A grateful farewell to Dena Farber Schoenfeld

Over a decade ago, the newly-founded Leading Edge sought to create a CEO onboarding program for the Jewish nonprofit sector. Who did we call? A brilliant consultant named Dena Farber Schoenfeld. Working with us first as a key consulting partner, Dena spearheaded the creation and development of what became Leading Executives, our signature executive leadership development program. In March 2020, she joined the team full time as our Chief Program Officer, overseeing the evolution of Leading Edge’s entire suite of programs and tools since. 

With admiration and gratitude, we bid a bittersweet farewell to Dena, who has stepped down from her role at Leading Edge and back into a consulting role, where she will continue to bring her no-nonsense, all-excellence approach to leadership in the Jewish nonprofit field. And we are thrilled to share that in that capacity she will remain involved at Leading Edge, taking on a key role in planning JPro27. We’re deeply grateful to Dena for the profound and positive ways she has shaped Leading Edge, from our earliest beginnings to our new strategy focused on leveling up the entire sector, from our earliest career professionals to our board and executive leaders.

Welcome to the C-Suite: Dana Childress, Chief Program Officer

We’re excited to announce that Dana Childress has stepped into the role of Chief Program Officer at Leading Edge!

After 15 years developing and leading talent acquisition at Teach for America, Dana first joined Leading Edge in 2021. She has served since then as a Vice President in the Program department, shepherding the development and rapid growth of Leading Edge’s programming around HR and talent professionals, organizational culture, board leadership, and more. Dana has also played a key role in shaping our emerging new strategy across this past year.

Now, as Chief Program Officer, she will bring her sharp insights and deep experience to bear in guiding the further evolution of Leading Edge’s programmatic interventions to raise the standard of performance for the field. 

We’re also thrilled to welcome to the team four new associates, hired and onboarded together as a cohort.

Spring brings meaningful transitions to Leading Edge: we're thanking Dena Farber Schoenfeld as she shifts back into consulting while staying closely involved, welcoming Dana Childress as our new Chief Program Officer, and introducing four new associates joining the team.

Comings & Goings, Spring 2026

Meet the people driving change at Leading Edge. Together, we're shaping the future of Jewish nonprofit leadership.

Our Team

As we approach Passover this year, I find myself thinking about time — not in years or milestones, but in moments.

In recent weeks, following the passing of my mother (z”l), I’ve had the opportunity to pause in a way that life rarely allows. And what has become most clear is something both simple (perhaps cliché?) and profound: A life of meaning is built not only in the extraordinary moments, but in the ordinary ones we so often overlook.

We tend to mark a life through its peaks: celebrations, milestones, the moments we photograph and remember. And those matter deeply. But alongside them live quieter memories: the way someone moved through a room, the way they prepared a meal, the small, repeated gestures and behaviors that shape the texture of a personality. It turns out that these “small” moments are often where meaning comes to life.

Judaism, in its wisdom, seems to understand this better than almost anything else I know. And Passover offers us a powerful model for how meaning is built across time.

We begin with the Seder, a peak experience. It is immersive, demanding, filled with story, ritual, and connection. It creates memory. It roots us in something larger than ourselves.

But Judaism does not stop there. We move next into the counting of the Omer, a daily, intentional practice of counting the days between Passover and Shavuot, between Egypt and Sinai, between liberation and commitment. Not grand, not elaborate. Just a small act, repeated each day, marking time and inviting reflection as we move through seven weeks.

And beyond that, we are asked to remember the Exodus every single day, woven into our most basic rhythm of the Shema in the morning and evening prayer.

Peak experience. Focused practice. Ongoing ritual.

This is a kind of “technology of meaning,” a way of ensuring that what matters most does not live only in extraordinary moments, but becomes part of how we live every day.

The same is true in our own lives. Meaning is found in the big moments we prepare for and celebrate. But it is also found in the accumulation of attention — in how we show up in the mundane, the repeated, the ordinary. Where we place our attention shapes what becomes meaningful. 

And attention itself is increasingly rare. To truly focus on another person. To do something with care and intention. To resist the pull of distraction and instead be fully present in a moment — these are not small acts. They are acts that create depth, connection, and ultimately, memory.

We carry more into each moment than is visible. Each person we encounter — at our tables, in our workplaces, in our communities — has their own unseen story, their own challenges, their own sources of strength. Recognizing this does not lower expectations; it deepens how we meet one another. It allows us to hold both humanity and excellence at the same time.

This feels especially important in the context of our work in the Jewish community. We spend so much of our lives at work, working alongside others toward shared goals. If that time is how we spend our lives, then it, too, should be a place of meaning.

Not because work replaces family or personal life — it doesn’t. But because we can create environments where people are seen, supported, and challenged to do work that matters. Where relationships are valued. Where excellence is pursued not at the expense of humanity, but alongside it, in the spirit of moving an important mission forward, together.

These are not competing ideas. They are reinforcing ones.

Passover reminds us that transformation — of individuals, of communities, of entire systems — does not necessarily happen in a single moment, even a powerful one. It happens across time, through repeated acts, shared stories, and sustained attention. It happens in how we live between the milestones.

This is a complicated moment for many of us — personally, communally, and globally. And yet, this is also our time: the days we are given, the moments we are living right now.

My hope this Passover is that we allow ourselves to notice them. To be present for the people in front of us. To bring intention to the ordinary. To find meaning not only in the peaks, but in the seemingly mundane practices that fill our days.

