Our Board of Trustees serves as dedicated stewards of Mazel Day School’s future. These committed and passionate volunteers contribute their time, expertise, and resources to nurture our school’s growth and stability. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to help make our dreams for MDS possible.
Anna and her family have been members of the Mazel Day School community for over a decade. Over the years Anna spent time serving on the Board of Directors, the Strategic Committee and as the Editor of MDS’s original newsletter for parents, called Parent Page. She is a passionate advocate for Jewish education and considers it to be an invaluable part of her children’s identity. Anna’s children’s experience at Mazel Day School has profoundly shaped their values, instilling in them a strong sense of kindness ,curiously and deep connection to their heritage and community.
Anna immigrated to US with her family from Nalchik, Russia, and went on to obtain her undergraduate degree from Baruch College and a JD from Brooklyn Law School, where she serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. Anna currently serves as a Managing Director and a member of the COO team of the Aladdin Business within BlackRock, which provides risk analytics and portfolio management and trading tools and workflows to clients in the financial services industry. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. Ashurov was a partner and senior director of commercial strategy and transformation at Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she led commercial strategy for the North American Zone. Prior to ABI, Anna worked as a senior banker in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. She and her spouse, Anatoly, reside in Brooklyn with their four children.
Rabbi Avremel Okonov was born in New York. His father is from Ukraine and his mother from Moscow. He grew up watching his parents devote their lives to helping others. His father, at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s instruction, was one of the founders of the F.R.E.E. organization, which works to assist Russian-speaking Jews. After receiving his rabbinical degree in Melbourne, Australia, Rabbi Avremel decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, and founded Mazel Day School together with his wife Chani, where he serves as the Executive Director today. Rabbi Avremel has worked with children of all ages for many years, here in our community, as well as in Manchester, Kishinev, Vilna, and more. He has received training from Young Israel Institute for Rabbis, as well as from the Institute of Day School Management at Columbia Business School. He believes and follows the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s vision and philosophy to accept and love every Jew, and inspire and educate them about our great Jewish heritage in a warm and kind environment. The secret to Jewish continuity is rooted in the 3 loves: Love of Hashem, Love of every Jew, and Love of our holy Land of Israel, all of which are tied together through the light of Torah. Rabbi Avremel is part of the team of rabbis at the Hebrew Alliance/F.R.E.E. Synagogue. He lives in Manhattan Beach together with his wife Chani, and children, Mendel, Shifra, Dovid, Mordechai Yisroel, Bluma, Bassie, Yocheved, Shmuel and Mussia.
Kate Esther Ilyaguyev has been involved in the Mazel Day School community as a class parent, member of the Mazel Parent Association, member of the Strategic Committee, and most recently assumed a role on the Board of Mazel. Kate works at Pfizer in the Strategy & Innovation Division leading Commercial Development Strategy for Breast Cancer pipeline. She holds a B.B.A and M.B.A in Marketing and International Business from Bernard Baruch College. Kate was born and raised in Russia. She immigrated to the United States in 1997 with her family. In the states, Kate first attended Shelshailes Bais Yakov but discouraged (and frustrated) by the approach of then traditional Yeshivas, transferred to Murrow High School for Junior and Senior years. This experience gives Kate an even greater appreciation for Mazel’s acceptance and respect for Jews of different observance levels. Kate and her husband, Izik Ilyaguyev, passionately support the school’s mission and are proud to have their three children attend Mazel, their oldest joining the inaugural High School class of 2025.
Natalie was introduced to Judaism and developed interest in Jewish religion, history and culture when she attended Sinai Academy High School for Jewish studies and Prospect Park Yeshivah High School for secular studies. She immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine at the age of 15. It was her dream to enroll her children into a Jewish Day School. Mazel Day School enable Natalie to have her dream come true: she found MDS to be an ideal balance between the Jewish education and values, and stellar academics. Two of her children graduated from Mazel and attend the Ramaz high school, and two younger children are currently students at Mazel.
Natalie is a chief legal officer of Moonbeam Capital Investments, LLC, a family owned legal and real estate business. Prior to this position, she practiced law and accounting in major law and accounting firms. Natalie also teaches taxation as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. Natalie earned an LL.M. from the New York University Law School, a J.D. (the Order of Coif, cum laude) from the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School, and a Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) from the New York University Stern School of Business. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the New York University Stern School of Business Center for Real Estate Finance Research. Natalie and her husband Steven are big supporters of Jewish causes, and donate their time and money to multiple synagogues and Jewish organizations.
