By Ted Sasson

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation announces open recruitment for Cohort III of the Mandel Executive Leadership Program. The program’s aim is to improve the capacities of rising leaders to address the challenges and opportunities facing their communities, and to expand the pipeline for executive and senior leadership positions. The program’s third cohort will be open to mid-career professionals serving Jewish community centers, federations, Jewish community relations councils and the American Jewish Committee.

Applications will be accepted until April 1, and the new cohort will launch in January 2021. Federation, JCC, JCRC and AJC professionals who believe they are on track for executive or senior leadership positions are encouraged to apply.

The Mandel Executive Leadership Program is designed for outstanding professionals who are two-to-five years away from executive leadership positions in organizations of any size, or senior leadership positions in large organizations. The program’s focus on rising leaders reflects the Foundation’s commitment to the future. Strong candidates will have demonstrated an ability to lead, strong ethical standards, creativity, high intellectual capacity, and a passion for Jewish communal life.

The 16-month program includes cohort learning during seminars in Boston and Israel with a faculty of senior practitioners and scholars of nonprofit management, Jewish thought and social science. The seminars examine the major opportunities and challenges facing Jewish communities through three curricular strands:

• Social Analysis examines the demographic characteristics of North American Jewry and Israeli society, as well as their major cultural, institutional and political trends.

• Visions of Jewish Life examines the major ideas that organize, animate and give meaning to contemporary Jewish life.
• Nonprofit Management examines how leaders can work with and through their organizations to achieve vision-guided change.

The seminars challenge fellows to grapple with real communal and organizational problems while strengthening critical leadership skills to analyze, envision and implement. Such skills are essential to leadership effectiveness across a multitude of contexts, and we believe that they are relevant for addressing the immediate challenges facing our communities and organizations.

As rising leaders, fellows also need support to address individual challenges as they unfold within their organizations and during career transitions. Alongside cohort learning, fellows work one-on-one with mentors who are themselves highly accomplished current and past executives of major Jewish nonprofit organizations.

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation covers program and most transportation costs. Sponsoring organizations provide release time for participation in the Boston and Israel seminars. Additional information about the program can be found on our website.

Ted Sasson is Director of Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.