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by: Foundation for Jewish Camp Foundation for Jewish Camp January 15, 2025

Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Jeremy Fingerman Will Conclude 15-Year Tenure as CEO in March 2025

FJC Chief Program and Strategy Officer Jamie Simon to Serve as Interim CEO

NEW YORK, New York — Foundation for Jewish Camp’s (FJC) Board of Directors announced today that CEO Jeremy J. Fingerman, who has led FJC through a 15-year period of remarkable growth and established it as one of the leading organizations supporting Jewish life in North America, has shared that he will step down as CEO and transition to a new role as Senior Advisor as of March 1, 2025. Jamie Simon, FJC’s Chief Program and Strategy Officer, will assume the role of interim CEO while FJC’s Board conducts a search to permanently fill the position.

“Under Jeremy’s exceptional leadership, FJC has been a catalyst for growth and a critical resource for the field of Jewish camp. Jeremy helped raise nearly $250 million, has overseen dramatic growth in FJC’s network to a peak of nearly 190,000 participants in 2024, and spearheaded initiatives to improve mental health, make camps more accessible, and deepen the quality of field research on the impact of Jewish camp. We are grateful that Jeremy will continue to support FJC as a senior advisor,” said Foundation for Jewish Camp Board Chair Jim Heeger. “We are thrilled to have Jamie Simon serve as interim CEO. A skilled and seasoned leader, Jamie’s deep roots in Jewish camping will ensure a smooth transition for our camps,donors, board, and staff.”

“I’m so very proud of what we’ve achieved collectively – camps, funders, Federations, donors – to advance the field of Jewish camp. I feel fortunate to have assembled such a strong professional team at FJC and to have partnered with an amazing group of generous lay leaders and feel deep gratitude to all who have been a part of this journey,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, outgoing CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “Now is the right moment to begin to write the next chapter of the Foundation’s story. Jamie is prepared to lead a successful transition and I am confident that in the coming years, FJC will continue to have a major impact on our vital and holy work of building a more vibrant Jewish future.”

Under Fingerman’s stewardship, FJC’s signature program, One Happy Camper® (OHC), continues to provide incentive grants to help camps attract new campers and increase enrollment, including over 125,000 first-time OHC incentive grants since inception. FJC supports 102 day and overnight camps in the Yedid Nefesh – Mental Health initiative with resources to hire and train mental health professionals. And through the Yashar Initiative, FJC invested over $12M towards capital and capacity grants to create accessible spaces, growing the amount of campers with disabilities at grantee camps to 10%. In December, Fingerman secured $15 million in new funding – the largest single grant in FJC’s history – for capital expansion projects from The Gottesman Fund as well as millions of dollars for new Israel education and initiatives.

Fingerman also achieved recognition for his service beyond FJC, serving previously as a board vice-chair of JPro, a network of Jewish communal professionals, and currently as a key leader of The Jewish Federations of North America’s Jewish Together Coalition. In 2023, Fingerman received the distinguished Bernard Reisman Award for Professional Excellence from Brandeis University.

Fingerman’s two adult children now both live in Israel, and they recently celebrated the first birthday of Fingerman’s grandson. After decades of service in the Jewish community and the past five years leading Jewish camp through the pandemic and October 7th, Fingerman looks forward to stepping down from the intensity of the CEO role and spending more time with his family.

“Thanks to Jeremy’s leadership and the incredible work of FJC staff, partners, and camps, Jewish camp has never been stronger,” said Jamie Simon, incoming interim CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “Jewish camp is key to the Jewish future. and I’m excited to continue FJC’s important work to ensure that as many young people as possible can experience the transformative power of camp and so that camps have the resources they need to succeed.”

Jamie Simon joined FJC in 2023 as its first Chief Program and Strategy Officer following a highly competitive national search. Simon previously spent 17 years at the Camp Tawonga Jewish Community Corporation, including for six years as its CEO, managing a year-round team of more than 30 employees and a $15 million annual budget, and overseeing a successful $20 million capital campaign. At FJC, Simon has played instrumental roles in securing seven-figure gifts, leading FJC’s ongoing strategic planning process, and overseeing the recent Leaders Assembly in Chicago that saw the largest turnout in the organization’s history, with nearly 950 camp professionals and field leaders in attendance.

Rob Bildner and Elisa Spungen Bildner, FJC Co-Founders and Co-Chairs of its Board of Trustees, praised Fingerman for his exceptional leadership steering the organization through long-term initiatives as well as emerging crises, most notably the pandemic and the attacks of October 7th.

“During the pandemic’s extraordinary threat to the existence of Jewish camp, Jeremy helped FJC marshal the resources from the Jewish community required for camps’ survival,” said Rob Bildner, Co-Founder of FJC and Co-Chair of its Board of Trustees. “Following the Hamas attack of October 7th, Jeremy provided essential leadership, helping camps to find ways to continue supporting Israel and, at the same time, acknowledging the nuances and complexities of doing so during the war. We can’t thank Jeremy enough for his inspired leadership over the years and especially during these crises,” said Elisa Spungen Bildner, Co-Founder of FJC and Co-Chair of its Board of Trustees.


About Foundation for Jewish Camp
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 190,000 campers and
counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is
the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org