We’re excited to share an important update about Bend the Arc’s leadership transition and introduce you to our Interim CEO, Jamie Beran. Read on for a note from our outgoing CEO, Stosh Cotler, and support our search for our next CEO.
Last June, I shared the news that after eight years as CEO and 18 total years working with this incredible organization, I am transitioning out of my role in leading Bend the Arc this year. Building this Jewish movement, with you, has been the honor of my life.
As we near the end of my time on staff this June, implement our strategic plans for 2022, and begin the search for our new CEO, we have decided it’s the right time to make a shift in our transition process.
With my full support and the unanimous vote of our Board, I am stepping into the role of Senior Advisor through June, and our Chief Operating Officer, Jamie Beran, is now Interim CEO of Bend the Arc.
If you don’t yet know Jamie, you are in for a delight. As part of our team for 13 years, Jamie has kept Bend the Arc running with grace, skill, and compassion. With her deep experience, leadership, and commitment to transforming our Jewish communities and our country, Jamie is, without a doubt, the right leader for this critical period of time.
As Jews, we are taught to pass our values and our knowledge l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation. I’m serving as a resource to Jamie, our Board, and this community in my new role as Senior Advisor through June, and I can’t wait to see our movement continue to grow in the days ahead.
I’m grateful for our strong leaderful movement, for Jamie and our entire staff, and for you for your support of Bend the Arc. Thank you for enabling me to do this work for 18 years; together we are bending the arc of the moral universe ever closer toward justice.
With love and gratitude,
Stosh Cotler
Senior Advisor, Bend the Arc
P.S.
Here’s one of my favorite photos with Jamie, taken at the White House in 2014.
Meet our Interim CEO, Jamie Beran
Jamie Beran, Bend the Arc’s Chief Operating Officer since 2018, is now our Interim CEO. Jamie has served on staff for 13 years — including eight years in Executive leadership — and she’s been instrumental in growing Bend the Arc’s impact and deepening our commitments to racial equity.
Jamie believes that justice organizations must embody our values inside and out. We often talk about Bend the Arc as both a Jewish and a political home for our communities — and that includes our staff. In her time at Bend the Arc, Jamie has played a key role in making Bend the Arc a more equitable workplace, with regards to compensation, hiring, and internal policies and practices.
Jamie has almost 20 years of experience in the Jewish social justice sector. She is an alum of UJA Federation’s and Columbia Business School’s Institute for Jewish Executive Leadership, a graduate of The Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Art of Leadership Training, and a member of Advancing Women Professionals Social Justice Cohort, and she holds a BA from Goucher College. Prior to joining Bend the Arc, Jamie was the Leadership Development Director for Habonim Dror North America and the Camp Director of Camp Galil.
Outside of work, Jamie enjoys playing games and watching movies with her two kids, exploring the hiking trails of Central New Jersey, and listening to way too many podcasts.
We’ve loved working with and learning from Jamie for the past 13 years, and we’re so excited to see what she accomplishes as Interim CEO.
Spread the word about our CEO search
As Jamie leads Bend the Arc in organizing American Jews toward our shared liberation, Bend the Arc is continuing our search for our next CEO, which we launched publicly earlier this month.
Our new CEO will:
- be a visionary leader who embodies accountability and partnership and builds a leaderful organization
- build a shared understanding of the nuanced complexities of white supremacy, antisemitism, and Black liberation
- bring a vision for how we can leverage the history and resources of our Jewish communities to the fight to dismantle white supremacy
- be ready to move people, resources, systems, and structures toward collective action
