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July 16, 2004/Tamuz 27 5764, Vol. 56, No. 43
Changes at federation
Organization hires, says goodbye to staff members
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
The Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix is in the midst of several major staff changes.
Terri Swirnoff, assistant executive director and director of the Women's Department, has been named campaign director. She headed the women's campaign for more than 15 years.
Hal Ossman has been hired as senior campaign associate, with primary responsibility for the Young Leadership Division. He began work on July 1.
Ossman, an Arizona native, was the assistant director for Hillel at the University of Arizona for three years, where his role included programming and fund raising.
"I was looking for a larger community and a new opportunity and challenge, and Phoenix is an exciting city," Ossman said. "(YLD has) a lot of wonderful events, so I'm really looking forward to building on what they've had in the past and improving on that, and making the community stronger and getting new people involved."
Ossman earned a bachelor's degree in history and Judaic studies at the University of Arizona, and master's degrees in Jewish communal service and human services at Brandeis University.
Cathy Wolf, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, will be leaving her position at the end of July to move to Australia. She served as JCRC director twice, for a total of six years.
"Any time you lose somebody who has Cathy's depth of experience and knowledge and relationships, it will hurt," said Schwartz. "I certainly wish her well in the next phase of her life."
Schwartz said candidates for Wolf's position have been interviewed and narrowed down to a set of finalists.
"We're continually trying to challenge ourselves to reconnect with what our role in the community is, can and should be, and so I think this will give us another opportunity to ... build upon an incredibly strong area and make it even stronger on behalf of our entire community," said Schwartz.
Marla Blum will begin work as a staff associate on July 26. Blum, who earned a bachelor's degree from the College of Advertising at Michigan State University, had been the director of grants, research and prospecting for a local nonprofit organization.
"I had wanted to work in the Jewish community for a long time," said Blum. "When I see the federation here in Phoenix, especially now with (Executive Vice President) Adam (Schwartz) and everyone who's there, it's this little firecracker just ready to explode and to be a part of that is really exciting. I think that the federation here does such good work."
Heath Blumstein, a senior staff associate at the federation for nearly six years, recently accepted a position as director of development for Free Arts of Arizona. He held several posi- tions at the federation, including Young Leadership Division director; senior campaign associate and endowment director for the Jewish Community Foun-dation; and doing fund raising and marketing for the Jewish Community Day School Scholarship Fund.
"Heath has been a tre-mendously important member of the staff for years and was a very strong person and contributed invaluably to the Jewish Community Day School Scholarship Fund," said Schwartz.
John Magoulas, who was with the federation for more than two years as senior campaign associate and YLD director, left in January for a position as senior campaign associate at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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