Will Bonfiglio joins Leading Edge as Program Associate, Leading Places to Work. Previously, he spent over a decade working as a program director, training facilitator, and educator at nonprofit and education organizations that include COCA-Center of Creative Arts and Washington University in St. Louis. (Read his full bio here.) Learn more about Will below!

What does a “great place to work” mean to you? 

A great place to work is one where people are empowered to do their best work and have the chance to support an important mission.

What are you looking forward to most about joining Leading Edge?

I'm so excited to join this incredible team and also look forward to learning more about the Jewish nonprofit sector.

I had the chance to spend a year in Spain after college, so I love whenever I am able to return. Getting to catch up with old friends and visit my favorite places there is the best!

What's the best TV show, movie, book, or podcast you've enjoyed in the last year?

I enjoy reading fiction but find it is often hard to make time to do it! I finally got around to reading The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. It's beautifully written, and any fans of Morrison or Baldwin should read it.

What’s your “dance like nobody’s watching” song?

We're thrilled to welcome Will Bonfiglio, who joins Leading Edge as Program Associate, Leading Places to Work!

Meet Will Bonfiglio | Leading Edge

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

Our Team

Abby Kaufman joins Leading Edge as Chief of Staff. Prior to Leading Edge, Abby served as Director of Employee and Organizational Development at Benenson Strategy Group and spent a decade working in the nonprofit and education sectors. (Read her full bio here.) Learn more about Abby below!

A great place to work is a place where everyone shows up wanting to be a better version of themselves every day — where they are connected to the mission and strategy of their organization as well as to each other, and are eager and encouraged to learn and grow. It's also a space where the values of the organization are palpable across organizational decisions, how people work together, and in everyday interactions and conversations.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with incredibly passionate and talented colleagues and partners who are committed to 1) elevating the experience of professionals and 2) enabling organizations to achieve their missions and drive positive impact across the Jewish communal sector.

What’s something you’re excited about right now?

I'm really excited about the conversations happening across sectors about the critical role and influence of middle managers... and the doors this is opening to think more broadly and deeply about how to drive organizational outcomes and culture. I'm also excited about the opportunity it presents to build more targeted, inclusive approaches to talent development and retention.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

I'm currently reading Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman and it's taking me on quite the journey (and isn't at all like other time management books I've come across)!

If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be?

Learning to play the banjo... or mountaineering.

What is something you have accomplished as an adult that your younger self would be proud of?

Running Camp Wise, the JCC overnight camp where I grew up!

What’s a work lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way?

What's one thing that can instantly make your day better?

The real question is if there's any song I won't dance to in the kitchen... but two of my go-to songs are Ain't Nothing Wrong With That by Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Tightrope by Janelle Monae!

We're excited to welcome Abby Kaufman, who joins Leading Edge as Chief of Staff!

Meet Abby Kaufman | Leading Edge

As of January 1, 2024, Leading Edge is pleased and proud to welcome three new members onto our board of directors. Each of them is an extraordinary and dynamic leader with a track record of building trust and driving change, and together, they bring broad and deep experience in both the business world and the Jewish community to their new roles helping to govern Leading Edge. 

Laurie Blitzer serves as the Global Chair of Birthright Excel and is a past Vice Chair of the Birthright Israel Foundation, of which she was a founding member. She is also a board member of Hillel International, Moishe House, HaShomer HaChadash (New Guardians of Israel), sits on the North American Advisory Committee for TOM (Tikkun Olam Makers), on the Advisory board of Global Jewry, and just completed her board term at BBYO International. She is also on the board of UJA- Federation of New York, where she co-chairs the Center for Youth Philanthropy. Laurie is also a past member of JFNA's Young Leadership Cabinet and the Wexner Heritage Fellows program.

Alisa has been active on the boards of a wide spectrum of organizations and foundations — small and large, new and old — that promote deep engagement with Jewish life, and that build and provide care for community. She is immediate past chair of the Jim Joseph Foundation Board.  She is also past President and Chair of the board of UJA-Federation of New York where she has long been involved with its grantmaking in the Jewish education space as well as in Israel. A past president of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City, she was instrumental in founding its high school division and building a new school campus. Additionally, she has served on the boards of The Hadar Institute, Moving Traditions, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.  

Rachel Kay is SVP and Chief People Officer of the Hearst Corporation, a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. Rachel joined Hearst in 2019 after nearly two decades at McKinsey & Company, the global management consultancy, where she served as a consultant and then as a leader of internal talent and HR functions.  She lives in White Plains, New York, with her husband (the head of school of a Jewish private school) and two children.

