James M. Butler currently serves as chair of the Montefiore Health System Board of Trustees, and has been a Montefiore trustee since 2009. Mr. Butler is also vice chair of Montefiore Einstein, the umbrella organization for the health system and the College of Medicine. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Butler served as chair of the board of trustees of Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx.
He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of USI Northeast, a diversified insurance and financial services firm focused on providing fully integrated distribution of general and specialty property and casualty insurance and financial services, such as employee benefits outsourcing and related consulting. Previously, Mr. Butler was CEO of USI New York, where he was responsible for revenue growth, retention of existing revenue, and strategic business planning for New York operations. Before joining USI, Mr. Butler worked at River Bank America as senior vice president, serving in a key advisory capacity to senior management.
Mr. Butler also is a board member at FOJP, one of the largest insurance and risk agencies in the country, acquired by Healthcare Risk Advisors, and on the Cabrini of Westchester board as a member and former treasurer and chair of its finance committee.
James M. Butler
Stuart Spodek was most recently the chief investment officer of the Obsidian Hedge Fund at BlackRock. He was responsible for the fund’s overall investment process, risk budgeting, and asset-allocation decisions.
He has also been a member of BlackRock’s global operating committee, its alternatives executive committee, and its fixed-income executive committee.
Mr. Spodek was a senior portfolio manager at the Obsidian Fund since its inception in 1996 and assumed the role of lead portfolio manager at the end of 2007. He joined BlackRock in 1993 as an analyst in its Portfolio Management Group and became a portfolio manager in 1995.
From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Spodek was on the board of directors of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, which represents market participants in the privately negotiated derivatives industry.
In 2011, he became a member of the treasury borrowing advisory committee of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and served as its vice chair for eight years. He is a member of the board of Pursuit.org, a technology-focused workforce training program in New York City, and is on the board of Grassroots Grocery, an organization battling food insecurity in the Bronx.
For 15 years he and his wife sponsored an “I Have a Dream” program, and Mr. Spodek was on the board of the New York City “I Have a Dream” Foundation. He has also served on the board of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association.
Mr. Spodek earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and operations research at Princeton University in 1993. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and lives with his wife and three children in Manhattan.
Stuart Spodek
Michael Stern is a partner at Stonehill Capital Management, an investment firm specializing in distressed and opportunistic investments. He leads many of Stonehill’s investments in legal assets and real estate and has been with the firm since 2007. He previously worked for Sankaty Advisors, now known as Bain Capital Credit.
Mr. Stern previously was the president of the Jewish Communal Fund, a $2.8 billion donor-advised fund. He is a trustee and member of the finance committee of the UJA-Federation of New York and a trustee of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University, and serves as an ambassador for the U.S. Ski Team Foundation.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Yale and a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. Mr. Stern lives in New York with his wife, Janna, and their four children.
Michael Stern
Einstein’s Board of Trustees recently recognized outgoing trustee Betty Feinberg’s “dedication, collaborative spirit, compassion, and advocacy for Einstein’s mission” over three decades of service to the College of Medicine, bestowing upon her the title of trustee emeritus.
Mrs. Feinberg was appointed to the Board in 1990, serving as president of the national board of the Women’s Division, honorary president of the division’s New Jersey chapter, and a member of the advisory board of the Einstein Cancer Research Center.
She and her husband, Sheldon, were honored with Einstein’s Humanitarian Award in 1991, a testament to their giving spirit and service to community. Mrs. Feinberg has also served as president of the Betty and Sheldon Feinberg Supporting Foundation and has held significant leadership positions in other organizations, including Israel Bonds and the UJA-Federation.
Mrs. Feinberg has been a strong advocate for advancing cancer research, supporting the lab of Winfried Edelmann, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology and of genetics at Einstein, in the study of Lynch syndrome. Mr. and Mrs. Feinberg have also endowed the Sheldon and Betty Feinberg Research Fund and the Sheldon and Betty Feinberg Senior Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, ensuring a lasting legacy of innovation and excellence.
Betty Feinberg