May this season invite all of us to connect more deeply: to our traditions, to one another, and to the moments that make up our lives. And may we, in doing so, continue to build lives — and a world — of meaning.

A life of meaning is built not only in the extraordinary moments, but in the ordinary ones we so often overlook. This Passover, may we bring intention to the ordinary, be present for the people in front of us, and find meaning in the moments that make up our lives.

Moments, Memories, and Meaning: A Passover Reflection

News and Ideas | Leading Edge

News & Ideas

Jewish nonprofits have a rare opportunity to expand their talent pool — but attracting top candidates requires offering more than mission alone. Rachel Kay (Leading Edge Board Member and SVP & Chief People Officer, Hearst Corporation) argues that what high-performing early-career professionals want most is “option value”: roles that open doors through skill-building, mobility, and future opportunity. Drawing on private-sector models, she outlines how organizations can strengthen recruitment and retention by positioning roles as launchpads and, more ambitiously, by collaborating across the field to function like a larger, more competitive employer.


McKinsey & Company: The State of Organizations 2026: Three tectonic forces that are reshaping organizations

Theblinddontmingle: Are We Actually Doing Better? A JDAIM Reality Check

The Curiosity Shop: Brené and Adam on What They Will Never Agree On

eJewishPhilanthropy: Strengthening Israel means strengthening its leaders

Algemeiner.com: Jewish Communal Institutions Failed the Oct. 7 Test — Mergers, Consolidations, and Closing Some Institutions Is One Answer

Harvard Business Review: When Senior Leaders Lack People Skills, Transformations Fail

The Center for Effective Philanthropy: State of Nonprofits 2025: What Funders Need to Know

NPQ: The Board Is Not the Boss—and More Thoughts on Its Role

MIT SMR: How Design Became a Boardroom Bystander

Here’s what the Leading Edge team is learning about culture, executives, and boards this spring.

What We're Learning | Spring 2026

The best of what the Leading Edge team is learning about culture, executives, and boards.

What We're Learning

In 2016, JPro was in an era of transition, and brought in Ilana Aisen as CEO. Ilana refined and bolstered JPro’s identity, expanded and developed its team, and shepherded the organization into an important and successful hub of growth, connection, and community for Jewish communal professionals. She became known in the field for her wisdom, insight, creativity, and powerful ability to inspire and build community across the full range of Jewish communal organizations.

Together with Gali Cooks, Ilana had the vision, the mission-focus, and the humility to lead JPro into a new era by becoming one organization with Leading Edge at the beginning of 2025. Over the past year, her leadership as part of the Leading Edge executive team has been immensely valuable. Her voice and vision were vital parts of making JPro25 the largest and most inspirational JPro conference ever. Her influence within the team, as we came together and learned what it meant to continue this work as one, was crucial, in delightful ways. Her leadership legacy, and the values and identity of JPro, are now forever part of what Leading Edge will carry into the future.

As of this month, Ilana is departing from the Leading Edge team to open an exciting new professional chapter as a consultant and coach. She will continue to be a fierce advocate for the people and organizations that power the Jewish communal field and support Leading Edge in various ways. She can be reached at ilana@ilanaaisenconsulting.com. 

In fall 2024, Leading Edge was on the precipice of immense change. We were readying ourselves to join forces with JPro, we were about to embark upon a strategic planning process, and we were in the midst of growth and expansion. That’s when we brought on Robb Lippitt as Interim COO. With his record of success and experience spanning for-profit business and Jewish communal philanthropic and lay leadership, Robb has brought incredible insight, decisive clarity, and strategic focus to Leading Edge. He successfully led our 2025 strategic planning process, and now we are proud to announce that Robb has taken on a new and non-interim role: Chief Strategy Officer at Leading Edge.

The word “interim” implies that there should be an antonym called “outerim.” Alas for the caprice of English, no such word exists, so we can only say to Robb: Welcome (again) to Leading Edge, now as a “stam” (regular) member of the Leading Edge executive team!

Last month, we announced that Aviva Jacobs would be joining us at Leading Edge as Chief Impact Officer, and she has officially begun! There are also several other team members who have recently joined the Leading Edge team. 

Here (alphabetically) are four new team members to meet (including Robb, because he has been interim up to now), among the amazing people who are Leading Edge:

Leading Edge honors Ilana Aisen’s legacy as she departs for new ventures, and introduces the powerhouse of talent who've recently joined — including a formerly interim leader who's now a “stam” (regular) member of our executive team.

Comings & Goings on the Leading Edge Team

Good nonprofits Boards do more than give money and rubber-stamp the budget; they provide energetic and strategic leadership. But most Boards don’t spend the time and effort to improve their performance. And Board development typically happens one Board Chair at a time, or one organization at a time, at most.

What if Board development happened across the whole Jewish community?

That is what is now beginning to unfold across more than 60 Jewish nonprofit organizations, where over 1,500 Board members have begun participating in a coordinated, multi-year effort to strengthen Board leadership, governance culture, and Board–CEO partnerships across the North American Jewish community.

The program is called the Board Leadership Accelerator, offered by Leading Edge with the support of The Marcus Foundation (established by the late Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, with his wife Billi). The Board Leadership Accelerator is the largest coordinated Board leadership effort ever undertaken in the Jewish communal field, and reflects a growing recognition across the sector: Boards are central to organizational performance, yet the community has invested surprisingly little in systematic, scalable approaches to Board leadership.

