Washington, DC, April 13, 2015 – The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation announced today it is launching the Schusterman Fellowship to develop outstanding professional and volunteer leaders for the Jewish community and beyond. This new 18-month executive leadership program features custom-built professional development experiences designed to enable Fellows to gain critical leadership skills, form a strategic network of peers and maximize their potential for fostering Jewish organizational and societal change.

An inaugural cohort of 24 Fellows has been selected from across the U.S., Israel, Australia and Europe. Fellows work at a range of Jewish and secular nonprofit and for-profit organizations and have demonstrated their explicit interest in taking on critical leadership roles in the Jewish community and Israel. Each Fellow will participate in individualized and cohort-based learning, have access to a coach and also develop an organizational change initiative.

“Our goal is to nurture professional and volunteer leadership as an important way to create transformational change in the Jewish community and beyond,” said Lynn Schusterman, Founder and Co-Chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “We are investing in these individuals because we believe they are going to be at the forefront of Jewish life in years to come.”

The Fellowship is part of Schusterman’s broader efforts to work in partnership with other organizations and foundations to transform how the Jewish communal sector invests in professional and volunteer leadership. It reflects the Foundation’s belief that exceptional professionals and volunteers are key to building a strong organizational infrastructure and ecosystem capable of growing the number of people actively engaging in Jewish life and drawing on Jewish values to create a positive impact on the broader world.

The Fellowship offers a new paradigm for leadership development in a global marketplace in which professionals show a stronger desire to align work with personal values and a tendency to change jobs every few years. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach that trains everyone on the same set of competencies, this program enables individuals to pursue opportunities that best meet their personal interests and professional needs.

Fellows were selected through a competitive application process. Every Fellow will receive a personalized leadership assessment, work closely with a certified coach to create a customized leadership development plan and receive a stipend to participate in leadership advancement programs through approved program providers. The plans will be tailored to help each fellow gain particular competencies – to sharpen one’s management skills, for example, or to deepen Jewish knowledge.

During the 18-month program, each Fellow will create a plan to address a pressing challenge in his or her organization. They will also work collaboratively as a cohort of peer leaders, forming a strategic network they can leverage as they work toward leading transformational change in their organizations, the Jewish community and beyond.

“We recognize that there are many excellent opportunities for leadership development,” said Adam Simon, Schusterman’s Director, Leadership Initiatives. “This program is designed to amplify those efforts by matching individuals with opportunities that will best suit and maximize their skills and capacity. In doing so, we hope to work in partnership to nurture potential on an individual level while also responding to the Jewish community’s need for capable leaders prepared to succeed.”

For more information and to see a full list of the 2015 Schusterman Fellows, visit www.schusterman.org/schusterman-fellowship.