The San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation today announced that Barry Finestone will become its President and CEO effective January 1, 2017. Founded in 2006, the Foundation has awarded more than $400 million in grants to foster compelling, effective Jewish education for youth, teens, and young adults in the United States. Finestone will assume this role as Chip Edelsberg, the Foundation’s first executive director, steps down.

A Scottish native with 25 years of experience in the Jewish nonprofit world, Finestone will be the Foundation’s first President and CEO. He currently is the executive director of the Lisa and John Pritzker Family Fund. Previously, Finestone was executive director of the JCC of San Francisco, which he built into the second largest JCC in the country. He also served as executive director of the Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati from 1999 to 2005 and as a residential camp director in the Young Judaea youth movement in the 1990’s. He holds a degree in Community Education from Jordanhill College in Glasgow, Scotland.

Chip Edelsberg, the Foundation’s founding Executive Director, will remain in the fields of philanthropy and Jewish education as a consultant.