Leadership Starts with You
Why are great leaders for Jewish organizations so hard to find? Opinions vary. Some think we don’t do a good enough job preparing the next generation of leaders to take the helm. Others think the culture of traditional Jewish organizations is not attractive to top talent. Both mindsets are right.
To ensure the institutions at the heart of the Jewish community will be around to support and nurture generations to come, we need to invest more in building a talent pipeline and developing organizations to make sure they are great places to work.
This is the call of Leading Edge.
What We Do
Founded in 2014, Leading Edge influences, inspires, and enables dramatic change in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent for Jewish organizations by creating a forum for the sector to address talent and culture issues.
Leading Edge’s flagship program areas focus on the immediate and long-term leadership and talent questions facing the Jewish sector, including – onboarding new CEOs, strengthening partnerships between lay leaders and professionals, and helping to create leading places to work.

LEADING EDGE RELEASE: Are Jewish Organizations Great Places To Work?
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Leading Edge announces a pilot job board for career opportunities with Jewish organizations.
Check out CareerHubLeading Edge Programs
Our flagship programs focus on both the immediate and long-term leadership and talent questions facing our sector:

CEO
Onboarding
Aimed at easing CEO transitions, maximizing their contributions, and increasing retention rates. In cooperation with Leading Edge, launched in partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation and other funders.
Learn More →

Lay Leadership
Initiative
Aimed at engaging the philanthropic community in understanding the importance of talent-building, and exploring how they can best support efforts to build a vibrant and solvent Jewish nonprofit sector.
Learn More →

Leading places
to work
Aimed at helping create great workplace cultures that recruit, retain and support excellent people who are empowered to do their best work.
Learn More →
Stay Updated on our programs
Leading Edge is an unprecedented partnership between Jewish foundations and federations to build a robust talent pipeline for Jewish organizations.
B. Elka Abrahamson – President,
The Wexner Foundation
Robert Bank – President & CEO,
American Jewish World Service
Sandy Cardin – Senior Advisor,
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
Phyllis Cook – Managing Director,
Helen Diller Family Foundation
Gali Cooks - President & CEO,
Leading Edge (non-voting)
Jim Joseph Foundation (non-voting)
Joe Kanfer – Founding Director,
Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah
Scott Kaufman – CEO,
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
Marty Linsky – Faculty,
Harvard Kennedy School
Rachel Garbow Monroe – President & CEO,
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
(non-voting)
Kimberly Miller Rubenfeld – Vice President,
Circle of Service Foundation
Union for Reform Judaism
David Shapira – Chairman,
David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation
Julie Sandorf – President,
Charles H. Revson Foundation
Gabrielle Sirner-Cohen – VP, People Operations,
FullStory
Jacob Solomon – President & CEO,
Greater Miami Jewish Federation
DRG Search
Rafi Rone – Program Director,
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation
Jerry Silverman – President & CEO,
The Jewish Federations of North America
Chasbro Investments
Andres Spokoiny – President & CEO,
Jewish Funders Network
Amy Born | Chief Strategy Officer | Contact
Marisa Diehl | Operations Associate | Contact
David Goott | Senior Associate for Organizational Development | Contact
Mordy Walfish | Chief Operating Officer | Contact
Dena Schoenfeld, Branlyn Consulting | Consulting Director, CEO Onboarding Program
Gali Cooks | President & CEO
"Our work is just beginning. We're eager to invite you into the conversation."
Contact
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“At the most fundamental level, this work is about the future of Jewish nonprofits across North America and the contribution we hope to make collectively in ensuring our professionals, especially those leading the way, are the most dedicated, mission-committed, and highly-trained professionals they can be."
—Rachel Garbow Monroe,
President & CEO, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
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LEADING PLACES TO WORK
Supporting Nonprofits to Reflect and Grow
Traditional Jewish organizations are struggling to attract and retain new talent. Some have steep hierarchies and bureaucratic cultures, little autonomy for junior and mid-level staff to take risks and feel ownership over their work, limited career advancement, and low salary levels compared to jobs outside the sector. Many rising professionals are willing to take on challenging roles, but not in organizations with rigid cultures that lack collaboration, innovation and autonomy. The most visionary leaders strive for connectivity, open communication, and collaboration in both life and work.
Leading Edge knows that organizations are the sum of their people, and like people, they must constantly reflect on their cultures in order to be their best selves. We believe organizational growth is a practice, not a destination.
Our Leading Places to Work program has established five criteria in the Jewish nonprofit sector that are the key ingredients to a great workplace, and we are developing a method for ranking organizations based on these criteria.
As a baseline to understand what is and is not working, we have developed an employee satisfaction survey in partnership with DC-based Hay Group. We are also creating a process with measurable benchmarks for helping organizations move through their growing edges in each key area.
The survey is set to launch with a pilot batch of organizations this winter.