National research from BoardSource has repeatedly documented gaps between expectations and realities for many nonprofit Boards. In Leading with Intent, a survey of nonprofit governance practices, nearly half of CEOs rated their Boards as average or below average on understanding Board roles and responsibilities. Leading Edge’s own research on Jewish nonprofit Boards echoes these findings, with many executives pointing to challenges around accountability, strategic governance, fundraising expectations, and planning for CEO succession.

Taken together, these studies indicate a nonprofit-sector-wide problem: Boards are being asked to perform increasingly complex governance work, but Board leadership development remains fragmented, episodic, and too often absent.

The Board Leadership Accelerator is testing the premise that governance can be strengthened more effectively when organizations across a whole community learn and improve together, using shared data, shared language, and shared infrastructure. Over a 24-month period (2026–2028), participating organizations are engaging in a common process that includes:

Standardized measurement of Board experience and effectiveness,

Cohort-based learning among peer organizations,

Targeted coaching and in-depth follow-up programming, and

Supportive consultations to help each organization create and implement a Board Development Plan.

All these interventions are being crafted with the Jewish communal context in mind, for maximum relevance to participating organizations. The program also includes repeated assessments and a full arc of support from early 2026 through early 2028. The goal is helping Boards clarify expectations, improve decision-making, strengthen leadership roles, and build healthier governance cultures, while building a core peer group of lay leaders who are passionate about Board performance across the Jewish community.

“This program is a huge step up in scale, intensity, and reach,” explains Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge. “The Jewish community’s largest previous Board leadership initiative was the Board Member Institute, operated first by Boardified, which later became part of Leading Edge. That program trained approximately 200 Board members over several years. The Board Leadership Accelerator will scale that impact, in this pilot cohort alone. Many of those more than 1,500 Board members sit on multiple Boards, as well, so there is real leverage here. Best of all, it spans quite a spectrum in the Jewish community, from left to right and religious to secular.”

Leading Edge estimates that there are about 10,000 Jewish nonprofits in North America, with about 30,000 Board members, many of whom serve on more than one Board. The Board Leadership Accelerator’s pilot cohort (1,500+ participants) will therefore directly reach about 5% (1 in every 20) of Board members in the nonprofits serving the Jewish community. Assuming the program continues to future cohorts, the Jewish community may yet achieve an unprecedented level of Board training and governance quality, offering an example other sub-sectors and communities might want to adopt and adapt.

What if Board development happened across the whole Jewish community? That is what is now beginning to unfold across more than 60 Jewish nonprofit organizations, where over 1,500 Board members have begun participating in a coordinated, multi-year effort to strengthen Board leadership, governance culture, and Board–CEO partnerships across the North American Jewish community.

Board Development at Scale: Improving Nonprofit Governance Across the Jewish Community

Leadership

As former CEO and now Venturer at GOJO (inventors of Purell®) and a venture investor in Israel, Joe Kanfer has built and sustained a culture of excellence. In the Jewish nonprofit sphere, he has served in lay leadership roles including Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, Chair of JESNA (Jewish Education Service of North America), Founding Chair of Honeymoon Israel, and Board service with many Jewish organizations. He also provides philanthropic leadership via the Lippman Kanfer Philanthropies.  

With this breadth of experience, Joe is exceptionally well‐positioned to steward the Leading Edge Board at a moment when the sector is wrestling with generational, geopolitical, technological, and economic change, and is facing not only challenges but also real opportunities. We spoke with Joe about his background, his vision for Leading Edge, and the future of the Jewish nonprofit sector. 

What’s the “Big Why” that motivates you to be engaged in the Jewish nonprofit world? 

My “why” starts not in the nonprofit world but in Jewish life. I fervently believe that Jewish wisdom, and what I call “the Jewish operating system” is something that can promote human flourishing. I believe Jewish wisdom can contribute to a better world. 

Is there a particular piece of Jewish wisdom that comes to mind for you as especially important to the current moment? 

We’re at a point in time when “dan lekhaf zekhut” — giving others the benefit of the doubt — is critically important. Honoring multiple truths is a basic tenet of Judaism. The story of Hillel and Shammai, the announcement by God that both of their opinions, though widely different, have elements of truth, and the way Hillel would listen to, grapple with, and repeat the views of the school of Shammai teaches us that to respect diverging and dissenting opinions goes a long way toward finding the best solutions. 

It is this process that is important. It’s one thing to admit that there are different views, it’s quite another to give others the benefit of the doubt and really listen to them. After all, we’re a people that calls upon ourselves first and foremost to “shema,” listen.  

But then, at the end of the day, after listening and processing, we still have to move on. Once we’ve heard, we still have to choose a path. We learn that the path of Hillel was most often chosen because he was a good listener, because he started by giving others the benefit of the doubt. 

When you think about your role models, either in business or in Jewish life, who stands out and what did you learn from them? 

My role model was my uncle, Jerry Lippman, who got me involved in Jewish life. He was a 10th-grade dropout, had dyslexia, and couldn’t read Hebrew. But he had a Yiddishe neshama [Jewish soul] and that expressed itself not only in a love for the Jewish people and a love for Israel, but a love for others outside the Jewish community as well. He treated everyone with respect. And he wasn’t afraid to say that it came from his Jewish values. He used to say, “Everything I learned, I learned from someone else.” That was his translation of Pirkei Avot [6:6] for the general population. In our company that he founded, he made everyone feel important, and he openly and proudly credited Jewish wisdom and Jewish ideas.  