Stating the (seemingly) obvious: Why boards matter

In Leading Edge’s recent State of the Jewish Workplace report, we found that not everyone in the Jewish nonprofit sector is familiar with what nonprofit boards do and why they're important, and that there is a large divide in knowledge and perceptions between employees who work directly with their boards and those who don't.

We recommended in that report that leaders find opportunities to remind their teams and communities of their boards' contributions and why they matter. So as we welcome these three new members who have joined the other incredible leaders who make up our board, we're taking our own advice!

Nonprofit boards are entrusted by law with fiduciary responsibilities to make sure that the organization's resources, which the public allows to be tax-exempt, are used prudently and legitimately, advancing the organization's mission in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. Boards govern the organization at the highest level, including:

Setting the organization's mission and long-term strategy; 

Evaluating and monitor the organization's impact over time; 

Hiring, overseeing, and partnering with the CEO; 

Providing financial and budgetary oversight; 

Acting as ambassadors for the organization in the broader community; 

and (in many cases, though not in every organization) help the organization raise funds to support its work. 

The Leading Edge board is a remarkable set of leaders, and together they help Leading Edge expand and evolve our impact on the Jewish nonprofit sector. Recent Leading Edge board contributions over the past few years include overseeing the 2022 acquisition of Boardified; reshaping our mission and vision; providing invaluable thought partnership to our President & CEO, Gali Cooks; shaping and approving our budget and roadmap of our work each year; and exploring and guiding multiple other long-term strategic possibilities and initiatives, about which we'll share more when the time is right.

Meet Laurie Blitzer, Alisa Doctoroff, and Rachel Kay.

Three Dynamic Leaders Join the Leading Edge Board

Jeffrey joins Leading Edge as Director of Leadership Programs. Before Leading Edge, Jeffrey spent a long tenure at Teach For America working in recruitment, talent development, and alumni affairs. He also currently serves as Treasurer on the Board and Executive Committee of his congregation, Touro Synagogue. (Read his full bio here.) Here are a few Q&As to get to know him!

A great place to work is one in which you can do work that aligns to your strengths, on an issue, or in partnership with a community which is important to you, and simultaneously feel developed and grow in your career.

Building and executing programs that help people have their desired impact, all in a sector I care about deeply.

I think the number of different generations simultaneously in the workplace right now is very interesting. The cross-generational diversity might present some challenges, but it also presents a great opportunity to learn and grow.

Jerusalem and/or the mountains in North Carolina.

What's the best TV show you've enjoyed in the last year?

This last year I finally watched all of Ted Lasso. I love it, obviously.

Acoustic guitar or organizational behavior, or both.

Higher Love — the Whitney & Kygo version, or Karaoke by Big Freedia.

It is very difficult for me to narrow down any "song" category to only one song. =)

We're thrilled to welcome Jeffrey Fingerman, who joins Leading Edge as Director of Leadership Programs!

Meet Jeffrey Fingerman | Leading Edge

Sunnie is Associate, Communications at Leading Edge with a diverse background spanning several continents and experience working in both nonprofit and corporate environments. She gained valuable experience in promoting social justice and human rights at the United Nations. (Read her full bio here.) Learn more about Sunnie below!

For me, a great place to work is not just about having a comfortable salary or being in a pleasant environment (although it would be hard to deny that those factors do significantly elevate the working experience). It's a place where I can be myself without having to present a façade, where I feel accepted and appreciated for who I am as an individual. A great workplace recognizes that employees are more than just cogs in a machine; they're human beings with emotions, personal lives, and aspirations. This, in turn, fosters a more creative and engaged workforce. One of the many reasons I was drawn to Leading Edge was precisely our commitment to creating a positive work culture that values employee satisfaction and well-being.

The aspect I am most excited about in joining Leading Edge is the opportunity to learn about diverse cultures in an environment that fosters a sense of camaraderie. I am eager to contribute to a workplace culture that values collaboration, mutual respect, and inclusivity.

As someone who may or may not be a bit biased, I have to say that Korea is my favorite place to travel! Not only is it my ancestral homeland, but it's also an incredibly vibrant and fascinating country with so much to offer. From the bustling streets of Seoul to the serene beauty of the countryside, there's something for everyone in Korea.

What's the best podcast you've enjoyed in the last year?

