Hadassah names Ellen Finkelstein as CEO
Englewood resident brings wide experience from nonprofit world
Ellen Finkelstein says she loves a big challenge.
And as the incoming chief executive officer and executive director of Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Ms. Finkelstein certainly has taken on a challenge that she can relish.
Hadassah is the country’s largest Jewish women’s organization, with nearly 300,000 members, donors, and supporters and a professional staff of 200.
“I see what Hadassah is doing worldwide, and the mission is so robust and interesting to me, and so closely aligned with my values, that I’m excited about this,” she said.
Ms. Finkelstein lived in Teaneck all her life until three years ago, when she moved to Englewood.
Hadassah, which Henrietta Szold founded in March 1912 to provide emergency relief in poverty-stricken pre-state Israel, probably is best known today for its two Jerusalem hospital campuses that care for more than a million people every year and serve as hubs for professional medical education and research.
In addition to the Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah supports two villages for at-risk youth in Israel. They are an outgrowth of Youth Aliyah villages that Ms. Szold established to nurture European refugee orphans. Since 1934, more than 300,000 young people from 80 lands have passed through these villages.
Hadassah also supports the Young Judaea youth movement, engages in advocacy in support of Israel’s security and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and against antisemitism, and promotes women’s and children’s wellness programs.
Even Ms. Finkelstein had not been fully aware of Hadassah’s scope until this job opportunity arose.
She and her mother, Elaine Vogel, both had been active in other organizations, such as the National Council of Jewish Women. Recently, they both became Hadassah life members.
“I learned a lot about Hadassah through this process, and it really spoke to me,” Ms. Finkelstein said.
“With its commitment to Israel, its dedication to fighting antisemitism, its determination to improve healthcare for women and children, and its mission to stay on the front line of medical advancement, Hadassah is playing a vital role in bringing the Jewish community together and helping us focus on what is important.”
Since the Hamas massacres in Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent ongoing war, she added, “many people in the Jewish community feel more Jewish than ever. You feel this connection to Israel, and you feel like you want community.”
She said that Hadassah can provide this on a large scale — not only for its traditional base but also through its 33,000-strong Associates branch for men and its 17 Evolve Hadassah leadership-building communities across the country for women under 45.
“Hadassah provides such an incredible mission-filled platform that goes beyond strains of Judaism, goes beyond political affiliation, goes beyond the things that are separating us in this country right now, and provides opportunities for us all to find commonality and to do something positive with our time and our money,” Ms. Finkelstein said.
According to the most recent publicly available financial data, Hadassah USA raised more than $141 million in 2023. In addition, Hadassah International encompasses fundraising offices in 11 countries outside the United States and Israel. In total, volunteers in 28 countries raise funds for the organization.
Ms. Finkelstein’s successful experience in the Jewish professional sector made her the right choice for the CEO role at a time of increasing needs, according to Hadassah’s national president, Carol Ann Schwartz.
“I and the rest of Hadassah’s leadership team are delighted to welcome Ellen, a proven leader with extensive experience in Jewish communal work and an outstanding track record in institutional advancement,” Ms. Schwartz said. “She is the perfect person to work with us to build on Hadassah’s accomplishments, increase its impact globally and lead the organization into the future.”
Ms. Finkelstein graduated from Teaneck High School, as did her father, the late Peter Vogel. After the University of Virginia, she returned to Teaneck, where she raised her three sons: Jacob, 29; Josh, 26; and Jeremy, 21. They attended Yavneh Academy in Paramus, where Ms. Finkelstein served on the executive board.
Her career began with advising Fortune 500 clients at Andersen Consulting, the company that later would be renamed Accenture. After her sons were born, she chose to be a stay-at-home mom for a few years, and then she launched a local career in Jewish communal organizations.
“When my youngest child was at preschool at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, I started working there part time,” she said. “Eventually I became assistant director of the summer camp, which was a year-round job.”
Ms. Finkelstein went on to work at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and then at Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey, where she was the director of marketing. In 2018, she moved on to Yeshiva University, becoming the director of event fundraising in the Office of Institutional Advancement.
