Our People

Rabbi David Mason is the Executive Director of HIAS+JCORE. He previously served as rabbi of Muswell Hill Synagogue for over 14 years, and at Kingston Synagogue in South West London prior to that. Born in Edinburgh, he studied at George Watsons College before receiving a BSc and MSc in Econometrics from the London School of Economics. He attended yeshivot in Israel for 7 years before joining the Rabbinate. David also has a Masters in Conflict Resolution in Divided Society from King’s College London. He has built up expertise in inter faith work and social cohesion work as well as in strategic leadership, and was a Trustee at the Council of Christians and Jews and EcoJudaism. Rabbi Mason has developed thinking that connects Jewish ideas and scholarship to social responsibility.

Amos Schonfield is a community builder and activist from London. He has worked to support and mould ecosystems of leaders and communities from marginalised backgrounds with the skills and connections to create a society rooted in social justice and dignity. As Deputy Director of HIAS+JCORE, Amos works across volunteering, education and youth engagement, as well as supporting the rest of the team across the organisation. He also founded and is CEO of Our Second Home, the UK’s refugee youth movement. Previously, he was CEO of Mavar, and has worked at Student Action for Refugees, Noam Masorti Youth, and Yachad (where he remains a trustee). Amos studied International Relations at the University of Leeds and holds an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford.

Jack first joined HIAS+JCORE in 2019. He has previously worked for a number of local and national charities, and currently leads on our communications and supports our fundraising. Jack holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution in Divided Societies from King’s College London, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Leeds.

Eliza grew up in South London and joined HIAS+JCORE as the Unaccompanied Minors Project Lead in February 2023. Eliza has completed a Masters in Migration and Global Development from the University of Sussex, and has most recently worked as an employment caseworker and as a Manager at the social enterprise Luminary Bakery. Eliza has also spent time working in Greece on a search and rescue team, and went on to write a research piece on the criminalisation of humanitarian aid in the EU.

Sharon grew up in Israel and joined HIAS+JCORE as our new Interim Operations Manager in May 2024. Sharon has a BA in international relations from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and most recently worked as Business Operations Manager of an Israeli transit-tech startup.

Rebecca recently received her MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and she has joined the HIAS+JCORE team as their advocacy intern. She has worked at a number of NGOs in the human rights space, focusing in particular on refugee and asylum issues, as well pro-democracy efforts and combatting extremism. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in history and global studies.

Natalia grew up in Athens, in a Greek/Belgian family. She is a creative, campaigner and activist advocating for more innovative forms of inclusion for people with lived experience of forced migration. She has worked in the refugee field since 2017, in Israel, Greece and the UK, with various international organisations and charities such as UNHCR, the EU and the International Federation of the Red Cross. For the last three years, she has lived in London where she graduated from SOAS University with an MA in Migration and Diaspora studies with Intensive Persian. In 2022 and 2023, she worked to set up the festival Refugee Week Greece. This year, she launched her own film collective, Pixida Films, which navigates and humanises stories of migration through campaigning and film.

Eric has a background in engineering, and has facilitated solar panel making workshops and installs on London rooftops and community gardens with young people from deprived backgrounds, whilst with Repowering and Energy Garden. He has also worked in knife crime education with the Ben Kinsella Trust, delivered Global Citizenship and mental health projects with ORT and STEM sessions with young people newly arriving in the UK with Springboard Academy. He is currently in the process of becoming a counsellor through the Psychosynthesis Trust.

Dr Edie Friedman was born in Chicago. A student in the 1960s, she was heavily influenced by the civil rights and peace movements. She came to England to study in Leeds and subsequently worked for Oxfam and the Community Relations Council in Ealing, West London.

She founded the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) in 1976 with the aim of providing a Jewish voice on race and asylum in the UK, and has led the organisation since. Over the 45 years, JCORE has campaigned together with the UK’s Black and Asian communities, taken race-equality education into Jewish schools, and supported refugees and asylum seekers through innovative projects.

In 2008 she co-authored Reluctant Refuge – The Story of Asylum in Britain. She has also authored and co-authored a series of race equality education resources covering the primary school to adult age ranges.

Jonathan is a partner at BSB solicitors, a firm that he established over 20 years ago in Bloomsbury. He has a special interest in criminal defence, extradition and human rights. He has campaigned on justice issues for most of his career and more recently was President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association.

Jonathan has been a Trustee of HIAS+JCORE since 2019 and is keen to ensure that the Jewish voice on racial justice issues is heard.

Isabel is the senior director of community engagement programs and initiatives at HIAS. In this role she oversees initiatives that enable the American Jewish community to act in support of refugees through public events, volunteer and educational opportunities, and grassroots advocacy. Most recently she has led the launch and implementation of HIAS’ Welcome Circle initiative in the US – a private citizen-powered resettlement model implemented as an emergency response to help Afghan refugees and later, displaced Ukrainians. Prior to joining HIAS, Isabel worked in non-profit management, community organising, and community development both in congregational settings and in agencies in the US and UK. She holds a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford University, and a Masters in International Development from SOAS, University of London.

Rebecca is a Performance Director at digital agency In Digital and have been a trustee since June 2021. 

