The Latest From The Foundation

Dr. Erica Brown is the Director for Adult Education at The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning and the consultant for The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Erica is the author of the book, Inspired Jewish Leadership, a National Jewish Book Award finalist and Spiritual Boredom, and co-author of The Case for Jewish Peoplehood (all through Jewish Lights).  Erica is the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work

Sacha Litman is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. He is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Measuring Success, a strategy consulting firm dedicated to developing quantitative tools and models to enhance organizational effectiveness. Sacha can be reached at: sacha@measuring-success.com.  As organizations I work with suffer losses in membership, enrollment, or donors; I hear time and time again that it is out of their hands. The conclusion tends

Sandy Antignas is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program.  He is Chief Operating Officer of Steel Partners LLC, an investment firm in NYC, and he leads a planning and grant making cluster at UJA-Federation of New York focusing on Jewish Peoplehood.  He can be reached at santignas@sokho.com  While leadership transitions, from one generation to the next are continuous, recently I have been struck by them and my place in

Allison Shapira is the coordinator of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program based at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, MA. She can be reached at: ashapira@wexner.net  Last month at the Harvard Kennedy School, former Ecuadorian president Jamil Mahuad spoke in Professor Brian Mandell’s advanced negotiation workshop. With humor and humility, President Mahuad explained how he once negotiated a peace treaty with Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori over a small plot of

Robb Mann is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program.  He is President of Henry-Lee and Company, a Chicago based apparel design and sourcing company.   He is the former Chairman of United Jewish Communities’ National Training Department.  Rob lectures throughout North America teaching others how to share their passion for Jewish communal involvement.  He can be reached at robm@henry-lee.com  As Chairman of United Jewish Communities’ National Training department I’ve taught

Rabbi Dov Weiss, an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is the Director of Admissions of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is also pursuing a PhD in Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.  He can be reached at dyweiss@aol.com. Over the last ten years, I have had the distinct privilege of working with one of

Rabbi Allen Sellis is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program.  Allen is  Head of School of The Solomon Schechter Day School of St. Louis.  He can be reached at aselis@ssdsstl.org. If you’re a leader, don’t be afraid to do these three things:  Face up.  Fess up.  Fix up. In the summer of 2007, I assumed the headship of a Jewish day school in St. Louis.  I spent that

Harry Nelson, a Wexner Heritage alumnus from Los Angeles, is an attorney specializing in healthcare law. He co-chaired the strategic planning team for LimmudLA (www.limmudla.org), which is taking place February 15-18, 2008 in Costa Mesa, California.  He can be reached at harrynelsonltd@hotmail.com. Parshat Beshalach explodes with the disquietude of Israel.  Elation over leaving Egypt dissipates in the face of the terror of Pharaoh’s pursuing army.  Moses, the people ask, why

Marjory Kaplan is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program, San Diego 03.  She is the, CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation in San Diego.  Marjory can be reached at marjory@jcfsandiego.org. Books have always been my mentors.  Reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, I was horrified by the stories of people trying to survive on minimum wage in this country.  Certainly we can all work to find systemic solutions

Susan G. Bluer is a member of Wexner Heritage, San Francisco ’06.  She practices employment discrimination law with her cousin and can be reached at sgbluer@bluerlaw.com. “The personal is political.”  This is one of the first expressions or mottos I recall from my early days as an activist.  Now, some twenty-five years later, this phrase still typifies my approach to activism and leadership.  Too often, we think of leadership in