Today is May 19, 2012 - 27 Iyyar 5772
United Synagogue Establishes Alumni Association, Hires Director
NEW YORK – As the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism embarks on a year of events marking USY’s 60th anniversary, it announced that Wendy Glick will head the youth organization’s celebrations and establish an alumni association. She took over the newly created position of director of alumni affairs December 1.
Before accepting this position, Glick served as a manager of income development for the American Cancer Society in Manhattan.
As head of alumni relations at United Synagogue, Glick is responsible for spearheading four 60th anniversary events being planned for the next year to honor USY’s founding communities and notable USY alumni. She also oversees regional efforts in planning and carrying out local anniversary celebrations. As she takes the helm of the 60th anniversary, she will initiate United Synagogue’s long-term goal of giving alumni of all United Synagogue programs a way to stay connected, by establishing a lasting and effective alumni association. Project Reconnect is United Synagogue’s means of identifying and attracting alumni from USY, Koach, the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, the Nativ college leadership program in Israel, and Atid.
United Synagogue leaders praised Glick’s fundraising experience and her vision for the new alumni organization. “Given that the alumni association is something really new for United Synagogue, Wendy’s background in developing new ideas and leading new projects is key, as is her record of successful team work,” United Synagogue lay leader Jeffrey Shlefstein said. Shlefstein, who lives in Searingtown, N.Y., is international alumni chair and served as chair of the search committee that hired Glick. “She wowed us with her fundraising experience in organizing very large events. She has a knack for relating to people, which will serve her – and us – well as she seeks out our alumni around the world and connects them back to us.”
At the American Cancer Society, Glick fostered donor relations and played a significant organizational role in several large-scale fundraisers. Originally from New City, N.Y., she holds a communications degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.
“USY was among the most important experiences of many teenagers’ lives,” Glick said. “Many former USYers, who now range in age from their 20s to their 70s, say that they became who they are because of USY. My goal is to harness some of that deep commitment and passion, to recapture that emotion, and to transmit it to the next generation. I hope to help former USYers reunite with each other and reignite the spark that may be buried but never went out.”
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism was founded in 1913 as the association of Conservative synagogues in North America. Today it serves as a resource to its 650 affiliated congregations across North America, helping them to enrich the Jewish lives of their members and fulfilling religious, educational and communal responsibilities.
