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Federation’s new CEO: Progressive Jewish Alliance director assumes post July 15

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/34768/full/34768/federation-s-new-ceo-progressive-jewish-alliance-director-assumes-post-july/ Federation’s new CEO: Progressive Jewish Alliance director assumes post July 15 Thursday, April 17, 2008 | by dan pine Did San Francisco just catch a rising star? Absolutely, say leaders at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation about their newly hired CEO, Daniel Sokatch. He fills a post left empty after the departure of Tom Dine last summer. Sokatch, 40, takes over the top spot July 15. He comes to the Bay Area after eight years as director of the Progressive Jewish Alliance in Los Angeles. The man is a virtual centrifuge of energy. Speaking in clear, rapid-fire diction, Sokatch said: "There is a unique set of circumstances in the Bay Area to build a community institution that continues to provide vital services and also be a vehicle that meets a rising generation of Jews and engage in Jewish life on their terms." Sokatch's admirers believe he will bring vigor and vision to the federation. "He has a way of looking at the Jewish world that will help not only San Francisco, but the whole federation system," said former federation CEO Rabbi Brian Lurie. "He's got that kind of potential." "There's a sea change at our federation," said John Pritzker, federation president and a member of the search committee. "[Endowment director] Phyllis Cook is leaving. [Endowment chairman] Dick Rosenberg is retiring. The baton is being passed to a different generation." Sokatch has a sterling resume: graduate of Brandeis University and Boston College of Law. Two years living and studying in Israel. Several years working as an attorney in civil rights law. And then there is his tenure with the Progressive Jewish Alliance. "He is one of the finest Southland exports to the Bay Area," said Mark Diamond, former rabbi at Oakland's Temple Beth Abraham, and currently executive vice president of the Los Angeles Board of Rabbis. "He bears the promise of revitalizing the San Francisco federation and can help San Francisco serve once again as a national model." Added search committee co-chair Tom Kasten, "The first time I met him I found him extremely engaging, very articulate and intelligent, an easy laugh and a great sense of humor, but really understanding the issues facing the Jewish community. He can appeal to anyone and everyone." Sokatch will likely need that ability. Having led the Progressive Jewish Alliance, his liberal bona fides couldn't be clearer. Under his leadership, the PJA has taken strong stands on issues like gay marriage (for it) and the Iraq war (against it). On Israel, a PJA policy statement begins with a condemnation of terrorism, then goes on to call for "an end to the occupation." On immigration, PJA opposes "any legislative proposals that would criminalize undocumented status." Once he takes the reins at the federation, local conservatives may be watching closely. "There have been a sea of emails in our conservative political community," said Ken Wornick, a former federation volunteer and currently an activist with the Republican Jewish Coalition. "They express concern over whether Mr. Sokatch will reflect the will of the Jewish community or his particular political bias." Supporters say Sokatch knows the difference between an advocacy organization like PJA and a consensus-based one such as a federation. "He's not coming up here to be the lone ranger," Pritzker said. "He knows if he came up here and tried to inculcate the PJA into the organization, it's not going to work." Rachel Biale, who head up PJA's Bay Area office, similarly dismisses concerns about Sokatch's progressive track record. "This is the fruit of working for six years building relationships of trust, with the Jewish community breathing down his neck," she said. "He's very good at bridging differences. Part of it is the persona, charisma and integrity." "If you talk to the people I worked with on the other side of the aisle, I am not a partisan firebrand," Sokatch said. "If we radiate klal Yisrael [Jewish communal spirit], then we're all on the same page." Sokatch can't remember a time when that spirit did not inform his life and actions. Growing up in Cincinnati and Boston, he comes from a long line of "people who believed civic engagement and service is the highest calling." Sokatch grew up attending Jewish summer camps, and even tried rabbinical school in Israel. He dropped out, but stayed on in Israel for almost two years, loving every minute of it. "It was a bright, shining moment in Israel," he recalled of those pre-second intifada days. "The optimism of that period, despite all that happened since then, and the great faith in the abiding ability in Israel, was burned into my heart. My passionate progressive Zionism is a product of those days." He earned degrees in history and Mideast studies before going on to study law. After passing the bar, he worked civil rights and immigration cases for the ACLU and U.S. District Court in Boston. In 1999, a group of Jewish community activists met in Los Angeles to launch a new Jewish organization dedicated to social justice. Among them was Leonard Fein, founder of both Moment magazine and the organization MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Fein and his colleagues formed PJA and brought in Sokatch to run it. "I don't know anyone else in the country who could have [run PJA] with such grace and effectiveness," said Fein. "It's a remarkable story and no small part of what's remarkable is that he's managed to maintain and develop good relationships with so many segments of the Jewish community." Over the years, Sokatch built PJA into an effective organization, mobilizing the Jewish community to fight sweatshop worker abuse and foster dialogue with the Muslim community through the program New Ground. Sokatch recalls that some in the Jewish community viewed the program skeptically, but he insists the Muslims he met favored a two-state solution, eschewed violence and took no foreign (read: Saudi) money for their local institutions. "We managed to build a relationship that is civil and respectful," he noted, "ultimately honoring our differences as well as seeking out common ground." Sokatch also serves on the faculty of the Jewish organization Reboot, and he co-founded IKAR, an L.A. congregation with a social action emphasis. He is married to novelist Dana Reinhardt and they have two young children. Now he will apply his skills to a much larger organization, in terms of staff, budget and scope. And for all the stress on baton passing, how does he feel about that mundane yet essential part of the CEO's job, fundraising? "You don't last long in this business if you don't admit that fundraising gives you joy," he said. "I think of it as holy work, to repair and heal the community." Before he officially takes over, Sokatch will join the federation's upcoming Israel @ 60 mission. After that, he says, his first order of business is to do a lot of listening, getting to know the Bay Area, the local Jewish community and the workings of the federation. On track to meet its $23.5 million annual campaign target, and with a $3 billion endowment, the federation has managed to sustain itself well in recent years, despite having a vacancy in the CEO's office for nearly three of the past five years. Federation leaders believe that with Sokatch, the organization is ready for a new era. Said Pritzker, "I'm confident we found a pretty good guy."

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