Ann Toback is the transformative CEO of the Workers Circle, where she has redefined what a 125-year-old progressive Jewish organization can achieve in the modern era. As the first female CEO in the organization's history, Ann has spent more than 15 years building a fusion of Eastern European Jewish heritage with contemporary social justice activism that now reaches millions. Drawing on the Workers Circle's rich Eastern European tradition of resistance and resilience, she has transformed this heritage into a powerful force for democracy and social justice.

The Workers Circle has emerged as a leading Jewish organization in democracy protection, mobilizing to reach over 1.6 million Black voters with essential information to overcome voter suppression in 2024. The organization launched two major initiatives: the Black and Jewish Partnership for Democracy with Black Voters Matter in January 2024, building a powerful coalition for democratic change, and Democracy Circles in 2023, a grassroots organizing program that has grown to 80+ groups with over 350 regular participants. Throughout 2024, the Workers Circle's expanding programs and initiatives brought 60,000 new activists into its community.

During her tenure, the Workers Circle has become a leading center for Yiddish language instruction, serving 2,000+ students annually through 160 classes. In 2018, she spearheaded a biennial Workers Circle Jewish Journey, where she plans and leads delegations through Poland and Lithuania, connecting participants directly with 1,000 years of Yiddish heritage, culture, and activism.

Integrating cultural education with activism, the Workers Circle engages new generations through Yiddish language programs and social justice initiatives. The organization's College Network, now in its fifth year, has grown to over 600 student members across 50+ campuses nationwide, where young leaders combine cultural learning with democracy-building work.

Prior to joining the Workers Circle, Ann served as Assistant Executive Director at the Writers Guild of America, East (1999-2008), where she led the historic 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike on the East Coast. This experience as a union leader, combined with her background as an attorney (Boston University School of Law, J.D.), has informed her approach to merging advocacy, education, and cultural preservation into a strategy for collective impact.

Today, Ann leads an organization that uniquely bridges Jewish cultural preservation and progressive organizing, advancing democracy through both grassroots activism and cultural education. Her work ensures that the Workers Circle's legacy of activism continues to resonate and create change in contemporary movements for social justice.

Melissa joined the Workers Circle in June 2018 as our Director of Development and External Affairs and was promoted to Deputy Executive Director and Development Director in October 2020. Melissa has worked in leadership positions at national and international nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years. Her two most recent positions prior to joining the Workers Circle were: Division Director, Member & Unit Services at Hadassah, WZOA, Inc., and Director, Membership and Communications, the National Council of Jewish Women, Inc. (NCJW, Inc.).

Jonathan Gold is our Director of Finance and has been with the Workers Circle since 2007. Prior to joining our staff, he worked at a Long Island based design firm as well as a UJA-Federation agency, which is where his accounting career began. He has a B.A. in Accounting from Queens College/CUNY.

Kolya Borodulin is the master teacher and Director of Yiddish programming at the Workers Circle in New York, the largest non-academic program in the United States. Kolya has been teaching Yiddish since 1988, just three months after he began learning the language himself. He joined the Workers Circle staff in 1993, and has been developing curricula and leading classes for Workers Circle students of all ages ever since. He teaches Yiddish language and culture to multigenerational audiences: kids, teens, and adults (sometimes four generations together), nationally and internationally, and is credited with giving hundreds of Yiddishists their foundation in the language. His dynamic style has garnered a growing fan base across the United States and beyond.

Noelle Damico is the Director of Social Justice at the Workers Circle and joined our staff in April 2020. With 30 years of experience in grassroots and institutional organizing at the local, regional, and national settings, Noelle is an adjunct teaching organizing and political advocacy at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She has worked alongside the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for two decades to build consumer support for the farmworkers’ Campaign for Fair Food which gave birth to the internationally recognized Fair Food Program that has dramatically advanced human rights for farmworkers and the Worker-driven Social Responsibility paradigm. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Noelle previously served as national staff focused on human trafficking and farmworker rights for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and directed the United Church of Christ’s legislative network on Capitol Hill. Noelle has lectured widely on human rights, forced labor, and corporate accountability including keynotes at the OSCE and the US Department of Justice conferences. She holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College as well as a M.Div. and Th.M from Princeton Theological Seminary. She resides in White Plains, NY with her husband Jeffrey Geary and their son August Xavier.

Prior to joining the Workers Circle in 2021, Shelley was a development consultant providing comprehensive development services to non-profits such as the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience and the American Federation of Aging Research.

Shelley brings more than 30 years of experience in fundraising and program development. She has held leadership positions in a number of international non-profits, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she served as Northeast regional director. Shelley specialized in capital gifts and special projects as a senior development officer at UJA-Federation of New York, and managed programs and budgets in Latin America, Africa and Asia at the American Joint Distribution Committee. Born in South Africa, Shelley holds a B.A. in political science from the University of the Witwatersrand (S.A.) and studied further at the University of York (U.K.) specializing in the political economy of Africa.