Business Administration Team

Chaya Engle graduated from Fordham Law School in 1994 with a Juris Doctor. She then moved to Atlanta, GA where she worked as a Public Defender. After living in Connecticut for nine years, she and her family moved to Pittsburgh with their six children to become part of the Yeshiva Schools family.

Chaya worked as the Administrative Director of TELC at Yeshiva for many years before taking on the position of Chief Compliance Officer in 2021. Chaya also developed the emergency plan for Yeshiva Schools and continues to work on security issues and policies.

As the Chief Compliance Officer, Chaya reviews compliance at all three schools.  She also spends time writing grants in order to bring funding, equipment, and programs to Yeshiva Schools.

Ashirah King was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. After starting her family in Crown Heights, and spending some time living in Nashville, TN, Ashirah and her husband, Yisroel, moved to Pittsburgh seven years ago. 

One of the many things that drew them to Pittsburgh was Yeshiva Schools and they are now the proud parents of five Yeshiva Schools students.

Soon after moving here, Ashirah started working for Yeshiva as the boys school receptionist. She transitioned to the business office team a year later and now works as the admissions and enrollment director.

In that role, Ashirah coordinates admissions and enrollment for all three schools, as well as tuition and scholarships. She feels that one of the most rewarding aspects of her role is being able to provide support for parents through these different processes, and welcoming them to the Yeshiva community. 

Since December of 2018, Brian Melczak has been the School Safety and Security Operations Director at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, during which time he has served in a variety of capacities, including coordinating security training for staff and students alike, working with the compliance department to develop school-wide security policies, maintaining security infrastructure, supervising the security staff, providing physical security for school functions and special events, and working with community-based partners to enhance the overall safety situation at each Yeshiva facility.

Prior to beginning his tenure at Yeshiva, Brian spent time as an armed security provider for many industrial, executive, and religious organizations throughout the region, including many Jewish institutions in Pittsburgh since 2015.

He graduated with a B.A in criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 2014, obtaining summa cum laude honors by earning a 4.0 GPA over four years of study, during which time he also held membership in two separate academic honors societies, and completed a federal law enforcement internship with the United States Marshals Service in Washington D.C.

Over his career, Brian has developed a passion for using both his academic and professional experience to optimize security standards and practices over a diverse array of work environments, particularly here at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

An alumna of Yeshiva Schools, Masha Shollar is pleased to re-join the Yeshiva family, this time as a staff member. Shollar graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva University and holds an MFA from The New School. Her non-profit experience includes time as a campaign manager at Charidy Inc., where she managed multiple high-level fundraising campaigns for educational institutions, .

She oversees fundraising, events, PR/media relations, and management of the alumni association. Shollar also serves as the school liaison to the Yeshiva Parents Association (YPA).

She’s proud to partner with other administrators from both the educational and business teams to strengthen and advance Yeshiva so it can continue to provide nurturing, growth-oriented education to every student.

Janna Unik lives in Butler with her husband and four children. A native of Western Pennsylvania, she graduated from Penn State University and has over twenty years of experience in fundraising development in the region, working at Butler Health System for most of that time.

She joined Yeshiva Schools in July of 2021 to support the Keystone Capital Campaign. Her development responsibilities now include SPE, EITC, grants, events, and solicitations. She also coordinates the school lunch program.