waltham. Before embarking on
school leadership, Becca worked in various roles in the non-profit and academic sectors including as bilingual teacher in the Dominican Republic and Marlboro, MA, Educational Coordinator at Community Resources for Justice in Cambridge, MA, Director at Partnerships With Industry (a work program for adults with disabilities) in San Diego, CA, Development and Education Coordinator at the Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria, IL, Human Resources & Training Director at Thompson Mailing Company in Bloomsburg, PA, and Spanish Instructor and Researcher at the University of Scranton while she pursued her Master's Degree in School Administration. Since joining TBD, Becca has served on the Safety Committee and as a member of the Education Director search committee. She enjoys attending Shorashim and hearing the ins and outs from Josh, who is on the Shorashim Committee. Nate is looking forward to joining Sophie at Double Chai this fall as he
prepares to become bar mitzvah next year.

Alex Budnitz

Alex his wife, Carly, and their two children (1st and 5th grades) live in Norwood and joined the TBD  community in 2022. Alex served on the Educator Search Committee this year. Alex is creative director and  principal at Sametz Blackstone Associates—a boutique branding agency located in Boston’s South End—where  he works with clients in the education, arts and culture, and financial services sectors. Prior to his current role,  Alex was art director at Stoltze Design Group. Alex has been a part time faculty member teaching  undergraduate design and branding at Northeastern University since 2005. In addition to enjoying time with  his family and friends (in and out of Temple), Alex maintains an active independent design and photography  practice, and has been known to rescue outmoded technology and orphaned crockery.

Rachel Daly

Rachel, her husband, Rob, and their three boys (Jay, Will and Nate) live in Medfield and have been members of  Temple Beth David since 2021. Her two oldest attend Shorashim, and her youngest attended Shalom Corner  Early Learning Center and will join Shorashim soon. Rachel served on the 2024 Educator Search  Committee. Rachel earned her J.D. from New England Law, where she was a Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Full  Tuition Merit Scholar, and her B.A. in Psychology from Emory University. She worked in private practice for  almost 10 years specializing business and contract law, family law, and trusts and estates. During this time,  Rachel also participated in the “Lawyer for the Day” program at Norfolk Probate and Family Court assisting  those who could not secure attorney representation for financial or other reasons. Although family and friends  still come to Rachel with their legal issues, the majority of her time is currently spent serving as Co-President,  and previously as Treasurer, of the Medfield Coalition of Public Education (MCPE)—a non-profit organization  funded to provide system-wide support and academic enrichment for the Medfield Public Schools. Rachel is  honored to now add the Board of Trustees to her service endeavors. In any spare time, Rachel can be found  playing tennis, skiing, boating, and running her boys to all of the sporting games and activities.

Lori Friedman
Lori Friedman has been a professional fundraiser for the past twenty-eight years and is currently the Assistant Vice President of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Simmons University. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she double majored in economics and public policy analysis and later received her law degree from Suffolk University Law School. She has been an active volunteer for many non-profit organizations for more than forty years. Over the past eight years, Lori has volunteered her time for the Sisterhood, for the Fundraising Committee, and for the Member Connections Committee. Lori has two sons - David, who lives in North Carolina, and Steven, who is a senior at the College of Wooster in Ohio. She lives in Dedham with her dog, Jackie, and cat, Toni.

Jim Grasfield
Jim grew up at Temple Beth David, had his Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation at the Temple, served as president of DWEFTY (now known as NAWDTY), was married to his wife Ruth by Rabbi Zoob, and has been a member of Temple Beth David for 50 years. Jim, Ruth, and their sons Jonathan and Robert live in Sharon. Jonathan and Robert are active participants in Shorashim, and they love being third generation members of the TBD community. Jim has been a member of the Board of Trustees for several years; and he has continuously served on the Membership Committee, House and HVAC Committees, and Safety Committee. Together with Mark Lampie, Jim has been very involved in significantly reducing the Temple's energy consumption over the past three years, and he has designed and/or installed most of the upgrades to the Temple's security systems. Jim is an inventor and entrepreneur in the high-tech industry where he creates and develops innovative products in numerous fields including medical devices, energy efficiency systems, and state-of-the-art security systems.

Paul Marsh
Paul and Nancy live in Dover and have three children, Suzannah, Leslie, and Aaron. All three children went thru the TBD religious school, had their B’nei Mitzvah here and then continued on with Double Chai. We joined TBD in 2006 and Paul has been Membership VP of the Brotherhood since 2007. During the day, Paul is an IT Program Manager for CVS Health, who loves performing in community theater and writing plays.

Leigh Wasserman

Leigh and her husband, Rob, live in Westwood, and have been part of the TBD community for the past 14+  years. Their three children, Eli (20), Sophie (19) and Jack (15), have all grown up at the temple, having become  B’nai Mitzvah and confirmed (this coming year for Jack), and active madrichim. Leigh spent 6 years on the  Religious School Committee and has volunteered in many temple events over the years. Leigh is originally  from Seattle Washington and worked for Starbucks Coffee Company for 12 years before moving to Westwood  in 2006. She is currently working as an operational manager for a local Software Engineering company and  over the years has been involved in leading many organizations including: Westwood Young Women's  Committee (WYWC), Westwood Community Chest, Martha Jones PTO, and Westwood Elementary School  Coalition (WESC). I look forward to playing more Mahjongg in my future! 

Bonnie Wellins

Bonnie and her family have been congregants of the Temple for over 35 years. She has served on various committees, including Social Action Committee, Rabbi Search Committees, Inclusion Committee (Co-Chair), Sisterhood Committee, Religious Practice Committee, and served for many years on the School Committee (Co-Chair for Special Needs sub-Committee). She is a retired Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and continues to teach part time. Bonnie lives in Medfield with her husband John McNamara who was on the Board for 13 years serving as President of the Temple and Brotherhood. Their son Joseph lives nearby.