By Cindy Mindell

NEW HAVEN – Judy Diamondstein, who previously served as assistant executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley (JFLV) in Pennsylvania, has been appointed CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven.

Diamondstein arrived in New Haven from Allentown, Pa. in January. She is currently working alongside the Federation’s outgoing CEO Sydney Perry, who is helping her succession transition to her leadership role until June, when Perry officially steps down after nearly three decades at the helm.

“Judy hit the ground running,” says Perry. “After just a little over a month in New Haven, it’s already abundantly clear that we are very fortunate to have a CEO who has the passion and dedication to lead our community, the interpersonal and communication skills to inspire and the managerial talent to guide us during these challenging times.”

Diamondstein grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J., where her parents served as Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders. Her father was executive director of the Katz Jewish Community Center and then CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey; her mother was a JCC preschool teacher, Hebrew school teacher, and community volunteer who became president of the Jewish Federation Women’s Philanthropy division.

“Jewish communal service is in my blood,” she says. “Throughout my life, I’ve been involved in the Jewish community in one capacity or another, serving both as a professional and a volunteer – and always seeking to make a difference in the lives of others and doing my best to help ensure the Jewish future.”

After graduating from Rutgers University in 1990, Diamondstein began her professional life as director of youth programming at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore in Marblehead, Mass. She and husband Marc relocated to Allentown in 1992, where they raised two children.

Diamondstein served as director of the Hillel Society of Lehigh University and director of camp, membership, and program services at the JCC of the Lehigh Valley before joining the JFLV staff. She served as annual campaign director from 1998 to 2000, then left to raise her children and work part-time for a medical-equipment company. She continued her involvement at the Jewish Federation as a board member and campaign volunteer, and served as a lay leader at Temple Beth El in Allentown.

From 2003 to 2007, Diamondstein established and ran a custom-order dessert business, returning to the Jewish Federation in 2005 as associate development director. She was subsequently promoted to director of development and then to assistant executive director in 2011. During Diamondstein’s tenure, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley received a Sapir Award for Campaign Excellence from United Jewish Communities (now Jewish Federations of North America, JFNA). In 2013, she was selected to participate in the inaugural class of JFNA’s Fundraising University.

Her husband, Marc, has also been involved at the JFLV, as a member of the Community Relations Council and chairman of the Partnership2Gether Committee. With their son in rabbinical school and their daughter at college, Diamondstein says that she was ready to seek the next challenge in her career.

“Once I met the leaders in New Haven, I knew I found my next home,” she says.

Stephanie Wain, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven board, found Diamondstein to be “clearly the most capable and inspiring candidate for the position.”

“During one of her interviews, she came to [the search committee] hoarse and exhausted from a recent mission to Israel, and in a short time, she had captured us in her enthusiastic reverie of her experience and ideas for the future,” Wain says. “We could quickly imagine how our federation and community from the millenniums to the older generations would be transformed with Judy at the helm. And sure enough, from the brief period she has been here, we are running to keep up!”

As a leader, Diamondstein finds value in every member of the Jewish community. “We are strengthened through the engagement of each person who can share their strengths and insights to help us identify and meet the opportunities before us,” she says. “I hope that we can develop better process and models for community engagement that will demonstrate our value and impact, which will ultimately translate into our ability to raise the needed funds and offer the support and programming the community expects of us.”

Reflecting on what her focus will be as she takes the reins, Diamondstein notes the important of working with other organizations.

“The Greater New Haven Jewish community rests on bedrock enriched by Jewish values, culture and identity.  It is my intention to work closely with community leaders to build on that bedrock to ensure a strong and vibrant Jewish future,” she says, adding that “community collaboration is integral to the vision of a strengthened community; new models of collaboration and communication must be deployed both to find success. The needs across the spectrum are compelling and expanding our capacity to increase resources is also an important priority.”

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.