JC Leaders and staff

About 50 full-time personnel are employed at the JC.  The Director over all day-to-day JC functions since 1994 was Eran Hayet -- age 47, born and raised in Israel as a secular Jew.  His Associate Director was Tawfic Alawi -- age 37, a lifelong Palestinian.

 Ultimate USA oversight was provided by Jim Kearl (BYU Vice Pres.) and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (LDS apostle and former BYU President).

Eran's Administrative Assistant was Nino Zohar -- an orthodox Jew.  Neomi Weinstein -- a secular Jew born in Haifa -- had been the cultural arts director for 17 years.

Mona Hamuri -- a Palestinian Muslim -- assisted Tawfic.  The Office Manager was Malak Sharaf, also a Muslim.  She had been employed there since it opened in 1987.  All of these mixed cultures and religions got along famously well -- as was also true of all other staff members.  In fact, that was an essential condition of employment.

Accounting was all handled by Ghalib Nubani -- coordinated with Carl Bailey of BYU.  Both of them had been with the JC since its beginning.  When Carl retired in May '11, Kevin Walker (seated) replaced him for BYU. 

Security staff was headed by Tarek Safadi, a young Palestinian Christian with a great sense of humor.  About 12 others assisted him, including Bassam -- employed there from the beginning.

 Custodial staff of 8 was headed by Mohammad Zahaykeh.  The 2 youngest custodians were Mohamad and Sadek.  On request, they were willing (especially Sadek) to carry or move any thing, any time.

Qassem and Sa'ed were constantly cleaning glass -- even in the rain!

Samia deserved special mention.  She lived closest to the JC and has kept clean all public areas (Levels 7 and 8) from the beginning. 

 Maintenance staff of 7 was more specialized -- installers, painters, fixers and technicians, like Sami (setting up the next art exhibit) and Alex Stein.

 Food services had a staff of 7 -- but Jamil ("Jimmy") died of lung cancer while we were there.  So Ahmad Saheen became the head chef.  He did a great job -- mainly assisted by Luba.

Gardening staff included Dan Herman and Mohamad Mohana -- also JC employees from the start.  Their young understudy was Samer Shweki.  They worked very hard to keep the JC grounds like an oasis in a city of stone. 

JC employment was highly coveted -- good pay in a clean, wholesome environment with other nice people.  We never knew of any tensions with or among any of this fine staff during our 18 months.