Miriam Heller Stern, PhD, is CEO of BJE: Builders of Jewish Education, Los Angeles. 

A career Jewish educator, visionary scholar, strategist and creative thinker, Miriam Heller Stern built her career in academic leadership and teaching, directing the graduate schools of education at Hebrew Union College (2016-2025) and AJU (2010-2016) as a faculty member, and also serving as Vice Provost for Educational Strategy at HUC (2021-2024). A historian who always has an eye on designing the future, she is thrilled and honored to serve the Los Angeles Jewish community and the broad field of Jewish education as CEO of Builders of Jewish Education.

Dedicated to enriching the quality, ingenuity and efficacy of Jewish education, Dr. Stern is a highly sought-after strategic thought partner, advisor, mentor and coach by Jewish educational leaders, organizations, institutions and initiatives across the United States and Israel. She serves on the national advisory committee of Reimagining Jewish Education; Be’er: the Global Jewish Educational Leadership Group; and the global strategic advisory committee of UnitED (a project of the Israeli Ministry of the Diaspora aimed at advancing Jewish education). She has served on the boards of theatre dybbuk, Shalhevet High School, bimbam, the Torah Studio and the Association for Reform Jewish Educators. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Jewish Education and chaired a research awards committee of the Network for Research in Jewish Education. In recent years she has contributed her expertise on task forces and strategic working groups for organizations including Prizmah: the Center for Jewish Day Schools, M²: the Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, Hillel International, Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, and research advisory committees for Rosov Consulting and the Jewish Education Project. Committed to elevating Jewish education across the spectrum of Jewish life, Dr. Stern has also, in recent years, performed consultancy projects for the Azrieli Graduate School of Education of Yeshiva University, Camp Ramah of California, the Association of Reform Jewish Educators as well as synagogues and schools across denominations.

Inspiring creativity in Jewish educational design and practice is a core focus of Dr. Stern’s work. Her most recent publication, "Jewish Creativity: An Essential Aspiration for Jewish Education" is a call to educators across the Jewish spectrum to empower learners to develop chidushim, novel of ideas of value, reclaiming a historic legacy of Jewish creativity through the ages. She is the founder of Beit HaYotzer, the Creativity Braintrust, a strategic initiative designed to amplify creative pedagogy and leadership, which she launched with a signature grant from the Covenant Foundation. A Scholar in Residence at the Covenant Foundation as well as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education in 2024, she has published numerous academic, professional and popular articles. She speaks widely on topics in education including the habits of creative Jewish thinkers; the history and future of Jewish education; and articulating “the why” of Jewish education. A creative teacher herself, she is known for her kintsugi beit midrash and Aramaic incantation bowls workshops, in addition to teaching Torah in various adult education settings.