PLEASE VOTE BY MAIL... 1] 2] 3] 4]
Mail In Ballots must be received to
Touro Hall by April 27, 2022.
Mail-in Ballot Instructions:
Fill out the "Colored Ballot" enclosed, and check up to FIVE choices. Fold and insert your ballot in the supplied white "Ballot Envelope" and seal. Insert the sealed "Ballot Envelope" into the supplied pre-stamped return envelope and seal. Print your name and sign in the spaces provided on the back side of the return envelope and mail back to Touro.
NOTE: Any returned ballots that do not have the required printed name and signature on the back of the envelope will be determined null and void and will not count towards the election. Any ballot which is not filled out correctly will be determined null and void and will not count towards the election.
2022 APRIL 5782
SPECIAL 2022 ELECTION EDITION MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR 2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The five candidates with the largest vote count will receive three-year terms. TOURO’S ANNUAL ELECTION OF OFFICERS ATTENTION ALL REGULAR TOURO MEMBERS In compliance with the Constitution of Touro Fraternal Association and the By-Laws of Harmony and Friendship Lodges, the Annual Association and Lodge elections will be held
Wednesday, May 4, 2022 From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. At Touro Hall 45 Rolfe Square – Cranston, Rhode Island OR BY MAIL
All decisions as to any ballot's authenticity made by the Election Committee will be final.
According to an Amendment to Article VIII, Section 6 of the Association Constitution adopted on September 19, 2021, members now have the option of voting in-person or via US mail.
Robert Miller 2022 Election Committee Chairman
The written ballot must be received at the Association Office no later than seven days before the election date – which is April 27, 2022.
...OR IN PERSON
WEDNESDAY MAY 4, 2022 6:00 - 8:00 pm at Touro Hall 45 Rolfe Square Cranston, RI 02910
On the larger of the two envelopes that are enclosed in this mailing, your printed name and signature are required to ensure the integrity of the election. Your ballot will be placed inside the inner envelope, which will be opened separately by the Election Committee in order for your ballot to remain confidential. If you vote by mail, you are ineligible to vote in person. The Election Committee is comprised of Robert Miller, chairman; Jed Brandes, Alan Lury, Jeffrey Davis and Larry Berman. Since no candidates for offices in Harmony and Friendship Lodges are opposed, the secretaries of those lodges and the secretary of the Association will cast unanimous ballots for the following candidates: HARMONY LODGE: President, Barry Schiff; Vice President, Alexander Leach; Secretary, David Nicolato; Treasurer, Jonathan Finkle. FRIENDSHIP LODGE: President, Barry Ackerman; Vice President, David Altman; Secretary, Adam Finkelstein; Treasurer, Scott Halsband.
AN ELECTION WILL BE CONDUCTED FOR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR THREE YEAR TERMS. REGULAR MEMBERS OF BOTH LODGES ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE. Below is the SAMPLE BALLOT. Remember, even though there are no contests for lodge officers, you are encouraged to vote in the election of the Board of Directors.
ONLY REGULAR MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE THERE ARE NO PROVISIONS FOR WRITE-IN VOTES
***SAMPLE BALLOT*** Touro Fraternal Association ANNUAL ELECTION OF OFFICERS May 4, 2022 OR VOTE BY MAIL Board of Directors Five Open Positions Place your mark opposite the name of the candidate(s) of your choice. Vote for no more than five (5) Only one (1) vote per candidate
Barry Ackerman
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Adam Finkelstein
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Max Guarino
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Stevan Labush
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David Nicolato
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Ried Redlich
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PLEASE NOTE: Ballots with more than five (5) votes cast will be declared invalid and disqualified. In the event of a tie for the five positions, a run-off election will be held among those involved in the tie.
M E E T T H E C A N D I D AT E S f o r B O A R D O F D I R E C TO R S The five candidates with the largest vote count will receive three-year terms. BARRY ACKERMAN Previous offices/board positions held: Served two terms on the Board; previously Lodge Vice President. Committees on which you have served: Currently chairman of House and Cemetery Committees, and a member of Investment, Membership, Community Involvement, and Investigation Committees. Previous committees: Communications, Centennial. How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? I have been a professional in the software industry for 40 years, having worked for small to large companies that have exposed me to many different business styles and operations. I currently am a sales manager, as well as many previous years in management, that afforded me experience in areas such as budgeting, personnel management, meeting leadership, time management, and handling deadlines. All of these items are important as a Board member, especially when being the chairman of a committee. What issues would you like to address as a board member? The biggest issue for me is both retention and growing our membership. This is not the sole responsibility of the Membership Committee. Secondly, I believe that Touro needs to increase our financial and direct personal involvement in our community. The focus should be Jewish organizations without prejudice, as well as other pertinent organizations that need assistance for people in Southeastern New England.
ADAM FINKELSTEIN Previous offices/board positions held: Currently secretary of Friendship Lodge. Committees on which you have served Currently Membership and Golf Committees. How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? I have managed employees and processes for 25 years and have held multiple volunteer board positions. I am currently on the Board of Trustees in the Town of East Greenwich, and I was previously on the board of trustees of both Temple Beth El in Montgomery, Ala., and the Jewish Federation of Central Alabama. What issues would you like to address as a board member? We need to increase Touro’s impact on the Jewish community of Southeastern New England. We can do this by promoting Touro to
younger potential members. We can also do this by spending more money on community projects than we currently do. If we are too conservative with the funds in our organization, we run the risk of not doing enough to support our community. I’d like to be more aggressive with well-vetted, targeted projects that support the needs of our local Jewish communities.