Dmitriy came to this country as a child in 1994 from Odessa, Ukraine. At that time he knew very little about Judaism, but as he got older, he knew that he wanted to bring his family closer to the Jewish community and its roots. For these reasons, he strongly believes in Jewish education and its strong positive impact on child development. Mazel has been part of Dmitriy’s family for almost 10 years as his son and daughter attend the school, and his oldest son graduated from the school. Dmitriy is an executive compensation and benefits attorney and is a partner and head of the Executive Compensation and Benefits team at Sheppard Mullin. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Ellen, and their three children, Emmanuel, Jacob, and Abigail.
Eduard immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine as a child with his mother and grandparents. He went to yeshiva from Kindergarten through 8th grade. He then went on to earn his doctorate in education from Northeastern University and is currently working at CUNY Brooklyn College as a director of enrollment operations. Eddie lives in Sheepshead Bay with his wife Shella and two kids, Celina and Gregory. Both of his children are Mazel alumni. In his free time, Eddie likes to travel and spend time with his family.
Natalie’s approach to Judaism and Jewish education rest very soundly upon the tenets of Modern Orthodoxy, placing a profound importance on one’s Jewish life and Jewish values as critical contributions to modern society as a whole. Natalie is a firm believer in the importance of an outstanding secular as well as Jewish education – and the complementary nature of the two. For her own children Natalie has found such an education at Mazel Day School and believes in the importance of MDS in making such education accessible to families with similar goals residing in south Brooklyn. She feels that the warmth and nurturing environment at Mazel are crucial to its educational credo.
Natalie holds an MD from Cornell University Medical College and is the Director of Breast Imaging at NYU Langone Brooklyn. Her practice focuses on breast cancer screening, diagnostic interventional procedures and preparation for surgical treatment options. She is very passionate about advancing clinical breast cancer research, attending numerous conferences throughout each year as both a speaker and a listener. Natalie is an ardent believer in the empowerment of patients through breast cancer education and often speaks at community events throughout NYC.
Natalie lives in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, close to Mazel Day School, with her husband Vlad and two children. She is an active participant in the Manhattan Beach Jewish community. In her spare time Natalie loves to travel; when not traveling her favorite leisure pastime stateside is exploring the vibrant art life & culture of NYC and showing it to her children.
Erik immigrated to the United States with his family in 1990 from the Carpathian part of Ukraine which was devastated by the Holocaust. Erik’s maternal Grandmother is a survivor – one of 8 siblings to make it out alive. She practically saw her parents and brothers and sisters walk into the gas chambers. From his paternal side, both of his grandparents, who were married before the war, were “lucky” to come out of the camps alive and reunite, but without all three of their children. They were able to rebuild their family by having three more kids postwar. Erik is an active member of The Shteible and the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center, where he and his family have found a “home” and have become involved with this Synagogue’s outreach to the Russian Jewish Community as well. Erik attended Sinai Academy High School followed by Stony Brook University where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science. He has been a Commercial Real Estate Broker since 2001 and is a Principal and founding member of Atlas Realty Group Partners (ARG) in NYC. His specialty is apartment building sales in the 5 Boroughs of NYC. Erik, his wife Rimma and their two girls reside in Manhattan Beach, steps from the school.
Maryanna is a devoted wife and mother, an active member of her community, and a trained nurse by profession. Deeply proud of her Jewish heritage, she has always sought to strengthen her connection to Judaism – from her own experience attending yeshiva as a child to ensuring that her children receive a strong Jewish education. Born in Ukraine, she immigrated to the United States at the age of four and has spent most of her life in Brooklyn. In addition to her deep faith and community involvement, as a passionate homemaker, Maryanna finds joy in baking challah, cooking, and traveling with her family.
Dimitriy Goloborodskiy
Irina Rakhlis
Boris Khodorkovsky
Nika Khodorkovsky
Milana Feldman
Eugene Pishchiker
Vlad Lipkin
Gennady Favel
Lev Rivkin
Ilya Braz
Jacqueline Jakubowitz
Rabbi Hershel Okonov
Executive Director, F.R.E.E. of Brighton Beach
Isaac Lieberman
Vice-President, Hebrew Alliance – F.R.E.E. Synagogue
Rabbi Avremel and Chani Okonov
Executive Director and Head of School, Mazel Day School