Leadership

Our Leadership

Gary P. Saltzman, President

Gary P. Saltzman, of Centennial, Colo., was elected president of B’nai B’rith International at the 2015 B’nai B’rith policy forum.

In 40 years as a member, Saltzman has demonstrated leadership and unwavering dedication at the local and international levels of the organization through an impressive range of roles and responsibilities.

In his previous capacity as chairman of the Executive Board of Directors, the No. 2 volunteer leadership position in the organization, Saltzman served as the direct liaison between staff and volunteers and represented B’nai B’rith in meetings around the world. Saltzman has dedicated his time, effort and attention to ensuring the international scope of B’nai B’rith clearly represents the core values that launched the organization and that generate respect around the world.

Saltzman has discussed the singular mistreatment of Israel at the United Nations directly with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He has been involved in one-on-one encounters with a wide variety of foreign ministers and presidents. He’s traveled to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to decry the chronic mischaracterization of Israel’s human rights record. He was actively involved in the very special interfaith audience with Pope Francis to discuss attacks in the name of religion against Christians and Jews.

In 1989, he was named a Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award winner, which is given to individuals under 45 who have demonstrated outstanding service to the totality of B'nai B'rith and have worked to achieve the goals of the B'nai B'rith Young Leadership program.

Over his years of service, Saltzman held numerous leadership positions, including president of the B’nai B’rith Denver lodge, president of the Western Frontier Region and president of B’nai B’rith District 2. Additionally, he was actively involved in the leadership of BBYO on behalf of B’nai B’rith International. He has served as a member of the international Board of Governors, and as a leader on the Futures Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and Budget Committee. He remains a member of the Denver Lodge board.
Professionally, Saltzman is a certified public accountant with the Wenner Group, LLC and a registered investment advisor with Transitions Wealth Management, LLC.

Peter A. Perlman, Chairman of the Executive

Peter Perlman of West Bloomfield, Mich., was appointed chairman of the executive (COE) of B’nai B’rith International by newly elected President Gary P. Saltzman .

The chairman of the executive is the number two volunteer leadership position in the international organization. It is also the COE’s responsibility to serve as the direct liaison with volunteers and carry out other internal and external responsibilities.

Perlman has been a member of B’nai B’rith International since 1970 when he joined the Detroit lodge. In his four-and-a-half decades with B’nai B’rith, Perlman has been a lodge president, the president of the Metro Detroit area, a District 6 president and the president of the Great Lakes Region. He sits on the Board of Governors and has had two turns as National Fundraising chair, in the 1990s and again over the last six years. In 1988, Perlman won the Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award, named for the youngest person to achieve the office of international president of B’nai B’rith. The award goes to individuals under 45 who have demonstrated outstanding service to the totality of B’nai B’rith and have worked to achieve the goals of the B’nai B’rith Young Leadership program. It’s been a harbinger of future success in the organization.

Outside of B’nai B’rith, Perlman owns the Perlman Agency, an insurance firm in West Bloomfield, Mich. He’s a member of Temple Israel and serves on the Boy Scouts of America Troop 179 Advancement Committee.

Eric Engelmayer, Senior Vice President

Eric Engelmayer’s Jewish organizational career began serving as president of his local BBYO chapter in his native France. Engelmayer eventually joined the European board of BBYO as the officer in charge of community service and attended the 1993 International Leadership Training Conference and International Convention at B'nai B'rith Perlman Camp in Pennsylvania.

After college, Engelmayer became a member of the B'nai B'rith Elie Bloch Lodge in Metz, France, where he held the position of lodge secretary.

After relocating to Luxembourg, Engelmayer joined the B'nai B'rith Luxembourg lodge. He successively held the positions of vice president and president.

After co-chairing the B’nai B’rith Europe Young Adults Forum in Brussels in 2009, Engelmayer was awarded the Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award and was appointed a member of the B’nai B’rith International Board of Governors, as well as member at-large of the Executive Board of Directors.

Engelmayer represented B’nai B’rith at the World Zionist Congress, the WZO Zionist General Council, the Jewish Agency for Israel assembly, the 40th anniversary of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee and at the meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Engelmayer also attended the B’nai B’rith Europe Congress in Brussels in 2011, and most B’nai B’rith Policy Forums from 2009 to the present.

Professionally, Engelmayer has more than 15 years of experience in private banking and works as head of Wealth Professional Services with Societe Generale Bank & Trust in Luxembourg.

Shel Marcus, Senior Vice President

Shel Marcus of Morton Grove, Ill., is a former president of B’nai B’rith’s Midwest Region and a long time B’nai B’rith member, Marcus most recently served as a member of the Executive Board of Directors as the membership chair and as a coordinator with the USA Leadership Council.

Marcus is the president and founder of Original Concepts Inc., an association management firm that provides advertisement and public relations services to various medical and dental organizations. Since starting the business in 1972, Marcus has traveled the world planning meetings and corporate events for his clients in countries from Australia to Greece and Japan to Holland.

Aside from his various roles with B’nai B’rith, for many years Marcus was an active member of Northwest Suburban Jewish Congregation of Morton Grove, where he served as president for three years. He was the president of the Morton Grove Chamber of Commerce, and was a 10-year chairman for the Niles Township Republican Organization, serving as a delegate at two Republican National Conventions. Marcus’ public service stretched to the state of Illinois as he was elected state central committeeman for the 9th legislative district. Marcus also served eight years as Village Trustee for the Village of Morton Grove and even produced and hosted his own television show, “Dateline Morton Grove.”