Over the past few years, I have come to appreciate the brilliance of Conan O'Brien's podcast series, aptly named "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend." What resonates with me the most about this podcast is its remarkable ability to create genuine connections with its listeners, irrespective of the guest's celebrity status or background. Through a unique combination of authenticity and wit, the podcast manages to build meaningful and lasting engagement without forcing similarities or prying into private information. As someone who values the art of communication, I find the podcast's approach to be both refreshing and inspiring. It's definitely a skill that I hope to cultivate in my own life.

Early in my career, while leading a team project, we missed a critical deadline that delayed the project by several weeks. Upon reflection, I realized that I had not communicated effectively with my team members about the importance of the deadline and the consequences of missing it. This experience taught me the significance of effective communication and the need to establish clear expectations. Since then, I prioritize regular check-ins with my team members and clear goals and deadlines. I am now much more comfortable having difficult conversations with team members when issues arise, and that has helped prevent similar situations from happening again.

Does it get any better than Robyn's "Dancing on My Own"? I think not.

We're excited to welcome Sunnie We, who joins Leading Edge as Associate, Communications!

Meet Sunnie S. We | Leading Edge

On January 1, 2023, Scott Kaufman’s term as chair of the board of Leading Edge came to an end. And quite a term it was. A mere month before the pandemic began, we sat down with Scott for an entrance interview. Now, as he passes the baton to Daryl Messinger (read her entrance interview here), we asked Scott to reflect on what he’s learned and observed.

What Leading Edge achievements are you proudest of having seen happen in your term as board chair at Leading Edge? 

While I could provide half a dozen answers here, including the smooth integration with the Boardified team, two achievements rise to the top of my list. First, how adaptive and nimble Leading Edge was in the early days of the pandemic as far as building successful new programs and resources to address the rapidly changing situation. And I don’t mean fast “for a nonprofit,” I mean fast for any business. The other achievement that stands out is that during a pandemic, which for Leading Edge was almost exclusively a remote working environment, we were able to triple the size of our professional team while not sacrificing, and maybe even improving, our organizational culture. I think this was a result of many things. Most importantly, our team hired extremely well, in terms of both talent and character. Great people, when empowered, build a great culture. 

A board chair often works more closely with the president & CEO than the other board members do. What, if anything, have you learned about Leading Edge President & CEO Gali Cooks from this close partnership that you didn't know before becoming chair?

While I was already a big fan of Gali, working closely with her during such a challenging period only increased my admiration for her leadership. Her ability to deliver excellence was evident from the beginning, but her steadiness in dealing with the constant change of the moment and her compassion for our people during these difficult times only deepened my appreciation of her as a leader and a person. I was especially impressed with her growth in terms of embracing the inherent risks of rapid and frequent innovation, which perfectionists often struggle to do.  

Did you learn anything about yourself or about leadership from this experience of helming the Leading Edge board for three years?

I have had two big takeaways from this experience which I think have significantly improved my leadership performance. First, I became far more conscious about not “giving my feelings the keys to the car’.” As a board chair, I wasn’t in the trenches. Thus, I was able to maintain a certain emotional distance from the work; sort of a “view from the bleachers” perspective. I am now far better at recognizing, both in others and in myself, when feelings like ego or insecurity are creeping into decision-making. The answer isn’t “don’t have feelings;” we don’t get a vote there. Rather, it is to recognize when feelings are trying to “grab the wheel” and then get them an Uber.

The other key learning is that Leading Edge, or anywhere I play a leadership role, would benefit if I were to become far more practiced at having productive difficult conversations as soon as the need arose. As a pleaser, this was not something I always jumped in to do. Armed with the clout of the “chair of the board” title, I made a conscious decision to lean in far more often to take on these conversations as needed, and this has made me a better board chair and a far better CEO in my day jobs. 

Succeeding you in the board chair role is Daryl Messinger. What skills and qualities have you observed in Daryl that you feel will most help her succeed as chair?

Daryl brings a depth and breadth of skills to this role matched only by commitment to our mission. Her analytical skills are elite and she has tremendous leadership experience from many local and national Jewish organizations. She has an exemplary work ethic, and she does all this with a big heart. A significant upgrade for sure! 

What advice, if any, do you have for Daryl about this particular role at this particular organization?

Leverage our amazing board. “Jewish is a team sport” is a truth that is evident in most of our greatest moments as a people, going back millennia. My Leading Edge experience has only reinforced this conviction. While we certainly have a great professional leader, our secret sauce is the depth of talent on our professional team and how they each are put in positions to shine. The same is true with our board, and while I am proud of the role I played as chair, the pandemic limited the kind of gatherings where we could have really leveraged the exceptional talent of our board members to support our team and drive our work even further. 

