Page 2 - Jewish News _August 2021_

2A August 2021 FEDERATION NEWS

Howard Tevlowitz...continued from page 1A
instead set off for Israel. “I was 22 or happy about coming back here because millions. A lot of the staff had either FEDERATION BOARD PRESIDENTS
23 when I moved there for a couple of her vision of Sarasota went back to died or had been fired, and those few UNDER HOWARD’S TENURE:
years,” he said. “It was a really tough when we lived here before. That was who remained were doing their own 2001-2002 Howard Markus*
time. Inflation was rampant, and the Is- 35 years ago, and Sarasota was a very thing without an overriding vision for 2003 Allan Feder*
raeli economy was in a freefall. I was different kind of community. Bryna the organization. In addition, the dif- 2004-2006 Rhea Hughes
fluent in French, Hebrew and English, came here kicking and screaming,” ferent organizations in town did not 2006-2008 Dr. Lewis Hanan
and went to work as a translator for a Howard said. get along, and Jews weren’t part of the 2008-2009 Judy Weinstein
guy who made tapestries.” community back then. We just 2010-2011 Nelle Miller
Joining the Federations kind of existed. It was defi- 2012-2013 Nancy Swart
After working for the Social Security nitely dicey in those first few 2014-2016 Patti Wertheimer
Administration in New Jersey and for years,” he said. 2017-2019 Michael Ritter
Israel Bonds in Buffalo, Howard be- “I provided what was 2020-2021 Randon Carvel
came the Young Leadership Director at needed at the time: transfor- *of blessed memory
the Minneapolis Jewish Federation in mational leadership. What year strategic plan process to actually
1987. “I wanted to stay in the Jewish we needed to do first was get change the way we operate.”
world, and when that job opened up, I ourselves healthy. We had to Creating a plan
took it. Moving to Minneapolis marked fix the organization before we By 2004, the organization had an
the beginning of my involvement with could deal with community agreed-upon plan, and had begun im-
several Federations and my work with issues. And we couldn’t fund- plementing that plan. At that point, the
the Jewish community,” Howard said. raise or grow our community organization supported three agencies:
“I knew at that point that I wanted to Howard with wife Bryna and children Aaron and Janna without understanding who Flanzer JCC, Jewish Family & Chil-
make the Federation my career.” The early days we were and what our priorities were,” dren’s Service (later JFCS of the Sun-
He then worked with the Fed- Whereas Howard described Minneap- Howard said. coast) and the Jewish Housing Council
erations in Long Beach, California, olis and Philadelphia as very tradition- Allan Feder was the leader who (now Aviva Senior Living).
where he was campaign director, and ally organized Jewish communities, it hired Howard. “Allan was my second Over a three-year period, the Fed-
Philadelphia, where he ran operations became immediately apparent to him president. He had worked with Fortune eration moved from allocations to di-
for four of the five suburban counties. that Sarasota was very different. As a 500 companies, rected funding. “We no longer wanted
On to Sarasota Sun Belt community, it was more simi- and he either to give these organizations funds ‘just
In 2000, the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish lar to the California Federation. came in and fixed because,’ but instead wanted to instill
Federation (the precursor to today’s Moving from Philadelphia to Sara- them or put them some accountability into our giving.
Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Man- sota, Howard “went from dealing with out of business. There had been no mutual understand-
atee) contacted Howard about a job nobody over 45, to never seeing any- Allan was one of ing of what these organizations were
opening in Saraso- body under 75.” The Federation at that the few people trying to do. It wasn’t that it was bad,
ta, where he was time was a very traditionally organized who understood but some of it did not jive with the di-
offered the posi- place. “Someone from the Rust Belt the importance of rection we were taking,” Howard said.
tion of CEO. When had a vision and brought it here. Unfor- consumer behav- “Believe me, you don’t make friends
working with Israel tunately, what works in the Rust Belt Howard Tevlowitz, ior. We didn’t try when you do that.”
Bonds, Howard, doesn’t work in the Sun Belt,” Howard circa 2000 to change con- Each agency responded differently
his wife Bryna and said. sumers. We tried to be proactive about to the changes.
their young son had lived very briefly “The Federation here was in trou- how to engage with them,” Howard “JFCS had Rose Chapman. Rose is
in Sarasota. “My wife was none too ble,” he stated. “Financially, we owed explained. “We went through a two- continued on page 3A

TORCH
The Howard Tevlowitz 2020-2021

Israel Travel Fund TO R C H

S P O N S OR S
SPONSORS

H o w ar d Berman and Shar on Se xter
Howard Berman and Sharon Sexter
Edie and David Chaifetz
tz
e
E
die and David Chaif
Leon R. and Margaret M. Ellin
L eon R. and M ar gar e t M. Ellin
Debbie and Larry Haspel
2019 MoMENtum trip to Israel Debbie and L arry H aspel
Rosenthal Roots Family Foundation
R osen thal R oo ts F amily F oundation
Show your appreciation for S ylvia and N orman Same t
Sylvia and Norman Samet
Howard Tevlowitz’s 21 years as Bunn y and M ort ( (z”l) Skirboll
Bunny and Mort Skirboll
z”l)
Federation’s CEO by making a H adassah and M artin S tr obel
Hadassah and Martin Strobel
contribution to an endowment fund L ois S tulber g
Lois Stulberg
in his honor. The fund will support
a cause close to Howard’s heart:
travel to Israel for teens and adults.

( and help fund crucial services for people in need here (
We offer our very deep appreciation
JFEDSRQ.ORG/TevlowitzEndowment to our 2020-21 Season Torch Sponsors!

They support our Federation’s efforts to bring
quality events and programs to our local community
941.371.4546 in Sarasota-Manatee, in Israel and around the world.

*As of 10/11/20