April 15, 2008

(San Francisco, CA) – Lisa D. Gurwitch has been named Executive Director of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund (JCEF) of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties effective on July 1, 2008.  She will oversee the Fund’s $2.9 billion in assets.  Ms. Gurwitch succeeds Phyllis Cook who is retiring after twenty-five years as the executive of the Fund.

Ms. Gurwitch joined the JCEF in 1991 and has played a key role in the growth and management of its assets.  She is currently Director of Gift Planning.  Her responsibilities have included broad responsibility in development, stewardship and grantmaking, leading the agency/synagogue endowment program, and administering many Donor Advised Funds and Supporting Foundations.  Over the last 17 years she has developed and implemented many Endowment Fund programs, including charitable gift annuities, online donor access, the local Lion of Judah endowment program, and programs such as the Annual Tax and Estate Planning Seminar (which attracts over 250 tax advisors from the general and Jewish communities) and the Money Matters community educational series.

Ms. Gurwitch is a graduate of the United Jewish Communities Mandel Executive Development Program and the Wexner Heritage Foundation Leadership Program. In 2002 she was recognized with the Federation’s Staff Member of the Year Annual Award. She has trained and mentored staff throughout the Federation.

Before joining the JCEF, Ms. Gurwitch practiced law in San Francisco and Chicago, where she specialized in commercial real estate and financial transactions.  She graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in economics and received her J.D. degree, with honors, from George Washington University.

In the last year the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation with assets exceeding $2.9 billion, provided more than $285 million for a variety of grants, seed projects and emergency needs, locally, nationally and overseas.  For more information, call 415.777.0411 or visit www.sfjcef.org.

To arrange an interview with Ms. Gurwitch, please contact: Ken Lupoff, Manager, Endowment Communications, 415.512.6227, kenl@sfjcf.org.

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