Anthem Executive Recruits CEO for Jewish Federation
August 6, 2021 – Executive recruitment firm Anthem Executive has placed Rabbi Noah Farkas as president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles (JFGLA). He will succeed Jay Sanderson who led the organization for the past 12 years. Leading the assignment were co-founders and consultants Michael Ballew, Mike J.R. Wheless, Scott Watson and senior client service partner Florene Stawowy.
“Noah is an enormously talented leader who combines a reasoned and principled approach to address the greatest needs facing our community,” said Albert Z. Praw, chair of the Jewish Federation. “I am enormously confident in Noah’s commitment to the mission statement of the federation and its strategic initiatives as well as his ability to lead our federation through its next stage of growth.”
“Leading this search team of committed and visionary leaders in our Jewish community has been an honor,” said Julie Platt, former chair of the board and chair of the search committee. “During our nine-month national search, we carefully considered an incredible number of qualified applicants and couldn’t be more excited about our choice in Rabbi Farkas.”
Rabbi Farkas currently serves at Valley Beth Shalom, the largest Jewish congregation in the San Fernando Valley, where he teaches, preaches and leads strategic development.
“I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have been selected as the next president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles,” Rabbi Farkas said. “The federation is uniquely positioned to foster a flourishing Jewish community and it is a gift to have been asked to serve. I look forward to many years together moving boldly into a future that is both dynamic and caring, but is most of all filled with a spirit of cooperation.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, founded in 1911, serves the second largest Jewish population in the U.S., and the third in the world. JFGLA has grown into one of the most influential and impactful Jewish organizations in the country. The organization convenes and leads the community and leverages its resources to assure the continuity of the Jewish people, support a secure State of Israel, care for Jews in need here and abroad, and mobilize on issues of concern to the local community, all with its local, national and international partners. JFGLA has a staff of 135 professionals and 46 support personnel. Its budget is about $52 million, which covers annual expenditures and allocations. An average of $45 million is raised annually.
Seasoned Recruiters
Anthem Executive, headquartered in Houston, TX, serves clients across a range of business sectors, including higher education, health sciences, corporate and non-profit institutions, global software and technology, private equity, insurance, service and manufacturing, oil and gas, and others. Its consultants bring a combined 80 years’ experience in the search industry. The firm’s higher education practice spans the entire leadership spectrum. In other sectors, Anthem Executive covers all roles from CEO and other C-suite leaders, board directors, vice president and director, and others.
Mr. Ballew, a registered Native American and member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe, serves as the firm’s chief diversity, inclusion, equity and compliance officer, as well as search committee facilitator. He joined the executive search industry 14 years ago following a 20-plus year career in senior-level management with expertise in recruiting, counseling, training, operations, strategic planning, facilitation, project management and workplace diversity.
Mr. Wheless, a veteran of more than two decades in the search industry, has served a broad portfolio of clients across many industry lines on behalf of organizations ranging from small operations to Fortune $100 billion plus enterprises – including working with and recruiting some of the nation’s most influential leadership. Mr. Wheless has served institutions and organizations across a broad range of geographies and sectors in higher education, technology, healthcare, energy, financial services, law, insurance, hospitality and food services, retail, CPG, EPC, manufacturing, aerospace, mining, construction and real estate.
Mr. Watson has been in the executive search industry for over 30 years. In addition to higher education institutions, he has served hospital/health systems, global software and technology companies, private equity enterprises, MCOs, insurance companies, service and manufacturing organizations with global footprints, and others.
Ms. Stawowy, who has been in executive search for over 20 years, is a core member of the higher education and academic health practice. Over the last two decades, she has developed deep expertise in senior‐level search, having been charged with numerous executive leadership transitions with a particular emphasis on higher education and academic health search.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