She moved up the ladder from there. In her most recent position as chief strategy officer, she helped YU raise more than $90 million in a year — the largest amount in the school’s history — and secured many seven-figure gifts.
Ms. Finkelstein used data-driven strategies to increase the annual fund by 27 percent and the donor base by 16 percent, set up corporate- and foundation-giving departments, and created a new pipeline of major donors by establishing the YU Parents’ Council.
“I was very happy at YU,” she said. “I had a great career. I loved the people I worked with, and I felt that the work that we were doing was important.”
And yet, when the opportunity with Hadassah came up, it intrigued her. She learned all she could about the organization’s accomplishments and the people who run it.
“I felt like this was made for me, that Hadassah’s work and mission and the incredible lay leaders that I met, in addition to the professional staff that I met, were so talented and passionate and smart that I was excited to jump in.”
She said that one aspect of this job is managing the professional staff, “something that I’ve been doing my entire career since I worked at Andersen many years ago. I always had large teams, and I’m proud of being able to mentor and manage teams.”
The other aspect is working with the lay leadership. “What I hope that I bring to this position is my ability to support Carol Ann Schwartz and the senior leadership team. Based on my experience in strategy management and fundraising, I’ll be helping them, and the members and the incredible volunteer leaders that work on behalf of Hadassah, to bring their vision to fruition.”
She said the organizational structure at Hadassah is unique.
“Usually, the board of trustees is an advisory board. You meet with them to give them updates, and the professional staff executes the plans of the organization. Hadassah is not like that. The women of Hadassah join and use their philanthropy toward the privilege of working on behalf of Hadassah, and the professional staff assists in helping them with whatever needs they have. It’s a different model than I’ve ever seen before, and I think it’s very meaningful.”
New Jersey is home to about 20,000 Hadassah members. The Hadassah Northern New Jersey Region’s chapters, among others, are in Caldwell, Englewood, Fair Lawn, Hillside-Union, Livingston-West Orange, Millburn-Short Hills, Northwest Bergen, Paramus, Pascack Valley, River Dell, Springfield, Teaneck-Hackensack, Tri-Boro (Bergenfield, Ridgefield Park, Ridgefield, Dumont, Fort Lee) and Wayne.
Ms. Finkelstein encouraged people to get involved at the national, local, or regional level.
“For younger women who have children and families, consider Hadassah Evolve,” she said. “They ask for a commitment that you take on a leadership role locally, and they’ll give you the training and skills to allow you to grow into that role.”
Organizations such as Hadassah, she said, present “a unique opportunity for women to take on large leadership roles, to learn skills in a supportive environment, to have their voices heard. It creates this chain of future leadership in the community and gives women a space to do work that they might not otherwise do in a coed environment.”
One of the projects that Hadassah has ramped up since the Israel-Hamas war began is the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at the Mount Scopus hospital campus in Jerusalem.
“This is one of our current philanthropic priorities,” Ms. Finkelstein said. “The rehabilitation center was supposed to open much later during 2024, but because of the war it was really needed, and Hadassah was able to do an emergency campaign and get the doors open last January.”
This was the first stage of a phased opening of the 323,000-square-foot, eight-story center named in honor of Australian donors. At full capacity, services will include physical and occupational therapy, hydrotherapy, neurological therapy, respiratory and orthopedic rehabilitation, and PTSD treatment for up to 140 inpatients and 250 outpatients daily.
“Since the Gandel Center opened last January, there have been incredible stories of the individuals — both civilians and members of the IDF — who have been treated there. It’s really phenomenal,” Ms. Finkelstein said.
“The other work of Hadassah that’s going on in the Youth Aliyah villages with children and teenagers, and in the hospitals in terms of cancer research and mental health services and much more, is so broad and important.”
Hadassah organizes trips for donors to get a firsthand look at the projects their contributions facilitate.
Ms. Finkelstein’s first trip to Israel was 10 years ago, in the context of a group experience for Jewish mothers sponsored by the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, now called Momentum.
“It was really a life-changing event for me, and I have been back to Israel five times in the last 10 years,” she said.
She likely will take advantage of future opportunities to see what Hadassah USA supporters have facilitated in Israel. “It’s a point of pride that American women are making that happen,” she added.
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