Annual Gala/Honorees

Nancy and Robert "Bobby" Schostak

Nancy and Robert “Bobby” Schostak might just hold the record for the longest continuous legacy to Hillel Day School. A devotion that dates back to 1965, when a young Bobby began third grade at Hillel and has continued for every decade since Bobby’s graduation in 1971, followed soon thereafter by each of his three brothers, David, Tzvi, and Mark, and sisters Lindsey and Stefanie. Nancy and Bobby’s three children, Michael, Jeffrey, and Jody, also graduated from Hillel and the Schostak’s generational impact continues today with their grandchildren: Michael and Becca’s children, Olive (7th grade), Sailor (4th grade), Reuben (2nd grade), and Lincoln (ECC4), and Jeffrey and Rachel’s son George (ECC3), with Sofia soon to follow. Jody and Fred’s four children attend Heilicher Jewish Day School in Minneapolis. It is important to note that George holds the distinct honor of being the 25th Schostak to attend Hillel, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and a long line of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

When Nancy and Bobby married in 1977, Bobby’s mom Arlene Tilchin was serving as the first female President of the Hillel Board of Trustees. As a newlywed, Nancy immediately fell in love with Hillel while completing her student teaching in Mrs. Charlip’s(z’l) first-grade classroom. An avid volunteer while her children were Hillel students, Nancy continues to fill Hillel with warmth and grace as her grandchildren’s greatest cheerleader, program attendee, and driver. Longtime Hillel staff praise Nancy for her enduring kindness and passion and appreciate her encouragement and friendly smiles.

Hillel has Bobby to thank for its central location that attracts families from almost every corner of Oakland County; families from Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Windsor even make the commute. Bobby, an astute strategic thinker, and masterful fundraiser brought these skills to the table when he was elected President of the Hillel Board of Trustees in 1994. During his leadership, Bobby led a historic $13 million capital campaign to expand and renovate Hillel’s current facility, turning down a $5 million gift to move further west. This expansion, led by the Schostak family’s $1 million gift, added 28,000 square feet, creating the middle school wing, media center, Rudolph Shulman Chapel, and science wing all in the newly dedicated Schostak Family Campus. Bobby also ensured that $3 million was funneled to the school’s endowment fund which continues to grow, ensuring the vitality of the school for today and the future.

The Schostak family operates the 100 years plus, commercial real estate business Schostak Brothers & Co., founded by Bobby’s grandfather Louis Schostak and pioneered by his father Jerome, as well as Michigan’s largest privately held franchised restaurant company, TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants, with over 165 restaurants. Nancy and Bobby’s son Jeffrey currently serves as President of the real estate development company.

After nearly 40 years in the family business, Bobby now dedicates his time to three business areas, including being the CEO of MadDog Technology VC Fund, a division of MadDog Technology, a developer and funder of cloud-based solutions that are disruptive to the industries they serve. Bobby is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Oakland University, appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, where he received the Distinguished Alumni Spirit Award. The Schostak Family Foundation Endowed Fund supports Judaic Studies at OU and its medical school with scholarships. Bobby previously served as Michigan Republican Party Chairman and founded Templar Baker Group, a strategic political and business consulting firm.

Nancy has been an active participant on the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s Israel and Overseas and Partnership 2000 committees and chaired the 2004 Teen Mission to Israel. Together, the couple’s profound impact can also be felt at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

The couple, along with the entire Schostak family, are exemplary role models for their enthusiastic support of Hillel, our larger community, Israel, education, and the University of Michigan. We are thrilled to bestow upon them the 2022 Dream Maker and Rabbi Jacob E. Segal Awards. This honor is extraordinarily special as they join their father Jerry Schostak who received both honors in 1997 and their mother Arlene who received the Rabbi Jacob E. Segal Award in 2004.

Distinguished Alumni

Annie Slabotsky (Class of 2011)

Annie Slabotsky graduated from Hillel in 2011 and attended the Frankel Jewish Academy. She went on to the University of Michigan where she received a Bachelor’s Degree from the School of Information Focus in UX Design and Data Analytics with a minor in Business. At Michigan, she met Morgan Lerner, and the two quickly bonded over their shared love for healthy food and baking. After three years of recipe testing, they started selling single-serve banana bread loaves around campus and throughout Michigan. After moving to Chicago to expand their grab-and-go business, the pandemic emerged. Annie, together with Morgan, recognized a gap in the market and, with their surplus of ingredients, pivoted to launch their delicious banana bread mix and official “comfort food of the Coronavirus.” Annie is co-founder and CEO of GoNanas, a women-owned, vegan, gluten-free, and top allergen-free banana bread company at the forefront of the #1 comfort food trend. Since the company's inception, Annie has launched GoNanas into 2,000 retail locations globally, including Nordstrom Rack and HomeGoods, and has earned appearances on QVC, Good Morning America, numerous business podcasts, and has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, and numerous other periodicals. Annie was a board member for the University of Michigan Hillel, a 2018 optiMize Fellow, and founder of the Baking for BRCA Club, selling her baked goods and donating all proceeds to BRCA research. Outside of work, her favorite hobby is, you guessed it, baking!

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