We are in the midst of a major demographic shift in leadership in the Jewish community. By some counts, 75-90% of our leaders are turning over right now. And a CEO transition can be a time of great potential risk or reward for an organization. So what makes for a successful CEO transition? How can lay leaders ensure a smooth leadership succession process?

Leading Edge, an organization founded in 2014 to address the leadership pipeline challenges in the Jewish community, recently published six case studies that break down successful CEO transitions at American Jewish World Service, Bend the Arc, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, a JCC in the Midwest, Spertus, and Tufts Hillel.

Join Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge, and Eben Harrell, Senior Editor at the Harvard Business Review and author of the case study series, for a conversation about the stories they unpacked and the lessons they learned from these case studies.

Episode 4 of What Gives? The Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network.

Guest: Gali Cooks, inaugural President & CEO of Leading Edge, the Alliance for Excellence in Jewish Leadership.

The vast majority of senior leaders in Jewish nonprofits will need to be replaced in the coming years.

Leading Edge partnered with a Senior Editor from Harvard Business Review to distill the most important elements of running a successful nonprofit CEO search.

By Libbie Landles-Cobb, Kirk Kramer, and Betsy Haley Doyle. The Bridgespan Group.

How funders can align their good intentions with nonprofits’ real needs.

eJewish Philanthropy, April 17, 2015

John F. Kennedy once said that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” JFK probably didn’t know, but his statement was profoundly Jewish for, in Judaism, leadership and learning are inextricably linked.

This quote came serendipitously to my attention this week, as we prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Wexner Foundation, which, by putting this principle to practice, has been transforming communities across North America since its inception.

Michael J Austin, Tracy Salkowitz, Jewish Funders Network, The Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies