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October 17, 2003/Tishri 21 5764, Vol. 56, No. 4
New leader brings youth, experience
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
To Adam Schwartz, Jewish communal work is more than just a career - it's part of who he is.
Schwartz, 39, began work as executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix - the organization's highest ranking staff position - in August. Despite his youth, he is entering his 16th year working for the federation system, most recently at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest in Whippany, N.J.
He attributes his deep connection to the Jewish community to his parents, who he says were very involved in the Jewish community in Cleveland, where he and his two siblings grew up.
"They raised us with the principle that we should be comfortable and know-ledgeable Jewishly, so no matter where we went, we would be comfortable in the Jewish community, with the language and religious participation and ob-servance," he recalls.
Schwartz attended Jewish day school from kindergarten through sixth grade in Cleveland, and was active in youth groups, including National Conference for Synagogue Youth (NCSY), United Synagogue Youth (USY) and Young Judaea as a teen.
"I was enmeshed in Jewish life," he says. "As I think about what I'm dong professionally now versus where I grew up, I was clearly the bene-ficiary of a rich Jewish upbring-ing."
When Schwartz went to college at the University of Michigan, he maintained his involvement with USY as an advis-or, and eventually worked for Unit- ed Synagogue in Cleveland.
After graduat- ing from college, Schwartz went into business manage-ment, where he says he "began to feel a lack of meaning." Fortunately, he says, his connections in Cleveland led him to an opening at the federation there, where he worked in Soviet Jewry advocacy, Israel advocacy and annual campaign.
During his five years at the Cleveland federation, Schwartz met his wife, Stacey, who worked in marketing at the federation. Schwartz eventually moved into full-time campaign work, and as the director of young leadership.
After five years in Cleveland, he was recruited to work at the federation in Pittsburgh, where he "reengineered" their young leadership and worked with campaign and donor development for three years.
In his five years at MetroWest, he went from assistant campaign director to director of campaign opera-tions to campaign director to assis-tant executive vice president.
Schwartz says he's excited about the opportunities the young, quickly-growing Jewish community in Phoenix offers.
"A lot of people look at the low affiliation rates and some of the demographic information as negative, and I really look at those as opportunities," Schwartz says. "I've met a lot of people in the short time I've been here who ... want to be involved (but) they haven't found the right place to be involved. I think if we as a community can identify what would be responsive to the needs of the community, I think people are going to flock to it."
Schwartz hopes to guide federation into the role of building community.
"I view the federation's role as bringing the community together to identify, address and re-spond to the opportunities that exist in the com-munity," he says.
In the time Schwartz and his family have been in the Valley, he says the com-munity's arms have been open.
"The volunteers I've met and the professionals I've met are wonderful. My family and I have been embraced and welcomed into the com-munity and made to feel at home so quickly."
Schwartz says his wife Stacey will also be an active member of the local Jewish community. She served on the board of the women's department of federation at MetroWest, as a synagogue membership chairwoman, a life member of Hadassah, and as chairwoman of various events in New Jersey.
The Schwartzes have three children, Jacob, 6, a first-grader at The King David School; Alisa, 3, a preschooler at Har Zion Early Childhood Center; and 10-month-old Noah.
Schwartz says he's proud of the fact that Jacob and Alisa enjoy Jewish life - they like to go to synagogue and he calls them both "philanthropic."
"They're very mindful and sensitive to the needs of others. I'm a very proud parent because it is what I do professionally and the fact that I have conveyed those values ... is to me a great source of pride."
Noah, Schwartz says with a laugh, is "crawling around and getting into things."
Despite a busy profes-sional and family life, Schwartz calls himself a "huge sports fan" - especially of Cleveland's professional teams and the University of Michigan.
He enjoys Israeli music and culture and is currently reading "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land" by Yossi K. Halevi.
"Israeli music and Israeli culture are tied to who I am as a person and not just who I am professionally," he says.
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