Livingston Man To Be Honored For Leadership

Michael Elchoness, of Livingston, and Robin Sysler, of Short Hills, will be honored next month as the recipients of the Julius and Bessie Cohn Young Leadership awards.

The awards will be given out a social spring fling 7 p.m. May 15 at the Crystal Plaza, 305 West Northfield Ave., Livingston.

 The event is sponsored by the Young Leadership Division (YLD) and Young Women’s Campaign of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ (UJC MetroWest). Seth Cohen of West Orange and Mindy Gelman of Short Hills are the spring fling co-chairs.

Elchoness, vice president of TD Wealth Management in Basking Ridge, is an enthusiastic and dedicated member of the MetroWest Jewish community who has been actively involved with YLD for several years.

Through his commitment to the federation, he has taken important initiatives to engage new members of the young leadership community as leaders and donors. As co-founder and advisor for the Real Estate Executives group (REX) in 2010, Elchoness created a new platform for young professionals to get together, network, and strengthen their ties to the UJC community.

Elchoness is an alumnus of UJC MetroWest’s Arthur Borinsky Young Leadership Development Program and YLD Council Borinsky Chair.  As a member of the UJC Board of Trustees, Elchoness has served on a number of event committees, including this year’s YLD Opening Event. He is also a vice president of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and he has been a member of its board since 2006.

Passionate about the importance of supporting the MetroWest Jewish community and the State of Israel, Sysler is a dedicated and impassioned volunteer and board member of UJC MetroWest and a member of the board of its Women’s Philanthropy.

Syslter has been involved in UJC MetroWest for over ten years and she currently serves as a campaign vice chair of Country Club Outreach for United Jewish Appeal Campaign of MetroWest NJ (UJA), where she is a member of the Young Women’s Campaign and serves on the UJA Campaign Cabinet.

Sysler is also a member of the Board and Executive Committee of UJC’s Holocaust Council of MetroWest, where she coordinates the Lunch and Learn series. Sysler is a docent and captain for the From Memory to History exhibit and moderator of the Survivor’s Speaks program, which has given her the opportunity to help educate thousands of students about the Holocaust. A 2012 Epstein Fellow and a graduate of the first A.M. Arthur Borinsky Young Leadership Development program in 2010, Sysler has given her time to a number of event committees.

Locally, Sysler is a lifetime member of Hadassah and serves on the executive board of the Millburn Municipal Alliance Committee (MMAC), the community’s drug and alcohol awareness and education committee.

The late Julius H. Cohn created the Julius & Bessie Cohn Young Leadership Award in 1956. The annual award provides two young leaders who have demonstrated growth and leadership in service to UJC and the MetroWest Jewish community with additional opportunities for leadership development.

Tickets for the spring fling is $95 per person. Guests will have the opportunity to make their gift to the 2012 UJA Campaign.

To learn more about the United Jewish Communties of MetroWest New Jersey, visit the website. 

To RSVP for the spring fling and/or make a tribute in honor of Elchoness or Sysler, visit the website or contact Dana Lichtenberg at 973-929-2936 or e-mail dlichtenberg@ujcnj.org.