What do you come away from your term as chair still curious, uncertain, or wondering about, related to Leading Edge and our work?

By industry standards, a relatively small amount of our team’s bandwidth goes towards engagement of stakeholders just for engagement’s sake. This allows us to have the bandwidth to deliver excellence as both a professional services provider and a think tank in service of our field. My concern is, as we grow, will we be able to avoid the trap of spending too much time and resources engaging, promoting, and selling, and not enough in driving excellence across our ecosystem?  

Do you have any other reflections you want to share?

I never would have imagined that at dinner in Miami, my friend and founder of Leading Edge Rachel Monroe would lead me on such a profoundly meaningful and enjoyable leadership journey. That evening, while discussing an upcoming conference we were co-chairing, Rachel asked me to take a look at a strategic plan for this new project that would soon launch. The next day, I shared many thoughts about talent and culture, and then got roped into joining a small group to name and brand this new organization.   

I am so grateful to the professional team, current and past board members, and the generous and forward-thinking philanthropists who provide our fuel, who have given me the honor of serving Leading Edge—an organization that lives its values every day. This has truly been one of the pleasures of my life, as I cannot imagine a more fulfilling volunteer role.  

Outgoing Leading Edge board chair Scott Kaufman reflects on three eventful years.

“Jewish is a Team Sport:” Reflections from our Outgoing Board Chair

Lauren holds a B.A. in Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers University and a Project Management Certification from Google. Her passion for food justice has allowed her to serve as a Trenton Food Stakeholder and Community Advisory Board member. (Read her full bio here.) Here are a few Q&As to get to know her!

What does a “great place to work” mean to you?

A great place to work is one that genuinely welcomes, respects, and values people as they are. Employees on all levels feel safe, seen, and heard, and are able to thrive in a workplace culture that fosters growth, creativity, and collaboration. A great place to work is transparent and encourages ownership that allows employees to understand how their work helps to advance the organization’s overall impact. 

I'm looking forward to joining an innovative and collaborative team, and marrying my experience to the work Leading Edge has been doing to continue to make an impact in the Jewish nonprofit sector. 

I don't have a favorite place, but I try to be intentional about traveling somewhere new every year. I love learning about different cultures.

It's so hard to pick just one! The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is hands down one of the best books I've ever read. I'm currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear and it's so good! "The Minimalists Podcast" and "Still Processing" are my go-to podcasts. "The Menu" and "Nope" are movies I've thoroughly enjoyed, and "Succession" and "Billions" are TV shows I'm anxiously awaiting to return!

Eating a delicious meal or reading a good book.

We're thrilled to welcome Lauren Porter, who joins Leading Edge as Program Associate, Surveys and Data!

Meet Lauren Porter | Leading Edge

Leading Edge is thrilled to welcome Daryl Messinger as the new chair of our board. Daryl served on the Leading Edge board for four years before becoming chair as of January 1, 2023. In addition to a private sector career, Daryl has also served on (and often chaired) the boards of a number of Jewish nonprofit organizations, including (most recently and prominently) chairing the board of the Union for Reform Judaism, and being the first woman to serve in that role. Throughout these leadership roles at many organizations, she has cultivated a reputation as a dynamic leader with a track record of sustained involvement and success.

We asked Daryl to give us a sense of how she sees Leading Edge’s work, the landscape where we’re operating, and how her experience and viewpoints fit into them.

Can you talk about why volunteer leadership seems to be a real passion and calling for you?

We have one scarce resource: time. So, very early on in my professional life, I made choices about where and how I wished to invest time. If an organization or cause warranted my time and focus then, I wasn’t willing to just warm a seat. I needed to be willing to step up into leadership roles. The key for me is to choose who I want to work with and to make sure we share the same passion for the mission and direction of the organization. There are many worthy and important volunteer roles in organizations. For me, I came to understand that I had a needed role in leading and mentoring others. 

What motivation keeps you persisting in your volunteer leadership path? What keeps the fire lit?

People, people, people. It’s all about relationships. I like being in relationship with lots of different people. I enjoy the networking aspect, the chance to have roles in many different organizations of different sizes and types. I was in highly analytical jobs earlier in my career. Compared with those jobs, volunteer leadership allowed me to have many more relationships with people from different backgrounds and with different stories than my own. We often narrow down our worlds to the colleagues where we work, and our busy family lives, and this kind of work has broadened my relationships.

