Rabbi Soffer joins BCHA from Striar Hebrew Academy in Sharon, Massachusetts, where he served as Head of School for the past seven years. Under his leadership, the school experienced significant enrollment growth, strengthened academic excellence, and expanded community engagement, earning him recognition as one of the country’s rising leaders in Jewish day school education.
A graduate of The Leffell School, Rabbi Soffer earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s degree in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in educational leadership. He received semicha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and is a recipient of the prestigious Covenant Foundation Pomegranate Prize, a Wexner Field Fellow, and a Rabbinic Mentor for the Prizmah Day School Leadership Training Institute.
Rabbi Soffer lives in Stamford with his wife Marti, and their four children.


Rabbi Rosenfeld is the Head of Judaics at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut. Previously, he was the middle school principal at Manhattan Day School and served as assistant rabbi at Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City. Prior to that, he was on the Judaics faculty of SAR High School. Rabbi Rosenfeld studied for two years in Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem, and served in the IDF in the 605th Combat Engineers as a lone soldier through the Second Lebanon War.
Rabbi Rosenfeld received a bachelor’s degree with honors in English Literature from Yeshiva University, where he was a Wilf Family Scholar. He holds a master’s degree from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and obtained semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He lives with his wife Chani, and their children Sofie, Noa, and Judah in Stamford.
Gabriel “Gabe” Felder, a Stamford native and BCHA alumnus, returns home to be the school’s Middle School Principal. Mr. Felder was previously the Dean of English Language Arts and Special Services at Achievement First Apollo Middle School, where he led many academic initiatives and supervised all special services related to IEP’s, 504’s, and English language learners. He served as a member of the school’s leadership team, planned and led staff professional development for over 30 teachers and over 15 staff members, coached and managed the ELA department of eight teachers, ensured compliance for all special services, and led reading initiatives for 400 students across grades 5-8.
Before moving to the leadership team, Mr. Felder was the founding 8th grade ELA teacher at Apollo and served as the grade level chair and advisor for first year teachers. In addition to being a proud graduate of BCHA, Mr. Felder is also a graduate of the City University of New York: Brooklyn College where he holds a Masters of Arts in Education – Students with Disabilities 7-12 Certificate. He also graduated from The George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Communications. While at GWU, Mr. Felder was selected from a group of his fellow classmates as the class speaker for his graduating class.


Tricia Hoff has been named incoming Principal of the BCHA Lower School. Tricia has extensive teaching experience, having been a 4th grade teacher at BCHA since 2012 earning the reputation of being a kind, responsive and caring teacher. In this new role, Mrs. Hoff will oversee all aspects of the Lower School program including supervising the elementary staff, overseeing curriculum, maintaining operations, supervising disciplinary matters and serving as the primary contact for parents. Prior to joining the BCHA team, Tricia taught various elementary grades in New York at Rodeph Sholom, Solomon Schechter and in public school. Trained in specialized reading and writing support services, Mrs. Hoff served as the Reading Partners Director of United Jewish Federation of Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.
Mrs. Hoff is a graduate of Binghamton University with a B.S. in Psychology, and holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Education (K-6) from Hunter College. She and her husband Rob are active Stamford community members and proud parents of 3 wonderful sons, all of whom attend or have graduated Bi-Cultural.
Nicole Makovsky has recently been appointed the new Director of the Early Childhood Center at Bi-Cultural. Nicole joined the BCHA EC family in 2017. Since coming to BCHA Nicole has proven herself a leader in the field, consistently working on and improving curriculum, encouraging her team and hundreds of students to be the best they can be, always promoting kindness and empathy. Mrs. Makovsky graduated with a BA in Early Childhood Education from Yeshiva University and holds a Masters degree in General and Special Education from Touro College. She has been teaching in Early Childhood Education for the past 15 years. Nicole lives in Stamford with her husband Jonathan and their four children, Mackenzie, Austin, Riley and Preston.