Thinking back to when you were new to leadership, what has changed between your leadership style then and your leadership style now? 

I think in my early days, my energy sometimes caused me to move too quickly, and not to be the listener that I just expressed a few minutes ago. I was young, and I got involved very early. I was already running a company in my early 20s, and I was leading a Jewish day school that was in some financial difficulty. And I sort of thought I knew everything.  

But over time I learned the power of leading with a team, what I call the “leadership molecule.” 

If you’re thirsty, oxygen won’t do you any good and hydrogen won’t do you any good, but put them together your thirst will be quenched. I learned that in leadership, no one’s the Moshiah [messiah], no one is the unicorn who can do it all. It really requires leading with a trusted team of people with complementary skills. 

Nonprofits and for-profit businesses have many differences, but they have commonalities as well. Are there lessons you learned in the business world that feel relevant and important for the Jewish community at this moment?  

I honestly will tell you: I don’t see much difference. People are people. We want meaning in our work. We want to accomplish something relevant. We want to belong and work together. The business world and the nonprofit world converge in their needs to perform with excellence and to succeed and be self-sustaining.  

What first motivated you to get involved with Leading Edge? 

I have always been a believer in building what I call “foundational capability.” The Jewish communal world has extraordinary institutions filled with people who want to do amazing things. The question is, how do we bring more innovation and excellence to the whole field of nonprofit Jewish work? How do we capitalize on and harness the talents of so many committed Jewish professionals so that the whole Jewish nonprofit field is greater than its parts. What foundational capabilities does it take to do that? The Leading Edge mission uniquely understood that. It seemed like a tremendous opportunity to enable that talent. Leading Edge is about leverage — we are taking what’s already there and multiplying impact. And Leading Edge is in a unique position to advance the whole system. We’re not only about building better, more vital organizations. We’re about building a field within which professionals can navigate, find their passions, use their expertise, find meaning and grow. Leading Edge presented an unusual opportunity to contribute to Jewish life.  

As you enter your chairship — understanding that it takes a “leadership molecule,” not just one person — what kinds of impact do you personally hope to make on the organization? 

Leading Edge has a fabulous professional staff. The ten years since inception under the powerful leadership of Gali Cooks has been a case study in how a new organization can achieve its founding mission and also, in the face of extraordinary challenges in the Jewish world, dramatically expand its scope and impact. And Leading Edge has an outstanding Board with enormous experience and the courage to tackle the big issues. The last three years under the insightful and I might say exquisite guidance of Daryl Messinger has seen the realization of Leading Edge as the central address for talent and culture in the Jewish nonprofit field. My job is to maintain this extraordinary momentum and be a catalyst, an agent that helps Leading Edge help the Jewish nonprofit field reach potential. It will be my job to lead the Board in a way that makes sure that the Board supports the staff and contributes to both strategic and generative thinking. There’s a lot of talk these days about reacting with “resilience,” but the concept I find more compelling and proactive is “emergence.” I want to see us continue to emerge as the dynamic organization that drives the field forward. And that means keeping one eye on accomplishing the strategies that we set and the other eye on innovating to meet the constant change in the environment. 

Leading Edge is now ten years old. What is the most important change or trend that the Jewish community has seen over this past decade that will shape our future? 

I’ve been around long enough to know that generational change sneaks up on us slowly, but it’s there. The last ten years have seen different experiences with Israel and the attendant stresses, the surfacing of antisemitism and challenges to our safety and the ongoing challenge of maintaining Jewish coherence in an open society. But we have also seen more entrepreneurism in existing and new organizations, an increase in access to Jewish learning, more and more tailored opportunities to participate. The chance to create richer Jewish life is real. Ḥiddush, the Jewish call to innovation, needs to be central to our work. The Tosefta teaches that every Jew is born to add at least one new insight, ḥiddush, in their lifetime. Leading Edge is clearly doing its part. I hope to add mine.  

On January 1, 2026, Joe Kanfer became Board Chair at Leading Edge. Joe brings to his new role a distinguished record of entrepreneurial leadership, philanthropic innovation, and deep commitment to Jewish communal life.

A New Atom in the “Leadership Molecule:” Meet Board Chair Joe Kanfer

This leadership term is just the latest in a series of high-profile governance roles in the Jewish community for Daryl, not to mention her previous private sector career. Daryl has chaired and/or served on the Boards of many Jewish organizations, including (most prominently) chairing the Board of the Union for Reform Judaism, as the first woman to serve in that role. 

As her term of service draws toward an end, we sat down with Daryl to reflect on the eventful past three years at Leading Edge.  

What is your “Big Why” as a leader in the Jewish nonprofit world? 

I want to see Jewish organizations thrive and grow, in order to create great Jewish spaces, and to make a better world. That’s why I choose to devote my time and energy and resources to primarily Jewish organizations. 

When you think back on your term as Board Chair of Leading Edge, what moments make you feel proudest? 

I’m most proud of the way we showed up during these last two years of tremendous pain and suffering in Israel, with a spike in antisemitism across the country, and a real need for folks who are working in our sector to have clarity and professional direction. I’m very proud of the organization and how we responded in what has been a very fraught time.  

At the same time, I’m amazed at how much we accomplished in a very difficult period. You know, I started my term and we had just acquired Boardified. And we have now launched our Board Experience Survey and are launching a new Board offering in early 2026, the Board Leadership Accelerator.  