And then, I’m also in this for the meaningful, purposeful missions in the Jewish community. You can “find people” in lots of places, and lots of those places have meaning and purpose, but my main engagement has been Jewish because I wanted to have a focus on where I put my time. I could put my energy into any number of causes—for instance, climate, racial justice, food insecurity—those things are all important to me, but I have always wanted to do them with and through the Jewish community.

What first motivated you to get involved with Leading Edge?

First, I’m motivated by the problem Leading Edge is addressing. How do we ensure that Jewish nonprofits attract and retain outstanding leaders? Given my experience leading several different types of Jewish nonprofits, I was particularly aware of the sector’s broad need to focus on talent and culture. Few individual organizations have the resources to do this and I was intrigued that major funders had both the foresight and the generosity to want to do this for the sector. 

Second, I’m motivated by who is working on the problem; I want to work and partner with exemplary leaders. Gali Cooks and the entire Leading Edge team are folks that I am super excited to work with and learn from. And we have a board that understands how to work at the right level—bringing expertise, experience, and deep knowledge without getting in the weeds where the professionals are. The Leading Edge board is packed with these attributes and the members truly appreciate that the role of the board is to provide strategic and generative leadership.

How have you seen the Jewish nonprofit field changing over the past decade?

We have many more on-ramps to Jewish life. Relatedly, we also have many more small organizations—very few of which scale. Funding models in that patchwork of organizations are also shifting along with social changes. For example, membership models are becoming seen as suspect.

Field-wide, there is an increasing recognition that talent and culture matter and that the “people people” are important in that equation. Along with that, we have seen a sense of momentum around the professionalization of the Jewish communal field—but that isn’t necessarily reflected in the compensation. 

Compensation is related to a different problem: affordability of Jewish life (to use a technical term) sucks. On the one hand, we want to attract great talent but on the other, there is a need to keep communal services as affordable as possible. The result is that wages often do not keep up with inflation. 

First: Shared leadership. There needs to be a real partnership between the board chair and the CEO. In old power models, that relationship was hierarchical, but I think of this as two partners who each have a different job to do. And then, leadership goes beyond those two people as well, in the sense of what Joe Kanfer [another Leading Edge board member] calls “the leadership molecule.” There should be a set of people dynamically sharing ideas, abilities, experiences, expertise, and ultimately leadership.

Second: Have strong opinions, loosely held. I grew up in a household where my father was a volunteer debate coach. We grew up learning that we had to present our ideas in their strongest, best-argued forms. And we also learned that to make the best argument, we needed to understand why someone on the other side would think we were absolutely wrong. We needed to be able to articulate both sides of an issue, not take the disagreements personally, and be open and willing to change our minds.

Third: I try to find and surround myself with smarter, kinder, and differently experienced folks and empower them to lead. I’ve always opted to be in environments and teams where I knew for certain I wasn’t the smartest person in the room. That’s not just effective, it’s fun!

Meet Leading Edge’s new board chair in this welcome interview.

Why Daryl Messinger Can’t Get Enough Volunteer Leadership

Prior to joining Leading Edge, Will was a project associate at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, where they supported management of regranting initiatives to advance immigrant equity, criminal legal system reform, and other progressive state-based policies. (Read their full bio here.) Here are a few Q&As to get to know them!

I'm already pondering my birthday. It's not until spring, but a friend and I usually do a big joint party, and I would love to go somewhere near water for it. 

A great place to work is one that acknowledges everyone's full personhood and how it interacts with our workplaces. 

I'm looking forward to a culture that is thoughtful about being a great place to work! 

Very little in life is irreversible. If something isn't working, you can try something else. If you want to be a different person, you can just start doing different things and it'll follow. 

I love going to the beach or lake! I'm from Minnesota, so being by the water was a frequent thing for me growing up, and I miss it now that I'm in a city. 

What's the best book you've enjoyed in the last year?

I really enjoyed the novel A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine! It's space opera about a diplomat who is called to the capitol of a space empire in order to bargain for the existence of her community after her predecessor is mysteriously killed. Lots of interesting worldbuilding and mediation on what imperialism does to identity. 

I want to learn actual music theory. I've had some flow in (and out of with disuse) my brain, but it would be fun to really understand how music is constructed. I'd want to learn to play guitar! On the practical side,  I really need to sit down and learn better knife skills for cooking. I am aware that I could be chopping vegetables much faster, but I just don't have the skills yet. 

