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Chief Executive Officer
The Memphis Jewish Community Center (MJCC)
6560 Poplar Ave.
Memphis, TN 38138

Principal Responsibilities:

The next CEO of the Memphis JCC will have the opportunity to leverage a remarkable history and legacy while ensuring the delivery of creative, accessible, mission-driven programming and experiences for community members of all ages and backgroundsfrom preschool and camps to film festivals and senior programming.

Reporting directly to and working closely with the Board of Directors, the CEO of the Memphis JCC is the driver of the organizations strategic vision, as well as the long-term planning and goal-setting. The next CEO will have the opportunity to ensure long-term financial sustainability and to continue to honor the JCCs role as the main convener of the Jewish Memphis community, becoming both a professional and personal leader within the greater community.

The CEO will be responsible for leading the current high-performing team, deepening and expanding community partnerships, and galvanizing fundraising support, while ensuring the delivery of high-quality and diverse programming and experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Minimum Qualifications:

The Memphis JCC seeks a dynamic and experienced leader with a passion for the Centers mission and a proven ability to lead an organization with financial and programmatic resources. They will demonstrate a collaborative leadership style, ensuring that staff across all of the JCCs programmatic areas, feel enriched in their work, and ideally will bring experience retaining, attracting, and motivating a highly passionate and expert team across diverse sets of expertise.

The CEO will galvanize support for the JCC and fundraise effectively in coordination with the Board. It is critical that the CEO demonstrates a passion for the JCCs mission, a commitment to making Memphis their home, and a fundamental belief in the value of Jewish culture, values, and community. They will need to exhibit humility and cultural sensitivity across the communities that the JCC serves.

Specific responsibilities of the CEO include:

Executive leadership: Lead and partner with the Board of Directors and staff to achieve the JCCs mission and the highest levels of success for the organization.
Financial resource development: Serve as key fundraising lead for the JCC.
Operational management: In managing multiple physical facilities, the CEO will ensure that the JCC remains operationally strong and on the leading edge of JCC offerings.
Planning, strategic thinking, and vision: Drive the organization's strategic vision, as well as the long-term planning and goal-setting.
Financial management: Approach the financial oversight of the organization with accountability and transparency, with a balanced and reasoned approach to financial decision-making and management of resources
Staff management: Lead the JCC in partnership with a highly-skilled and collaborative staff, fostering a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, teamwork, and empowerment.
Governance, board, and committee management: Promotes and models productive, strategic staff-lay relationships across the setting of priorities, fiscal management, fundraising, and beyond.
Community representation: Act as a representative of the JCC, cultivating and sustaining vital connections within the Memphis Jewish community, the broader Memphis region, and throughout the national JCCA movement.
Commitment to Memphis JCC legacy and Jewish values: The CEO will be committed to the JCCs mission, to making Memphis their home, and to the value of a strong JCC as part of a strong, cohesive Jewish community.
Program and service development: Continue to evolve programming and cultural offerings to engage current and bring in new members. Guide the development of new marketing efforts alongside program development

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we highlight the following skills of the ideal candidate (while recognizing that no one candidate is likely to have all of these strengths):

Demonstrated Passion for the Mission

Embodies a deep passion for the Memphis JCCs mission, ideally with lived Jewish communal experience.
Recognizes and honors the unique, multi-generational nature of the Memphis Jewish community.
Immerses themselves both personally and professionally in Memphis, appreciating its history and pride in the JCC.
Builds meaningful local networks for themselves and for the JCC.

Strategic Leadership

Demonstrates a creative vision for the future of the JCC movement, with the strategic acumen to pursue that vision.
Builds on a strong foundation of lay and professional leadership, and recent facility improvements.
Balances honoring tradition with adapting to new challenges and changing demographics.
Assess the organization holistically and plan strategically for continued relevance and growth.

Fundraising and Resource Development

Experience building an institution's funding based in partnership with the Board to increase and diversify financial support from individual donors, foundations, corporations,

and government funders, with a particular focus on the next generation of philanthropic leaders.

Inspires and maintains relationships with donors, families, foundations, and other supporters.
Balances fundraising with genuine community engagement and visible participation.
Adapts outreach strategies to evolving donor demographics and programming needs.

Leading Teams

Translates the JCCs goals into clear, actionable objectives for staff
Fosters a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, and empowerment.
Works with an experienced, long-serving, and committed staff, maintaining strong morale.
Provides hands-on, transparent, and even-handed leadership.
Retains and develops talent, coaches the senior management team, and holds staff accountable with empathy.

Relationships And Influence

Excels at building authentic relationships with staff, stakeholders, and community leaders.
Possesses outstanding interpersonal and communication skills.
Celebrates the successes of others and creates a sense of belonging.
Bridges the JCC with synagogues, the Federation, and other local nonprofits.
Demonstrates emotional intelligence, diplomacy, and adaptability to Southern Jewish culture.

Financial and Operational Acumen

Brings strong financial management skills, including complex budgets and endowment oversight.
Has experience with facilities management and ongoing maintenance of large buildings.
Plans for future needs and ensures sustained financial progress.
Approaches the JCC as both a mission-driven nonprofit and a sustainable business.
Is familiar with security and crisis management practices.
Comfortable with technology transitions and modernization of operations.

This search is being managed by Russell Reynolds Associates. For further information or to apply, prospective candidates are invited to reach out directly to their search consultants at MJCC@russellreynolds.com with a resume and brief explanation of interest.

Agency Information:

The Memphis JCC aspires to be a place where all Jewish Memphians feel connected, engaged, and inspired through excellence in Jewish programming, facilities, and leadership. The Center is affectionately known in the community as the living room for the Memphis Jewish community.

Located on 24 acres in the heart of East Memphis, the MJCC has something for everyone ofall shapes and sizes. It is proud to offer an amazing Early Childhood Center, an expanded Fitness Center, a large outdoor water park, an Art House, Senior Adult gatherings, Summer Camp, After School activities, and most importantly, a welcoming environment. The Memphis JCC is proud to partner with the Memphis Jewish Federation to provide the best service possible.

For over 75 years, this Center has provided enriching and inspiring services and programs for the entire community. Board members and staff alike pride themselves on maintaining an inclusive, open and inviting place where everyone is welcome and anyone can be a member.