JCC Association head resigns after one year on the job

The CEO of the Jewish Community Center Association is stepping down after just over a year in the position.

Stephen Hazan Arnoff’s decision was received by the JCCA’s board with “regret and understanding,” the Forward reported on Thursday.

“We shared a vision that people believed in,” Arnoff wrote in a statement to the Forward, declining to discuss his departure. “I hope it will ultimately come to fruition. The possibilities for JCCs are endless, and it’s been a privilege to serve them.”

Arnoff, 46, will move back to Jerusalem with his family after leaving the JCCA’s New York office. He took over in February 2015 for Alan Finkelstein, who led the organization for more than 20 years.

Arnoff was previously the director of the Office of Culture, Community, and Society at Shalem College in Jerusalem and the executive director of the 14th Street Y in New York City. After being chosen in a global search, he was tasked with overseeing the futures of the JCCA’s nearly 350 chapters across North America.

The JCC Association is the umbrella group for JCCs across North America.

“The challenge is to maximize JCCs’ potential to inspire and engage the next generation of Jews who now live in a world of choice. This is an extraordinary opportunity,” Arnoff said last January.

He will assist in the process of finding a replacement.

“He was asked to be a change agent and that process has begun,” the JCCA’s board chair Stephen Seiden said in a statement.