Gill Named To Lead Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee named Alan Gill, its longtime executive director of international relations and a resident of Israel, as the organization’s new CEO.
Gill will take over on Jan. 31, 2013 from interim CEO Darrell Friedman, who stepped in after the abrupt resignation of CEO Steven Schwager in June. The JDC, which has an approximate annual budget of $350 million, is one of the two main overseas aid partners of the Jewish Federations of North America; the other is the Jewish Agency for Israel. Gill will be moving to New York, where the JDC has its headquarters.
The choice to hire an insider followed an extensive global search conducted by the executive search firm DRG, according to the JDC, which said Gill was the unanimous choice of a selection committee comprised of members of JDC’s board. Gill’s focus has been fundraising, helping build the organization’s donor base as its annual allocation from Jewish federations has shrunk. The JDC said Gill also played a leadership role in launching many of JDC’s landmark programs.
“We couldn’t be more proud that Alan Gill, whose seasoned leadership and forward-thinking expertise has been so critical to JDC’s impact in recent years, will lead us into our second century,” JDC President Penny Blumenstein said in a statement.
Gill was the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Columbus, Ohio, before he moved to Israel in 1993 and began working for the JDC. He went to college at Ohio University and has a master’s in social work from Ohio State University.
“I’m privileged to be appointed CEO of this remarkable, dynamic organization,” Gill said in a statement. “Our mission has never been more critical or more urgent, and in the years ahead, we must reach even further to ensure that wherever a Jew is in need, JDC is there.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
