JPRO Award Winners

JPRO Miami Lifetime Achievement Award:

Carla Spector is Director of Administration for the Department of Adult Learning and Growth at the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE). She grew up in Miami and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education from Florida Atlantic University.

Spector’s career in Jewish education spans 45 years, arriving at CAJE in the fall of 1976. Working primarily with teens for 32 years, she was the Director of the Akiva Leadership Teen Program, Director of Administration for the Judaica High School and Director of the Miami-Dade Community College Credit Program. She served as senior staff on seven Miami teen March of the Living programs from 1994-2008 and also served as Director for the Miami March of the Living in 2006. In addition to her commitment to Jewish teen education, Spector worked concurrently with CAJE’s Development Department on special events and provided support to the Miami Jewish Film Festival. In 2011, she transitioned her focus from teens to adults, serving as Director of Administration for the Florence Melton School. Today, she serves in that same capacity for all CAJE adult Jewish learning.

Married to Jimmy Spector since 1973, they are blessed with daughter, Jenn, 2 awesome grandsons, Jake and Luke, and loving son-in-law, Alex Peysakhovich.

JPRO Miami Rabbi Solomon Schiff (z”l) Jewish Communal Professional of Excellence Award:

Lori Tabachnikoff is the Director of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Jewish Volunteer Center (JVC). With a degree in public and cultural speech, Tabachnikoff has focused her career around being a community connector and a catalyst for change. Since 2004, she has been in working for the Jewish community, first at Hillels of the Florida Suncoast as Director of Jewish Life, and then in 2008 she began her journey with Federation working to increase the capacity of Jewish and community organizations by mobilizing volunteers. Through JVC’s work, Tabachnikoff and her team have engaged more than 4,000 volunteers to give back on annual basis. Most recently, she has organized more than 1,000 volunteers to participate in disaster/crisis relief projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably scheduling more than 5,000 vaccine appointments. In addition to her work at Federation, she serves on the Kehilla Committee at the Alper Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Development Department, the Board of Directors of the Hillels of the Florida Suncoast and volunteers for En Familia, an organization that helps the children of migrant workers and her synagogue Congregation Dor Chadash. Lori also coaches graduate students who are interested in a career in the non-profit sector.

A native of Miami, Lori is the proud mother of four children and is married to Rabbi Jonathan Tabachnikoff.