John Ruskay To Leave Top Spot at UJA-Federation

John Ruskay Image by getty images
John Ruskay will be leaving his position as executive vice president and CEO of UJA-Federation of New York.

John Ruskay Image by getty images
The federation announced Ruskay’s departure on Tuesday. His last day as head of the nation’s largest federation will be on June 30, 2014.
Ruskay joined the federation in 1993 and has been CEO since 1999. In Ruskay’s time at the helm, UJA-Federation raised more than $2.7 billion and increased its endowment from $330 million to more than $860 million, according to the federation.
“I have been blessed to have a job that has enabled me to bring together three of my lifelong passions: my conviction that Judaism enhances life; my commitment to care for every being; and my belief in the value of community,” Ruskay said in a letter announcing his departure.
The search for Ruskay’s successor will be handled by the federation’s executive committee and guided by board chairwoman Alisa Doctoroff, the federation said.
Ruskay came to the federation from the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was vice chancellor. In the early 1980s, Ruskay was educational director of the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia University.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 3
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
-
Fast Forward Betar ‘almost exclusively triggered’ UMass student detention, judge says
-
Fast Forward ‘Honey, he’s had enough of you’: Trump’s Middle East moves increasingly appear to sideline Israel
-
Fast Forward Yeshiva University rescinds approval for LGBTQ+ student club
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.