Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund Appoints Joy Sisisky As CEO

San Francisco, CA – The Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund has unanimously approved the appointment of Joy Sisisky as CEO, effective July 1. Previously, Joy has served as the Federation’s Interim CEO and Chief Philanthropy Officer, stewarding over a billion dollars in Jewish community philanthropic capital and supporting causes in the Bay Area, nationally, and globally.

“This leadership transition at the Federation is an exciting opportunity for strategic transformation, and Joy is absolutely the right CEO to lead the organization forward,” said Arthur Slepian, Board Chair. “During her six years as Chief Philanthropy Officer, as well as during her time as Interim CEO, Joy has demonstrated strong strategic vision, leadership skills, and relationship building. I look forward to working in close partnership with her to ensure that the Federation thrives. As our new CEO, we are confident that Joy will build on the strengths of the Federation—guiding the organization pursuant to its values and cultivating a broad, secure and inclusive Jewish community that provides compelling engagement and philanthropic opportunities across the Bay Area. Working with the board, staff, community leaders, donors and other federation partners and funders, we are excited for Joy to lead the organization forward into its next chapter, one of bold and pioneering change.”

“I am grateful for the vote of confidence by the Search Committee and Board of Directors to serve as the next Chief Executive Officer of the Federation,” said Joy Sisisky. “I share the values that drive our work at the Federation—kehillah (community), tzedek (justice), tzedakah (giving with just intention) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Our community is defined by innovation and the ability to imagine the future, and I couldn’t be more excited to lead at this moment.”

Board Chair Arthur Slepian appointed Michael Jacobs and Susie Sorkin to co-chair the CEO Search Committee. The Committee was comprised of ten members who know the organization well and represent the diversity of the Bay Area Jewish community. The CEO Search Committee selected Isaacson, Miller, a nationally recognized search firm, to lead the search for the Federation’s next CEO.

Susie Sorkin and Michael Jacobs added, “We were deeply impressed by Joy’s strategic vision, decisiveness, and network of strong local and national relationships. Moreover, she is clearly guided by her Jewish soul and values in service to the community, and we are fortunate that she is enthusiastic to lead our vital organization.”

More about Joy Sisisky

Joy Sisisky has served the Jewish community for more than twenty years dedicated to advancing philanthropy, social justice causes, and women’s issues. Joy currently serves as the Interim CEO and, most recently, as the Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund (the Federation), overseeing fundraising campaigns, gift planning, and philanthropy advisory services. She was responsible for leading the Endowment Fund, the second largest Jewish community foundation in the country with more than $2.3 billion in assets. Last year alone, nearly $200 million (12,000 grants) was granted by donor-advisors to thousands of Jewish and secular causes in the Bay Area and around the world.

Previously, Joy served as the Executive Director of the Jewish Women's Foundation of New York, working to advance the status and well-being of women and girls in the Jewish community in New York and beyond through social change grantmaking and advocacy in the areas of economic security, leadership advancement, social entrepreneurship, and health. Before that, she was the Associate Director of National Women’s Philanthropy at United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federations of North America) and the Director of Development and Programs at the Israel Policy Forum, both in New York.

Joy is a former Ralph I. Goldman Fellow at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee where she spent a year living and working in Jewish communities in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Joy is co-founder of Do Good Ukraine!, the first-ever organization dedicated to building civil society through volunteerism in Ukraine.

Joy has a B.A. from Brandeis University and earned dual-master’s degrees from the University of Southern California and Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, both in Los Angeles. She has a certificate in Jewish Professional Development from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and UJA-Federation of New York. A native of Richmond Virginia, Joy lived in New York City for 16 years before making the Bay Area her chosen home. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Jonathan Salky and two daughters, Alexandra and Emmy.

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The Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund mobilizes innovation, collaboration, and investment to shape diverse and dynamic Bay Area Jewish communities where people find a meaningful connection to Judaism and each other; and where we work together to better lives and communities locally, in Israel, and around the world. Learn more at jewishfed.org.