Gali Cooks
Image by Linkedin
Building a New Generation of Leaders
America’s large Jewish organizations are facing a challenge. In the next decade, most of their senior leaders will retire, and no one is sure where the next generation will come from. That’s where Gali Cooks, the head of Leading Edge, has stepped into the breach.
Leading Edge’s mission is to ensure the talent pipeline in the Jewish not-for-profit sector. To that end, it has created programs to recruit and train people in the field, such as its chief executive onboarding initiative, which helps new organization heads develop as new leaders, and a “Lay Leadership Commission” which will engage donors, develop best practices and develop recommendations to ensure vibrant non-clergy leadership in the Jewish not-for-profit sector. It also advocates progressive workplace policies, including paid family leave and flexible hours, to make Jewish not-for-profits more attractive places to work.
Cooks, 38, has the resume for the task. A graduate of NYU’s Stern Business School, she’s made the grand tour of the Jewish not-for-profit world, putting in time as a speechwriter for the Israeli embassy, executive director of a family foundation, and the director of business operations at the Union for Reform Judaism.
She also serves on the boards of Keshet, an advocacy organization for queer Jews, and the Joshua Venture Group, which backs Jewish entrepreneurs seeking to advance the common good.
A passionate advocate of her work, she wrote in a recent blog post, “We need more outstanding young leaders… who choose to build their careers in our sector because they view Jewish organizations in a positive light — filled with opportunity and support.”
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