We furthered our understanding that with talent, you can’t just focus on the C-suite.  For organizations to really achieve their missions, it is not enough to identify and attract great leaders.  Organizations need to create a culture where people want to work and have an appreciation for talent at every level. I’m thrilled that we were able to combine with JPro, a storied organization, so that we could truly serve as the central address for all talent, culture and leadership. And that occurred at the beginning of this year, and in no time flat we were in the throes of JPro25, and had an awesome conference. So all of those things, I think, are a testament to this organization. 

What does it feel like to look back on that level of growth and change? 

We need to stop from time to time and appreciate how much progress this organization has made since I became Board chair three years ago. I had to take a medical leave in April. And when I came back in early June, I was blown away by how much progress had happened. This organization was just humming. And it’s a lot of change, and change, let’s face it, is hard. You know, the Board has continued to evolve, but more importantly, so has the professional team. Everyone has really stepped up and taken on new responsibilities, and broadened their portfolios in ways that I don’t think any of us would have necessarily envisioned three years ago. 

When we interviewed you when you were just becoming Board Chair, one of the things you talked about was the importance of shared leadership. Are there any moments or stories from your partnership with Gali that resonate for you as significant experiences in shared leadership?  

With both the acquisition of Boardified and the coming together with JPro, Gali and I had each other’s back, and we were also each other’s “noodge.” In both instances, I was encouraging the deals to get done, to take the risks, to take the leap and do it. I was not the visionary who said, “This is what we have to do” — that was Gali and others. But my role as Board Chair was to provide confidence that it would be okay — that there would be unknowns, but we would manage through them, and that the Board and others would have the organization’s back. But without colleagues, leadership, vision, and ability to navigate difficult conversations, which always happen when you’re combining organizations, we wouldn’t be here. And those aren’t necessarily my skill set! So I’m the one who will push to get something done; Gali makes sure it’s done right. 

In that welcome interview, you also mentioned choosing where to invest time as one of the most important choices to make. Looking back on your term, what ended up being the highest leverage use of your time as the chair? 

As a sounding Board for Gali, for sure. But I also came to understand, because I had to take a leave, that no one person is essential or indispensable. And I was really proud of how everyone stepped up. I was thankful that Joe Kanfer was willing to be Acting Chair. It was not something he was planning to do at that particular moment, and it was a really important indicator of the health of the organization that I could take that time.  

Well, speaking of Joe… Joe will soon be succeeding you in the Board Chair role. What skills and qualities have you observed in Joe that you feel can most help him succeed as chair? 

Joe’s a brilliant business leader and has lots of insights about “the leadership molecule.” He brings deep, broad leadership experience within the Jewish community, not just in his business. And he’s seen it all, from the smallest start up to the largest umbrella organization. He’s got an incredible versatility with and knowledge of Jewish wisdom and a strong belief that we need to bring that into everything we do. He leads through a Jewish lens, and in many ways, has already helped shape the direction of Leading Edge.  

We know that Board excellence is a growth opportunity for Jewish nonprofits across the field. If you could write a single sentence on a sticky note that would be magically placed on the laptop of every single Board member in the Jewish communal sector, what would the note say? 

It’s a quote that I have on my desk. It’s from Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky. (Marty used to sit on the Leading Edge Board.) It says, “The single biggest failure of leadership is to treat adaptive challenges like technical problems.” All too often, I find Board members thinking about the challenges their organizations face in the rearview mirror. Jewish organizations today face adaptive challenges. What got us here won’t get us there. And we need leaders who can think differently, act differently, understand the moment we’re in, and be future-ready. 

From 2023 through 2025, Daryl Messinger has served as Board Chair of Leading Edge, shepherding the organization through a period of expansion, challenges, and changes.  

“Understand the Moment We’re in:” Daryl Messinger Reflects on her Tenure as Board Chair

Jacobs currently serves as a Director for US Jewish Grantmaking at Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, a role which has afforded her a broad and deep knowledge of the Jewish nonprofit landscape today. She is known in the Jewish nonprofit sector as a sharp mind, bridge-builder, and steadfast leader working for systemic change.

Before joining Schusterman and Jewish communal work, Jacobs first developed her expertise in large-scale interventions for social impact at Teach for America, where she served as Vice President of Recruitment and as Vice President of Teacher Training (in Chicago). She began her career as a TFA corps member, serving as an Elementary Special Education teacher in New Orleans.

“This hire is a tremendous milestone for Leading Edge and for the movement to take talent and culture seriously in the Jewish community,” says Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge. “Aviva comes to us with a level of skills, experience, and fresh thinking that will transform our ability to make talent excellence the new normal in the Jewish community.”

“I’m excited to step into this new role and deeply grateful for my six-and-a-half years at Schusterman, where we saw just how powerfully investing in talent can transform the Jewish community,” says Jacobs. “Leading Edge is poised to accelerate that momentum — advancing a movement that strengthens every facet of Jewish communal life, from education and hunger relief to justice work, community building, and engagement with Israel.”

Leading Edge’s mission is to mobilize Jewish nonprofits to become places where great people deliver great impact. In 2025, Leading Edge acquired JPro, creating a central address for leadership and talent in the Jewish world. The organization will double down on its efforts to engage a critical mass of Jewish nonprofit organizations to take concrete actions for excellence in talent and culture. As Chief Impact Officer, Jacobs will lead the organization’s efforts to mobilize the field to invest in actionable strategies that elevate talent, leadership, and culture in service of the Jewish community and world.

