A passionate advocate for improving the human condition, Rina Shkolnik, executive director of the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Five Towns, has led the organization through some rough financial seas.   Since 2002 she has overseen the operations of the organization, piloting it out of a large deficit, to a financially stable agency that, today, has an annual operating budget of over $6 million.

Under Ms. Shkolnik's stable leadership, the JCC has greatly expanded the number of social service programs to address the needs of the Five Towns community.  Some of those initiatives include day care, latch-key and after school programs and services for those with traumatic head injuries, Parkinson's disease and Multiple Sclerosis, to name a few.  There are also services available to meet the needs of the growing Russian immigrant population as well as social and counseling services for Holocaust survivors and children with autism, and their families.  This is in addition to traditional social and recreational activities usually associated with a Jewish community center.

At the JCC of the Greater Five Towns, Ms. Shkolnik is also responsible for budgeting, staff supervision, strategic planning, fundraising, program development, staff recruitment and board development.  Her previous professional experience encompasses over a decade, supervising a staff and managing all aspects of fundraising and educational events as manager of UJA Federation's South Shore and South Nassau Campaign.  Prior to that, she served as program director of the Hebrew Educational Society in Brooklyn.

A native of Israel, Ms. Shkolnik earned a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education and Bible and Art History and a bachelor's degree in art from Art College in Israel.  She received her master's in Supervision and Administration in Education from Bank Street College in New York and has certificate from the Institute for Non-profit Management from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.

A lifelong arts enthusiast, Ms. Shkolnik  enjoys museums, dance, reading and other cultural pursuits.  She currently resides in Cedarhurst.