MAX GUARINO Previous offices/board positions held: Board of Directors, Friendship Lodge President and Vice President; Inside Guard. Committees on which you have served: Assistance, Cemetery, Communications, Community Involvement, House, Investigation, Membership, Social and Sunshine (current chairman). How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? The experience over the years with the board of the Brotherhood at Temple Beth El has prepared me well. My years as a lodge officer, being the co-chair of the Social Committee, President of the Lodge and the responsibilities that came along with that, and the last 3 years of experience on the board of directors has helped prepare me as well. What issues would you like to address as a board member? What Touro needs now is to change its structure to a more modernday format that is going to attract younger members and convince them to get more involved with Touro. We also need to find a way to get board members on the same page. Finding new members is of course very important for Touro’s future. These are some of the goals I would continue to work toward if elected to another 3-year term on the Board of Directors. .
STEVAN LABUSH
Previous offices/board positions held: Friendship Lodge- Treasurer, Vice President and President; Board of Directors – Vice Chairman and Current Chairman. Committees on which you have served: Assistance, Budget and Finance (Chairman), Centennial, Community Involvement, Constitution & By-Laws, Golf, Investigation, Investments, Membership (Chairman), Student Financial Aid, Social (Chairman), Ways & Means, Welfare (Chairman). As board chairman, I am currently an ex-officio member of all committees. How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? I have been involved with Touro for 30 years and always have taken
on a leadership role. When I joined Touro in 1992, I was asked to be Friendship Lodge treasurer after only a few months and I’ve held virtually every position since – including serving on the board for the last 27 years. It has been the greatest honor of my life to be the board chairman for the past two years. I have served on the boards of six other organizations at one time or another, but there is no question that Touro is the greatest of all. My motto is, if you want the most out of the organization, get involved! What issues would you like to address as a board member? The issues that I have started to address as board chairman is trying to make sure everything is documented so the next generation knows what has been done and procedures are in place to keep us running as smoothly as we are now. My goal is to continue to get people to step up and get involved. It will make this organization even better than it already is. Members should come to the social meetings to give ideas and spearhead events. We always are looking for help.
DAVID NICOLATO Previous offices/board positions held: Secretary of Harmony Lodge, May 2021 – Current. Committees on which you have served: Actively serving on the Communications, Golf and the Community Involvement Committees. How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? I have two decades of program development and events management for organizations large and small, both in Rhode Island and Dallas, TX. I have dedicated my time in a variety of ways, including PTA president at my son’s school and running our former temple’s largest annual fundraiser as Vice President of Fundraising. I am happiest when I can share my talents to expand organizations and generate new members. I am dedicated to the long-term success of Touro! What issues would you like to address as a board member? I’m not one to accept “we’ve always done it like this” or “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Organizations need to continuously evolve, and I have experience supporting organizations through that. I think that it is important to evolve Touro so that we can recruit and retain younger members. In order to recruit high quality Jews to our brotherhood, it will take a different approach to our current one. I am committed to designing that with our brotherhood so that we can get the members of tomorrow interested in all that this special brotherhood has to offer!
RIED REDLICH Previous Office(s)/Board positions held: Friendship Lodge President for 3 years, Vice President for 1 year, and Secretary for 1 year; Faithful Guide for both Friendship and Harmony Lodges for 10 years, Touro representative on the Lincoln Park Cemetery Board for 9 years, and a Touro board member for many years. Committees on which you have served: Chairman of the Investigation Committee for 4 years; Chairman of Ways and Means Committee for 3 years; currently, I am Chairman of the Student Financial Aid Committee for 4 years. I have also served on the Budget and Finance, Cemetery, Communications, Community Involvement, House, Investment, Membership, Orientation, Ritual, Social and Sunshine Committees. How has your professional and/or personal life prepared you to assume a board position? Over the years I have become very familiar with Touro culture and the way Touro needs to operate to maintain a high level of achievement and brotherly camaraderie for the entire membership. I have the skills from my successful 40 year entrepreneurial business career, Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Administration, significant financial analysis and investing experience to help our organization move forward. I would like to be part of the future success of Touro. What issues would you like to address as a board member? The most significant issue facing the Board and our membership as a whole is “where do we go from here”? With regular membership declining and the population of Jewish men in RI also in decline, what do we have to do as an organization to ensure that Touro will be a viable Jewish Fraternal organization in the future. With this in mind, we must also ensure that our financial strength will be maintained to continue and expand our member benefits and charitable endeavors long into the future. As a long-time member of the Investment Committee team, we have been able to ensure a steady stream of income to run our organization, provide for member benefits and charitable contributions. As an active member of the social committee, I helped with providing great lodge programs and other events, but we need to develop a strategy to encourage more participation in the planning of our events. I am a firm believer in the Touro motto of Harmony, Friendship, and Benevolence and hope to find new and more appealing ways to incorporate and enhance these principles of our organization. Membership will be of utmost importance in the decades to come and Touro must adapt to a new reality of Jewish young men not wanting to join mainstream Jewish organizations. Our focus in the future will need to deal with increasing younger membership. If we can find a solution to this problem we will help make our organization more meaningful for all members. That being said, we need to approach this problem just like you would in business, find out what is important to Jewish young men and try to provide it. What was important to an older generation of Touro members may not be important to younger prospects. So we have to adapt and modernize our organization to entice younger men to join. I hope to work on this issue as well as others to build our membership.
PLEASE VOTE BY MAIL WITH THE ENCLOSED BALLOT OR AT TOURO HALL ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022