Neranenah Staff

JOE ALTERMAN

EXECUTIVE Director 

A fourth generation Atlantan on both sides of his family, Joe Alterman studied music at New York University, where he received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Jazz Piano Performance. In addition to performances with Houston Person, Les McCann and his own trio, among others, Alterman has performed at many world renowned venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland and New York’s Blue Note, where Alterman has opened, many times, for Ramsey Lewis. Alterman has also opened for Dick Gregory, Norah Jones, John Pizzarelli and Philip Bailey (of Earth, Wind And Fire), among others. 32 years old, Alterman has released four critically-acclaimed albums, his most recent being 2018’s “More Cornbread”. He was profiled three times by iconic journalist Nat Hentoff and was the subject of Hentoff’s very last piece on music in March 2016. Dick Cavett has referred to Alterman as “one fine, first class entertainer” and Ramsey Lewis has called Alterman “an inspiration to me” and his piano playing “a joy to behold”. Also a budding journalist, Alterman has written liner notes for three Wynton Marsalis albums. Nat Hentoff called one of Alterman's columns on jazz "one of the very best pieces on the essence of jazz, the spirt of jazz, that I've ever read, and I'm not exaggerating."

Raychel Robbins

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Raychel Robbins has over a decade and a half of experience in the higher education and nonprofit sectors, previously holding the positions of Development Director for Teach for America - Metro Atlanta, the Jewish Educational Loan Fund, and Greenfield Hebrew Academy. Raychel moved to Atlanta from South Florida, after completing her Masters degree in Leadership, to help build Georgia Gwinnett College during its formative years. As a consultant, Raychel has worked with several nonprofits, helping them to start-up, grow, or improve in order to achieve their missions and visions. Her areas of expertise are organizational change management and leadership development. Raychel served on the board of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival from 2011-2014 (board co-chair 2012-14) and again in 2015-2017, before joining the staff. In 2019, Raychel was honored as one of the “40 Under 40” by The Atlanta Jewish Times and was Neranenah's Team Leader for our Atlanta cohort of the Bloomberg Philanthropies and DeVos Institute Arts Innovation and Management program.

Tali Benjamin

Marketing & Development Director

Tali Benjamin has over a decade of experience leading strategic marketing, messaging and planning efforts for local non-profit organizations and service industry clients, including The Epstein School, In the City Camps, Urban Canine Pest Detection, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Memphis Botanic Garden, GA Retina and DeKalb Medical. Prior to her work in marketing, Tali followed her passion for storytelling as the Special Projects Editor for Jezebel Magazine and Managing Editor of Atlanta Parent Magazine. Tali enjoys cooking (and eating), listening to music, reading, and all things Broadway.