On January 20, 2026, Aviva Jacobs will join Leading Edge as its inaugural Chief Impact Officer, tasked with driving Leading Edge’s growth, innovation, and impact across the Jewish nonprofit sector.

Aviva Jacobs to join Leading Edge as Chief Impact Officer, Heralding New Opportunities for the Sector

As the year comes to a close, we're taking stock of 2025 with clear eyes and full hearts. It has been a year that stretched the Jewish nonprofit sector in new ways, even as it underscored why this work matters: the relationships we build, the trust we cultivate, and the commitment to keep moving forward together.

Our 2025 Year in Review looks back at what we accomplished together over the past year, from uniting Leading Edge and JPro to hosting a record-breaking conference to groundbreaking research and much, much more. None of this work happens without this community — the people who continue to invest, contribute, and push the field forward. We're honored to share this reflection with you.

Read about what we've done together in 2025.

Leading Edge Year in Review 2025

What does it mean to be a Jewish organization? 

It’s a question we ask leaders across the field — and one that we grapple with ourselves at Leading Edge. How can we advance talent and culture in ways the broader workforce would recognize, while remaining uniquely Jewish? How do Jewish thought, tradition, and Jewish communal needs shape our mission, our strategy, and our decisions?

Hanukkah sheds light on this question, though that light can refract in multiple ways. 

One could see Hanukkah as a call to stand apart. The holiday recalls a fight against forced assimilation, a refusal to worship foreign gods, and a miracle grounded in strict standards of ritual purity. In this light, Hanukkah emphasizes separation and dedication (the word “hanukkah” literally means “dedication”) — a turning inward and upward toward our own tradition and the Divine.

But that’s only part of the story. Judaism never rejected Hellenistic culture entirely; our Sages borrowed Greek language and ideas — the Rabbinic Supreme Court was called the “Sanhedrin,” a word that comes from the Greek “synedrion” (council); and the Passover Seder was modeled on the Greek symposium. Our tradition’s relationship with the wider world has always been more nuanced and complex than simple resistance. 

One way to integrate these strands is to focus on who decides. Antiochus sought to impose culture at the point of a spear; the Maccabees insisted that Jewish engagement with the broader world must be on our own terms. We can draw from the best around us through a Jewish lens — freely, intentionally, and in service of our highest values. In this sense, Hanukkah celebrates freedom.

And there is more. Hanukkah commands us to “publicize the miracle,” to place our lights where others can see them. It asks us not only to preserve tradition or defend conscience, but to share our light with the world. 

So what does all this illuminate about Jewish organizational identity? There isn’t just one answer for every Jewish organization. A human-services agency serving mostly non-Jewish clients will look different from a day school or synagogue. Many organizations sit somewhere in between — from JCCs serving the full community to Leading Edge, which works solely with Jewish nonprofits even as nearly 40% of the sector’s employees aren’t Jewish.

Wherever we sit on that spectrum, Hanukkah reminds us: 

We can be dedicated to Jewish roots, values or purpose. 

We can choose freely and deliberately what that “Jewish” looks like in the context. 

And we can let our lights shine outward — to our cities, our states, our countries, the global Jewish community and the world. 

Leaders especially must ask this question and shape answers that align each organization with its deepest values and highest mission. We don’t need to choose exclusively between Athens and Jerusalem, or between communal strength and broader engagement. Hanukkah — the festival of dedication, freedom, and light — illuminates them all. 


Hanukkah reminds us: we can be dedicated to Jewish roots, values or purpose. We can choose freely and deliberately what that “Jewish” looks like in the context. And we can let our lights shine outward — to our cities, our states, our countries, the global Jewish community and the world. 

Dedication, Freedom, Light: Hanukkah & Jewish Nonprofits

How do we attract great professionals to work in the Jewish sector?

This is the question at the heart of “Talent Unlocked: Recruitment Solutions for the Jewish Nonprofit Sector,” a recent research report from Leading Edge and PSB Insights sponsored by our three philanthropies. PSB's research team surveyed 3,350 potential Jewish nonprofit sector employees and conducted six focus groups to examine what has kept talent from pursuing opportunities in the Jewish nonprofit sphere. We are grateful to Leading Edge for their tremendous efforts, and to all those pushing the talent conversation forward.

Running through all six of the report’s key insights are takeaways for funders, executives, lay leaders, organizational staff and fellow Jewish community members about how we can better leverage our sector's unique value propositions, especially now. Ultimately, our sector can do more to capture the imaginations of potential talent, Jewish and non-Jewish.

Our community is standing at a blustery intersection full of headwinds and tailwinds. We are seeing soaring interest in values-based work, Jewish identity and belonging while also grappling with antisemitism, anti-Israel sentiment and shifting political norms. The convergence of these trends makes this an opportune moment to invite more talent into the fold and help them build meaningful careers as they help us shape a stronger future. But we have to help connect the dots.

The research shows that for Jewish and non-Jewish talent across age groups, prospective employees value benefits, job security and strong workplace relationships (unsurprisingly, salary remains the top priority). We can make the most of these insights by highlighting the full scope of our compensation packages as a key selling point. Robust healthcare plans, parental and family leave, professional development and educational opportunities — not to mention the connections that come with being a part of an enduring community — must be part of our community’s calling card.

