New Board of Directors Seated During Annual Meeting

JFS held its annual meeting on June 6 to swear in a new slate of board members. The new board includes Tom Frishberg, President, Steve Levin, Vice President/Treasurer, Roger Kramer, Secretary, Mitzi Gramling, Past President, Lisa Cohen, Lisa Dorn, Fred Dulles, Neal Foman, Rena Glaser, Diane Hallock, Ira Kipp, Esti Koen, Irv Lerner, Bruce Matza, David Milavetz, Robin Parritz, Kate Searls, Jamie Shacter, Myndal Davis Silver, Alex Treitler, Jennifer Wall, David Wolkowicz, and Marsha Zimmerman. Officers serve a one-year term from 2018-19 while directors will serve a two-year term from 2018-2020.

After the new board was announced, Tom acknowledged the work of Mitzi Gramling as president of the board for the past two years. “Mitzi has given tirelessly of her energy, guidance and wisdom,” said Tom. “She has been involved on just about every committee, reviews contracts for the agency and under her tenure we have hired a full time Marketing Coordinator and Development officer and reinvigorated the annual community event with the Celebration of Service.”

Tom attributed the mix of new board members to Mitzi’s commitment to diversifying the board by getting the next generation involved.

Tom went on to introduce his approach to board member responsibilities: engage, develop, and govern (EDG) to encourage involvement in JFS, help with development efforts, and be a good steward.

He also wants to energize the committees and broaden their reach for committee members to come from the community. “I’d very much like to move towards Board members having served on a committee prior to being elected to the Board,” said Tom. “This notion of leadership laddering will help new board members have a deeper understanding of the agency as they engage at the Board level.”

Tom hopes to explore new avenues of revenue and diversify JFS funding sources. “We are highly dependent on a relatively small number of revenue-generating programs and funding sources, most of which cannot be counted on year in and year out,” said Tom.

The 2017 Annual Report was also presented during the meeting. JFS client demographics indicate 85 percent of clients are below the poverty line; Caucasians represent 53 percent of clients; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim clients represent 30, 30, and 28 percent; and 51 percent are 71 and older. Of the clients in the Aging and Disability Services programs, 71 percent do not speak English.