By Gerry Greiman and Greg Yawitz, Search Committee Co-Chairs
Jewish Federation of St. Louis’ CEO Search Committee has engaged Storbeck/Pimental & Associates as its search consultant. The search firm’s work will be led by Storbeck/Pimentel’s Managing Partner, Shelly Weiss Storbeck, and Esther Rosenberg as a Collaborating Partner. Rosenberg is Co-Managing Director of Howe-Lewis International and has extensive recruiting experience in the Jewish world.
Shelly Storbeck and her firm are highly qualified and well-regarded in the executive search world and were responsible for recruiting our former CEO, Andrew Rehfeld, to become President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. A benefit from that experience is they are highly familiar with our Federation and with the core competencies Andrew has, many of which we will be looking for in our next CEO.
Another factor the CEO Search Committee deemed significant about the Storbeck/Pimentel team was their demonstrated ability and commitment to not only search within the traditional pool of candidates but also look outside the box for non-traditional candidates. Storbeck and Rosenberg will visit St. Louis in the beginning of April to meet with the CEO Search Committee and other stakeholders. During their visit, they will conduct individual interviews and group meetings, with a focus on seeking views regarding three questions:
- What makes the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis an attractive job?
- What are the key challenges of this position?
- What is the ideal profile of the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis?
In addition to these interviews and group meetings, a broader range of community members will have an opportunity to share their opinions on the above questions via an online survey to be conducted by the search firm.
Based in part on this stakeholder and community input, the Search Committee and search firm will craft a position specification, which will be used in actively recruiting candidates for consideration as our next President and CEO.
We will continue to provide updates as the process unfolds.