I have semi-regularly started playing sports. It's just for fun with my friends, but I am actually improving in athletic skill with practice. Wild how that works. 

Many competent people are making up a lot of things as they go, and you will be fine if you have to too. 

Going on a walk outside and seeing trees. The human brain loves to see trees. 

All the dancing I am capable of is the moshier kind. I've really enjoyed BLACKOUT by Turnstile this year. They're a Baltimore hardcore band that hit it big this year—this song got nominated for a Grammy! More hardcore songs should have cowbell. 

We're excited to welcome Will Wong, who joins Leading Edge as Program Associate, Executive Programs!

Meet Will Wong | Leading Edge

Jess joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Data and Surveys. Before Leading Edge, Jess developed a passion for data analytics and research through 8 years of experience working in various non-profit and academic settings. (Read their full bio here.) Here are a few Q&As to get to know them!

A place where everyone feels safe and supported while doing work that is having a meaningful impact on the world around us.

Getting to know my coworkers and bringing an equity-lens into the data and survey work that is being done.

What's the best TV show, movie, book or podcast you've consumed in the last year?

Can't pick one! TV - Westworld, Movie - Nope, Book - Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, Podcast - 60 Songs That Explain the 90s.

I'd love to either learn some woodworking skills, or how to play the drums.

Traveling solo through south and southeast Asia, and working remote while doing so.

We're excited to welcome Jess Abercrombie, who joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Data and Surveys!

Meet Jess Abercrombie

Jillian was Executive Assistant at Boardified before Boardified was acquired by Leading Edge. Jillian serves as the point of contact for scheduling requests and project support, leaning on over 13 years of experience working in various administrative roles. Learn more about her below!

A "great place to work" is one where there is mutual respect among all team members and providing feedback is safe and welcome - even when there's a hard conversation to have. A great place to work is one that is committed to learning, growing, and challenging the status quo. Keeping the big picture in mind and generally having a collaborative v. competitive mentality is also important.

I have amazing coworkers (which is huge) and the culture at Leading Edge is really fantastic. I love that the Leading Edge mission is to help organizations with workplace culture because I think that's so important.  Besides that, I grew up in a multifaith household, and it's refreshing to work in a Jewish space for the first time in my professional life.

I really love Bisbee, AZ. It's a cute, little town that's an easy drive away. Perfect for a weekend getaway. 

I'm an avid show watcher and book reader so this question is fun but tough! In the last year, my favorite show was probably YellowJackets but I recently finished Loot and Hacks, which were both great. My favorite books in the last year were The Mars Room, Sister Outsider, and Toxic Positivity. 

I used to be extremely shy. Photography was something I started doing in college that built up my confidence a lot. We had to get in front of the classes and present our work. I learned that when you're talking about topics you're passionate about, public speaking can actually be fun. As a kid, I don't think I could ever have imagined I'd someday feel brave enough to photograph weddings or speak up in a room full of people. 

We're thrilled to welcome Jillian Ryan, who has been with us part-time since May, and now joins Leading Edge full-time as Executive Assistant!

Meet Jillian Ryan

First proclaimed in 1999 by Pet Sitters International (who wanted a day off, perhaps?), National Take Your Dog to Work Day is the Friday following Father's Day.

Of course, for remote workers (a large number of people, though still a minority of the workforce), every day is take your pets to work day. (As well as take your kids to work day and take the noise from your neighbor's leaf blower to work day.) Still, it's nice to take a special day to recognize the morale-boosting contributions of the furry colleagues who interrupt our Zooms with nuzzles, barks at possible ghosts, or attempts to knock coffee cups over onto laptops. 

Pets can make our lives cute, fun, and (in ways both good and bad) exciting. In fact, just as organizations know they can win employee loyalty and retention by being family-friendly, SHRM suggests that employers can also take steps to be pet-friendly places to work.

In celebration of National Take Your Dog to Work Day, we're pleased to feature some team members from Leading Edge's department of Leading Places to Bark:

Senior Director, Innovation and Disruption

Associate Director of Strategic Rearrangement of Desk Items

It's National Take Your Dog to Work Day. So meet some of the Leading Edge team's furry colleagues!

Leading Places to Bark

Leah joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Leading Places to Work. Previously, Leah spent 9 years at the Union for Reform Judaism with a portfolio that included youth engagement and education, leadership development, congregational support, and expanding the pipeline into Jewish community. (Read her full bio here.)

