Launching from The Patterson Foundation Fellowship

I am thrilled to share that I am “launching” from my Fellowship at The Patterson Foundation to join the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) as the Director of Movement Building and Innovation, a senior leadership role on the Jewish Life & Leadership team responsible for identifying opportunities, developing innovative approaches, and leading strategic initiatives that strengthen the Reform Movement and position it for the future.
 
Serving more than 800 congregations and reaching nearly 2 million people, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) is the engine of Reform Judaism in North America, strengthening the communities, leaders, programs, and experiences that help people find meaning, belonging, joy, justice, and purpose through Reform Jewish values and teachings.
 
Working for the URJ is a homecoming. I grew up at a Reform synagogue in Massachusetts, participated in Reform youth group throughout high school, and was a camper, counselor-in-training, counselor, and Unit Head at URJ Eisner Camp. So much of who I am as a person, leader, and Jew is because of these foundational experiences.

Indeed, when I noticed, as a Teach For America corps member, that young people in Tulsa were being underinvested in as leaders, I co-founded Tulsa Changemakers, in part because I had seen what Jewish leadership programs had done for me, and I believed every young person deserved that kind of investment. Over seven years, we grew from a $300 pilot workshop to Tulsa’s leading youth leadership organization, raising over $1.5M and serving 600 students annually across 50 schools and three school districts. From 2021–2023, my co-founder, Jake Lerner, and I successfully implemented a succession plan, which included making Tulsa Changemakers a permanent program of Leadership Tulsa. During that time, I earned an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and became eligible to apply for The Patterson Foundation (TPF) Fellowship. I pursued the Fellowship because I wanted to learn from and drive impact with a private foundation that centers trust and engages authentically with community.
 
I joined TPF as its ninth Fellow in August 2023 and was promoted to become TPF’s first Senior Fellow in October 2025. During my time at TPF, I worked on programs, strategy, and special projects across a variety of initiatives. Project highlights include conducting a strategy refresh for the Advancing Philanthropic Leadership initiative, developing an Artificial Intelligence strategy and leading the internal implementation task force, and stewarding the development of an impact investing strategy. I was also a loaned consultant to the Bishop-Parker Foundation and the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, authored 35 blogs, produced 10 podcasts (including the launch of a mini-series, From Both Sides of the Check), and attended 15 conferences around the country.

A huge thank you to Debra Jacobs and the entire team of staff, consultants, and Fellows at The Patterson Foundation – as well as Susie Bowie and the team at the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, and Wendy Deming and the Board of the Bishop-Parker Foundation – for the opportunity to partner with you all to strengthen people, organizations, and communities across the Suncoast.

While I will miss my time with The Patterson Foundation, I am eager to get started with the URJ as Director of Movement Building and Innovation. It’s an honor to take all my experience – inside and outside the Reform Movement and inside and outside the Jewish world – to help shape the future of the Reform Movement, a movement grounded in a vision I share: a world in which Judaism enables all people to experience peace and wholeness (shalom), justice and equity (tzedek), and belonging and joy (shayachut and simcha). Onward!