Taking The Helm At UJC

by The Editors

It’s no secret that the United Jewish Communities (UJC), the umbrella organization of the North American Jewish federation system, has been viewed as a sinking ship for some time now, plagued by a shrinking budget, low morale after large-scale staff reductions and a persistent concern among many professionals and lay leaders in the community that a decade after its creation, the organization still lacks a clearly defined mission.

So Jerry Silverman, named this week to succeed Howard Rieger as top executive of UJC on Sept. 30, was prepared for friends asking him why he would want to become captain of The Titanic. His response was that he believes the community deserves and is capable of supporting a strong national entity, adding that he was

“humbled” by and “passionate” about the opportunity to lead.

His choice of those two words, from an interview on Tuesday with The Jewish Week, is a hopeful sign because UJC will need a leader who has both the willingness to listen and learn from others and an enthusiasm to inspire colleagues and lay leaders.

Silverman has the credentials. He was a high-level executive at Levi Strauss and Co. and the Stride Rite Corp. before leaving private industry in 2004 to head the Foundation for Jewish Camp. He made the move, he said, because of his deep love of the Jewish people and his gratitude for how Jewish camping had transformed his children. In the last five years, he helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Jewish summer camps, taking the foundation to new levels of growth.

There are plenty of skeptics who feel that UJC cannot be saved, buffeted by increasing demands for services from local Jewish federations around the country at a time when funds are increasingly difficult to raise. Some say that only a federation exec could handle the job. (Silverman’s three predecessors were formerly federation executives.)

But even outspoken critics of the system assert that a national organization like UJC, which now raises and distributes about $3 billion a year from federation campaigns and other efforts, is critically important, though they disagree about what its primary goals should be.

For now, Silverman says he plans to do a great deal of listening and consulting with federation leaders across North America as well as his new colleagues at UJC, learning how best the system can “deliver significant value to its shareholders,” the federations.

“We have to be nimble and proactive,” he said.
A self-described “people person” who is widely admired for being a mensch as well as a successful professional, Silverman is the first to acknowledge that he faces a daunting challenge. But he has the support of many, including us, who are rooting for him to help strengthen a vitally needed national body at a critical moment in our history.

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