Gen Z employees in particular are attuned to the full picture of what working life can offer. In addition to the findings above, they are motivated by growth opportunities and pursuing purpose-driven work, things many organizations in our sector can tout. With 74% of Gen Z Jews looking to switch jobs in the same industry in the next two years, there is incredible upside to helping the next generation see how our sector meets their needs.

In this regard, the report highlights the importance of messaging to non-Jewish talent. Those working outside the sector don’t know what a strong presence non-Jews have in the Jewish communal workforce (currently 38%, including half of new employees). Meanwhile, 84% of potential hires are not very or not at all familiar with Jewish nonprofits — a significant figure considering any increase in familiarity increases someone’s likelihood of working in the sector. In addition to building awareness, we can help non-Jews see themselves fitting in, emphasizing the work they would do serving diverse communities and social justice goals.  

Furthermore, we want to underscore the need for conscientious messaging about Israel. We serve our missions and potential hires best when we are up front about who we are. In a post-October 7 landscape, it’s even more important that organizations clearly communicate their commitment to and relationship with Israel, and also convey an openness to discussing what this means. Taking these actions will help ensure a good fit between Jewish nonprofit organizations and potential employees.

Now is a good time to speak up about everything our sector has to offer. The research shows a spike in interest, 30% among Jewish talent, in working in the sector. And as government layoffs and cuts to the secular nonprofit sector (and certain segments of the private sector) proliferate, there are more professionals looking for a promising opportunity, and we can be there for them. We also have the best selling point out there — our existing Jewish professionals whose skill, drive and spirit are a credit to our community. We can, each of us, adopt the role of talent recruiter and share with our friends and peers what is possible here.

Amid a crucial state of transition, we look ahead to what’s next for Jewish life, for Israel, for civil discourse and more. To get where we want to go, we need inventive and dedicated professionals to forge a sturdy and joyous path forward. But before they can succeed in this task, our current and potential rock stars need to feel our commitment. It’s going to take all of us working together to turn the twin keys of recruitment and retention to unlock our sector’s full potential.

How do we attract great professionals to work in the Jewish sector? This is the question at the heart of “Talent Unlocked: Recruitment Solutions for the Jewish Nonprofit Sector,” a recent research report from Leading Edge and PSB Insights sponsored by our three philanthropies.

Leveraging Talent Unlocked: How the Leading Edge–PSB Insights Research Points Us Forward

Culture

There are many different paths people take to pursue careers in Jewish communal leadership. Joining this week's episode of Sichot: Conversations with Jewish Changemakers is Alena Akselrod, Vice President of Outreach and Engagement at Leading Edge, a nonprofit that supports Jewish organizations to positively change their workplace culture. Together with Liora Norwich, Alena traces her path from immigration and JCC involvement to discovering her Russian-speaking Jewish identity and growing into sector-wide leadership. She speaks about writing her recent article, “Reestimating the Jewish Non-Profit Sector, A Journey Through Data and AI,” and reflects on grounding her work in resilience during times of change.

Alena was a guest on “Sichot: Conversations with Jewish Changemakers,” a podcast hosted by Liora Norwich, Director of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University.

Russian Jewry, AI and resilience: Alena Akselrod on the “Sichot” Podcast

It’s not too late for post-Oct. 7 leadership do-overs

Two years after Oct. 7, some leaders look back wishing they could redo certain workplace decisions, including open discussions that unintentionally left colleagues exposed when views diverged. Writing in eJewish Philanthropy, Ilana Kaufman (Founder & CEO, Jews of Color Initiative, and Leading Edge Board Member) shares the approach she took to support her team: “When we did discuss the rippling impacts of the Oct. 7 attacks, I leveraged skills and tools to best enable constructive dialogue, regardless of individual viewpoints.” 

She encourages leaders to take that do-over now by centering care, focusing on the work, and ensuring staff have “space, freedom and safety to not have to prove where, and to what degree, their loyalties lie.”


eJP: OU’s Rabbi Moshe Hauer leaves ‘countercultural’ legacy of openness, empathy

CNBC: 60% of U.S. workers don't have a 'quality job,' according to new research: The results are 'sobering'

HBR: Middle Managers Feel the Least Psychological Safety at Work

oneusefulthing.org: Latent Expertise: Everyone is in R&D

HBS: The 'Secret Ingredient' for Effective Training: Middle Managers

The Bridgespan Group: From Functional to Extraordinary: How Strong Boards Drive Success

Fund the People: Report: Long-Haul Grantmaking

Joan Garry Consulting: The Charisma Trap: When ‘Charming’ Leaders Fall Short

Here’s what the Leading Edge team is learning about culture, executives, and boards this fall.

What We're Learning | Fall 2025

The High Holidays are a time of returning to ourselves.

That can mean reuniting with our families for holiday meals, and perhaps settling into familiar roles we filled growing up — like picking a fight with a sibling. Or it can mean re-experiencing Jewish traditions that call us back to our roots, from dipping apples in honey to hearing the shofar to saying kaddish at the Yizkor service for the relatives who are no longer here. Or returning to ourselves, at its simplest, can mean  reflecting on another year that has passed.

It’s good to return to ourselves. It can feel stable, and comforting. While we all continuously learn and develop incrementally from year to year, on a deep level, many of us are fully formed and invariable. I know who I am. I know my strengths. I know my weaknesses. I know that I’m an extrovert, and I know that I shouldn’t interact with another human before a morning coffee. 

