HONOREES

Honorees

ELAYNE & HOWARD LEVKOWITZ

Elayne and Howard are passionate about education. They are strong believers in building educational institutions that provide academic and extracurricular opportunities for every child. As long-time supporters of YULA, Elayne and Howard have played a major role in YULA’s growth and development, and particularly in the merger of the two Schools.

Elayne and Howard are proud parents of YULA Alumni and a current YULA Student: Olivia ‘15, Jack ’17 (and his wife Chaya), Julia ‘19, and Ella ‘22.  In addition to being parents at YULA, Elayne and Howard have been active participants in many aspects of the school. Howard has served on the YULA Boys School Board of Directors for 12 years and sits on the Executive Board as Vice President and Chairman of the Governance Committee. He has also been involved as head of the HOS Search Committee, and has been active in the development of the endowment and fundraising programs and strategic planning. Elayne has served on the YULA Girls School Board of Directors since 2014, sat on the Executive Committee as Secretary, and was a member of the YULA Education Committee. In addition, Elayne was founder and Co-Chair of the Parent Council for six years, Co-Chair of the Graduation Committee from 2014 to 2020, and is a member of the Annual Purim Celebration Committee.It is for this generosity of spirit and commitment to Jewish education, and in particular for their enduring support of YULA, that we honor them at our Trustees Event this year.

Elayne grew up in suburban Chicago where she attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. Elayne graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA Law School.  She practiced law as a corporate attorney at Skadden Arps and worked as an admissions officer at UCLA law school.  Elayne is passionate about Jewish educational and student experience. She served as PTA President of Maimonides Academy, was a member of the Etta Israel Board and served on the NCSY Board.    

Born in Tucson Arizona, Howard was the first student who started in 1st grade to graduate the Tucson Hebrew Academy, where he developed a conviction about the importance of high-quality Jewish education.  Howard is a co-Founder of Tennenbaum Capital Partners (a firm that was sold to BlackRock), where he was Chairman of its Management Committee and Chairman and CEO of BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Howard is Founder and Managing Partner of Signal Hill Holdings. Howard is highly involved in a number of philanthropic activities in the U.S. and Israel, and is past President of Maimonides and past Chairman of the Board of YICC.  Howard has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School and USC Law School.      

Alumni Award

FELICE GOLLIEB

CLASS OF 2000

Felice was born and raised in Los Angeles, attending Hillel Hebrew Academy before graduating from YULA in 2000.  Her sisters, Nessia ‘02, Neeli ‘06, and Blima ‘09, are all proud YULA alum as well.  After graduating YULA, Felice earned her Bachelors of Arts degree from Barnard College as well as her graduate degree in Interior Architecture from UCLA. 

Felice and her husband, Shmuel, are the parents of Josh ‘24, Brooke ‘26, Max, and Lexi.  Felice and Shmuel have been actively involved in YULA since Shmuel joined the YULA Boys Board in 2013.  Felice has also been actively involved in community work throughout the years, volunteering her time to the Beverlywood HOA, ChaiLifeline, Young Israel of Century City, and Hillel Hebrew Academy where she served as president of the PTA.  

DANIEL URETSKY

CLASS OF 1999

Daniel was born and raised in Los Angeles, attending Yavneh Hebrew Academy before graduating from YULA in 1999.  His siblings Tiffany ‘01, Jonathan ‘05 and Elizabeth ‘10 are all proud YULA alum as well. 

After graduating YULA, Daniel spent a year and a half at Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim then went on to receive his Bachelor’s In Talmudic Law from Yeshivat Ner Yisroel followed by Law School at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C.  After practicing law for a few years at Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman and Rabkin, Daniel joined his family business: Allied Feather and Down, where he now serves as President of the Company overseeing sales and business development. 

While helping to run the business, Daniel has also been actively involved in community work throughout the years, volunteering his time with many organizations including Tomchei Shabbos, Bikur Cholim, United Hatzalah, Yeshivat and Kehillat Yavneh and Ezer Metzion.  Daniel has served on the YULA Boys board since 2020.  Daniel and his wife Zahavah are proud parents of two Yula boys, Simcha ’23 and Moshe ’25 and two girls, Bella entering 9th grade at Yula next year BE’H and Emunah in first grade at Yavneh.