Sheila Mostyn, Senior Vice President

Sheila Mostyn of Toronto served as the National co-chair of affordable housing for B’nai Brith Canada, actively pursuing affordable housing opportunities across Canada. From 2013-2014, she served as chair of the B’nai Brith Canada Board of Governors.

Mostyn is an active volunteer outside of B’nai Brith, previously holding the positions of president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Toronto Section, and sisterhood president of the Beth Emeth Bais Synagogue. In 2012, she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her exceptional service to Canada

Marvin Siflinger, Senior Vice President

Marvin Siflinger of Framingham, Mass., has been a B’nai B’rith member since 1981.

In 1995, when he left public service, he was elected vice president and then president of the B’nai B’rith Realty Unit and the Boston-area B’nai B’rith Housing Corporation.

He then re-energized the local B’nai B’rith organizations by embarking on an aggressive housing production program to help increase affordable housing in the Boston area. In addition to Boston, housing developments were built in Newton and Sudbury, Mass.

Siflinger served as chairman of the B’nai B’rith Senior Housing Committee for seven years.
He has also been a member of the B’nai B’rith Board of Governors since 2002 and was appointed to the Executive Board of Directors in 2004. He also serves as a member of the Budget Committee and the Futures Committee.

In 2008, Siflinger was selected as the recipient for the Moe and Berdie Kudler Award, rewarding volunteer service.

Siflinger currently serves as chairman of Housing Partners, Inc., a national affordable housing consulting firm he co-founded in 1995. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Massachusetts Depositors Insurance Fund and Winn Companies. Siflinger spent 23 years at HUD, working his way up to the position of director of the Boston office, overseeing all major projects in most of New England.

Robert B. Spitzer, Senior Vice President

The son of former B’nai B’rith International President Jack Spitzer, Robert Spitzer began his involvement with B’nai B’rith organizing and presiding over the B’nai B’rith Downtown Jewish Business and Professional Breakfast in Seattle for eight years. Spitzer served as president of B’nai B’rith Seattle for four years and president of the Evergreen Region for two terms. Nationally, he was the chairman of the U.S. B’nai B’rith Foundation and has been on the Executive Board of Directors and Board of Governors for about 20 years. Spitzer is also a proud former Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award winner.

Spitzer’s current primary community activity is as one of the five members of the public governing board of the King County Library System, the second largest library system in the United States. This year Spitzer will mark his 9th year of service and is also a board member on the KCLS Foundation, the fundraising arm of the library system.

Professionally, Spitzer is a business and real estate lawyer, as well as a shareholder in the international law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer, based in Seattle. He’s developed retirement homes in the Seattle area, and served as general counsel and chairman of a real estate development company. For the last 10 years, Spitzer has been chairman of a company that manufactures liquid and skin care consumer products in Vancouver, Canada, as well as a Seattle-based enterprise selling those products through various distribution channels.

Eduardo Weinstein Gottlieb, Senior Vice President

Eduardo Weinstein Gottlieb of Santiago, Chile, has been involved with B’nai B’rith since 2002, when he became a founding member and first president of the Dayan Lodge.

In 2004, Weinstein worked for District 27, which includes Chile and Bolivia. He joined the district’s Executive Committee in 2006. His role expanded in 2008, when he became the second deputy president of the district, as well as the head of the Institutional Development Committee, where he oversaw the creation of three new lodges that successfully brought in young members. In 2010, he was again upgraded to the district’s first deputy president.

In February 2010, Weinstein was instrumental in coordinating disaster relief efforts, on behalf of B’nai B’rith, after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Chile, causing damage in Santiago and Maule, Chile.

Weinstein Gottlieb was named the president of the district in 2012. He remained in the position until 2014.

A. Michael Gellman, Treasurer

A. Michael Gellman, CPA, CGMA of Potomac, Md., sits on the board of the B’nai B’rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy and has been a certified public accountant (CPA) for over 30 years and, more recently, also a chartered global management accountant (CGMA). For 21 of those years, he worked at the certified public accounting firm Rubino & Company as a shareholder and as a senior advisor. When he joined, he formed a new consulting services group to provide active financial and fiscal consulting services for nonprofit organizations.

In addition to his distinguished career inside the firm and within B’nai B’rith, he served as president of the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants in 2001 and received the group’s Impact Award in 2012 for successfully launching the Academy, which provides a pathway for new nonprofit industry professionals to learn, attend conferences and connect with mentors.

Currently, he is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a faculty member for the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, as well as the Institute for Organization Management within the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

William K. Peirez, Chief Justice

William K. Peirez of Great Neck, N.Y., joined B’nai B’rith International 52 years ago. He has had served as acting chief justice since April 2008 and was elected to his first term in December 2009. Prior to that, he was a judge under the two most recent presidents.

Peirez also serves as president of the B’nai B’rith MetroNorth region, and has been a longtime member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Board of Directors.

He has held a wide range of positions at B’nai B’rith, including chairing the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee and the B’nai B’rith Camps Committee. He’s been B’nai B’rith’s liaison to a committee of regional and community leaders, and has served as an international vice president.

In 1980, Peirez won the prestigious Label A. Katz Outstanding Young Leader Award, which is given to individuals under 45 who have demonstrated outstanding service to the totality of B'nai B'rith and have worked to achieve the goals of the B'nai B'rith Young Leadership program. He served on a committee to help choose the 2009 Label A. Katz winners.

Peirez is also a retired attorney who specialized in real estate, landlord and tenant law, contracts, corporate law, partnership law, buying and selling of businesses and wills.

He currently is honorary vice president of Temple Beth-El of Great Neck.

Past Presidents

> View a list of past Presidents of B'nai B'rith International.