Federation hire: The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is coming closer to hiring as its CEO Steve Rakitt, the longtime top executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, but the process is not yet complete, the Washington federation’s president told The Fundermentalist.
Rakitt, whose name has been swirling around federation circles in recent days, would replace Misha Galperin, who left the Washington federation in late spring to head the North American operations of the Jewish Agency for Israel. While the federation’s top lay leader, Susie Gelman, confirmed that Rakitt is the choice to replace Galperin, the federation still must take several steps before it can make Rakitt a formal offer.
According to Gelman, the federation’s search committee first must make a formal recommendation to its executive committee, which then must pass along the recommendation to its board for approval. None of that has happened yet, she said.
“There are a few levels we are still getting through,” Gelman said. “The name is not incorrect. It is moving along positively, but we are not yet at the end of the process. I am a big believer in governance and letting our governing bodies do what they are supposed to do.”
Gelman said that the federation would like to complete the process by early January. Rakitt has been the president of the Atlanta federation since 2000.
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