JewishColumbus Leadership Update

It is with gratitude for his years of service that we announce the departure of Joel Marcovitch, President and CEO of JewishColumbus. We are so appreciative of the successes that Joel has achieved in this role since he assumed this position.

Under his leadership, JewishColumbus raised $1.66M of funding that was distributed throughout the community to help various agencies, synagogues, and organizations overcome some of the challenges faced during the covid pandemic.

After the tragedy at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, and subsequent events in Poway, CA and Jersey City, NJ, a community-wide security effort was funded and put into place to help ensure that synagogues and Jewish institutions are protected.

Joel led our response to the war in Ukraine by taking two mission trips to Poland to be a witness and fundraiser for the community dollars that are used to support overseas aid agencies that are dealing with this crisis on the ground.

In addition, Joel, with the support of his team, stewarded the growth of the JewishColumbus Annual Campaign and assets under management by the organization.

We thank him for his years of service and wish him the best as he pursues other opportunities.

The community funds raised through JewishColumbus have a significant impact on so many aspects of Jewish living in our community as well as supporting Jews globally. We are committed to being a good partner to our agencies, synagogues, and organizations. We have and we will continue to strive to support experiences that help people strengthen their Jewish identities, bring people together in moments of challenge and joy, and be there in times of need for the most vulnerable in our community. In addition, we recognize that there are community-wide needs that we are positioned to address such as fighting antisemitism.

To that end, the Board of Trustees has appointed Naomi Lamb to the role of Interim CEO of JewishColumbus. Naomi previously held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the organization. Julie Tilson Stanley will expand her role as Chief Development Officer to include Interim President of JewishColumbus.

We are confident that there will be a smooth leadership continuity and management of the organization.