It was a painful process and took me some time to absorb the shock and sadness. I learned to strengthen my emunah and realize that when one door closes others will open

Who: Debra Kodish, executive vice president at MEOR and founder at Keshet Capital

What: In 2014, after nearly three decades in the world of banking and finance, Debra switched gears to lead MEOR, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring, educating, and empowering Jewish students at top universities across the United States. MEOR’s goal is to engage this new generation in the discovery of their own heritage and identity, encouraging them to connect with Judaism, and empowering them to actively engage with the Jewish community. 

Prior to MEOR, Debra worked in the Israeli capital markets, banking sector, and private equity markets — all driven by her passion for bringing investment to Israel. Debra has been involved in raising over $1 billion for public markets in Israel and north of $250 million in the private sector for major Israeli venture capital funds and early-stage companies, and has advised numerous Israeli start-up companies and foreign investors. 

Debra earned a bachelor of accounting from George Washington University in 1990, a CPA certification in the US in 1992 and her license with the SEC of Israel in 1996. In 2000 she founded Keshet Capital, an investment banking advisory firm, in which she is still involved.

Where: Debra was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She made aliyah in 1994 and has been living with her husband and four children in the Gush Etzion town of Neve Daniel for the past 16 years.

Why: When I met Debra at a speaking event for MEOR, I was captivated by her story. She possesses stellar business credentials, helped build an investment bank, was one of the pioneers at the onset of Israel becoming the “Startup Nation,” yet seven years ago opted to devote the bulk of her professional life to the world of outreach, transforming MEOR into a powerhouse organization. I wanted to hear more of Debra’s personal story, how she came to blend her business experience with her passion for kiruv, and how, given her demanding schedule, she manages to remain balanced and happy. 

What opportunities or personalities played a role in your career?

My parents were the first to teach me about business, entrepreneurship, accounting, and working hard. My father encouraged me to establish a strong foundation from which I could do anything, and accounting and finance turned out to be that foundation.

Secondly, I gained valuable experience working as a CPA for a few years before I made aliyah. Upon my arrival to Israel, I was fortunate to get immediate exposure to the banking and finance sectors, spending a year with the finance division of Bank Leumi. It also helped me improve my Hebrew, especially the business jargon. The pivotal moment was an opportunity to join a promising start-up and help build an investment bank in Tel Aviv that grew from just five of us to 120 employees when it went public in 1998. This was a time when bringing foreign investment to Israel was practically nonexistent. So being, as the saying goes, a big fish in a (very) small pond granted me access to a number of Israel’s leading businesspeople, entrepreneurs, innovators, and companies. 

As a new immigrant in my twenties, I participated regularly in meetings with the presidents and CEOs of TEVA, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, and Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, Supersol, Bezeq, and Africa Israel. At the same time, I was meeting with the heads of Morgan Stanley, UBS, Invesco, T. Rowe Price, and more — major global investors who were intrigued but unfamiliar with the story of modern Israel, with its energy, innovative capacity, and potential. So unfamiliar were some that they didn’t know where Israel was on the map, so we would actually bring maps with us to the meetings. In a way we were doubling as ambassadors to the managers of these emerging market funds, enlightening them to the beauty and history of Israel.

The most important person in my journey has been my husband, who I met three weeks after arriving in Israel. We were not religious then, but we were both raised Conservative/traditional so the leap wasn’t so foreign to us — and in fact, I was on a personal journey since high school. I found a class in Tel Aviv called “The Torah’s View of Money” by Rabbi Dr. Shalom Srebrenik, a well-known Arachim lecturer. It was amazing for me to realize the Torah actually had a view on money, and if it did, I wanted to understand the Torah’s views on many other subjects relevant to my life. This triggered a desire for more classes, and my husband-to-be joined me on the journey. He always encouraged and motivated me to continue building my career while raising our family and has been an incredible partner. People often ask me how I do what I do and my reply is always the same — having a strong partner by my side while staying true to my core values is the secret.

The next opportunity came when I was introduced to MEOR founders Tom Steinberg (who became my close mentor and friend), together with the brilliant and charismatic Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld. Their vision was to build an organization working to educate, empower, and inspire Jewish university students across the United States. This very much resonated with me, because back when I was a student, I was eager to learn and understand more about my Jewish identity and plot the course for a life that included sustained personal growth. I grappled with the role that spirituality would play in my life long term, what values I would hold dear, and what kind of family I would want to raise. Unfortunately, there weren’t many answers to be found on campus, and it took me years of exploration to find the clarity I was searching for. 

Initially I served MEOR as an advisor and consultant, assisting in the creation of systems and infrastructure as well as strategies to fortify donor relationships. MEOR possessed an energy that I found exciting — much like the start-ups and venture capital funds. The drive and dedication of the organization’s founders was inspirational… and contagious, so much so that my volunteer consulting gig ultimately turned into an invitation to join MEOR full-time, which I enthusiastically accepted.