JDC Names New CEO

The JDC Board has approved the appointment of Ariel Zwang as the organization’s new CEO. She is the first woman to hold this position in JDC’s history.

Ariel comes to JDC from Safe Horizon, one of America’s leading social service agencies, where she has been CEO for the past12 years, and previously served as Executive Director of New York Cares, the city’s largest volunteer organization for 7 years. She brings to JDC a track record of management, relationship cultivation, and fundraising formed over a 25-year career in the human and public service sector, including time as a White House Fellow in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In a statement, Ariel said: “Today’s work – building the future of the global Jewish people, support for those in economic distress, including the elderly and Holocaust survivors, and working with Israel to provide opportunity for its vulnerable – is profoundly meaningful to me. JDC performs these miracles every day, and I am eager to work with its Board, staff, funders and partners to continue this work and position JDC for another 100 years of strength and impact.”

Ariel is a noted expert in social support for vulnerable populations. As CEO of Safe Horizon, one of the U.S.’s leading social service agencies, she oversees its staff of 1,000, a budget of $100 million (including tens of millions of dollars in government contracts and grants), and programs aiding 250,000 vulnerable people annually.

Ariel is a Hebrew speaker educated in the Solomon Schechter Day School system and a Camp Ramah alum. She currently serves as a Vice President of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan; has held a variety of lay roles at UJA- Federation of New York; and is a past Board Member of Jewish Coalition for Service and the New York Committee for Harvard Hillel.

Ariel will succeed Darrell Friedman as JDC’s CEO on January 2, 2021.