On Tuesday, April 8th, we will be celebrating our WJCS 2025 Gala at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase, NY. We are thrilled to announce that we will be honoring Joel S. Beckman and Gillian Rittmaster, two remarkable individuals who have contributed so much to the impact of WJCS and to the Westchester community at large.
Joel S. Beckman co-founded Greenbriar Equity Group, a private investment firm, in 1999 and retired in 2017. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director and Partner at Goldman Sachs. He has been a dedicated member of the WJCS Board and active in numerous committees, including Children & Youth Services, Budget & Finance, and DEI. He is also co-chair of Friends of JCC Budapest, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law, and a board member of Brave Generation, an organization founded to help Ukrainian students further their college and graduate school education in the United States. He previously served as a board member of UJA-Federation of New York, Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, the Chordoma Foundation, SteppingStone Day School, and several other philanthropic organizations.
Joel received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A. from the University of Rochester, where he is a Trustee Emeritus. He is married to Shari and together they have two sons, Steven and Jake, two daughters-in-law, Amanda and Alisa, and six grandchildren, Levi, Stella, Asher, Riley, Gracie, and Autumn.
Gillian Rittmaster is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a private practice based in Rye, NY, where she specializes in supporting individuals and families navigating critical and chronic illness, caregiving, end-of-life issues, and bereavement. With over a decade of experience at WJCS, Gillian continues her impactful work through clinical consulting for WJCS. In her previous role as Assistant Executive Director of Jewish Programs and Health and Healing Services, Gillian oversaw the Holocaust Survivor Program, caregiver support services for loved ones caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia, bereavement services, and community-based palliative care. She also facilitated mental health and wellness programs for over 25 synagogues, day schools, and JCCs throughout Westchester County, ensuring these institutions received critical support in addressing the needs of their communities.
Gillian holds a Master of Social Work from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She and her husband Peter are the proud parents of Davis, William, and Holly
We are delighted to have Mindy & Andrew Feldman, Meira & Tom Fleisch, and Rikki & Barry Kaplan as our Gala Co-Chairs. We are certain that the WJCS 2025 Gala will be a success and hope you join us at this fabulous event!
Want to become a Corporate Sponsor? Please contact Jennifer Kaplan, Director of Development, at [email protected].