Yet the High Holidays are also a time when we reflect on who we most want to be. The shofar calls us to action and change. At tashlikh, we symbolically cast off our sins, resolving to let certain actions and habits go. Our holiday prayers stress the possibility, and responsibility, of change; one of the most famous prayers of the season climaxes with the affirmation that “repentance, prayer, and giving charity avert the severe decree.” We don’t just accept who we are and what our fate is; the High Holidays inspire us to become a better version of ourselves.

How do we resolve this contradiction at the heart of the high holidays? Are we supposed to change into someone new, or are we supposed to return to the bedrock of who we are?

The answer, as so often in Judaism, is both. One of the main themes of the season is teshuvah —  repentance, and so suggests that we are resolving to change. But teshuvah also, and most literally, means “return.” The book of Lamentations, in its penultimate verse, prays that God will “renew our days, as of old.” A return to our foundations and a spirit of innovation are seen, by Jewish scriptures, as somehow identical.

The mandate to be ourselves and the mandate to work hard to better ourselves do not add up to a contradiction. We need to do both. We need to return to our deepest selves, but our deepest selves are people capable of radical change. To raise our aspirations is to return to our firmest foundations. This is true for each of us as individuals; it’s true for us as families and communities; and it’s true for Jewish organizations, which enable the Jewish community to thrive as a collective.

Rosh Hashanah is “the birthday of the world,” but that doesn’t need to mean just a commemoration of the past. The world’s birthday can be a rebirth, a chance to create the whole world anew. “In my beginning is my end,” wrote T.S. Eliot in “Four Quartets.” But he also wrote there: “The end is where we start from… We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.” 

May this holiday season call us all back — and forward — to our best selves. May we know a year of freedom, health, safety, thriving, and a chance to make our highest contributions to the world.

The High Holidays invite us to return and to renew. In her message for the season, Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge, shares the hope that this time calls us back — and forward — to our best selves, and that the year ahead brings freedom, health, safety, thriving, and meaningful contribution.

Foundations and Aspirations (High Holidays 5786)

This season, we're shining a light on alumni of Leading Executives. Designed for the senior-most leaders of their organizations, Leading Executives offers a transformative experience rooted in dynamic learning, personalized feedback, and peer support. Participants gain tools to lead more effectively, build self-awareness, and navigate the complexities of leadership with greater clarity, confidence, and resilience.


Meet Jess Greenblatt Seeley, Co-Executive Director at JOIN for Justice. Jess reflects on what it means to lead with resilience, humility, and curiosity. She also shares how feedback, collaboration, and peer connection have shaped her leadership — and why no one should lead alone in today’s Jewish nonprofit landscape.


Alumni Spotlight conversations may be edited and condensed.


What do you think are the most critical leadership qualities needed to navigate the unique challenges and opportunities within Jewish nonprofit organizations right now?

I believe that the leadership quality of resiliency is paramount. We've been through so much, from the pandemic to the events of October 7th and beyond, and the ability to persevere and help our organizations adapt is crucial. Secondly, collaborative leadership is more vital than ever. The challenges we face are complex, and no one can tackle them alone. Fostering a culture where leaders can ask for help, share their vulnerabilities, and learn from each other is essential. Programs like Leading Edge underscore the importance of peer support in combating feelings of isolation. Finally, a commitment to continuous learning and self-awareness is key. Being open to feedback and curiosity will only inform our adaptive leadership skills in times of chaos.

How has something you learned in the Leading Edge program helped make a real difference at your organization? Share an example.

Something that I benefited from the Leading Edge program was the value of 360-degree feedback. About a year into my tenure at JOIN, the program equipped me with the tools and framework to solicit key feedback on my leadership from staff, board members, and peers. This provided invaluable data points about my strengths and areas for growth. It pushed me to actively seek input and gave me dedicated space to process it within the cohort. This process led to increased self-awareness and helped me better align my efforts with the needs of the organization. 

What’s one practical leadership tip you would share with a new Jewish nonprofit leader stepping into their role?

If I were to share one practical leadership tip with a new Jewish nonprofit leader stepping into their role, it would be this: foster a culture of curiosity and collaboration with your fellow leaders right from the start. Honestly, from day one, the more you can connect with others in the field, the better. I've found that people are generally so willing to help, so it's okay to ask for help - because no one expects you to know everything from Day 1 (or Day 1000). Especially in the current climate, which is a really difficult time to be in charge of a Jewish organization, collaborative leadership is more important than ever - because I don't think anyone can do it by themselves. Building a network for peer support and not being afraid to seek guidance will be absolutely invaluable as you navigate the complexities of this work. Lean into leading with this understanding and humility.

Meet Jess Greenblatt Seeley, Co-Executive Director at JOIN for Justice. Jess reflects on what it means to lead with resilience, humility, and curiosity. She also shares how feedback, collaboration, and peer connection have shaped her leadership — and why no one should lead alone in today’s Jewish nonprofit landscape.

Leading Edge Alumni Spotlight, Jess Greenblatt Seeley

Meet some of the dynamic leaders engaging with Leading Edge and transforming the community.

Alumni

In the spirit of cutting to the chase, here are the nine statements our authors deem “lies:”

And here, in turn, are the two half-truths I will proceed to tell about this book:

The authors have fascinating positive insights, but the list of “lies” obscures them.

There are some big lies — distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking — that we encounter every time we show up for work. Authors Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall name nine of them, and in this review of their book, "Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World," Leading Edge's Seth Chalmer (Vice President, Communications) digs into the half-truths and highlights the strengths that matter most for anyone in the people business.