She has held voluntary roles in Jewish community organisations since her teens, from youth work to event management. Rebecca aim to combine prior voluntary community experience with professional expertise across digital communication strategy to support and elevate HIAS+JCORE’s work.

Adam works as a Director in the public affairs team at Dentons Global Advisors. In this role he works with leading businesses across the FMCG and clean transport sectors, supporting their engagement with government. Adam was recognised by PR Week as a “30 under 30” for 2022.

Before joining Dentons Global Advisors, Adam worked for HIAS+JCORE as campaigns and communications officer, supporting the organisation’s advocacy and media activities. He studied International Relations with Political Science at the University of Birmingham.

Rachel is Chief Global Policy & Advocacy Officer, leading HIAS’s global policy and advocacy to advance the rights and protection of refugees and other displaced people. Working to influence leaders in Washington, DC and around the world, including in government, UN agencies, and the private sector, she helps communicate the organization’s global impact and thought leadership to bring tangible change to the lives of people HIAS serves.

Rachel previously served as HIAS’s VP, International Policy and Relations and as VP, International Programs, where she expanded HIAS’ global impact. In prior roles she led research and advocacy on refugee legal rights, gender-based violence, LGBTQ protection, and multifaith engagement.

Before coming to HIAS, Rachel co-founded Turkey’s first legal clinic for refugees and litigated race and gender discrimination claims in federal court in New York City. She received her BA from McGill University and a law degree from the University of British Columbia.

David is a Film & TV producer and executive who has been responsible for over 150 projects, including work that has won Baftas, Golden Globes, Oscars and Emmys. For 10 years, he ran the feature film and single drama team of the BBC, before setting up his own production company. David is also Professor of Production at Royal Holloway, London University. Film projects have included Billy Elliot, the Oscar nominated An Education, Notes on a Scandal, Woman in Gold, Mandela,Catherine the Great, and Revolutionary  Road  (Leonardo de Caprio and Kate Winslet).

David has been a trustee of HIAS+JCORE for three years and is also a trustee of One to One Children’s Fund. His particular charity interest is projects for asylum seekers and he has made many films exploring social concerns in the UK and beyond.

Cathy is the Chief Executive of the national child welfare charity Family Rights Group, which she has led for 20 years. The charity works to enable children to live safely within their families, and strengthen the family and community networks of children who cannot live at home. She previously worked as a political adviser.

Cathy served for six years as Chair of the trustee board of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and in 2017 was awarded an OBE for services to Holocaust education and commemoration.  As a local parent in Lambeth, Cathy also helped set up a new non-selective comprehensive school and was chair for some years of the Parents’ Promoters Foundation for the school. She has previously served as a local councillor in Lambeth.

Marisa is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London. She practises in public law with an emphasis on immigration and community care. Marisa also sits part-time as a First-tier Tribunal judge in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.

Marisa graduated in Law and Politics at Manchester University, and has a Masters in Law from the London School of Economics.

Martin is treasurer and a trustee of HIAS+JCORE.  He is also a trustee of the International Rescue Committee UK and a volunteer mentor for the Prince’s Trust.

He is a second-generation refugee. His mother was on the Kindertransport, arriving in England from Vienna in 1938.

Martin is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying at KPMG.  He has been the finance director and CFO for a number of businesses, including several that are listed on the Alternative Investment Market or PE backed.

He is also a guest speaker at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester.

Alba Kapoor is the Head of Policy at the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading race equality think tank. She delivers large scale pieces of policy research and works to set out Runnymede’s anti-racist agenda. As part of this role, she led the English civil society submission to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination. Alba was the recipient of the Kennedy Scholarship 2022-’23 at Harvard University. Her research focused on race and migration studies, across the Harvard Kennedy and Law schools.

Before that, she worked as a researcher for Members of Parliament in the House of Commons advising senior politicians on ongoing political developments, including in their positions on the Shadow front bench. Alba holds a degree in History and Politics from the University of Oxford, where her thesis looked at the history of Bengali anti-racist resistance in Tower Hamlets in the 1970s and ’80s.

Jessie is a qualified social worker who has spent the past few years working on the frontline for children and families in one of the largest boroughs in London. Jessie is passionate about supporting refugees and asylum seekers, and as the board’s safeguarding lead, she supports the staff and volunteers in ensuring appropriate safeguarding practices.

Judith has been working in the Jewish community for over a decade and specialises in crisis and change communications with extensive experience in strategic national, political and community based campaigns.

She is currently the Head of Communications and PR at Jewish Care, the largest Jewish social care provider in the UK, leading on communications, PR, and public affairs for the organisation. 

Prior to this, she was the Head of Communications and Campaigns at the Jewish Leadership Council working on campaigns including Enough is Enough, Balfour 100 and Cable Street 80. Judith has spent time working in Parliament and in America, where she ran a leadership development programme for the Jewish Federation of Orange County. She has also previously worked at the Union of Jewish Students where she is now a trustee, and has also served as a trustee of Jewish Women’s Aid and women’s interfaith charity, Nisa-Nashim. 

Judith is passionate about community, equality, and progress.

Russell is a solicitor and partner at the law firm Farrer & Co (where he is responsible for international strategy). He specialises in advising international families on succession and governance.

He regularly provides legal advice to trustees and is himself an experienced trustee (both of private and charitable trusts).