A great place to work is one where employees are valued for their talents and interests, and treated as whole human beings. There is trust between all levels of the organization. There is a clear mission, and employees know how they fit in as contributors and stakeholders. For me, a great place to work is my home office; I love being a remote worker!

My family has been spending time on the North Carolina coast since I was young, and we've continued the tradition with new partners and kids. I love going every summer and now I love to share the experience with my own daughter.

What's the best TV show, movie, book, or podcast you've consumed in the last year?

This year I challenged myself to read more fiction. My favorite so far has been "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett. 

I would love to be great at Sketch Noting, a form of visual note-taking. It combines my love of art with organization and skilled communication.

Don't let "perfect" be the enemy of "good."

An episode of a favorite comedy like "Schitt's Creek," "The Office," or "The Good Place" especially if I've already seen it a dozen times!

As a Jewish professional, I have benefited from the work of Leading Edge for years. I'm so excited to join such a smart and forward-thinking team and have the chance to do work that makes such an impact on the field. I can already tell that I'll be stretched in new and exciting ways!

We're excited to welcome Leah King Kaufman, who joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Leading Places to Work!

Meet Leah King Kaufman

One of the most inspiring things my boss does is leave.

I joke! Well, on one level I joke. Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge, is a phenomenal leader and when she’s at the helm of our organization, she is immensely valuable to our team and the field we serve. But here’s the way I really mean it: Gali is currently taking a three-month parental leave from Leading Edge, since she and her wife welcomed their second child, Gavi! 

Speaking both as a father and as one of her employees, Gali taking parental leave means an enormous amount to me. How much? Well, it’s one of the reasons I work at Leading Edge in the first place. 

I’m a full-time-working father, with three young kids at home (ages 7, 5, and 2, kenenahora—pictured at the top of this post!) and a wife who also works full-time. Fatherhood is not something incidental to me, it’s central. I try to do a good job at work, but my family comes before my work—and that’s not a close call. I’m glad to say that every nonprofit I’ve ever worked for has been accommodating of that stance to some degree or another, though of course some workplaces have been more flexible than others. 

So when, in 2019, I happened to read that Gali Cooks, CEO of Leading Edge, would be taking three months off for parental leave, I took note. (This was when Gali’s first child, her daughter Ami, was born.) At the time, I didn’t work for Leading Edge yet, but I knew some of the team and was already a fan of the organization’s work, and saw the notice in an email newsletter.

“Wow,” I thought. “A CEO taking a significant parental leave. That’s unusual. And that must be a family-friendly organization.”

Was I right to think that a CEO taking leave was unusual? Empirically I don’t really know—I can’t seem to find any overall data on how many CEOs take family leave, either in the nonprofit or business sectors. (Email me if you know any good data on this.) But it certainly doesn’t feel usual to me. It’s not something I see frequently, and when high-profile CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Twitter’s Parag Agrawal take parental leave, it makes the news.

Whether it’s as rare as it seems or whether it’s more common than I think, a top leader taking leave—and publicizing it—is a powerful signal. At least, it was to me when I saw it from the outside in 2019. Later the same year, I heard that a communications opportunity was opening up at Leading Edge, and I was instantly interested. I had multiple reasons for wanting to work here (and to be clear, my previous organization was also a family-friendly one), but having seen Gali take parental leave gave me high confidence that among other ways it would be a great place to work, Leading Edge would certainly be a family-supportive employer. (And, for the record, I was right.)

So that’s my own experience. But this kind of signal from the top might be important for reasons beyond individual perspectives. Last year, Leading Edge released The Gender Gap in Jewish Nonprofit Leadership: An Ecosystem View. That report identified five “keystones” for addressing the gender gap in top leadership in Jewish organizations, and one of them was this: “There is a perception that you cannot be both a top leader and a primary caregiver.” To address that problem, the report says, “Community members can work actively to shift our cultural assumptions about the capacity to be a leader and a primary caregiver at the same time.”

How can we “shift cultural assumptions”? What does it take to change the default stories we tell? There may be many answers to that question, but as Jonathan Larson wrote, “Don’t say the answer—actions speak louder than words.” (Or, if the Golden Age of musical theatre is more to your taste, “Show me!”) There are lots of ways to change minds, but it’s hard to beat walking the walk.

