On Monday morning, some 1,300 Jewish professionals will gather in Baltimore for JPro25, a three-day conference hosted by Leading Edge — which acquired JPro earlier this year — and the Jewish Federations of North America. Taking place shortly after a JFNA survey found that “the Surge” in Jewish engagement after the Oct. 7 terror attacks has persisted, JPro’s third conference is expected to have its highest attendance yet. 

Ahead of the conference, eJewishPhilanthropy spoke with Gali Cooks, founding president and CEO of Leading Edge, about the gathering and challenges Jewish professionals are facing as “the Surge” surges on. 

The interview has been edited for clarity.

Nira Dayanim: Can you tell me about what the landscape looks like for Jewish professionals now?

Gali Cooks: There’s a push-pull. Let’s put it that way. What we see in the field is that Jewish professionals are still very much passionate and engaged and committed to working and toiling in a way that our community needs. On the other hand, it’s incessant. We’ve had about 18 months of crisis mode, which is very, very difficult. There’s no end that we can point to and say, “Okay, now the [post-traumatic stress disorder] starts,’ or the healing and the rebuilding, or the day after.” That’s been challenging. We can only sprint a marathon for so long, and it has really felt that way for some. We have seen some turnover, some burnout, some ways in which there have been negative headwinds and tailwinds honestly. 

With that comes some positives, like “the Surge.” We are seeing a lot of folks who haven’t connected with the Jewish community, whether professionally or as a volunteer or just as a member of the community, wanting to engage in ways that “the Surge” has reported on, and that that very much maps onto the professional picture. 

ND: How has the conference itself changed at all in light of those new needs of Jewish professionals?

GC: The value of bringing folks together has definitely grown since we re-emerged from COVID-19. People are wanting to come together [physically]. A lot of folks are still working in a hybrid or remote environment. So in-person is always [preferred], in some ways different and in many ways better. There’s definitely been hunger for that. Where I think the JPro conference has been really quite unique is that it really is a cross-section of all different types of professionals and really a microcosm of the sector writ large. You get to see folks that maybe have been former coworkers, or that you’ve only seen on Zoom. That’s been, in some way, a constant and really has developed even more.

This conference in particular is the first JPro conference since Oct. 7, and that has made it seem much more critical in terms of professionals wanting to recharge, to talk a little bit more in a more collegial way about some of the ways that it’s become a lot more complicated and harder to work and lead and serve in the Jewish community. So we’ve really fashioned a lot of opportunities for folks to connect. We have, like, a 22,000-square-foot tent that is going to be up near the stadium, so folks can just gather inside, outside, in different places and spaces throughout. And then there are opportunities for professionals to really level up their skills. It could be on an individual level — we are having opportunities for folks to get new headshots or to have an expert look at their LinkedIn profile and say, how are you really broadcasting your skills and your experience in ways that are helpful. And then also concrete skills, like how do you address antisemitism right now? What is some of the history of the current problems and opportunities? 

ND: You mentioned that this is the first conference since Oct. 7. How does that factor in? 

GC: So we’re trying to be very responsive to what we see as some of the needs in the field — some of the questions and the areas of opportunity that we see professionals asking about. We have Jewish learning opportunities that we’ve woven throughout the conference in ways that are really exciting. We do have specific workshops that are meant to tackle the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as some of the ways in which we can address antisemitism and Jew-hatred more broadly. So that’s been different. 

We’re still finalizing it, so I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to necessarily talk about the names, but we’re having either a hostage family or a former hostage actually come and really connect with the audience. We also have a Nova music festival survivor who’s going to come and DJ as well. So there are ways in which we are trying to build connections with Israel in much more palpable ways than we have in the past, and making space for folks to talk about some of… really, the byproduct of Oct. 7, which has been felt by all of us. 

ND: What excites you specifically about what’s on the docket?

GC: I’m really excited about the speakers. I think they’re gonna be very cool. Apart from Alex Edelman, we’ve got Anne Neuberger, who’s coming. This her first speaking engagement, more broadly, since she left the administration. The mayor of Baltimore is going to give us his welcome. We’ve got Adam Newman — I am a football fan, so it’s Adam Newman, but not the WeWork guy. He’s the chief of staff for the [NFL’s Baltimore] Ravens. Just thinking about community as a team sport — you know, the “we,” not the “me” — I’m really excited about that. So the speakers, I think, are going to be great. And just to be in a space with almost 1,300 professionals who are all committed to the same cause, that’s going to be a sight to see too.

ND: When we spoke last, it was on the occasion of the merger. What have things looked like since? 

GC: We very much are in the throes of the two organizations coming together. This conference is really an indication of that. The foundation of the JPro conference is really what it was. This is about the people and really supporting the people, not the executives only, not the funders only, not the board leaders only — which has really been Leading Edge’s bread and butter. We’re really here to support the people in the field and try to hold them up. And we are working on a new strategic plan that really takes in a much more holistic sort of field mobilization component to our work, that really is whole-system. We are trying to get everyone to appreciate and then act on the need to invest more, better and different in all levels of talent. And it’s been awesome to be able to lean on almost 100 years of experience from JPro, to be able to say, look, this matters a lot and we can be smarter with that input.