Special Projects Coordinator

Penny Ziessman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Education and an M.A. in Elementary Education. She and Mark and their son, Scot, moved to Minneapolis in 1979.

Penny was the Director of Admissions for Minneapolis, Minnesota and surrounding areas since 1989. Prior to that, she was the Kindergarten Enrichment teacher at her synagogue. When her son participated in the AMHSI December quin, Penny traveled to Israel for her first time and returned home to her community, determined to continue her connection to Israel. She and AMHSI found each other soon after and the rest is history!

She is a docent at the synagogue and teaches "Hello Israel", a presentation about Israel's culture, history and topography, to sixth grade public school classes. She's also involved in an agency called "We Can Ride", that provides therapeutic horse back riding to special needs children.

Penny and her husband love to hike, bike, garden and travel, especially to NYC for theater, museums and Frozen Hot Chocolate! Their son, Scot, is married to Julie, and Penny and her husband have two darling granddaughters, Emily and Zoe, who are signed up for AMHSI for 2018 and 2022!

In August 2008, Penny retired from her position as Director of Admissions after 18 years, and is now responsible for coordinating special AMIIE projects.

Contact Penny at pziessman@amiie.org or phone 612-310-7268