What if it were normal to see all our leaders being caregivers? And let’s be clear, they are caregivers already, whether we see it or not. Our leaders have families and communities. Some of them have children; some have elderly relatives; some have a friend or neighbor they help. The people we know by titles like “Boss,” “CEO,” or “board chair” leave the office and go home to places where they’re known by titles like “Mommy,” “Zeidy,” “my niece,” or “my nice neighbor who drives me to the doctor”. What if every leader made it a point to let their employees know about those other parts of their lives—not to erase their family’s privacy or make a reality show of their personal lives, but simply to let the existence and the extent of their participation in caregiving be better known? What kind of permission would that give to the people who work for them to think of ourselves as potential leaders, even as we have roles like “Daddy” that we value even more?

Speaking as a Daddy and a professional (in that order), that’s the kind of workplace and the kind of community where I want to be.

Speaking both as a father and as one of her employees, Leading Edge President & CEO Gali Cooks taking parental leave means an enormous amount to me. How much? Well, it’s one of the reasons I work at Leading Edge in the first place.

Louder than Words: What our CEO’s parental leave means to me as a father | Leading Edge

Louder than Words: What our CEO’s parental leave means to me as a father

Isabel Shech joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Leading Places to Serve. Before Boardified was acquired by Leading Edge, she was Community Engagement Manager at Boardified. Isabel is a point of connection for program alumni—both professional and volunteer leaders. She thrives when hosting Lunch Clubs, driving marketing strategy, and managing adaptive program and resource development. (Read her full bio here.)

One committed to curiosity and excellence, to failure and learning, to generously growing individual and collective skills and strengths, and where both shared values and differences are celebrated. 

As a Jewish communal professional, it's hard to overstate the impact Leading Edge has had on shaping organizational cultures. I can't wait to join forces with an incredible team and continue moving the needle on volunteer leadership throughout our sector! 

To unapologetically embrace being a generalist. 

Anywhere with great street food and meandering streets to get lost in—Singapore's Tiong Bahru or Tel Aviv's Neve Tzedek neighborhoods are favorites. 

I just finished the second season of “Russian Doll”: I came for the soundtrack and fashion aesthetic and stayed for the trippy, visceral exploration of generational trauma. Would also highly recommend The Song of Achilles, which sent me on a “reframed Greek mythology” reading binge, and the book (and soon-to-be-on-Netflix-series) Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. 

Get to know Isabel Shech, who joins Leading Edge as Program Manager, Leading Places to Serve!

Meet Isabel Shech | Leading Edge

Samantha Jakubowski is Senior Director, Leading Places to Serve at Leading Edge. Before Boardified was acquired by Leading Edge, she was Chief Growth Officer at Boardified. Sam focuses on broadening Leading Places to Serve programming to serve more organizations, staff professionals, and volunteer leaders. (Read her full bio here.)

A great place to work is human-centered, focusing on the individuals who do great work. Great places to work embrace the diverse range of employees, constituents, and stakeholders to set culture, strategy, and systems that drive impact. These workplaces prioritize open communication with and between these humans to empower their collective work.

Helping staff and volunteer leaders develop true partnership and collaboration. By setting a standard of strong shared leadership, we can level up the field’s talent, culture, and impact.

We have learned so much about our Jewish communities and their needs over the last two years. Right now, leaders—professional and volunteer—are uniquely positioned to make meaningful change to our organizations, systems, and infrastructure that can define the next decade. It’s daunting, but also powerful and exciting.

Make the implicit explicit. As much as we try to be, we’re not mind readers!

For a break from Chicago's infamous winter weather, St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, where the people are as warm as the weather. For anything else, Bologna, Italy, where the food is rich with history and love.

Introducting Samantha Jakubowski, who joins Leading Edge as Senior Director, Leading Places to Serve!

Meet Samantha Jakubowski | Leading Edge

Alicia Oberman joins Leading Edge as Vice President, Leading Places to Serve. Before Boardified was acquired by Leading Edge, she was Founder & Chief Experience Officer of Boardified. Alicia deeply understands the challenges of volunteer leaders and those who work alongside them. She is committed to meaningfully engaging with leaders in what she calls their “extra, extra time” (i.e., the time they spend to further develop themselves in their volunteer roles). She encourages everyone she works with to seek a state of “inspired excellence,” recognizing that the most successful leaders are viscerally inspired by their work and take ownership and pride in how they approach all of their commitments. (Read her full bio here.)

Here are some Q&As to help you get to know Alicia: 

Working alongside teammates who are passionate and inspired by the work we do together, and who also enjoy and are energized by our journey together. 

“Every day is a new opportunity to lead.” — Robert Bank

We're thrilled to welcome Alicia Oberman as Vice President, Leading Places to Serve!