Contact:
Alix Friedman
afriedman@hadassah.org
NEW YORK, NY: October 19, 2022 – Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, is pleased to announce that Judith T. Alperin has been named Chief Development Officer. Alperin, who will lead a team of 90 philanthropy professionals and volunteer leaders around the country, will report to Chief Executive Officer Naomi Adler and will be a member of Hadassah's executive leadership team. The position becomes effective November 3.
In addition to leading Hadassah's Philanthropy Division, Alperin will partner with Adler to solicit and steward major gifts. She will work closely with senior volunteer leaders Viviane Kovacs and Ruth Ann Freedman, the Division's National Coordinator and Vice Coordinator, respectively, who play a critical role in shaping Hadassah’s fundraising effort, and with Deputy Chief Development Officer Max Winer.
Alperin will also collaborate with Hadassah's operations abroad. She will work with the Hadassah Offices in Israel and Hadassah International, Hadassah's global philanthropy arm, to raise funds to support the work of the Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah's medical center in Jerusalem. Increasing donations to Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah villages will be another key area of focus. The campus-like communities provide wraparound services for at-risk Israeli teenagers and for young immigrants from places in the world where it is no longer safe to be a Jew.
Alperin comes to Hadassah after almost seven years as CEO of the Jewish Federation, Foundation and JCC of Greater New Haven. During her tenure, she completed the integration of the Federation and New Haven's JCC into a single $10 million operation with a staff of 250. In 2021, the Federation adopted a strategic plan based on the results of a community review, visioning and planning process led by Alperin.
From 2011 to 2016, Alperin was Assistant Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Lehigh Valley in Allentown, PA. Among many other achievements, she led an annual campaign that raised $2.3 million despite the 2008 economic downturn and secured 16 gifts of $100,000 or more from members of the Jewish Federation of North America's Lions of Judah, a group of women who are philanthropic leaders committed to supporting the Jewish community. From 2005 to 2011, Alperin was the Lehigh Federation's Associate Development Director and later its Director of Development.
"We are extremely lucky to have Judy as our new Chief Development Officer," said Rhoda Smolow, Hadassah National President. "She is a dynamic leader and prodigious fundraiser who understands what it takes to sustain the work Hadassah does to support Israel, fight antisemitism, advocate for women's health care and help raise the money our hospitals in Israel need to do their exemplary work."
Added Hadassah CEO Adler, "Judy is fortunate to have a strong and experienced senior leadership team led by National Coordinator Viviane Kovacs, Vice Coordinator Ruth Ann Freedman and Deputy Chief Development Officer Max Winer, who has done an outstanding job as Interim Chief Development Officer for the last nine months."
"I am delighted to be joining Hadassah," said Alperin. "As Chief Development Officer, I will be able to use everything I have learned in previous roles in the service of a mission to which I am personally, as well as professionally, committed. And in Naomi Adler, I will have a fundraising partner whose vision and passion inspire everyone she meets."
Alperin earned a BA in political science from Rutgers University and is an Executive Leadership Fellow with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. She was selected for the first cohort of the Jewish Federation of North America's Fundraising University (2012-2014). An accomplished baker and entrepreneur, she built and ran Sweetiepies, a dessert business, before becoming a philanthropy professional.