JCC Association of North America has named Doron Krakow, head of the American fundraising arm of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, as its next president and CEO. Krakow, who has more than 25 years of experience leading and fundraising for Jewish communal organizations in North America and Israel, takes the helm of JCC Association as it enters its centennial year leading and convening the JCC Movement.

The New York-based JCC Association is the leadership network and central agency of JCCs, YM-YWHAs (Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Associations), and affiliated day and overnight camps across the United States and Canada.

Born in the Bronx and raised in Teaneck, N.J., Krakow has built his career in the Jewish community. As executive vice president of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU), Krakow leads the national U.S.-based organization which provides the principal source of philanthropic revenue for BGU. His tenure with AABGU has included the realization of the largest charitable gift in the history of the State of Israel, which is also one of the largest charitable gifts ever made to a university anywhere, a $400 million estate gift from the late Howard and Lottie Marcus of California. He also oversaw an increase in average annual AABGU fundraising revenue from $25 million to $40 million.

Previously, Krakow served as senior vice president, Israel and overseas programs, at United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federations of North America), for which he managed and directed development and implementation of the Jewish philanthropic community’s strategic agenda in Israel and across the globe.