Gary Samowitz

Melbourne-based Samowitz, the CEO of Stand Up, is the only Australian leader to have been selected. The 18 month Fellowship aims to develop exceptional professional and volunteer leaders for the Jewish community and beyond. It enables Fellows to gain critical leadership skills, form a strategic network of international peers and maximize their potential for fostering Jewish organizational and societal change. Fellows were selected from across North America, Israel, Australia and Europe and work at a range of Jewish and secular non-profit and for-profit organizations and have demonstrated their explicit interest in taking on critical leadership roles in the Jewish community and Israel.

“Our goal is to nurture professional and volunteer leadership as an important way to create transformational change in the Jewish community and beyond,” said Lynn Schusterman, Founder and Co-Chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “We are investing in these individuals because we believe they are going to be at the forefront of Jewish life in years to come.”

The Fellowship offers a new paradigm for leadership development in a global marketplace in which professionals show a stronger desire to align work with personal values and a tendency to change jobs every few years. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach that trains everyone on the same set of competencies, this program enables individuals to pursue opportunities that best meet their personal interests and professional needs.

Samowitz said. “I feel deeply honoured to have been selected for this special program, and can’t wait to embark on the journey ahead. I’m proud to be the only Australian Fellow and look forward to further developing my leadership skills so that I can give back to the incredible Australian Jewish community that I am proud to be representing.”

During the program, each Fellow will create a plan to address a pressing challenge in his or her organization. They will also work collaboratively as a cohort of peer leaders, forming a strategic network they can leverage as they work toward leading transformational change in their organizations, the Jewish community and beyond.

“We recognize that there are many excellent opportunities for leadership development,” said Adam Simon, Schusterman’s Director, Leadership Initiatives. “This program is designed to amplify those efforts by matching individuals with opportunities that will best suit and maximize their skills and capacity. In doing so, we hope to work in partnership to nurture potential on an individual level while also responding to the Jewish community’s need for capable leaders prepared to succeed.”

Samowitz has spent the last 6 years as the dynamic and inspirational CEO of the Jewish social justice organisation Stand Up. The organisation has grown ten-fold under his leadership and works tirelessly to empower vulnerable communities in Australia through education and capacity building programs.