Board of delegates slims down, gets new name
The Board of Delegates, the 240-member strong body at the United Jewish Federation designed to share, discuss and build upon ideas to better the community, has been revamped.
This summer, the nominating committee for the BOD, responding to concerns about the structure of the panel, recommended a smaller model and a new name.
The UJF Board of Trustees approved the plan and the new Jewish Leadership Forum will soon meet for the first time, though note has been set yet.
UJF Chair Daniel Shapira called the changes “a major improvement” that will lead to “a new and more effective approach to collaborate with community leadership.”
“The Board has decided to refocus on a smaller group that is made up of the Board of Delegates [and] the volunteer and professional leadership of all Jewish organizations and synagogues,” Shapira said in an e-mailed letter to federation supporters.
Specifically, the leadership forum will include executive directors of all Jewish organizations, as well as the directors and rabbis of the synagogues.
UJF President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein didn’t know precisely how large the reconstituted body would be, but he doesn’t expect the function of the group to change
According to Finkelstein, most of the 45 elected delegates probably will not remain on the leadership forum, though the UJF staff is in touch with them seeking ways to keep them actively involved in the organization.
He said the new forum should have a “terrific” impact on the community, though there will be hurdles — consistency in membership for instance.
“The challenge we’re going to have is every organization has a different time frame for their leadership,” Finkelstein said. “Someone may be president of a synagogue today but tomorrow their term may be up. So the challenge will be to keep the group as cohesive as
possible.”
(Lee Chottiner can be reached at leec@thejewishchronicle.net.)
comments